Doom and Discovery

I am starting to be less excited about South Asia. Do you know how many shots I have to get? Hmmm? 11. Well, 10 shots and 1 TB skin test, but still, I have to get poked with a needle so 11. That's so many shots that two nurses stand on either side of me and stab at the same time. I have never fainted or thrown up at the sight of needles, but this time I was definitely nauseous. Friday was our first clinic. Three down, 8 more to go. Yesterday, I received an email saying that the medical department had an early shipment of flu mist. Guess where there has recently been an outbreak of the flu? South Asia! On top of all those shots, I have to shoot liquid up my nose. I think that might be worse. Or at least the idea of it is... Sigh.

But that's enough complaining. On to something more interesting. Last Friday, we also found out our personality types according to the Meyers Briggs test. I am an ISFP.

I: Many of you may be surprised to learn that I scored pretty high on the Introvert scale. :) 22 out of 30.
Being an introvert does not have to mean that you are shy (although I am), it just means you get more energy from being alone than with people.

S is for Sensory: S people define situations by what their 5 senses tell them. This definitely describes me. I tend to interpret things very literally. I don't particularly like sitting around discussing symbolism.

F is for Feeling: feelers make decisions based on how the people around them will respond to it. They also try to avoid conflict. My score on this trait was pretty high as well.

P is for Perceiving: I was only a 6 on the perceiving side. Basically, it means I'm not particularly organized and I don't make very detailed plans. The example given was someone planning a vacation. My plan would be: Go to a New Zealand. Stay for 2 weeks. Do whatever sounds fun/ is affordable. The opposite of that is someone who would meticulously plan every detail. I can do that if I have to. I just usually don't.

Anyway, it was a really interesting seminar. My roommate in India is an ESFJ, which I think will be helpful. She can make friends and plans. :p I will be the one who (hopefully) remains calm when all our plans go out the window.

Thoughts...

What I learned about overseas travel so far. You should not drink the water or eat any of the food, and probably go ahead and bring your own oxygen tank just in case (Note the sarcasm on that last part). You should also not wade through any water, because there is a parasite that enters the body through the pores on your feet that can cause liver and bladder damage. (Attempting to avoid standing water will be great fun during the rainy season I'm sure.)

If you happen to be riding in a taxi and the driver hits a cow, throw some money in the backseat and run. If you happen to be riding in a taxi and the driver hits a person, place some money in the backseat and walk away briskly. 

And don't even get me started on women's health. Not that this is strictly applicable to living overseas, but so far I've learned that short, blond haired, blue-eyed women are more likely to get several different types of cancers and osteoporosis. I would like to make it perfectly clear that my eyes are GREEN. Thank you.

Now on to better news, today we got to eat out at an Indian restaurant. It's called India K' Raja and it was good. I had:
mattar paneer - cheese cubes with peas in an onion and tomato sauce
vegetable kapora - apparently a ball of fried vegetables
tandoori chicken
chicken curry
rice
naan - amazing flat bread. If you've never had any you should go immediately to your nearest Indian restaurant and get some. 
masala dosa - spiced potatoes wrapped something similar to a pancake. That was odd because the dosa I've had before was wrapped in thin crispy bread, but whatever. 
gulab jamun - something like ball of pancake soaked in syrup, (the one thing I really didn't like)
mango ice cream 
chai- I'm told that chai in India is much better but I liked it anyway.

If that sounds like a lot of food, it was. But I ate small portions, it was mostly amazing, and I'm not eating dinner. Also, I plan to jog tonight if it stops raining. They say there's a drought going on in VA but it's rained almost 3 days per week since I got here...

Getting more and more excited for traveling!

Ami am lagbe.

I suppose I should start with an explanation for my title. I will shortly be journeying to South Asia, and one of the few things I can say in the local language is "I want a mango." (The title of  today's post.) Also, it is really difficult for me to hide what I'm feeling, which means that, atleast for a while, I'll be wandering about looking completely lost and confused.  So, whilst (get used to random words like whilst, all those of you who read this) at dinner with some friends, we were joking about my inability to communicate and how nationals would respond to me. One possible option was this: "Did you see that tiny, confused, American girl? I gave her all my mangos."My friends laughed hysterically, and I laughed a little aprehensively... and I had my title.

I am super excited about mangos.  They are delicious.

Presently, I'm in Virginia training for my assignment. The first night I got here, it occured to me that I had moved out of my parents' house. I've been overseas before, but always with the expectation that eventually I would return home and everything would go back to the way it was. Not this time. I've graduated from college, I have a job for atleast the next 2 years, and then hopefully, I will continue to live on my own in the States. I have to admit, I feaked out a little. I know I'm weird. But I liked living at home with my parents and sisters. I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to change that. I guess I have to grow up sometime though. That is what I intend for my blog to be about. Not only my adventures in a new country, but also about me becoming an adult.

So... I hope that you enjoy following along in this whole process, should be interesting.