Approaching midnight

and I suddenly find myself alone in an office with the day's work done and decent internet access. Happiness is all about the simple things.

***I'm feeling much much better.*** The fevers are laying low. Yay, hemoglobins! And white blood cells. And other such medical stuff that I pretend to know. :)

So, I left my the Rural design school to help with the Tsunami work. For the next two weeks I am in the villages of Tamil Nadu (south Indian coast) coordinating the efforts between the govt, NGOs, international organizations, funders etc. It's an effort to ensure that all of these organizations are communicating on a common platform to avoid duplication, fill voids and maximize resources.

Went through trauma counseling training in Ahmedabad and spent a few days in Auroville to organize the network. Auroville is a pretty quirky/strange/uber-interesting place. The highlight, however, was that (b/c everything else was booked) 14 of us stayed in this architectually stunning 3 floor art gallery. Amazing sculptures, pottery, textiles, ... I'd walk past the charcoals (in my socks & pj's) before going to bed, have meetings in the sculpture room, and sleep in the room with paintings as tall as I am.... it was almost too extremely perfect. Almost like a prep to make me super happy before going into the emotionally draining work that I was getting myself into.

It's been a month since the tsunamis hit; the relief efforts are wrapping up and the long term rehabilitation phase is now being kick started. The devastation to the area is truly upsetting. Every time I stand next to the ocean I get the chills... which is really odd; being comfortable in/with water has always been my element. Most of the debri has been cleared away but the damage is still everywhere. I've heard a lot of survivor stories and during every one I have to remind myself that it actually happened. An earthquake under the ocean. A wall of water. Houses/boats/people getting washed away. What?!?

Indonesia actually had another earthquake hit (a 6.2) which apparently didn't get much news coverage (here anyway). Who sets the priorities with the news coverage??? They should be run out of town.

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A PUBLIC NOTICE:
To anyone and everyone that helped make that Xmas DVD for me--> you guys ROCK. It was the most amazing Christmas present EVAH and made me so very extremely happy. I was up til 2am laughing and feeling really loved. THANK YOU!!!
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And last but certainly not least, my granddad came to India last week. He had some work to do and I convinced him to come visit my project site. He agreed. He came. He's 80! But he trekked out (An overnight bus, transfer to a two hour bus, transfer to a local taxi/pickup truck to the desert). He stayed for three days and had a blast. (Man, if *only* I could post up those pictures!) Also, the man is an amazing role model.
He in the month he was in India he:
1. visited my village
2. collected 100,000 books to start a children's library for orphans
3. restarted the Red Cross radiology department (named after my grandmother)
4. donated the money to build a room at a college hostel/medical clinic in Ahmedabad
AND
5. he still had time to remodel his bathroom.
In a month! The man is 80. He is exactly the 80 yr old man I strive to be one day. (???) You know what I mean. :)