Awesome Weekend Trips!

Since I have last written to you, I have been to the other side of India and back. Yes, I went up North over the weekend and did some amazing sightseeing.

Our chronicle begins early Saturday morning. I woke up around 3:30 to get myself ready and make sure I had everything packed before we were to catch a rickshaw an hour later. We got to the airport around 5 and checked in for our flight. Airport security is not a whole lot different than in the states, but it's more relaxed. There are separate lines for the "ladies and gents" because everyone gets the wand waved over them after coming through the metal detector. You don't have to remove your shoes or watch (because I forgot to remove my watch and nothing happened). Our carry on gets a tag that is stamped confirming that it was checked. If it does not have that tag, you do not get on the plane. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:45 and we boarded at 6:10. Remember in my second entry how I marveled at how we didn't disembark into the terminal, but a bus came to get us instead? Well that's just how they do it in India. We all got onto a bus, which took us to the plane.

A short two hours later, we were in New Delhi. We had hired a driver who was going to stay with us for the weekend, so we set off to find him. It was a lot easier to find him than it had for me to find Claver when I first arrived because our driver was right there outside the door with his sign in plain sight. We all hopped into our air conditioned car and set off for Agra. The drive lasted four hours and was interesting to say the least. As I have probably mentioned before, if there are rules of the road for this country, they are not followed very closely. If you see an opportunity and an open space, you take it.

We met up with our tour guide first and then we were taken to our hotel to check in. For some reason, they thought we would need some time to freshen up and rest before heading out. It was already around one in the afternoon and we had literally been sitting all day, it was time for some sights. The monsoon season hasn't quite started up in Northern India, so it was very hot up there but, fortunately, it was a dry heat.

First stop. Taj Mahal, the entire reason we made the trek up to Delhi in the first place. :D It was amazing! So much better than anything I have ever seen or could have even imagined it to be. Don't worry, I got a lot of pictures. I literally took over 100 pictures on Saturday. Our guide was very good and very informative. He really knew his stuff. You're not allowed to take pictures inside the actual tomb so I'm going to have to explain this next part the best that I can. The marble walls are inlaid with semi precious stones and, maybe you know this and maybe you don't, when light hits marble it becomes translucent. That is why the Taj appears different colors at different times of the day. There is one stone used in the designs that is only found in India, in the Punjab if I remember correctly. This (of which the name escapes me, but it did start with a C) stone is red in color and when you put a flashlight directly upon it, it goes red. It was really amazing because it is only the marble that does that and this stone, none of the others will transmit the light.

After the Taj, we went to Agra Fort from which you can see the Taj Mahal. Agra Fort was built by the grandfather of the man who built the Taj and he was placed under house arrest in Agra Fort by his own son later on in his life.

We saw a lot of Japanese tourists and a few white people, but for the most part everywhere we went we saw Indians.

The next day we took the four hour drive back to Delhi. The first place we went to was the Qutab Minar which is something that I have wanted to see for a long time. I was super excited!! While there, people took pictures of us in their creepy stalker-ish way they do. I was approached not too long by a man and his daughter and they asked if they could get a picture with me. I assented and the picture was taken. Not too long after that we were approached by three teenage boys who also wanted pictures. We thought they just wanted pictures with Bryce, so Kristie and I stood back and let them rotate taking pictures with him. When that was done, they wanted pictures with Kristie and then with me. I told them that they could only get their pictures with me if I could get pictures with them as well. :D It was funny and then we went back to our exploring. It didn't take too long after that for people to work up their courage to ask for more pictures with us and once people saw others taking pictures with us, they also approached for pictures. We literally had a line of people wanting pictures and I think I was in at least 70 or 80 that I consented to. We finally had to draw the line and tell them to stop or we would never have gotten out of there. Man! It was like being a celebrity. :)

We also went to Humayun's Tomb where we spent a really long time in the hot, hot sun. The grounds seemed to go on forever. After lunch, we went to an open air market and I got to practice my bartering skills some more. I'm really getting good at it and I wish that things were like that back home. It's one of the things I'm really going to miss. It was also one of the things I was most nervous about when I came here. Go figure!

We came back to Mumbai late Sunday night by plane and this week is full of clinical visits. In the mornings we go to the clinic of the doctors Mehta. They are a husband and wife who are both doctors and they own and run their own practice together. In the evenings, from 6-9:30, we are at the clinic of Dr. Bathla a young doctor who caters to the upper middle class. Last night was my first night with Dr. Bathla and things went pretty normally, for the most part. He is a great physician, he really cares for his patients and makes sure they are well cared for. He is the most westernized doctor that I have seen here so far. His patients, being upper middle class, can afford more on their healthcare and so they get better treatment in the sense that they can afford all the different tests and such so they actually are investigated. He is also a really good teacher. In the middle of seeing a patient Dr. Bathla got a phone call about a woman who had just vomited blood so as soon as we were finished with that patient, we went on an emergency house call. In India, when there is an emergency, you call the doctor out to your house. The ambulances are only used for transportation from one hospital to the other. I won't go into the details, because it took me over an hour to write them last night and I'm sure that you don't want to hear it all anyway. When we got there, it was already too late. The woman was the grandmother, roughly mid 80's. I've seen cadavers before and such, but this was different. Seeing her wasn't the hard part because death is a natural part of life and we all are going to experience it. What was difficult for me was the grief of the family, but I kept my professional composure. After that, the night was pretty much uneventful.

This week is going to fly right on by and I'll be home before you know it! I hope to be able to make it back to the cafe at least one more time before I have to head back on Saturday and I'll let you know how things are going.

Love, peace, and chicken grease!!

I do believe the monsoon season is upon us

From what I hear, it has been raining pretty much nonstop in Mumbai for the past two days.

If you remember, I have not been in Mumbai for the past four. Instead, I was roughly 35 (give or take) km from there in a place called Panvel. They called this our "rural rotation" for some strange reason, but there wasn't much that was rural about it. In all actuality, Panvel is a developing city that isn't as large as Mumbai (20 million people is tough to beat) but is big and still growing. We arrived in Panvel via train and as soon as we got there, we were whisked away in an old Jeep to the place where we would be staying. My favorite part about this Jeep was that the speedometer never read the correct kmph, instead it would just bounce around from 15 km to 45 km and pretty much every speed in between. The place we stayed at is called Shantivan. It is a small community outside of Panvel where leprosy patients and their families live and work.

Upon arrival, we were shown our housing for the next three nights which consisted of a single room containing three beds, a ceiling fan to keep us cool, and an adjoining bathroom which did, in fact, have a western toilet but for baths we were going to have to adopt the bucket-shower technique. We were then left to our own devices for the rest of the evening along with the warning that power outages due to the monsoon season where common. As it turns out, they weren't kidding about that at all. The first outage occurred during dinner and the last around 5:30 this morning. They really weren't too terrible except for the fact that when the power went out so did the ceiling fan and our only means of keeping cool. Now before you get too worried about us, the longest outage lasted about 13 minutes, so it really wasn't all that bad.

The first night was long. We arrived at the Shantivan around three in the afternoon and it was up to us to provide our own entertainment for the rest of the night and every night after that. To be honest, Kristie and I both spent our free time reading. I finished two books in my time spent there and let me tell you, that book I bought last weekend based on the television series Angel was a lot better than I expected it to be. It was just like watching an episode. :D For dinner we went to the canteen and were given what I had expected to be fed when preparing to come to India. The food was spicy and we were to use our hands to eat. It was awesome!! I'll admit, using utensils to eat has been disappointing up until this point.

We visited different clinics and hospitals every day. Tuesday began with an all too short two hour visit to a dermatologist. He was very informative and interesting and his office was the nicest I have seen since my arrival in this country. Later, we were taken to a local hospital which is in charge of the LEAP (Leprosy Eradication Action Program which was started by the Lions Club International) in Panvel. We were given a brief tour of the facilities and then sent back to the Shantivan. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting a tour of this little community and all it has to offer. They have a nursing home, an assisted living facility, fields where patients can work and earn a living, daycare, living quarters, a library, a general store where they can also work, and the main office which also serves as working quarters for those residents who weave rugs, etc. of which they sell as well. We visited each one of these facilities as well as the school located nearby where children of the residents are sent for their education. The school was, by far, the highlight of the tour. The children were so excited to see us and their teachers even had them sing and perform for us.

Wednesday we were taken to an Orthopedic Surgeon where we watched him remove pins from a man's wrist of which he had previously broken his radius, take a biopsy from an enlargement of a lady's second metacarpal, and reset and put pins in the humerus of a rickshaw driver who had received a compound fracture the day before in a car accident.

Today we visited the Gune Hospital in Panvel, where they tried to put us in surgery yet again. After watching the removal of a woman's gallbladder, we asked if we could got with a doctor while he made his rounds. We were taken to the office of Dr. Vivek Singh, a rather young doctor who was very knowledgeable and a fantastic teacher. It really was too bad that we only got to spend two hours following him because I know that we could have learned a lot more than we did.

The highlight of Shantivan were the three little girls we met. Our initial meeting was on Tuesday morning when we were roused out of our books with the call of "Aunty, Aunty!" These three little girls spoke mainly Marathi (the local language) but did know a few phrases such as "good morning" but it still made conversation difficult. They shared in our ride into town each morning on our way to the clinics and their way into school, sitting in the back and giggling the entire way there. Yesterday, one of them tapped me on the shoulder and said "Aunty, apka nam kya hai?" which is one of the few phrases in Hindi that I actually know. She was asking me for my name so I gave it to her. I find it cute how when I tell people my name here they automatically think I say Maria. I guess they just don't get Lydia's here very often. I even got a Nadia at one point which made me feel like Sayid's love interest in Lost. We gave them Kristie's name as well and then they told us their names: Ashwini, Nikita, and Schubda (I have no idea if I'm spelling those right at all). Today, they told us that they were fourth graders and they wrote their names in Marathi for us. They were super cute and I miss them already.

Panvel was a good experience and I'm glad that I got to get out of Mumbai and out of the mess that they call public transportation for a little while but it's extremely nice to have air conditioning again. This weekend we will visit Delhi and Agra to see the Taj Mahal as well as other landmarks (Qutab Minar, anyone?). This should be interesting.

I'm sending my love to you all wrapped in a saree and smelling of chai. I'll see you sooner than you think. :D

TACOS!!!

I would do just about anything to get my hands on some Mexican food right about now. Don't get me wrong, the food here isn't bad, but I've just been craving tacos since about the second day here and it's threatening to drive me insane. :D

Believe it or not, the past few days have been a little on the dull side and there really isn't much to report, but I'm sure I can ramble on and make this into a longer post by the time I'm done.

Our last few days at the BSES Hospital were very similar to the rest of the week. We did get a little fed up with just being sent to surgery for the entire day, so we sent out to find new things to keep ourselves busy. We did, after all, come to India to see things that we do not get to see in the US and I think after the first surgery or two we all had a good grasp of how they differ from the way things are done in the states. We had met a surgeon our first day whose name was Dr. Mysdri (I'm probably spelling it entirely wrong and I apologize to him for that now) and he had told us that if we wanted to on one of our days we could observe him with patients. We actually found him in the Surgical Clinic and he was pretty excited to see us when we showed up. He spent the entire time talking to us about different medical conditions and explaining to us what was wrong with each patient as they came in. It was the most attention that was granted to us the entire week in that hospital and a great learning experience. He was both funny and extremely informative.

Here's a tidbit that I believe you may find interesting because I sure found it to be. Here in India, patients do not make appointments, they just show up and are seen by the doctors according to the order in which they arrive. Patients who are to make follow-up visits are to do so on their honor so, a lot of the time, they do not come back if they are feeling better. We also found out that most of the hospitals do not have emergency rooms. When questioned, most doctors tell us that there really aren't a whole lot of emergencies that they face because traffic travels a lot slower here than it does in the US. That argument doesn't really hold water at all because there are more emergencies than just traffic and by the way people drive around here, I'm surprised that there aren't more accidents.

Friday afternoon, after we left the hospital for the last time, was spent at Dr. Bhatki's apartment for "snacks." As Nicole is aware and told me multiple times before I came here, when you visit the home of an Indian, they will try to feed you and feed you and feed you. That, my dear friends, is exactly what they did. Haha. Upon arrival, we were each given a glass of Pepsi (I've started drinking soda again *gasp* because it's rude not to accept what you're offered here. It's the culture.) which was topped off whenever it became empty or was starting to look a little too empty. Then Dr. Bhatki's wife brought out the "snacks". I cannot remember the names so you'll have to forgive me. One bowl was filled with these round discs. They were actually what had been sitting on my desk in the bright pink bag (if my roommates remember this at all) that I bought at Curry Up! last September. These, however, tasted a whole lot better than the ones that I bought at the store had. Another bowl was filled with these little yellow rods made out of rice and seasoned with some spice that I cannot name. Then, we were each given a bowl of rice seasoned with many different things as well as vegetables. This, we came to discover, is a favorite in Southern India. A large bowl filled with the rice was brought out and whenever we finished our bowls, we were encouraged to take some more. If we did not, Dr. Bhatki himself, would fill our bowls again for us. Just when we thought we were done, Mrs. Bhatki brings out, what I believe was flan. I have never had flan before and they just called it pudding, but it looked like flan. Wait! There's more! Ice cream was also brought out. It was of a different flavor than I had ever had before and we were told that it was made by the Jain's (a religious group who is entirely vegan). We were made to eat two of them and we were finally done. I believe that in that one sitting, we ate more foodstuffs and consumed more calories than each of us normally do in an entire day, but it was a good experience.

This weekend was pretty lazy. Yesterday we went to South Mumbai and hit up some of the local bookstores. In one of them, I discovered that a book series had been created after the television series Angel and this bookstore seemed to have every one of them. I was incredibly tempted to buy them all, but I limited myself to only one which was on sale for 70 Rs. ($1.50 for those interested). We took the day off today and just relaxed for the first time since we've been here. It was nice to sleep in, and just read the day away.

Tomorrow, we are being split up. Kristie and I leave in the morning for Panvel, which is east of Mumbai, for our rural rotation while Bryce and Rohan will stay here. The rural location only takes two students at a time and we will not have access to the internet while we are there, so this will be my last post for awhile.

Next weekend we will be making the trip up to Delhi and Agra so we can see the Taj Mahal and a few of the other sights up in the North before we leave the country. Who knows if I'll ever have the opportunity to come back here again?

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I keep forgetting my cable every time we come here. You'll get to see them eventually, whether it be when I get back or before. :D

Happy Father's Day!!

And the fun begins...

I'll just start this post with a warning that it will not be as cheery and optimistic as the last few have been. This week has not been all that great for us, let me tell you the story.
Tuesday was just like every other day, we all got ready, ate breakfast, and met Claver at the hostel in order to get ready to leave. Everything after that was different. It started when we got on the bus. It was super crowded that day, it was rush hour after all. We had to push our way on board and when we got on, Kristie realized that her camera which she usually had attached to her person was missing. We looked all over the floor of the bus, but we could not find it. We told Claver about it when he met us at the train station and he told us that he would go back and ask the shop owners in front of the bus stop if they had seen it. He seemed really optimistic about it, actually. Needless to say, Kristie was upset and refused to ride in the ladies compartment of the train. She actually challenged Claver by asking if it were illegal for her to ride with the men. It wasn't, so she stayed with them. I, however, enjoy riding in the ladies compartment. There's simply more room in there and you don't have to worry about being in super close quarters with men. I went and got in line over there.
The train on Tuesday was the most packed I have ever seen it. Any place that a person could be squished into was filled with a person. I was fortunate enough to make it onto the train just in time to get in position to get off the train at the appropriate stop and when I got off the train I could only find Claver. He told me that he didn't think that the others had been able to make it onto the train and that they should be coming with the next train. Sure enough as the next train arrived, I saw Bryce get off (it's really not difficult to spot any of us because of our skin color and how tall we all are in comparison to the locals). However, Kristie was not with them. They informed us that she had gotten onto the same train as we had, but she must not have been able to get off.
Then Bryce gave us a new bit of information to share with us. He had been pick pocketed while on the train and could no longer find his wallet. Claver was shocked and told us that someone(s) must have picked us out and are following us. Well, that made me super paranoid having not had anything stolen from me yet. Claver decided that Rohan, since he is of Indian descent, would not be in any danger of being pick pocketed, so he sent him along to the hospital. He then took Bryce and I to an internet cafe close by to look up the numbers for Bryce's credit and debit card so that he could cancel them. Bryce was out of minutes on his phone so he had to use mine to make the call which is why I ran out of minutes. Although, I am going to go and refill it after this. After the internet cafe, we went to the police station at the train station to file a report. Finally, after all that, we went to the hospital where they stuck us in surgeries for the rest of the day.
Since Tuesday everyone has been a little on edge and we have resolved to never take the public transport here again. From now on it is only auto rickshaws or cabs.
To move on to a different subject, we went to a mall yesterday to just forget about the past couple of days and catch a movie. This mall was very westernized with a Reebok and Nike store. It even had a T.G.I. Friday's, which we ate at. It was nice to have a change to something familiar. The movie we saw was called Ek Second (One Second Can Change Your Life). It was honestly the worst movie I have ever seen, even worse than Rainbow if you can believe that. The acting, camera work, sets, music, dancing, everything that you can imagine was just terrible and the story line was even worse. It's a little disheartening to watch Bollywood movies in the states and be completely in love with the genre and then come to Bollywood's capital and only see the worst movies. Maybe next week will be better?
I know that I've just been complaining, so I'll stop now. I promise that the next update will be better. :D I love and miss you all. India isn't that bad, no matter how much my cohorts complain. Something like this can happen no matter where you go. It was just bad luck is all.

P.S. The monsoon season has officially started. You have never experienced rain until you have experienced a monsoon here. The streets are just running with water and the amazing part is is that within 20 of the rain stopping, the water is magically gone. The days are not as hot now and the humidity has definitely gone down.

Rainy day

I'm not entirely sure if the monsoon season is fully upon us yet or if these are just the pre-rains, but it has definitely been raining for the better part of the day. We haven't seen the sun in two days, but there was no rain yesterday.

Brief side note. I've noticed that in my previous blog posts, I have misspelled a lot of words. I ask that you would please, please, please forgive me for that seeing as how I am on a tight schedule. It's a little difficult to get everything accomplished in the hour that the internet cafe allots me every time I am able to make the trek in. :D

Anyways, back to business. Yesterday was fun. We did end up going to Elephanta Island as planned. It wasn't really as great as I imagined it or websites described it as being, but it was still the experience, you know? The island is located a ways off of the island that is Mumbai, so we had to take a boat to get there. Now, I have been to the ocean three times after never having gone once in my entire life and I am completely in love!! It's just the most amazing and calming thing in the world to me. I really feel at peace there and am even more aware of God's everlasting presence than in normal situations. I can't wait to go someplace where the ocean isn't polluted and disgusting; where people don't throw everything and anything they can into it and I can actually put my toes in the water. Road trip when I get back, anyone?

I bring that up because the ferry ride over the the island was, in a word, AMAZING. The breeze, the gentle (and at times not so gentle) rocking of the boat. I never wanted to leave, but in an hour, we were there. After deboarding the boat we began the two kilometer journey to the main caves. It was located up a hill and we had a bit of a climb on a pathway paved in stones. There were merchants located along both sides the entire way up, but they didn't bother us until we were headed back down. The caves themselves had been created and decorated, according to the guidebook, over 2500 years ago. Many of the carvings were that of the Hindu god Shiva and depicted scenes of his life. The money that they charged us for entry is not spent on upkeep of the caves themselves, so it was a little anticlimactic.

On the way down, I bartered with a merchant for some trinkets and I am a little more proud of myself than I should be. He originally wanted 250 rupees for what I wanted and I bartered with him for a bit. I was told to start somewhere around a third of the price and then go up bit by bit from there. He refused to go any lower than 150 rupees, which was still a bit of a rip off for the things I wanted. So, I told him that I really didn't need these things, set them back down, and began to walk away. As I'm walking I can hear the man shouting "Alright madam, 130!" I kept walking. "120" No response from my end. Then I hear a loud sigh followed by, "Okay, okay 100." which was the price I had last asked for, so I turned back around and made my purchase. Not a huge accomplishment, but I'm really proud of myself.

Once we returned to Mumbai, we trekked over to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum. That was also a bit of a disappointment. There are some good specimens in there, but they are not being will kept. There is no temperature of regulation or humidity on the artifacts, or of the entire museum in general. Nor do they avoid shining light directly on the exhibits. Some of the paintings that are there are already showing degradation in the form of cracks and the wood beneath showing through. We all split up when it came to the museum and tackled the different wings at our own pace. It was a little awkward because people kept staring at me and I felt even more self concious than usual because it is strange in this country for a woman to be seen alone and I was rather sweaty from the walk over and the building was not air conditioned at all. The people here can spend the entire day doing the same things we are doing and not look half as filthy and sweaty as we do in one hour. It's just all what you're used to, I guess.

I finished my perusing through the museum just a little before my comrades, so I sat on a bench to wait. People would pass by and look and I would smile if they caught my eye. There was a family who passed me whose mother did just that. When I smiled at her, she smiled back and her entire face lit up. I usually don't see that response from the adults, but from the children I get it a lot. A few minutes later, I felt a group approaching me. When I looked up, I realized that it was that family. The mother said something in Marathi to me and motioned down. Where she motioned was a little girl, no older than six or seven. She asked me what my name was in English, so I answered her. Some of the family didn't hear what I had said so I repeated my name for them more slowly and they repeated it back to me. The little girl then told me her name (also in English), but unfortunately, I cannot remember it. I told her that it was very nice to meet her and shook her hand. The entire family left grinning from ear to ear. That was really the highlight of my time here so far.

I am very shocked at how little the people here see white people. I suppose if they are more from the rural areas, that is common because the foreigners tend to stick to the more populated areas which cater to them more. I understand that this is why they stare, and also why they take pictures as if I am some rare bird in the zoo. I understand it and I was prepared for it, but it still surprises me when it occurs, nonetheless.

Today we went to the BSES hospital. There we met the CFHI coordinator for the country of India as well as the cancer surgeon for their hospital. This surgeon informed us that they specialized in treating the mind because you cannot get better if the mind is sick. He also told us that the administrative head of the Brahma Kumaris (a religious group who dedicate their lives to God and meditation) who run the hospital was arriving today from a six week trip out of country. While we were in his office he got a call informing him that she had arrived and he asked us if we'd like to meet her. He compared her to Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and a few other such figureheads. We couldn't resist the invitation.

When we arrived at their center in Juhu, we were fortunate enough to sit in on the woman speak for ten minutes. Her name is Dadi Janki and you can follow this link to read more about her ( http://www.bkwsu.org/whoweare/spiritualleaders/dadijanki.htm). She is a 94 year old spiritual leader and smart as all get out. We received toli (a sweet) from her and also got a picture with her. This woman is very wise and, from what the translator told us, is very fervent for God (which gives her two gold stars in my book). I wish I could write more about her, but my hour is drawing close to an end. She really was a remarkable woman and we truly were blessed to be able to meet her and listen to her speak.

I was also planning to put up a few of the pictures that I have taken, but we didn't have time to run back to the hostel before we came here, unfortunately. I'll definitely try next time, but I won't promise anything.

We have decided that Tuesday is movie night. We went and saw Kites last week and Baadmash Company is tentatively on the schedule for tomorrow. :D

Love and miss you all.

Lydia

HOT!!!!

I can't believe I've already been in this busy country for a week! There are times when it feels like I have been here for a month, and others where it seems like just yesterday. We are super busy, but that doesn't mean that we're not learning a lot and having fun as well.
This week was spent in morning lectures about leprosy and AIDS along with visits to Dr. Potnis' clinic in the afternoon. Doctor's offices here are wild. In the states, doctors see maybe a total of twenty patients per day, give or take. Here, in just three hours, the doctor sees and treats that many or more. I know that we slowed down Dr. Potnis because he would have to explain the symptoms the patient described to him in English for us as well provide us with an explanation of the treatment(s) he would prescribe. I can understand some of the local language, but I have no idea what is being said for the most part. I did talk with a patient the other day while we were waiting for Dr. Potnis to arrive. We exchanged names and simple pleasantries, but it was still quite a rush! I know, I know. Simple minds and all that. :D
We leave the clinic around 3:30 in the afternoons and have the rest of the evening to ourselves, which we spend exploring the city and taking in the sights. Eating the local cuisine has been a bit of a problem though. None of us has really been hungry enough to eat more than one to one and a half meals a day, it's simply too hot for that.
The University of Mumbai campus at which we are staying is a new campus. They are actually moving slowly from the old location, which is what you will see on all the maps, to this location. We are situated in Kalina, which is one of the many suburbs of Mumbai. So we're not in the city and it takes a little bit of a trek to get down there. It's mainly train, but it's quite a long ride. :D One of these days, when I have more time and remember to bring my cable, I'll put some pictures up of my adventures so you can get a feel for what's going on over here.
Yesterday, we traveled down to South Mumbai into the heart of the city. We went and walked along Marine Drive and sat there for a bit. After having never been to the ocean before and now going three days in a row, I am in love. I think once I get back to the states, I'll have to make some time for a road trip to the Pacific. It'll be nice to find water that is clean enough that I can put my toes in it. Anyone game? After Marine Drive we wanted to find the Gateway of India and set off walking. Shamefully, we got super lost and we were mainly wandering until a lady finally gave us some good directions. We all got our pictures taken with the Gateway and more.
I forgot to mention that here, staring is not considered rude and people stare at us no matter where we go. The day before yesterday we went to Juhu Beach and a lady asked Kristie if she could take a picture of her with her kids. While at the gateway, there were five different people that took pictures of us while we were walking around and those are only the ones I noticed. I'm sure that there were a lot more, but I don't have eyes all over my head.
We then went to the Taj Hotel and, boy, is it fancy!! It's so different from the India that I have seen and experienced. I just hope that the foreigners who stay there and in the surrounding areas visit other places in Mumbai to get a real feel for the country than what they are getting there because that is not the real India. Just like the resorts, etc. in Mexico do not reflect how Mexico actually is.
Tomorrow our plan is to visit Elephanta Island to explore the caves and hopefully go to the Prince of Whales Museam (that's what it used to be called, but I can't remember what it's called now).
This week we will be spending our time in a hospital and split up according to what our areas of interest are. I'm really excited!

Lydia

Greetings from the land of Bengal tigers, chai and (of course!!) Bollywood

Hey all! It certainly has been long enough since I have posted for this blog. I'm not going to lie, this isn't the first time that I have had access to a computer since i have been in India. I did have access for a half an hour on Monday morning before our meeting with Dr. Bhatki, but that was at a crappy internet cafe that took forever to load one page. Remember how slow dial up was? Ya, and even slower. So you'll have to forgive me for waiting until now to update you.
The flights were alright. I spent the eight and a half hour trip to Frankfurt, Germany in a mild comatose state until the plane landed. Upon arrival, I realized that my phone could not get any service and there was no way to inform family and friends of my arrival. Not to mention India. The company I had gone through had also given me the wrong information for my connecting flight to India, so there was no way for anyone to keep track of me back home even if they wanted to. I got it all figured out and did board the correct plane. This plane was awesome!! Now, you may be wondering how it could be so awesomly different from any other plane I had been on. It wasn't really, except for the simple fact that each person had their own television screen and could choose whatever they wanted to watch, either English or Hindi. I totally watched Bollywood the entire way there!!! Yay me!!
When we arrived in India, it was hot, but not too hot. The plane didn't pull up to a terminal. Instead, we pulled up against a fence and they had us disembark down a ladder. There had been hundreds of people on our flight too! Buses took us to the terminal and we then had to go through customs. The plane landed at 9:30 and by the time I was finished with that it was already after 10 and I still had my bag to pick up. When I, eventually, found the correct place, I could not find my bag. I stood there with other passengers from my same flight for nearly an hour and a half just waiting. It turns out that they sent half of the luggage from our flight through and then put through all the luggage from some other flight arriving from Singapore and then the rest of our luggage.
I was, needless to say, very worried about whether my ride had given up on me or not. I exited the airport and walked through the line of people holding signs twice and could not find my name. I had to find a phone and call Hema the CFHI representative for the entire country of India for help. She told me that my ride was there and had been looking for me. I had to describe where I was and then waited for him to come. Not too long after, he arrived. The man who showed up turned out to be Claver De Costa (I'm probably spelling the last name completely wrong) and he is our Local Coordinator, he shows us (and even comes with us) how to get from place to place in this hectic city.
I followed him over to the place where Bryce and Kristie were waiting and then we got some cabs to take to the university campus. Kristie and I shared the one while Bryce and Claver shared the other. It was quite an experience, like none I've ever had before. There is no regard for the "rules of the road" like we have in the US and pedistrians don't have the right of way, the cars do. Cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, cabs, motorized rickshaws, etc. find any whole they can squeeze into and just go for it. It is not uncommon for vehicles to be within inches of each other, from all angles. They also constanly honk to attempt to make people and other cars get out of their way.
The rest of that night was pretty unexciting. The next morning, we explored the city and had meetings.
My schedule right now is lectures in the morning to give us background on the diseases we'll be looking at and of the city in general and in the afternoons we go to a clinic. I have seen Malaria, Typhoid, and Leprosy, just to name a few of the major ones, so far and a lot of very common things. The style and atmosphere of healthcare in India is extremely different from that of the US. Gloves are only used when absolutely necessary and there is really no such thing as doctor-patient confidentiality. Also, patients do not have the time or the funds for doctors to run all sorts of tests so they medicate them as soon as they see them for whatever they believe they have, whether they actually have it or not.
There hasn't really been a whole lot of sight seeing so far. We did go to a mall yesterday where I purchased Parugu (Yes, it has Allu Arjun in it) for less than three American dollars, and we went to a movie. We went to Kites because that was all we had time for before curfew at the guesthouse, but I would not recommend seeing it. It was made to try to sell to the US and is not really Bollywood and not good by any standards whatsoever. Also, today we went to the beach and I got to see the ocean for the very first time. The wind there was so refreshing after doing all that walking in the hot sun. :) I will post pictures soon.
My hour is almost up after catching up on facebook and twitter and then this. I will add more the next time I am free and we make the trek down here. :)
Love and miss you all
Lydia