erin's parents called this morning at about 8.oo (which would be 9.oo pm in india). everything seems, but i think some of her family is getting home sick. i think erin was glad to get a call from her parents. her dad has been in touch byway of the internet. the internet is a great way to keep in contact: via e-mail and blogging. i didn't think my blog would be a way for them to stay in touch with us, but, whatever works, huh?

they have been in imphal, manipur for the last week(?) and they leave for siliguri tomorrow, for about 10 days. that's where i went when i was in india. the hotel we stayed at was the "hotel heritage" which was our home away from home. the first night we were there, it was pretty, um, how should i say it...? well, i'll explain it. you make your own descriptive word for it.

our beds were slabs of plywood with a blanket. hahah. lovely sleeping arrangements. the pillow was a sheet and a little filling. we had to take it and fold it 1/4 of it's size to be able to even feel it. so i wound up taking my sweatshirt and used that for my headrest. the bathroom and shower where all in one (which is typical for 3rd world countries), so when you took a shower, the rest of the bathroom was incased in water. puddles on the floor. at least we had a western toilet. again, typically for 3rd world countries, they use squatty potties. don't understand how to use it? i'll explain.

there is a hole in the ground with two divets on either side of it (for your feet). then you squat. when you fly through singapore, you get your choice of western toilets (thank you so much) or if you are feeling lucky, the squatties.

there were also (we liked to call them "atomic") cockroaches that were about 6 to 9 inches long and fast. we only had one in our room. we were able to catch it and flush it, but it wound up doing the backstroke and climbed out of the toilet. it climbed up wet porcelain, over the lip on the inside of the toilet and under the seat. so we had to catch it again and make sure it went down the toilet hole. i guess we were the lucky ones. one woman that went with us woke up one night and a cockroach was sitting on her face. so everynight after that, we had to pull out our flashlights and search the room for "unfriendlies".

in front of the hotel was an open sewage canal, which didn't move. i kicked a rock into it one day to see what would happen. it fell into the canal and sat on top of the greenish-blackish slime and after about 30 seconds started to sink down. nasty.

but i do have to say that after a couple days, when you are extremely tired, due to everything that you are doing, that slab of wood does start calling your name. and we probably slept better than a lot of the locals.

the locals are poor. i don't know if the amount has changed or not, but their currency is/was 43 rupees to the dollar. in kolkata, i can't recall how many people i saw that were sleeping on the street/sidewalk. but, they had their precious cell phone. those that are poor in india are working off their bad karma, and it is considered bad karma to help them as well.

and i am thinking of going back. what is wrong with me. . . ?