Unforgettable memories!

The last two weeks have been filled with so many fun experiences and great memories. Going back to Thanksgiving, I had yet another turkey day abroad. This year, the four of us interns went out to dinner and took our driver along to help us celebrate. We were all really excited to eat non-veg, and although turkey wasn't an option, we opted for tandoori chicken. Due to a miscommunication while ordering, instead of one FULL order of chicken, we ended up with FOUR full orders of spicy chicken on the table. I'm not sure if you can visualize it, but that is A LOT of chicken. Not to mention the three other dishes plus the orders of butter nan. After stuffing ourselves with as much food as we could, we left with two bags of left overs in hand and almost the full after-effects of the thanksgiving spread in our belly. Not a bad way to celebrate, but I'm still eagerly looking anticipating the real thing in December! The next week we were able to attend our program driver's wedding which was in a very rural area- probably the most removed from society I've been. We stayed in a... very memorable hotel. Our room was painted pepto-bismol pink, had plush red velvet couches and looked as if it hadn't been cleaned within my lifetime. Luckily we all brought our travel sheets and found plenty of humor in the whole scene. The wedding was totally different than the urban ones, and still mesmerizingly amazing. I felt so lucky to be part of the event. I think I was surrounded by a minimum of five (brave) children at all times The shy children were not so sure about us- we were the first foreigners they'd ever seen- I think I would be scared of us too! I watched at the families preformed traditional rituals, a fully decorated white horse danced rhythmically along to the live band, and the men from the village dance with more intensity than any step-up dance movie I've ever seen. I had so much fun being there- it was definitely a highlight of my time in India! My last weekend in India was spent in a town about 5 hours northeast of Pune, Aurangabad. There are two very old, famous religious caves carved into a mountain side that the guides book raved about, so myself and two other girls went to check them out. The weekend was full of laughter, lots of pictures and lots of time spent admiring the stunning caves. Some dated back to 4th century AD and were intricately carved with Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain religious figures and symbols. There were two sites and each had about 30 caves in all. By the end of the weekend, I was all caved out but left with a fascinated appreciation for the time, skill, and effort spent creating these masterpieces. On a lighter note, the bus rides to and from were worth noting... Since we were three of us, one person ended up sitting with a stranger on each bus ride. Now in the states, that is (usually) not a problem, but here we kind of stick out and I couldn't bring myself to rudely ignore the friendly older man next to me the whole time. The problem was he knew minimal English but was still jazzed to be attempting. We spent a good five minutes of him repeating “Would you like (l-i-t-e) to meet (m-e-t) a school?” The girls sitting in front of me got a good laugh as I tried to interpret what he meant. I never figured it out, and ended up saying over and over “I hear you, but it does not make sense!” So much for being polite. And the ride didn't get much better. I knew I was in trouble when the young guy across the aisle conveniently switched seats with the man next to me. It was like a movie. I sat there, attempting not to make anything that looked like eye contact and instead engrossed in watching the lights passing by, but to no avail. I hear him break the silence with “So, are you interested in software development?” I can laugh about it now, but at the time It was not funny. I think I replied something along the lines of... “umm... well not particularly in development but I like software...?” oh goodness, the girls got another good laugh at that one. It all comes full circle though, because on the way home Catherine had the open seat and I kid you not, had a guy sing Brian Adams- Everything I do, I do it for you (which was his favorite song) to her. We now break out in a little Brian Adams diddy randomly and it hasn't got old yet. My last week of rotation have been at a slum clinic in town. The town I am in, Pune- is known to be “the oxford of India,” and has ~4 million people, 40% of which are living in the slums. I spent the last three days learning about and seeing the different educational, health camps that are taking place everyday within the slums and also went to the medical camps that were in the area. We saw so many women and children- mostly standard, cough/cold/fever patients. It was really nice to see the work that is being done to bring aid to this often overlooked population. Seeing so up close the way so many people are living was difficult, and also fueled within me a fire to get more (medical) training and return back here with useful skills. I came to India unsure of what career path to take, and leave feeling pretty sure of where I am going. Medicine is such an incredible field, I love that no matter where in the world you are, the human body- all it's structures, ailments, and needs are universal. I loved watching the surgeries, was truly amazed at the birth process (yikes), and also really enjoyed being part of the typical clinical interactions and appointments. I cannot believe that in a few days I will be leaving India- but I am looking forward what the God has planned for me and am so incredibly thankful for every experience I had here!

and this is why!

If I don't come home...I'll be in Goa!

Other than the ridiculous long (10+ hour), uncomfortable, cold, loud, sleepless bus ride, everything about my short weekend escape to Goa was incredible. It really could have gone either way- we arrived into Goa without set sleeping arrangements or any plans. With just our backpacks on our backs, we (luckily) were woken up to get off at our stop and after a few minutes of grogginess, decided to take a taxi to Anjuna, a smaller town up north we had read about in the Lonely Planet guide. Another CFHI participant was planning on staying in a guesthouse in that area, and we hoped to find a place close by. The only landmark I knew in Anjuna was a chapel's name and the name of the other participants guesthouse. I ask to be taken to St. Anthony's Chapel and from there ask direction to Vanila Guesthouse. Perfectly, the guesthouse was just down the road past the Chapel and again perfectly, they only had one room left for only one night. We were welcomed by the sweetest old lady, Clara and her daughter-in-law Paulina, into their guesthouse as if we'd known them for years, a comfortable relationship forming in a matter of minutes. We readily accepted and are shown to the room complete with our own private terrace. The sun was shining and our stomachs were grumbling so we leave our belongings and set out to find the sand, sun, and FOOD! The guesthouse id quietly nestled back about 50 yards from the beach, and we go into the first restaurant we see. We sit down at a table looking out over the ocean; the restaurant is completely open- no outer walls, with the ocean, blue sky, and palm trees as it's borders. We all order a tropical drink- papaya and banana smoothie for me, and are instantly in love with Goa! Our breakfast of banana and nutella crepes tastes amazing and gives us just enough energy to make our way (slowly) through the colorful stalls down to the beach where I order another delicious fruity drink and sit lazily in the shade looking out over the vast Arabian Sea and sun shining down on the tanned foreigners, colorful locals, and...cows. Yes, cows roamed about on the beach- looking for any left over fruit peals and sometimes not the left overs- I witnessed multiple of times cows going up to a unsuspecting, distracted people's food and making out with quite a good meal! The rest of the 48 hours in Goa were just as wonderful- amazinggggggggg food! (fresh fish, more crepes, tasty Indian food...), fruit drinks- I think I had about 4 a day!, alternating between swimming in the warm blue ocean and relaxing on the beach chairs, sitting on the terrace and shooting the wind with the other guests, bartering my way down the endless line of colorful, plentiful stalls, talking with the local women and children, and soaking up the sunshine. It couldn't have been better. Goa is a dangerous place! I wanted nothing more than to leave everything and set up camp right there in Vanila guesthouse with Clara and Paulina and live happily every after. I could go on and on about those 2 days, but I'll leave you with just a couple more highlights-We had the pleasure of meeting a kind, open French man named Francios who was also staying at the guesthouse. One afternoon we all sat in the terrace together and were talking about traveling, our internship experience, and life. Every word that he spoke was poignant, wise, and true. For example~“As you travel more, it's not what you do; it's what the trip does to you”Catherine: “Did you do anything interesting today?”Francois, paused thoughtfully for a brief minute and replied: “Well, yes but I can't really remember what” as he quietly laughed and continues, “all things are interesting depending on your frame of mind”“The people of France can be very cold, like the weather and thats the opposite of here. There they are very compressed in space and in mind.”Me: “So are you planning on seeing Agra?” Francois: “Yes and no, it depends. Planning is a funny thing- deciding on what to do in the future is difficult as you may change your mind” Every word out of his mouth was poignant and wise and true. I felt like we were talking with someone who knew the secret of the living, but wouldn't tell us, he would rather show us. Like I said, it is hard to imagine a sweeter family than Clara and Paulina and to top it off, they gave us the most heartfelt sincere send off. We all hugged, exchanged information, and were walked out to our taxi where they blew kisses and waved us away. If I ever come back to Goa, which I really hope I do- I know where I'll be staying!“Come see my shop, I give you good price...” After hearing this throughout the whole weekend by every shop owner in Anjuna we got a little tired of it, but still got a good laugh at the store literally named, with a huge sign up top- “Come See My Shop, I Give You Good Price”

"That's a damn good uterus!"

I love my new clinic posting! It is in Sutika Seva Hospital- which is a private clinic mainly for lower class pregnant woman. The OPD (outpatient department) is general a couple hours in the morning, and last Wednesday we saw 50 patients. It was NUTS. I was taking BP, weight, and FHS (fetal heart sound) with a Doppler like mad (with the help of the resident). the doctor is a character, so knowledgeable, approachable, and funny!
some of my favorite quotes....
-"that's a DAMN good uterus!"
-slapping a woman's postpartum loose abdomen and replying to her complaints of the appearance... "i told her to do abdominal exercises" (sounds harsh but we were all laughing, including the woman!)
-she ends many, many statements that she wants us to be in check with.... "isn't it"
-after nurses showed up to work 2 hours late, "today i came in such a good mood but now im pissed, if i see them i might start fuming again!" (she is so dedicated and loyal to her work that she can't stand people wasting her time, not being efficient, and being LATE!)

Also, the first day while waiting in the OT with a women needing suturing from a medio-lateral episiotomy, the resident comes rushing in and asks- 'which one of you is going to assist me?' I immediately have red flags- out of my scope of practice and voice my concern that we are NOT trained, to which she replies- I'll show you! So nicole steps up, scrubbed in and helped by holding the speculum and cutting the suture thread. Later that day we talking about the ethics of that scenario and decided, she wasn't doing any skill persay and felt like it was safe. The next day, while watching the same resident about to give an intramuscular injection in the gluteus region (bum) that she turned and said 'do you want to give?' I pipped up right away- no we don't know how, so she says 'watch this one, i'll show you, and you can give the next one'. sure enough not more than 5 minutes later, a woman comes in for a tetanus injection and I prepare the syringe and as confidently as i can, slowly inject the fluid into the specific area pointed out from the resident who is holding the skin taunt. it went well! I don't plan on making a habit of preforming the tasks, but it was a pretty cool experience!

So... low of the day yesterday...
There I am using the Indian style toilet before ~2 hours of watching surgeries and while i'm awkwardly balancing, trying to squat and hold my purse from the wet concrete smelly ground at the same time as turning on the facet. Not a good idea. I turn the facet and am immediately shot in the face with a stream of water spraying straight up. I try and turn it off, but it's very clearly malfunctioning and the normal righty tighty is backfiring right into my face. I final twist it every which way to find a position that slows and eventually stops the stream. I managed to keep my mouth closed and stay out of most of the spray. I shake off what water I can and step out of the bathroom half laughing half crying. Later Nicole had a fitting insight... "in India... if you're not laughing you're probably crying!"

Now I'm off to Goa, land of sun, sand, and coconuts! After a 10 hour bus ride, we arrive in the morning and take a bus ~30 minutes north a smaller town, Anjuna, and get a room in one of the many guest houses there. I can't wait for a relaxing weekend on the beach!

More soon on my thanksgiving meal mishap, weekend in mumbai, and daily happenings!

pictures!

Just a couple pictures from the last week- at another Indian wedding in Mumbai; our hands after getting traditional Mehndi!; view of slums from the local railway in Mumbai; enjoying playing doctor with my official white coat and lunch in the "doctors room"; what? no thats not be hanging out of the moving train...

half way !

I am now officially half way through my time in India and also have one week in Pune under my belt The transition from Dehra Dun to Pune was an interesting one. On the train ride to the airport, our train hit and killed 5 men that were working on the track. Apparently they were working at a section with a lot of rail traffic and got off the track they were working on to let a train pass and didn't see ours coming the other direction. I heard that about 16,000 people/year die this way in India. It was gruesome. By the time the train stopped, the men were in pieces and the car we were sitting in happened to unfortunately stop right in front of some of the main body parts. I'll spare the details, but it was horrible. And even more so, the fact that while this effected me for about an hour, the lives of these men families will be forever marked. With that disturbing start to my day, we finally made it to Delhi and had climb the ridiculously long flight of stairs up and back down with 59.5 lbs of luggage. Yes, I know the exact number because I had to pay $20 US for those extra 10 pounds. I guess it's not so bad but when everything else here cost me about $3-4 dollars... it was hard! Because our group was splitting up with one person catching an earlier flight to Mumbai and Nicole and myself to Pune on a later one, we arrived at the airport early. What was suppose to be a 5 hour wait time, turned into an 7 then 8 then 9 hours before finally departing due to... well India. But I did have some nice down time to journal, blog, play cards, eat pizza (!), etc. We arrived in Pune a little after 1 am and were picked up by a CFHI driver and taken straight to our flat where we promptly passed out until the next morning. It was SO nice to know I'd be in ONE place for more than a week. All the moving around and living out of my suitcase for... 8 weeks now, was getting old! I unpacked my clothes and set up camp in the guest house provided by the program. It felt so good to be settled. We spent the first week in an 'upper class' government hospital, Deenanath Mageshkar (don't worry I still don't know how to pronounce it correctly either). Posted in the OBGYN department, I saw 3 births, a vaginal hysterectomy, laproscopic salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tubes), cervical biopsy, and joined a paediatrician and a gynecologist for their daily out patient appointments/walk ins. The most amazing thing was the laproscopy procedure. I was able to see the surgeon scalpel into the abdomen from the inside out! I am feeling really good about where I am; medically I am exposed to so much and I am looking forward to the rest of my time here. The end is in sight- how crazy! We started making weekend plans (this weekend- staying in Pune and seeing the sights around and in the city, next going to Mumbai to meet up with friends and see another wedding!, next going to Goa- beach vacation, yes please!, next going to some famous caves in the area, and next...flying to Malaysia to see my best friend Shannon!!) I have found that sometimes, the time just flies by- like when making plans or realizing I have been gone for 2 months now. And others...it seems like the time is suspended, barely moving- like when I am stuck in between 4 lanes of traffic with cars, rikshaws, and bikes coming at me in every direction. But some how, I manage to take a step forward, weaving between the obstacles, and reach the other side- proud to look at what I have accomplished!
I am excited to see what our next week in a 'lower-middle class' government hospital has for us!

5th week entry... took awhile to get it online!

First of all, Indian weddings are insane. They have on average 4 nights of festivities- often lasting until early in the morning each night. I don't know how they do it- by the actual ceremony on the 4th night I would be half asleep for the millions of pictures and definitely out during the 3 hours of prayer. We were able to attend the last two evenings, which was the brides family (only) party and then the last night was the actual wedding ceremony. Getting dressed was an event in itself. After 9 attempts of trying to correctly tie our Sari's and them still draping awkwardly or slipping off after taking a step, we asked the front desk of our hotel if any women were staying here and if they could possibly help us. 5 minutes later, theres a knock on our door and a very sweet lady walked in and saved the day. The bride's families party was so much fun- lots of music, dancing, food, talking, laughing, etc. The night of the wedding was absolutely unreal. We arrived around 8 pm to a huge party tent elegantly decorated in red, yellow, and lots of white lights. Food surrounded the whole arena- different cuisines, a fruit bar, dessert table, and full bar. There were waiters walking around in uniforms all night with delicious bite size samples that were too hard to say no to. The groom arrived, along with a full band, his whole side of the family and friends, and fireworks marking his arrival. He was wearing a cream colored,, intricately decorated suit, a special hat with white beads and traditional (Aladin) shoes. He (VERY) slowly made his way over to the fully prepared stage upon which he sat for the following ~3 hours attempting to not be blinded by the thousands of photographers capturing the moment. The bride entered absolutely decked out in a beautiful red sparkling Sari. As we are watching the scene unfold, Nicole and I are whisked away with no option of turning down the increasingly hoppin' dance floor. I don't even know how to explain what happened next, but it was probably a once in a lifetime experience and possibly one of the craziest moments in my life. First of all, the dancing is very different than back home- it's not about shaking your behind or turning another person 'on.' It's about feeling the music within yourself (I'm not making this up, a man my dad's age told me this). There were all ages on the floor- a young boy probably about 4 years old with more rhythm and moves than I've ever had, a woman who could have easily been my grandmother, and the older men outnumbered the young ones. So as we are doing our best to really feel the strong, upbeat Punjab music, money, yes money, starts raining down from above. I realize an older man has a stack of money at least 2 inches thick and he is holding his hands up in the air and is flipping through money as if it grows on trees. Everyone is gathering around watching and joining in. Then the DJ turns on the one and only Akon- Right Now which happens to be one of my favorite dancing songs, and I just remember thinking 'no way is this happening right now.' I had to leave the dance floor after that song, it was just too much! Again, I am not explaining this situation to it's fullest and maybe even sounding a little shallow but mix that along with the surroundings and just where I am in general- it was pretty surreal. I won't go into my fairly strong emotions of the extreme gap here- but briefly... one party you have money raining down while the waiters watch more money they probably make in a year get stomped on by the overweight higher class they are serving. It's just not right. The actual wedding ceremony started around 1 am and lasted till ~4 am. It involved at least 3 hours of prayers and other traditional activities. We parted 'early' around 2 am, I felt it was probably time to leave when the Sari was rubbing off layers of skin from the endless supply of food that was now sitting very happily in every nook and cranny of my bulging belly. I definitely got my fill of Indian weddings!

My last week in Northern India was spent in a mountain side town named Mussoorie at a Christian based, well funded hospital. The hour drive up the windy, narrow road in the dark was the most eventful yet. As we are passing another bus on a blind corner (really, why wait...) I look out and see a sign stating “speed thrills but kills” and am thinking I'm really not so thrilled about this! We came the closest to hitting someone yet, but at least if we did hit him we were on our way to the hospital, right? Mussoorie is beautiful; situated at 7,000 ft above sea level and looking out over the night lights of Dehra Dun. It is also very cold. The warmest I felt all week was during my first real surgery- and that wasn't from external heat but more of an overactive mind having systemic effects. While there watched I watched a tubal ligation, the most amazing birth (fast, no tear, no screaming- she was a CHAMP), insertion of a chest tube (crazy case- the man had pockets of air covering his whole face and neck from a punctured lung), a 4 hour bone graph surgery taking marrow from the hip and inserting it into a severely fractured, poorly healing arm. By the last day, while watching the bone graph, all I wanted to do was get in there and scalpel or retract something, anything more involved. What surgeons can do is amazing!
My days went basically like this: wake up at 7:25 am and go down the 2 stories to the cafeteria bundled in as many layers I can manage, eat breakfast at 7:30 and then to chapel at 8:15 am where I tried to follow along the morning teaching but often ended up doing my own reading. Rounds started at 9 am and then at 10 we had tea and sat in with a doctor for a couple hours of appointments. Lunch was at 1 pm and then after that we were free unless there were surgeries scheduled. Thursday ended up being a free afternoon and I hiked up to Landour, the small town at the highest point of the mountain. While I am meandering my way up the (paved!) road, a monkey darted out from the woods on my left and ran straight across the road jumping into a tree down below. I stop in my tracks and watch the monkey in the tree and am thinking how cool it was that I got to see him up close in his natural habitat when I look up and realize they are everywhere! In the trees, along the road to my right and in the hills to my left. One would come towards me, speed up as it passed me and jump into a tree and then settle in. I continued up the road saying 'niceeee monkey' until I passed what was pretty clearly their territory! At the top of the road was a gorgeous view of endless mountains. I sat at a cafe and enjoyed a chocolate 'pancake' that was really more a round cake with syrup! Other than never wearing less than three layers of clothes, it was a really good week and definitely the best one clinically so far!

Mumbai

Hello from Mumbai! We arrived last night and feeling brave decided to take all local transportation to get to our friend's flat. We got off the train from Pune, literally jumped into a packed out local train that was stopped for about 5 seconds and pushed our way into the woman's car and were completely engulfed in a mass of saris, then took a rikshaw to a known mall in the area and found our way to the apartment complex. Today's agenda is to meet up with another participant in a different but similar program here in Mumbai and then make our way to a market and barter our way down the line of stalls. After all we can take of that, we will head back to the flat, freshen up and get dressed up and head to The Palms Resort for a Mehndi function. It is about 15 miles away and it could take up to 2 hours to get to, so I hear. Let the day begin

Chandigarh. Public health rotation + indian wedding

Our fourth week was spent in Punjab, a different state, on a public health rotation. We were the first group from our program to do this rotation and it was... well let me just start with our first day. We meet in the morning and are given a brief presentation of the program we are going to see- Target Intervention (TI). Their overarching goal is to eliminate the spread HIV/AIDS and their objective is get FSM- Female Sex Workers to use condoms 100% of the time. This is a tough population to break into, but starting in 2007, TI has made contact with FSW in the community and have actually developed a trusting relationship with a lot of the local workers. The FSW come at least once a week for support groups and are learning about the importance of condom use. It is hard to get the men to agree, but the women are learning techniques and persuasive ways to get them to comply. We spent the afternoon talking to these women, through a translator. It was pretty shocking- we all sit down and the translator looks at us and says- “okay, what do you want to ask.” It was a completely open forum and we were given free reign to ask these women any questions. Their stories were amazing- most were married but completely unsupported by their husbands and got into the business because they needed to provide for their children. Monday's were the busiest days- seeing that most laborers had the day off. They usually saw between 3-4 clients a day (while their children were at school) and charged ~500 Rs/client (~ $10 US). The program is really making a difference for these women- giving them the power of knowledge and someone to listen to their stories. Change won't happen overnight, but TI is starting somewhere and hopefully can slowly educate and improve the lives of these women and their children.
Tuesday was spent with the NGO Reproductive and Child Health (RCH). Their goal is to reduce maternal and infant mortality rate and their target group are under served areas- rural and urban slums. When we toured the slums, I couldn't believe how many little kids there were. Naked, dark legs sticking out under filthy shirts running through the small alley like streets, playing in the dirt, on the roof tops. We gathered in a small room, chairs of all shapes and sizes were being brought it from what I assume were people's homes. We sat in the room while brightly clothed women flooded in. A newborn is brought in wrapped in a colorful blanket and put in my arms. Whose child is it? I have no idea. All I want to do it give the baby a bath and a clean outfit. I think about this child's future. I ask the program coordinator- if this child does well in the public schooling offered in the slums and has dreams of leaving and lets say becoming a doctor or teacher herself, could she? “Oh no- it's too hard” So I am holding this child, looking out at it's future and it's bleak.
The rest of the week was spent with other NGO's- hearing a presentation and then going out into the field and directly interacting with the people. One was an adolescent group educating youth on the many changes that occur during this time, the importance of utilizing health services and staying healthy. Another was reaching out to urban slum mothers and encouraging them to deliver in an institution opposed to home birth. The whole week was so interesting. India has far to go, but it was incredible to see so openly what is being done.
Currently, I am in Patiala- another city for an Indian wedding! I am so excited to see the event- they are quite different than back at home with four days of celebration and... well soon I'll know what else! We are staying in a hotel- $12/night split between 3 people. I am honestly scared to come home- I am not going to want to spend half of what normal prices are! We ordered lunch and it came out to be 70 Rs each- which is ~$1.50 USD. It's all relative. But I find myself upset and bartering if the price of a shawl is more than $5 US or if a meal is more than $3-4 US. Looks like I'll have a rude awakening when I come home! As for now, I'll enjoy it while I can!

A day at the fair...

Coming back to Dehra Dun for the third week was actually really nice in the sense that it was familiar- I had my same room in the same some stay, the food was what I had first adjusted to, and I knew my way around the town. I decided that the best comparison to explain what Dehra Dun is like is to picture yourself at the county fair. It is hot, crowded, colorful and loud. Smells of food, livestock, and other things you would rather not know are all around. You have to watch your every step or you may end up with a little something extra than you paid for. You enjoy yourself most of the time, but sometimes all you want to do is go home. It's exciting, stimulating, and exhausting.
Here are some highlights of my last week---
While riding to clinic in an auto-rickshaw our driver tries to squeeze past a bus and ends up side scraping it pretty bad (I'm actually shocked this is the first time it has happened). The bus driver gets out and starts yelling at our driver, as us three girls are sitting with wide eyes in the back seat- our driver blows him off and keeps weaving his way through the traffic.
With that same auto driver (you think we would have learned the first time), we are on our way home from clinic and he stops twice, once to say quickly hello to a friend and another time to pick up food- because hey, he was going by it and it looked good, and why wouldn't he... So while he is getting food, we are all sitting there laughing/confused when the auto starts slowly rolling into the on-coming traffic- I guess they don't have parking breaks here?! It slips a little bit, and stalls, slips, stalls... after doing this about three times and us bracing ourselves in the back seat, the driver jumps in with his food and continues along the way.
Another evening (this really was an eventful week), we are riding in a vickram. Vickrams are the main transportation and fit usually 8 people in what would be 4 in the states. I've gotten use to staggering seating and basically sitting on others to accommodate the 4 extra people so when 12 people are packed into this small three-wheeled-go-cart-sounding vehicle, I don't think much of it. But apparently there are some rules in India, because we get 'pulled over' and watch as the driver and his compadres banter back and forth with the policemen. This scene is drawing people in and soon there are groups of people packed around watching. The driver gets out and is walked over to the other side of the road with the policeman and we are left sitting in the vickram. I guess this is as far as we go, so we pile out and try to catch another vickram- which isn't happening because so is everyone else and we end up having to pay for an auto to get to clinic!
So you think you've seen it all, and then as we are riding to clinic one evening, I look up on the rooftops of the markets and monkeys are everywhere! They are climbing all over the buildings- hopping from one to another and looking like they are having a lot of fun, looking down on us. I began to wonder, who was watching who. I'm learning that India has no limits- you never know what you are going to see!
After spending a good chunk of time here, I have begun to see things differently- in snapshots. While driving past the markets, I see a still shot of a grandfather sitting with his legs crossed in fa chair in ront of his tailor shop with his grandson standing with his chin resting in his hands looking out over the commotion, a woman dressed in a beautiful pink sari with 4 quilts tied up and balanced skillfully on her head, the 4 children squatting in front of a water source filling jugs of all sizes and another three young children carrying their already filled water jugs down the road to who know where. It is so picturesque. I have also realized there is a fine balance between exploiting the poverty and showing the story of how these people's lives through a photo. What I have noticed, from looking around and seeing the bright, beautiful colors everywhere, is that these people make the best of what they have. We all could learn a thing or two from each other.

let me hear it for the mothers!

I've been here a solid 2 weeks and am proud to say my spirits are still up and I'm loving my time here- even the lows. I spent last week in Than Gaon, a mountain village about 35 km away from Dehra Dun. The drive up... well lets just say if we swerved ~2 feet to our right we'd get a free skydiving experience! Now in the states.. this drive would be manageable but we were sharing the road with motorcyclists that came flying around the bend, livestock, and monkeys! Once we reached our destination, I was in awe- of making it but of where we were. Wow. STUNNING view- it's situated in the foothills of the Himalayans and is just as breathtaking, maybe more, than I imagined. Green trees/grass, BLUE sunny sky, mountains all around. The first morning we hiked down the back of the mountain to a river that flowed between two mountain peaks... it was so picturesque I can't even describe! we walked up, in and through the river to a quiet area with a waterfall and swimming hole, laid out on big rocks with our feet in the cool, fresh river. AMAZING! We did yoga twice a day- morning and evening with Dherindra, our personal Yoga instructor. It took everything in me to not bust out laughing the first day- he had a very theatrical voice that was so un-like his normal accent "RElaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax. picture your whole body in your forehead, tell your bodyyyy" After that first session, I got into it and was able to truly relax and really enjoy it! I even did a nasal rinse... he assured me I wouldn't get a cold/cough all winter! Tuesday and Thursday we hiked to surrounding villages and set up a medical camp- I learned how to take blood pressure and check ears and throat! SO COOL! We made chapati (flour and water only!) with the cooks, were accosted by two of the BIGGEST spiders I've ever seen, played volleyball with the locals as the sun set behind the Himalayans. It was a pretty sweet week!

We came back on Friday evening- to a fully decorated town ready for Diwali. This is basically India's Christmas, thanksgiving, and halloween wrapped up into one big weekend long celebration. It is celebrating the return of Lord Rama's kidnapped wife Sita. The town was ON! People were dressed in their best, and even the houses looked like they had sparkling jewelery draped over them (they use lights similar to during Christmas time but in a very different style). The night was unreal. we hung out on the rooftop of our house, danced and listened to Punjab (Indian) hit music and watched the happenings- fire'crackers' going off EVERYwhere- even from up in the mountains. It was really fun shopping the day before and buying an Indian style shirt and matching bangles!

My highlight of the day was watching a baby being born! I mean I was right there behind the doctor. it was SO COOL. wow. I can't believe I didn't pass out (the day before I almost did watching a different procedure that was really hard to handle). The poor woman today, had severe (atypical) postpartum hemorrhaging and it was an intensive 30-40 minutes of getting the bleeding under control and suturing up the tearing (AH) and cutting. I think I was able to handle this knowing the outcome of the procedure was a brand new life! and on that note... thank you MOM- miss you love you and appreciate you more than you know!

Much love and appreciation to all of you~~

Christy

Cannot describe...

Words cannot describe this place; they don't show the vivid colors of the women's saris. Pictures are not enough, they don't capture the noise of the chaotic streets. Videos are not complete, they don't hold the feeling of walking past crippled children begging for food.

I don't know how to share where I am with you! It's so foreign. I've adjusted pretty well- lots of ups and downs through out the first week. I am taking one day at a time and just embracing the roller coaster! Out of self-preservation I've had to desensitized myself to what I see and walk past even when what I know is to help. I try and do as much little things as I can- having some treats/nuts/coins in my pocket to hand out.

You never know what you're going to get here... while walking down the one sidewalk they have in the city to get to the doctors, 3 donkey's come parading toward us and we have to leave this little peice of safety and chose either to step to our left into a garbage filled foul smelling sewer or to our right into fast crazy unorganized cars, bicycles, rickshaws, and vikrams. Today, we were riding in the rickshaw when a whole parade- music, people dressed up, cars, horse- comes through and we have to turn around (into on coming traffic) and take a 'back' road aka pretty much a motorcross track to get home! Waking up in the morning to the fruit man announcing his presence throughout the neighborhood (if you listened closely.. you might have been able to hear him back at home). And then, while riding home I look out to colorfully dressed children guy laughing in a small group, men being incredibly resourceful with all kinds of material welding, widdling, creating items, a family run restaurant making food on the street.

One thing is for sure, this experience is UNforgettable. The lessons I am learning on a daily basis will be with me for the rest of my life!

Basically... Im in India!

I'm in INDIA!! Other than a long wait to get my luggage, it was such a smooth transition. The flight here from Bahrain was way shorter than I expected! only ~3 hours. I was still trying to get comfortable with a plane full of coughing Indian men (seriously, more than half the plane was hacking!) when the flight attendant came on saying we were preparing to descend! When we get pretty close to the ground, i hear click-click- the sound of seat belts being unbuckled. I stay firmly latched in and am amazed that as the wheels touch the ground 5 or 6 men hurriedly walk pass me. Then comes an announcement- "We will be taxing for awhile, please stay in your seats..." Against the persistent request of the flight attendants, some people just would not sit. It takes about 10 minutes until we are allowed to stand up and me being in the back of the plane think no rush- right? wrong. everyone starts frantically piling into the aisle. I put one foot in the aisle, gripping my bag and get swept into the flow! I have to push just to not get run over! I laughed through it and had my first "just adjust" moment before even setting foot in India!

I got through the mandatory health check and customs, got my luggage, headed for the exit and immediately saw my name on a sign. such relief!

I've had a hard time getting to sleep the last 2 nights- but i'm not surprised. Arriving into Dehra Dun was unforgettable! It's SO cool being in a completely new, foreign environment. It is so loud- the honking!! Everyone is in everyone's way. on my first ride on the road I see... small shops lining the road, cows wandering proudly along the road, a small parade with music, firecrackers, and people dressed up, a brave man dressed in a uniform directing traffic.. kind of.

My first day at the clinic with Dr. Ghandi was today. The first patient was a man with active TB is seen, we get this chest x-ray and figure out what it is, then he asks... what do you see and we tell him (well Christina a 4th year med student tells him ha!) so the man needs to be admitted and given treatment, but for the time being he lays in the bed thats in the office Dr. Ghandi and us are in with the other patients... just coughing away less than 5 feet from us. we'd get their EKG and find any abnormalities (P wave, QRS, T wave...) and then he'd ask normal? and most of the time it was. Then we did rounds! crazy, awesome, interesting stuff!

On the ride home in the Vikram, a girl asks while shaking her head side to side in a very classically indian way, "so... basically where are you from?" I love it!

much love!!!!!!!!!
-Christy

pictures!

Last day in Europe!

Hello!

A little re-cap...

We spent 2 glorious days in Venice
highlights: swimming in the Adriatic sea, eating a (whole) pizza at a cafe along the grand canal, getting gelatto too many times to count, and getting losts in the small, winding streets of Venice (only twice!), running into someone from my comm 218 class staying at the hostel, riding in a gondola across the grand canal...
Venice was incredible... high point of the trip!

Then we took the train to Munich and man oh man, was that crazy- thousands of people were flooding to Munich to take part in the annual famous Oktoberfest. We spent a morning touring the city and learning some history- it was really fascinating! And we spent an afternoon/evening at Oktoberfest. I loved seeing all the people dressed in traditional clothing, playing german songs, dancing (often on tables) and singing- children, adults, old-old adults! We saw it all!

From Munich we headed to Prague. Prague is an interesting city, it's only been freed from harsh ruling since 1989 and really it wasn't till a couple years later it became more establised. It was spared from WWII battle and so there were OLD buildings (one built in 1410)- the free walking tour we did was so cool- definitely my favorite tour so far!
Highlights: going to the largest Castle in europe, hanging out on the 'luckiest' bridge- Charles Bridge, going to the Jewish memorial museum and cemetery (a whole building with just names written ceiling to floor of Czech Jew's that were killed. Also there was artwork that the children drew while in the camps; it survived, they didn't and this is the only real proof of their time on the earth. It was very emotional and hard to look, but so powerful.

We left Prague and arrived in Frankfurt earlier today- luckily our hotel is 2 blocks from the main station and we were able to check in right away and look around the city! We've treated ourselves to some more gelatto and went to a real restaurant for dinner (1st time this trip!) seeing as is my last meal before curry, curry, and more curry!

I am preparing and attempting to get ready for my next adventure- this time into a much more foreign land. I know it will be incredible as well and I can't wait to see what it is like!

Much love~~~
Christy

Bonjour! Things We've Learned.

Three things we've learned from other travelers...

1. Slovenia is the shape of a chicken....?

2. London is in the US

3. Apparently we went on the Indian Institute of Foreign Languages Eurotrip 2009.

Four things we've learned while walking through Paris

1. Don't wear heels on cobblestone- unless you want to give others a good laugh

2. Maybe all the tunnels and side streets smell like urine because you have to pay to pee

3. A down arrow in the metro doesn't actually mean to go down stairs, it apparently means continue forward. took a few tries to figure that one out.

4. We don't negotiate with climate, we act!

After spending the 3 days in Paris and 5 days traveling, we've come to realize our high at the end of each day has been the time spent just relaxing in front of major monuments while going between laughing uncontrollably and talking deeply. Just shows how great traveling with your best friend can be!

-love from Paris, Christy and Shannon

Arrive in Charles de Gaulle airport- we made it!

Crepes off the street in front of Moulin Rouge

Beautiful Paris

In the gardens of the palace of Versailles

Hello from New Jersey!

Shannon and I arrived in Philadelphia on Thursday evening- away from home but still the states. This is a good transition time for me! (Shannon makes fun of me for my love of transitions)
Seeing family has been awesome. Grandpa and Grandma are doing well! One afternoon, we all sat around and swapped traveling stories- with an age gap of 70 years! Now that's what it's about. One of our favorites was when Grandpa was asked by his job if he would move internationally, and he came home thinking Grandma would need time to think about this big life decision, but her response was 'Sure!' She must have been either very brave, in love, or nuts! Every story lead us to laughter, each of us pitching in international experience. I guess it runs in the family!

We've decided that at the end of each day, we will journal our high, low, and funniest memory. So far, by the end of the day we are laughing so hard reminiscing on all the things that happened that day. Even on a low-key day, there are moments we look back on and just are gut-laughing. A cheerful heart is such good medicine!
High: casually gathered all together in the living room listening, absorbing not only travel stories but 90 years of life wisdom with my grandparents!
Low: Rotten egg smell proliferating through the airplane...for a solid 2 minutes. Gas anyone?
Funniest: Shannon (CoMPLETELY out of the blue, and completely serious): "Now, Christy, I'm not a cat"

LOVE AND HUGS FROM NEW JERSEY TO ALL THE FAMILY BACK HOME AND THANK YOU SOOO MUCH GPA and GMA and Annie for an AWESOME visit!

PARIS HERE WE COME!

ONE WEEK to go!

In exactly one week my journey begins. The week before a big trip is a unique time, it is part of the whole experience- full of a roller coaster of emotions and feelings. I have managed to get through them thus far, and am actually fighting off mentally checking out (my ever expanding to-do list keeps me grounded). It seems that at this point in the process I loose sight of what and why I am doing what I am. So as a re-cap...

-- I am spending 2 weeks traveling Europe with my best friend Shannon
-- I am finishing up college by interning with an international program, Child Family Healthy Internation (CFHI) where I will be working and learning about the health care system in India. I will spend 5 weeks in Northern India traveling around different areas and learning about more rural/traditional medical practices. After this I will head to central west India to Pune (relatively close to Mumbai) to work in a Maternal and Child clinic for the remaining 5 weeks.
-- Then to round out the whole experience I will fly to Malaysia and meet back up with Shannon and see where she will be working and then we will travel through Malaysia and southern Thailand up to Bangkok where we will catch our flight home.

That is the gist of what I'm doing, now as for WHY I'm doing this... Since returning home from Taiwan, all I wanted to do was get on a plane and just GO. the world seemed so accessible, so real, so huge and inviting. Now that months have passed, I've gotten... comfortable shall we say and am needing to remind myself that this trip is what I have been dreaming of for over 9 months. I WANT to go: to travel and see the world, to see if the medical field (nursing) is a fit for me, to learn, to help others, to challenge myself.

After talking with a good friend, I've realized that this trip is not about going out and trying to save all the starving, poor, hurting children in India. I am not a doctor, I will not be able to save lifes or make a lasting difference. But I may be able to help one person, to make their scary trip to the doctor a little more comfortable. I may be able to affect one life that then in turn helps many others. In the end, the person who will get the most from this experience is me. I'm not trying to go out and change the world, I'm going to let the world change me.