Appendices

So, I realized after reading some of the previous posts that I did not finish some of the stories.

First of all, I should clarify what happened with the apple given to us by the old woman from the community forest in Chitwan. After we finished our conversation we held the apple slices until we got to a special blessing tree for the village just outside her home. Ram told us it was perfectly appropriate to place it at the base of the tree as a blessing to the gods. At the base of the tree there was also a little statue of some Hindu significance with flowers and colored rice all over it. I felt much better about placing it there than just throwing it off into a field somewhere.

Secondly, I forgot to explain why so many young people were at the stair temple. Krishna told us that lots of young couples meet at that temple without their parents knowledge of the rendezvous. They ask their parents if they can go to the temple and of course a parent would not forbid their child from going to a religious site! Then they meet up with their friends or their girlfriend/boyfriend and can walk around on the stairs or in the forests surrounding the temple relatively unbothered. Krishna said that the couple that took a picture of us probably got a kick out of the idea that their was an American couple probably doing the same thing that they were -- sneaking out to the temple to meet. Also Bamdev told us that the staring was good. He described in his broken english how if a picture looks good (he held up a book and looked at the cover) then people want to look at it but if it looks bad (he threw the book on the couch and looked away) then people do not even care to look at it. He backed up his claim by saying he overheard a group of young girls say that Jenna was very beautiful and looked like an actress because she was tall and fair. I think that Jenna was relieved to hear this.

Regarding our health. Jenna has probably been the best off of all three of us. Cynthia got a nice little bit of the diarrhea within the first few days. She did not sleep that night because she had to keep going to the restroom. Jenna mercifully gave her some Immodium. I have had several half-day bouts. Usually after a certain meal I find that I have stomach pains and then for a couple hours at least I am running to the restroom. Fortunately, it usually goes away by the next day. Jenna has had a couple bouts but nothing serious. So far, neither Jenna or I have actually been sick. That is great. I would hate to be sick here. I would just feel like I am wasting my time sitting in bed.