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!!