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
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I am eager to hear about the food. Tell, tell! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's lots of vegetarian, mild spicy (it's just about as much as my mouth likes, but some of the other girls can't even taste it!), rice, so far we've had a chickpea curry and bean curry, also a bean curry. soy product meat/potato thing! Very GOOD!!!!
ReplyDelete