First Week In India

So I somehow used my technology skills this afternoon and got my computer on the internet so I am able to post on my blog earlier than I thought I would be able to.

I finally made it to India on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning after some interesting travel situations. After our delays and flight changes we made it to the Des Moines airport on Monday and were pretty excited to get to India. We found out that our plane was delayed because of weather in Newark (where our plane was coming from). The plane finally arrived and they had us board the plane thinking we would take off soon, but because there were still storms in Newark we sat on the runway for almost 2 hours. We finally arrived in Newark, found our gate and grabbed some food before we boarded the plane to India. It was about a 14-hour plane ride. I ended up watching some movies and then Courtney and I slept the majority of the flight. We then were picked up at the airport after going through customs and drove to Loni. We were told the drive would take anywhere from 4-6 hours and it ended up taking about 6 ½ hours. We were ready to be there after so many hours of traveling. We then got to our rooms at about 4:30 am and slept until about 8.

Finally getting to leave the DSM airport

During the first day we were here we met with the other Drake students and they showed us around a little bit. We then went to the Center for Social Medicine (the college we are getting the certificate from) and met with the director. He tried to catch Courtney and myself up a bit on what they had talked about the previous 2 days. He also explained how Pravara Medical Institute came to be. It started out with a co-operative of farmers who started a sugar cane factory and eventually included schools, medical clinics, and farming technology. We then went on a tour of a sugar cane factory that was started in Loni and also toured a dairy. We tried some of their milk drink called Lasse that was pretty sweet. In the afternoon we toured some schools that are also part of the Pravara Education Trust and so we met students and saw the grounds. After touring we went to some stores to buy clothes for Courtney and myself. I ended up buying 7 tops to wear while in India. They clothing here is pretty cheap. The currency they use is called a rupee and the conversion is about 50 rupees to 1 US dollar. The majority of the tops cost 300 rupees (~$6).

Founder of Pravara

Sugar cane factory

Sugar cane by-product is alcohol

Dairy

Trying some lasse (a milk/smoothie thing)

Chemistry room at one of the schools we visited

Wearing some Indian clothes

The second day we were here we toured some more schools and learned more about the different education systems that they have.

Artwork done by some of the students

Trash cans at many of the schools

Friday was the first day that we did the actually program that we are here to do. It seems to be my understanding that for the next 7 weeks we will go to different areas of the hospital and clinics and do shadowing. We will be at each of the locations for 2 days before we rotate to the next area. Courtney and I are together and we went to ophthalmology.  The people in this area were very nice and friendly and talked to us about the drugs that they use for the eye exams. It was very busy and the residents say that in the department they see an average of 90 patients per day. We thought that sounded like a lot, but the resident said that in the government run hospitals the department would see about 1000 patients each day.

Eye chart

Drug list

Saturday we went to a school for their founder’s day. We sat through the program and were the “special guests” and then we went and had some cake. It was my first time eating sweet Indian food and it wasn’t too bad. Then we watched some of the kids play tug-of-war and cheered them on. After the winner was announced the Americans played tug-of-war against the teachers. We ended up winning both of the games we played. Then we hung out with the kids and played some games with them and also talked with them. A lot of the kids also wanted our autographs so we felt a little like celebrities as they shoved pieces of paper into our hands for us to write our names on, some of them even had us sign their hands since they didn’t have paper. I ended up talking with a group of boys for quite some time and we discussed popular culture things such as movies, singers, and games. It was very nice to talk with them all. The kids at the school were all very smart and spoke very good English. It is always amazing to me how many languages people from other countries can speak and makes me wish that I would have done a better job of learning another language while I was a student.

Playing tug-of-war

With some of the boys I talked with

Today we went ate breakfast on campus and then went back to our rooms. I did my first "load" of laundry and so I washed my clothes in a bucket in the bathroom. It was an interesting experience. I'm not sure how clean any of my clothes are, but they at least got wet and have some detergent on them. I'm also not sure if I rinsed them out very well so they may still have a little soap in them as I wear them. After lunch we decided to explore campus a little more and walked around and saw a temple that is on the one end of campus. We then did a little more shopping and bought some bananas as well as ice cream. Everyone else bought some more clothes at a shop that we hadn't been to before. I didn't see anything that I really liked so I didn't end up buying anything. The days are a little long when we don't have anything planned, but it is still nice to just have some time to relax. I think next weekend we are going to go to a nearby town for Saturday and Sunday and do some touristy things so that should be fun if we can work it out.

Temple 

Temple from the bottom of the hill

Courtney, Heather and Jill with their ice cream

Wing and me

I’m also starting to get used to the Indian food, but it is much spicer than I am used to. I really like the naan and rice :) We are staying in the international center and each have our own room and bathroom. It is a very nice facility.

Typical meal

Kitchen area of my room with sink, counter and cupboards

Bathroom

View of my room

Now that I think I will have more consistent internet access I should be able to do a blog post every day or 2 to keep you updated instead of this one really long post once a week.