Journal 9-14-2010

Journal 9-14-2010

Today we went to visit the “little sisters of the poor home for the aged.”

When we arrived we met a really sweet and silly sister named Gertrude Claire. She gave us a brief history of the little sisters of the poor and a description of this particular nursing home. Sister Gertrude Claire showed us around the nursing home where we saw several people over 100 years old. It seems like a really nice place, it is very clean and beautiful which is a nice contrast to the rest of Chennai. The sisters also provide free care for the old people in their home.  The old that stay in the home are poor men and women from the surrounding community. The nursing home is funded by donations from people all over Chennai and the world.

After our visit to the nursing home we returned to ICSA where I caught up on some journal entries and finished my book City of Joy. Then John, Katie and I decided to go to Richi street which is like the computer district street in Chennai. It is where all sorts of computers and electronic products are sold. We were looking for a mini laptop for Katie. Someone had told us that it was possible to find extremely cheap computers here but we didn’t find anything that seemed below retail price in the US. So we returned to ICSA with only a few pirated movies that haven’t been released on DVD in the US yet.

            For dinner we decided to go to an American restaurant that is within walking distance from ICSA. We had heard about it from the Doctors that brought us to Polycanai lake. It turned out to be pretty great. I was so happy to get some American food that I was giddy all through dinner.

I had this burger.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

            We are going back on Friday night for their BBQ buffet. We had to make a reservation because apparently it gets pretty packed. We met a couple from Minnesota who work at the restaurant. It was refreshing to talk to other Americans and eat food that isn’t a soupy curry dish on rice. I finally got some real calories!!! And I had BEEF!

            Now we can go back to eating Indian food for every meal with a little more enthusiasm. Sometimes you just need a little break.