Abrupt end

Umm.. my "six-month Mongolian adventure" came to an abrupt end in 2 weeks. My cold turned out to be more severe than I had imagined: i was diagnosed with something that the doctors alternatively called "influenza" and "bronchitis" but finally settled upon as "bronchal pneumonia." A few hours in a hospital in Mongolia, being shunted from one room to another, being put through X-rays and injections and other tests and more injections (I received 5 injections in one day! my arm is so sore now!)... all the while without the slightest idea of what was going on because no one spoke English... scared me. Then, I was prescribed 3 more injections everyday for a week and way too many pills and tablets... realzing, too, that no one was being abel to translate correctly for me, and that I was therefore receiving very mixed-up directions about what medicines to take and how often, made me wish to jsut be in a hospital where someone spoke English. That, combined with stuff at home that I had wanted to go back because of, and the prospect of less-than-meaningful work in Mongolia clinched it: I am now back in New Delhi.

Of course, I left with some regrets. I was especially sorry to leave Miho, who has become a good friend and was very upset that the first English-speaking friend she had made in Mongolia was leaving so soon. And, of course, I was sorry not to have been able to finish... or even carry out largely... what I had begun at work: all those hours making lesson plans and finding the appropriate materials for different classes were used for just 2 days-- 8 classes, and I left Mongolia. And I hate going back on a commitment, so it was hard to tell the school that the kids were not going to have an English conversation teacher, after all.

But oh well. Health first. I could have handled being sick while alone in a foreign country (done that before!), but the mixed-up directions and the not knowing what the heck the doctors were doing to my body became too much. I have had enough bad experiences with health issues to warrant paranoia! I will see the doctor in New Delhi today, and I will take it from there...

And, after all, the trip wasn't a complete waste. It was much shorter than I had intended it to be, but that didnt make it meaningless. I did still live with and as the average Mongolian in Ulaanbaatar for 2 whole weeks-- eat the same greasy mutton as them, work the same long hours as them, shop in their grocery stores, learn to walk on ice in such a way as not to slip and fall too much, join them in small celebrations... and, in short, share this alien culture and lifestyle. It still feels like it was an intense, important experience, just not as long as I thought it would be.

2008 will clearly be very different from what I had imagined. But whether it will be better or worse is still an open question... and a decision I have to make.