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!
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