A very bipolar post

There are things that happen here, that even though I don't want to, I know I will forget. So this post is just a few little things that I will want to remember, but that aren't significant enough to stand out against all of the other stories that will come out of India.
1- We have a pair of brothers here who are named Joseph Stalin, and John Kennedy. John Kennedy was kicked out of the school for bad behavior, and Joseph Stalin is one of the best behaved boys in school, go figure.
2- Instead of the license plate game we try to spot three men who DO NOT have mustaches, because the mustache is a mystical thing of beauty, and EVERY man seems to have one. Or if you can't find any clean shaven men, then you see who can spot the most men peeing on the side of the road.
3- There was a torrential down pour a couple days ago, and it just happened to pick the evening when I wore the white churidar. Indian wet t-shirt contest.
On to the last few days, yesterday I worked construction, which was difficult but rewarding, getting to actually physically see the progress we have made. Katie one of the volunteers who has been here all summer said that the Indian workers can move a lot faster than us, but we provide them with entertainment through our struggling to lift one brick, as they carry 20 on their head. Perhaps it is because of this, or because I have finally adjusted to the time difference, but I actually slept until 8 am, this is a miracle, because usually I am up between 5:30 and 6:00. We started to watch a Bollywood movie last night, but I am an old lady and had to cash in my chips, early, so I didn't get to finish it. Today we got to go into another colony, one that was much smaller than the first. There was a woman there who was missing both of her feet and most of her hands. She had broken her hip about 6 months ago, but the hospital does not want to replace it, so Dr. Kumar has to go back every couple of months and do battle to see if he can get her a new hip. Her grandson has to carry her everywhere, and she is in constant pain, you can tell by the look on her face. We were testing for diabetes today, and Javier was the unlucky volunteer who was charged with poking the patients to get a sample of their blood sugars. This grandmother was the last to be tested, and we could not get blood from her, Javier tried her fingers and even her palm, but nothing came out. My heart broke as I watched, it was a situation where if I could have taken her pain and made it my own I would have. There is so much suffering here, and these people handle themselves with perseverance and grace.
We also spoke with a young woman who had graduated as a lab technician, and who could speak the most English out of anyone in the colony. She showed us her diploma, and even her marks in school (she graduated at the top of her class). She also shared with us that she was married, and that her husband did not want her to work, so she stayed home. The remainder of my heart broke in half again. Katie asked her if she was happy, and the young woman said that she was, and that she liked to be able to help her mother after being away in school for 20 years. The social worker in me told me that if this is what the she wanted, and it made her happy, then I needed to butt out, but the woman in me wanted to scream. This is 2010, and this beautiful, intelligent person did not work because her husband didn't want her to. I have to take a breath and remember that I am in a new culture, things here will never be the same as they are for those of us living in the states, nor should they be. Nevertheless, I hope that the work I do here will someday help little girls at this school to grow up and use their talents, to share what they have to offer with the world, and to never let another hold them back. Sorry to end on such a bummer, but it is a scenario that is all too common in the world, and I don't want these two ladies stories to go unrecognized.