Nasty-India-Sickness aka Campylobacteriosis

The verdict is in, my Nasty-India-Sickness that followed me back to Canada has a name. When I got the call I actually had to ask the guy to spell it for me because even after he had said it once or twice I still wouldn't have been able to repeat it. C-A-M-P-Y-L-O-B-A-C-T-E-R-I-O-S-I-S. Now try saying that ten times fast! According to my new friend from the centre of infectious disease control it is a bacterial infection that I most likely acquired from eating infected poultry, pork or beef or drinking unpasteurized milk. He gave me more information than I could ever want on the bacteria and asked me a lot of questions about my travel history and symptoms. I was on the phone with him for at least a half hour. He also told me that normally they don't treat this with antibiotics and just let it run it's course but since I have had symptoms for so long that it would be a good idea to go back to see my doctor so he can prescribe something. So it is back to the doctor for me! And of course after I got off the phone I googled my newly named disease and found a pretty picture of the campylobacter for you all to see.


P.S. The doctor prescribed me some super-antibiotics and so I'm now hopefully on my way to a full recovery! :)

The Journey Home - HK and Victoria

My India adventure ended with Hong Kong and then Victoria. I loved Hong Kong the second time around almost as much as the first. That city has everything a person could want. We had some good adventures and ate some great food which was just what I expected. I didn't take many pictures this time but here is a noteworthy one of me and my Rayshma taken at Hong Kong Park. Life just isn't the same without my Rayshma around. :(



When we finally arrived in Vancouver (I think it was a 13 point something hour long flight) I was asking myself why I had thought it was a good idea to schedule 4 days in Victoria instead of just going straight home to Saskatoon. That feeling didn't last long however. Pretty much as soon as I left the airport I was glad I was there. My first highlight was meeting some Brazilians on the bus to the ferry. I love speaking Portuguese with random Brazilian strangers. It's amazing to me how I can become someones new best friend just for the simple fact that I speak their language. I wonder if it is like that with all people or just Brazilians??? I was blown away by the ferry ride to the island. The whole weekend in Victoria reinforced the simple fact that I am definitely a prairie girl. I loved Victoria and I kept telling Crystal that I could easily consider relocating there. My only problem would be that I would have no time for work because I would be too busy playing all the time. :) Peckett and I both love to take pictures so we did a lot of that. If you're on facebook you've probably seen all of these already but I'm posting them here anyway.

Peckett at the lookout on top of Mt. Doug.

Also taken on Mt. Doug.


Feeding the seals at Fisherman's Warf. There were really cool houseboats here.


Another Pamela is definitely a prairie girl moment.


We found some really cool trees in Beacon Hill Park.


Almost like a hammock.

Taken at Balmacarra Beach


You can't tell but this tree was actually hanging out over a cliff...I don't like heights, I was being brave!

I really like driftwood.

Maybe the coolest piece of driftwood I saw all weekend.


Crystal and her fiancé, Brian. They weren't yet engaged at the time of this photo.


So good spending time with this wonderful girl! I really enjoyed having her show me around "her island"


This was taken at Island View Beach.


My new little driftwood home.

Hiking at Pickles' Bluff...what kind of a name is that? And why is Crystal on her cell phone in the middle of the bush?

Watching the sunset off of the breakwater at Ogden Point.

And this was maybe the most random thing I saw while in Victoria. Darth Vader playing the violin. weird.

Crystal thank you so much for an amazing and unforgettable weekend. You made coming home incredibly special for me! You also stuck with me during the worst of my jet lag which is impressive! I think I may be slightly sillier when I haven't slept in 36 hours. Or maybe just less understandable. :)

The Journey Home - Kolkata

Well, I guess it is about time that I tell the story of our trip home. It was a long trip to say the least. We left Guwahati on Saturday morning. It poured the entire drive to the airport. And when I say poured I'm talking about the sky being opened and the waters of heaven pouring down! When we arrived at the hotel in Kolkata we discovered that our suitcases that had been tied to the top of the Sumo with a tarp over them had been soaked. So we unpacked our suitcases and turned our hotel room into a mock clothesline.

In January we spent a couple nights in Kolkata but we didn't get to see very much of the city. We had some sickies on that trip so we hung out in the hotel instead. It was a lot of fun to go and see some of the city this time around.

Sunday we worshiped at the home of Swami and Violet. Violet made us an amazing lunch. She served us her fried chicken which is famous among the Canadians who have visited her house.
After lunch Ray took Raysha and me on a little adventure. The pouring rain that we had left behind in Guwahati found us in Kolkata and proceeded to drench us to the bone. I will always remember making our way from the taxi to the subway in the rain. It was if we were wading upstream or something. First we went to see the Victoria Memorial. We didn't go inside because it cost a ridiculous amount of money. It was one of those "Indians pay 20 rupees and foreigners pay a gazillion times as much" situations. I hear there's not much to see inside anyway. It looked pretty nice from the outside.

We then took a cab to the Missionaries of Charity's Motherhouse. The Missionaries of Charity is Mother Teresa's order. Inside the Motherhouse there is a small museum type display outlining the life and work of Mother Teresa. Her tomb is also there for viewing. I had just finished reading her biography written by Navin Chawla. I would certainly recommend it. It gives a lot of insight into the work that Mother Teresa was passionate about, serving the poorest of the poor. After seeing the Motherhouse we went down the street to the Shishu Bawan, children's home. We arrived only 15 minutes before the Shishu Bawan was supposed to be closed to visitors, one of the sisters kindly showed us around despite that fact. It was supper time for the children but we still visited many different areas. We saw children and infants who were being treated for malnourishment and we saw special needs children with varying degrees of disabilities. We visited with children of all ages. The only area that we were not permitted to go was the intensive care area for premature infants. My visit to the Shishu Bawan may have been short but it left a deep impression on me. When I return to India I would like to schedule one or two weeks in Kolkata for the purpose of volunteering with the work of the Missionaries of Charity. Go read the book by Navin Chawla to find out about what these dedicated people are doing all over the world.

On Monday we went to the market to look around and do some shopping. Ray took us to see the Fairlawn Hotel where the movie City of Joy starring Patrick Swayze was filmed. I haven't seen the movie but I'm gonna check it out.

Ray's shoes were in desperate need of a shine after wading through the water the previous day. Notice this guy only has one arm and one leg. Watching him tie the laces was pretty impressive.

Didn't see any of these rickshaws in Guwahati, only Cycle rickshaws.

My very first rickshaw ride was on my very last day in India.

Our flight out of Kolkata was super early Tuesday morning which really just felt like Monday night. It felt pretty surreal since I hadn't quite wrapped my mind around the fact that I was leaving India. Surprisingly there were no delays or hitches of any kind regarding our travel. Unless you factor in that Andrew spent that entire night vomiting. I felt so bad for the poor kid. He was a trooper though and by the next day in Hong Kong he was doing better. I'll save that leg of the journey for another post. To wrap up my adventures in India I'll leave you with this photo. It pretty much sums it all up.

Birthdays Birthdays Everywhere

Yesterday was a very special day. Most importantly it was my brother, Dirk's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Dirk! He had a wiener roast party with some friends from work on Friday night and so I made him a cake. He is a little bit of (and by that I mean HUGE) Star Wars fan. So I decided I wanted to do something Star Wars related. Here is what I came up with.

R2D2

I got a little creative with this one. There are actually FIVE cakes that make up R2D2. The body is 3 8" round cakes stacked on top of each other. I baked a fourth cake in a pyrex bowl for the head and his legs were baked in a long loaf pan. I then cut and shaped the loaf into two legs. I inserted 4 plastic dowels into the 2 bottom round cakes and place a cardboard circle for support before adding the third round cake and the bowl cake on top. I then inserted a long plastic dowel through the middle of all four cakes to give it some stability. I also inserted plastic straws down the length of the legs to add support. I iced it with white and grey buttercream icing. The detailing is done in blue and grey fondant and then some grey buttercream piping. I was running out of time and icing near the end so the legs and some of the details are not as nice as I would have liked. It was my first time using fondant and making more than a two layer cake. Both worked out pretty well for me and I'm looking forward to playing around with the techniques on future cakes.

The other reason that yesterday was a special day was it was Canada's 141st birthday. I didn't make a cake, too much R2D2 left over! I did go watch the fireworks with Dirk and his friend Devon though. I like fireworks. Good times. Happy Birthday Canada.