You know the drill by now – it’s time for all of the hilarious moments that happened in India, and there were a lot of them. Here are a few of the highlights!
-Bugs in India are huge, and there was a night in Mizoram where I became the designated exterminator. Included among my victims were a spider, a beetle the size of a cherry tomato, and a grasshopper that I was requested not to kill. I chased the stupid thing around the room for a few minutes trying to scoop it up with my flip flop before Laura grabbed it and threw it out the window.
-People really wanted to get our attention and say hello to us. One particular woman was bent on shaking my hand, so to let me know I was there, she reached out and slapped my butt. Dumbstruck, I turned around to see her extending a hand to me. I shook it, but there are definitely better ways of introducing yourself…
-At one of our sites, a few of the locals saw Danny and immediately burst into tears. Why? Well, they thought he was Jesus incarnate. 100% serious.
-On our last night in Tripura, the area where we conducted half of our medical clinics, one of the doctors traveling with us told us we were going to have fireworks. Much to my shock, a box was set on the rooftop where we were eating dinner and Lexi lit it with a match. Fireworks are technically illegal in my home state so I’ve never actually seen someone light them before. Then, a piece of one landed on the ground maybe 10 feet away from me and started exploding in my direction. I shrieked like a little girl and sprinted away faster than I’d ever run in my life, much to the amusement of everyone else.
-And to wrap it up: another travel adventure. The entire squad was on our way to Manipur for our last three days, split up into buses and vans. I was in a small van with Anna, Brittany, Kelsey, Jenny, Christina, Janelle, Karlena, and Racquel, and this is how our day went.
- We were instructed to be ready to leave at 3:00 am. The vans didn’t show up until maybe 5:30
- Somewhere around 9:00, we were driving up a mountain and got stuck in the mud. I woke up from a 3-hour dramamine-induced nap, still a little loopy, and saw the other girls getting out of the van (and on top of this Kelsey was only wearing one shoe). Yeah, we were going to have to push the van from behind.
- Getting out of the van was an adventure all of its own. Karlena ripped her shorts on one of the seats, and most of us were trying not to step in the mud. Racquel was filming it all on her GoPro and an unnamed individual was laughing so hard that she peed her pants and had to change behind a tree. The only person who really had a grip on the situation was Anna, who somehow knew what to do about the van and kept her sanity while trying to delegate to the rest of us.
- After finally getting out of the mud, we had to stop at at least 20 military checkpoints. We didn’t have a clue what was supposed to happen, and our drive spoke no English whatsoever. At one of these checkpoints, the police got Anna and Janelle’s attention and asked them to get out of the van. I was a little worried until I found out what they wanted: a photo opportunity with the Americans. Better those two than me…
