- Getting a package from my parents. I wasn't sure if it would ever arrive, but it did on Monday so that was a good start to my week
- Breakfast at the hotel on Sunday. It's the simple things like having waffles for breakfast that can really make your day. I think the meal that I miss most from home is breakfast since it is so different in India.
- Seeing the taj mahal. It was really amazing and I'm still just in awe that people were able to build that all by hand.
- Chatting with Tanvi in Courtney's room on Tuesday night. I just love when you can make friends and can talk about random things for hours on end and not even realize how much time went by. I think it's great that no matter what country I am in I can always find new friends.
- Seeing the miracle of birth-getting to see 3 natural births and 1 c-section was truly amazing. Even though I was slightly grossed out by it all. It is still something that is very neat to see and so amazing that there is now a tiny baby that I watched come into the world.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Friday Fives
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Weekend Trip to New Delhi and Agra
Friday was a holiday in India so we weren't posted anywhere and so we decided to use this extra day to take a trip to New Delhi so we could visit Agra and the taj mahal. Friday we drove to Aurangabad and then flew to New Delhi where our hotel picked us up at the airport and we checked in and went right to bed since we had to get up early to drive to Agra to see the taj mahal. Our hotel was really nice and the beds were soo comfortable that we didn't want to get up the next day, but we did. It was about a 3-4 hour bus ride to Agra where we picked up our tour guide and headed to the taj mahal.
The taj mahal was amazing-all of the intricate details are so awesome to see. I am still amazed that people 400 years ago were able to do all of it by hand. I can't even imagine building something like that today with the technology that we had. Our tour guide was very good and told us the history of the taj mahal and also helped direct us to where we needed to go since there were so many people there. We joked that it would stink to have been the 1st or 2nd wife since he didn't build anything for them. I am very glad that we decided to take a weekend trip to see the taj mahal even if it was a little crammed in because it is truly that amazing and now I can say that I've seen one of the 7 wonders of the world. (Along with being able to say that I've seen one of the 7 natural wonders of the world when I went to Victoria Falls on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border).
After the taj mahal we visited a marble museum shop place where they showed us how they would have inlaid all of the stones into the marble and then had a shop for us to buy things if we wanted. We also went to a couple more touristy shops and bought some souvenirs to take back with us. Most of the shops we went to didn't do too much bartering so that was a little disappointing to us since we were hoping to do more of that.
We visited the Agra Fort where the family lived and also where the king was imprisoned by his son where there is also a view of the taj mahal. The fort was really neat and since it was made of the red marble there were paintings on some of the walls since the stones don't work to inlay on it. After the fort we headed back to New Delhi, which took some time since the roads were really crowded in Agra.
Sunday morning we slept in a little and had breakfast at our hotel which was amazing. I ate a waffle, omelet, and had some yogurt. It was so nice to have a waffle since I've been craving one for awhile. After checking out of our hotel we road a rickshaw to a downtown area of New Delhi and walked around a bit looking for some shops. Then we had some locals help us out and tell us where to go to buy handicrafts and also insisted that it wasn't safe for us to walk there, but that we needed to take a rickshaw so we did as we were told. We were glad that we listened to their advice since it would have been a long walk and we probably wouldn't have found the shop. We bought some more souvenirs here and then headed back to Cannaught Place and walked around and went into a few stores before we ate lunch at McDonalds. I had fries, a mcchicken, and a mcflurry and it was wonderful to have that little taste of America. Then we headed on the metro and went to the airport where we flew back.
It was a quick little trip to the city, but I really enjoyed it and am glad that we decided to go. It was really nice to be in a city again and have so much happening around. I think I could have spent at least a week in New Delhi looking at all of the sites to see and wandering around. Maybe someday I'll go back and really enjoy more of the city. I took quite a few pictures while there and have posted some of them to facebook, but I'll post a few more here. If you'd like to see even more let me know sometime and I can show them to you!
The taj mahal was amazing-all of the intricate details are so awesome to see. I am still amazed that people 400 years ago were able to do all of it by hand. I can't even imagine building something like that today with the technology that we had. Our tour guide was very good and told us the history of the taj mahal and also helped direct us to where we needed to go since there were so many people there. We joked that it would stink to have been the 1st or 2nd wife since he didn't build anything for them. I am very glad that we decided to take a weekend trip to see the taj mahal even if it was a little crammed in because it is truly that amazing and now I can say that I've seen one of the 7 wonders of the world. (Along with being able to say that I've seen one of the 7 natural wonders of the world when I went to Victoria Falls on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border).
After the taj mahal we visited a marble museum shop place where they showed us how they would have inlaid all of the stones into the marble and then had a shop for us to buy things if we wanted. We also went to a couple more touristy shops and bought some souvenirs to take back with us. Most of the shops we went to didn't do too much bartering so that was a little disappointing to us since we were hoping to do more of that.
We visited the Agra Fort where the family lived and also where the king was imprisoned by his son where there is also a view of the taj mahal. The fort was really neat and since it was made of the red marble there were paintings on some of the walls since the stones don't work to inlay on it. After the fort we headed back to New Delhi, which took some time since the roads were really crowded in Agra.
Sunday morning we slept in a little and had breakfast at our hotel which was amazing. I ate a waffle, omelet, and had some yogurt. It was so nice to have a waffle since I've been craving one for awhile. After checking out of our hotel we road a rickshaw to a downtown area of New Delhi and walked around a bit looking for some shops. Then we had some locals help us out and tell us where to go to buy handicrafts and also insisted that it wasn't safe for us to walk there, but that we needed to take a rickshaw so we did as we were told. We were glad that we listened to their advice since it would have been a long walk and we probably wouldn't have found the shop. We bought some more souvenirs here and then headed back to Cannaught Place and walked around and went into a few stores before we ate lunch at McDonalds. I had fries, a mcchicken, and a mcflurry and it was wonderful to have that little taste of America. Then we headed on the metro and went to the airport where we flew back.
It was a quick little trip to the city, but I really enjoyed it and am glad that we decided to go. It was really nice to be in a city again and have so much happening around. I think I could have spent at least a week in New Delhi looking at all of the sites to see and wandering around. Maybe someday I'll go back and really enjoy more of the city. I took quite a few pictures while there and have posted some of them to facebook, but I'll post a few more here. If you'd like to see even more let me know sometime and I can show them to you!
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| Eating out before we got on the plane |
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| Riding the bus from the plane to the airport |
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| Entrance to the taj mahal |
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| Taj mahal |
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| Our tour guide Raj |
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| Agra Fort |
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| Riding the metro back to the airport |
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday Fives
It's crazy to me that this is the end of my 6th week in India and there are only 2 more weeks to go. It has gone really slow at times and really fast at others. I'm sure the next couple weeks will go pretty fast until the journey home when I just want to be there and traveling will take so long. Well anyway here are my Friday fives:
- Getting my package from Chris. I had been waiting
patientlyfor a couple of weeks for it to come and it finally did on Thursday so I was pretty excited about that. (I'm still waiting on the one my parents sent so we'll see when that gets here) - Having lunch with the pharmacology guys talking with them about America and India
- Being posted in family medicine and actually having people talk to us and really explain what they were doing. I felt like I learned quite a bit from the doctor and interns in this department
- Hanging out with Tanvi on both Saturday and Sunday night. She is really awesome and I love hearing about her life and talking with her. Courtney and I also made her a collage one night so it was fun to do.
- Dinner on Tuesday with all of the international students. It was great just to all be together and enjoy trying out some Indian food that we hadn't had before.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Week 6 Update
The internet has been down the past couple of days so I haven't been able to post any updates, but it's back to working now for the moment so I can. Here is an update of the things that I have been up to the past few days:
Monday:
We were posted in the family medicine department. This was probably one of my favorite departments because the interns and doctor really took time to explain what they were looking for with each patient as well as what they thought the patient had and the treatment options for them. It was also apparent that the doctor really cared about each of the patients that he saw. He took time to really examine each of them and talk with them about what was going on, which is something that I haven't seen in all of the department. He also talked with us about different diseases, medications, and health care in general. He was very interesting to talk with and I wish that we would have been posted longer than just the 1 day and am hopeful that we may fit another visit into our schedule.
Tuesday:
Today we were posted in general medicine and so we started off the day by going on rounds. This was an ok experience, but they really didn't talk to us much about any of the patients so it felt like we were really just following a group around like lost puppies. We found out that a lot of the general medicine patients are in the hospital for things like organophosphate poisonings, snake bites, and things like this. In the afternoon we were in the outpatient department for a little bit and just observed the interactions between the residents and the patients. We also spent some time in meetings. In the middle of our day all of the international students met with staff from CSM as well as the Vice Chancellor of Pravara to give feedback on how things were going. Then in the afternoon we went to CSM for Ben's presentation on his time at Pravara since it was his last day. It was really fun to listen to him give his presentation and see his view on how things went. It seems like his time here was really short even though he was here for 4 weeks, and I wish I would have gotten to know him a little better. In the evening we were invited to the guest house with the staff from CSM as well as the vice chancellor for a meal. It was outside and had multiple courses. The food was really good and I ate way too much. It was also great to chat with the students from the other universities and get to know them all a little more.
Wednesday:
Today we went to a rural area nearby called Bhandardara where we visited 2 rural health centers in the area and a mobile clinic. We talked with the staff at each of these locations about the types of patients that they typically see and got tours of the facilities. The staff were all great and really seemed to care about the patients that they saw. The patients that are mainly served by these locations are tribal people and people that are very poor and don't have a lot of access to health care. I was really impressed with all of the things that they are able to do at these sites with limited resources. They really make the most of what they are given and really don't waste much. At one of the clinics we made friends with a dog that Courtney named Bill. He followed us around the village and even followed our car for a bit when we left. I also made friends with a little boy and got him to smile at me as well as play with my watch and look at me without crying so I'm making some progress with the small children. The area that we went to was also really scenic and was surrounded by mountains so it was really pretty as we drove around. On our way back we were also able to stop at the dam that is nearby and take pictures around it after doing a little hike in my sandals.
Tomorrow I'm posted in surgery and then on Friday we are headed to New Delhi to go see the area as well as the taj mahal so I'm pretty excited about that.
Monday:
We were posted in the family medicine department. This was probably one of my favorite departments because the interns and doctor really took time to explain what they were looking for with each patient as well as what they thought the patient had and the treatment options for them. It was also apparent that the doctor really cared about each of the patients that he saw. He took time to really examine each of them and talk with them about what was going on, which is something that I haven't seen in all of the department. He also talked with us about different diseases, medications, and health care in general. He was very interesting to talk with and I wish that we would have been posted longer than just the 1 day and am hopeful that we may fit another visit into our schedule.
Tuesday:
Today we were posted in general medicine and so we started off the day by going on rounds. This was an ok experience, but they really didn't talk to us much about any of the patients so it felt like we were really just following a group around like lost puppies. We found out that a lot of the general medicine patients are in the hospital for things like organophosphate poisonings, snake bites, and things like this. In the afternoon we were in the outpatient department for a little bit and just observed the interactions between the residents and the patients. We also spent some time in meetings. In the middle of our day all of the international students met with staff from CSM as well as the Vice Chancellor of Pravara to give feedback on how things were going. Then in the afternoon we went to CSM for Ben's presentation on his time at Pravara since it was his last day. It was really fun to listen to him give his presentation and see his view on how things went. It seems like his time here was really short even though he was here for 4 weeks, and I wish I would have gotten to know him a little better. In the evening we were invited to the guest house with the staff from CSM as well as the vice chancellor for a meal. It was outside and had multiple courses. The food was really good and I ate way too much. It was also great to chat with the students from the other universities and get to know them all a little more.
Wednesday:
Today we went to a rural area nearby called Bhandardara where we visited 2 rural health centers in the area and a mobile clinic. We talked with the staff at each of these locations about the types of patients that they typically see and got tours of the facilities. The staff were all great and really seemed to care about the patients that they saw. The patients that are mainly served by these locations are tribal people and people that are very poor and don't have a lot of access to health care. I was really impressed with all of the things that they are able to do at these sites with limited resources. They really make the most of what they are given and really don't waste much. At one of the clinics we made friends with a dog that Courtney named Bill. He followed us around the village and even followed our car for a bit when we left. I also made friends with a little boy and got him to smile at me as well as play with my watch and look at me without crying so I'm making some progress with the small children. The area that we went to was also really scenic and was surrounded by mountains so it was really pretty as we drove around. On our way back we were also able to stop at the dam that is nearby and take pictures around it after doing a little hike in my sandals.
Tomorrow I'm posted in surgery and then on Friday we are headed to New Delhi to go see the area as well as the taj mahal so I'm pretty excited about that.
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| Dinner on Tuesday night |
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| It was a red top black leggings day |
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| With Bill (the dog) |
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| My new bff |
Monday, August 5, 2013
Making Friends
We have actually started to make some friends from the departments that we have been in so far and this weekend we had the chance to hang out with some of them and had a lot of fun.
On Saturday we went over to one of the professors from the pharmacology departments house and had mutton biryani. It is a traditional Indian dish made of spices, rice, and lamb. It takes about a day to make and they special order it from a person in Loni. When Courtney and I were in the pharmacology department the guys were appalled that we hadn't eaten it yet or even heard of it before so they said that we all had to eat it sometime. It was really good, probably one of my favorite things that we've eaten so far in India. It was quite spicy so it was best when we mixed it with some curd (a sour cream/yogurt type thing) and it actually ended up tasting very similar to a chipotle burrito bowl (which I have been craving recently) so that was really good.
We ended up just sitting at his house and talking for quite some time about a lot of random topics. One of the Indian guys knows quite a bit about America so we talked about America for quite a while. I think he knows more about America then we do, which is fine. We all also just joked around for awhile and they made fun of us for a variety of things. It was a great afternoon and I am so glad that they invited us over and made sure that we had this traditional Indian dish.
Saturday evening Courtney, Jill, and I went over to one of the ophthalmology resident's (Tanvi) room and talked with her for quite some time. It was really nice of her to invite us over and just chat about life with her. We learned more about India and the marriage customs as she is engaged to be married in January as well as her plans for after she is done with her residencies. She is a really awesome person to talk with so we had a great time just having some girl time.
Sunday night all of us went back to Tanvi's room and we brought pizza from the London Twist and she made us pasta. The pasta was so good especially since we haven't had any while we've been here. We spent a few hours in her room just chatting again and talking about all sorts of random things. It was a really great evening and so I hope that we continue to hang out with her during our remaining time because she is so sweet and just an amazing person to talk with.
On Saturday we went over to one of the professors from the pharmacology departments house and had mutton biryani. It is a traditional Indian dish made of spices, rice, and lamb. It takes about a day to make and they special order it from a person in Loni. When Courtney and I were in the pharmacology department the guys were appalled that we hadn't eaten it yet or even heard of it before so they said that we all had to eat it sometime. It was really good, probably one of my favorite things that we've eaten so far in India. It was quite spicy so it was best when we mixed it with some curd (a sour cream/yogurt type thing) and it actually ended up tasting very similar to a chipotle burrito bowl (which I have been craving recently) so that was really good.
We ended up just sitting at his house and talking for quite some time about a lot of random topics. One of the Indian guys knows quite a bit about America so we talked about America for quite a while. I think he knows more about America then we do, which is fine. We all also just joked around for awhile and they made fun of us for a variety of things. It was a great afternoon and I am so glad that they invited us over and made sure that we had this traditional Indian dish.
Saturday evening Courtney, Jill, and I went over to one of the ophthalmology resident's (Tanvi) room and talked with her for quite some time. It was really nice of her to invite us over and just chat about life with her. We learned more about India and the marriage customs as she is engaged to be married in January as well as her plans for after she is done with her residencies. She is a really awesome person to talk with so we had a great time just having some girl time.
Sunday night all of us went back to Tanvi's room and we brought pizza from the London Twist and she made us pasta. The pasta was so good especially since we haven't had any while we've been here. We spent a few hours in her room just chatting again and talking about all sorts of random things. It was a really great evening and so I hope that we continue to hang out with her during our remaining time because she is so sweet and just an amazing person to talk with.
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| What the biryani looked like |
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| Pasta and pizza |
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Rural Health Center and Mobile Clinic
Thursday and Friday we spent our time learning more about the outreach that the Center for Social Medicine at Pravara does. We spent Thursday at the mobile clinic. We rode in the clinic bus to one of the villages and parked there for the morning. Patients would come on the bus and talk to the doctor and then be given medicines at a low cost to treat whatever they had. There weren't a ton of patients since it was raining and the villages didn't know that we were coming. We took a lunch break and then a nap break while we were parked on the side of the road. The nap break lasted an hour and everyone (2 nurses, driver, doctor, Courtney, and I) all slept for at least a little bit of it. Then we drove to the next village and parked there and saw a few more patients before we called it a day and drove back to Pravara. It was nice to learn a little bit about the mobile clinic and to see how it functions. We found out that most of the month they go to places where there are migrant workers and they do HIV/AIDS screening tests because this population has a high risk of HIV/AIDS and then the other days are when they go to the villages. In the villages the diseases that they mainly see is a common cold and things like that. If the patient needs more investigations done then they are referred to the hospital in Loni for those tests to be done. We also learned a little more about the doctor and her family and she shared pictures of her son with us so that was fun.
Friday we rode the shuttle bus with some interns and residents to one of the rural health centers. It was also a rainy day so there wasn't a lot of patients to be seen, but we did talk quite a bit with the doctor and the intern. We learned how the rural health center works and that there is one for every 50,000 people in the area that Pravara is located. The patients then are able to go to the center and have all of their primary health care needs and some basic lab tests done here and if they need more specialized care then they are referred to the hospital in Loni. They do a lot of prenatal care visits and prescribe all the prenatal medications for the mothers in the area. They don't deliver babies at the rural health centers though, so moms are to go to the hospital around their due date to give birth. In the afternoon the lab technician showed us how to perform the HIV screening test and we were each able to do one of those tests with the blood samples of patients. He then also showed us how to do the hemoglobin test by hand and so we each tested each others hemoglobin. The highlight of the day for me though was when one small child actually looked at us and made faces back at us. I can't remember if I've posted this before but most of the kids here are scared of us. When we smile at them they look away or run to their parents pretty much as fast as they can. This adorable little boy though came right up to us and played with my watch, copied my facial expressions, and hide behind a curtain and then would pop out to look at me.
Friday we rode the shuttle bus with some interns and residents to one of the rural health centers. It was also a rainy day so there wasn't a lot of patients to be seen, but we did talk quite a bit with the doctor and the intern. We learned how the rural health center works and that there is one for every 50,000 people in the area that Pravara is located. The patients then are able to go to the center and have all of their primary health care needs and some basic lab tests done here and if they need more specialized care then they are referred to the hospital in Loni. They do a lot of prenatal care visits and prescribe all the prenatal medications for the mothers in the area. They don't deliver babies at the rural health centers though, so moms are to go to the hospital around their due date to give birth. In the afternoon the lab technician showed us how to perform the HIV screening test and we were each able to do one of those tests with the blood samples of patients. He then also showed us how to do the hemoglobin test by hand and so we each tested each others hemoglobin. The highlight of the day for me though was when one small child actually looked at us and made faces back at us. I can't remember if I've posted this before but most of the kids here are scared of us. When we smile at them they look away or run to their parents pretty much as fast as they can. This adorable little boy though came right up to us and played with my watch, copied my facial expressions, and hide behind a curtain and then would pop out to look at me.
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| Villages covered by the Rural Health Center we were at |
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| Testing Courtney's hemoglobin |
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| Getting my finger pricked |
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| Courtney testing my hemoglobin |
Friday, August 2, 2013
Friday Fives
- Going to Suguna's house and hanging out. It was so nice to look at wedding pictures, chat, try on sarees, and have a home cooked meal.
- Getting to skype with Erin. I sometimes forget how much I love to talk with her and so it was so nice to catch up on life with her and Courtney. The only thing that was missing was some nachos and juju juice from Jethros and it would have been perfect.
- Great conversations after our time in Nashik. Talking with my mom after the first day really helped me process some things and then on Tuesday night Courtney and I had a really great conversation about the things that we saw as well as other issues. I like having real conversations with people that help me figure out my beliefs as well as how I'm feeling.
- Shopping-going to Nashik on Sunday and buying some more clothes and food as well as going to the market on Wednesday and buying some stuff. Getting to go shopping always brightens my day.
- Receiving packages. On Saturday I got a movie in the mail that Chris ordered for me. Then on Wednesday I got a call that Courtney and I had a package at the post office so to go ride a rickshaw there. We got there and had a character for a driver-he spoke really good English and then just said some crazy things so we laughed most of the way there. Once I got to the post office we found out that there was a package for Courtney and one for Wing Lee (sounds very similar to Emily) so we picked them both up. Courtney's parents sent tons of food so we won't be going hungry.
- Bonus since last weeks Friday Fives were a little on the slacking side. Making collages with Courtney. I love cutting up random things from magazines and gluing them together. Courtney's not as much a fan so I appreciate that she did it with me and we made a collage for the other person.
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