Since I've been up since before 5am due to this lovely jet lag, I thought I'd post an update about how things are going back in the states. Some of my reactions since returning:

~It's so calm here! Where are all the people? And animals? And cars?
~It's SO QUIET. I can hear crickets in the morning. Unreal.
~It's so clean.
~Why did I ever worry about crossing the street?
~When you go back in time, jet lag is horrendous. I think this is payback for having almost no issues going to India
~Flying while sick with a head cold is absolutely no fun.
~It's so weird seeing everyone wear shorts here.
~We have so much food! India has fast-food too, but it seems like whenever we went out for a quick meal we just ended up at a little hole-in-the-wall place that probably had better food than a nice restaurant. But here, there are so many choices!
~I miss Indian food!

The Last Week:

Our program ended and now it was time for a week of travel! Abby’s plans changed last-minute and then Maddy, who had been having abdomen pain for a while, ended up in the hospital with such severe pain that she was diagnosed with kidney stones. Although Maddy was better by the time we were ready to travel, we all agreed last-minute it wouldn’t do her any good to go off travelling after such a hectic few days. I didn’t want to sit around in Bangalore, so I headed off to Kerala by myself. I took an overnight bus on Sunday night and arrived in Fort Cochin early Monday morning. I spent the night at this awesome homestay called Dream Catcher Homestay, and dropped my stuff off there before going exploring. I walked around, bought some souvenirs, had banana pancakes for lunch (they were weird), dipped my toes in the Arabian Sea, and got lost and walked ten times as far as I ever wanted to walk. That evening I had dinner with these three crazy Australian medical students who, go figure, were staying right next to me! They were doing rotations in Chennai but it was clear they were much more focused on travelling than actually doing medicine. It was also funny because even though we could understand each other’s English, it was apparent that there are still so many cultural differences….they asked me about wearing “thongs” in the hospital and I was really confused until I realized they were actually talking about flip-flops!

The next day, I went on a backwater tour that the man in charge of the homestay organized. Not the same as Alleppey, but nonetheless interesting. I was with this random, but nice, group of people. We started out on a houseboat-type boat and in addition to being on the water, stopped to see coconut fibers being made into rope and cement from clam shells and coal. After lunch we switched into smaller boats- basically just wooden canoes, which was really relaxing. That night I left on an overnight bus from Fort Cochin, arrived in Mangalore early morning, and immediately caught a bus to Madikeri, where I met Maddy.

Madikeri is in the Coorg region, and it was so nice to see some green for a change! I arrived around mid-morning, and almost immediately after getting there, the people at our homestay (called Alpen Glow; it was awesome. If you ever go to Coorg, stay there!) took us to an Indian wedding where we basically just showed up to take a picture with the bride and groom and eat lunch! Still, it was pretty awesome! The people who own the homestay also own the local newspaper, so they seemed to know just about every person in attendance.

That afternoon, Maddy and I headed a couple km out of town to see Abbi Falls, a pretty magnificent waterfall only made better by the mist and rain. We also walked around town, bought a couple souvenirs, and had a light dinner. Madiker, by the way, is this cute little town and it was really neat to see something smaller after living in such a big city for so long.

The next day (Thursday) there was a strike. Apparently it’s because the government wants to protect the wilderness around Madikeri but the people want more factories for work. They were protesting by not running any local transportation, which we thought was almost supporting the people they were striking against. But anyways, because of this we were basically stuck in town the entire day, which was unfortunate. We managed to get out, though, by going with the owners to their brother’s coffee estate in the morning and then walking to see these old castle-type ruins afterwards.

Friday, our last day in Madikeri, was most definitely the highlight of the week. We left early morning and started by going to the Dubare elephant camp, where we were able to see the elephants bathe, eat, and most exciting of all, we got to ride an elephant!! One goal of coming to India: accomplished! Next, we headed to this deer park where there were unfortunately not any deer, but we did have a nice walk through some woods. After that we headed to the Namdroling Monastery, which was incredible. Not only was it so ornate, but much bigger than I had anticipated. Unfortunately we were unable to actually sit/meditate because the monks were in prayer, but did get to walk around and observe their various activities. Apparently all these Tibetans are refugees from China, and they have formed nine different camps in this area. We had this awesome auto driver who showed us some different sights around the Monastery and finally dropped us off at the first camp for lunch and shopping. After we had had our fill of walking around the cute little village, we headed back to Madikeri (and actually much earlier than we had anticipated).

That evening (last night), we took an overnight bus to Bangalore. It was actually sad to leave because the owners were so nice. They were so accommodating and actually gave Maddy and I gifts as we were leaving…. We had been commenting (to ourselves) on how much we liked the stainless steel plates/silverware sets they use, and the lady gave us each a small plate with some snacks for the bus ride…so incredibly thoughtful and something I can’t imagine happening in the states! How often do people you’re paying to stay with give you gifts when you leave? Probably not often.

We arrived this morning in Bangalore by bus at the ungodly hour of 5am. It was still dark, we knew nothing would be open, and there was no way we wanted to be on the streets, so we crashed at the train station where we had been dropped off. Because all the seats were taken, we spent several very uncomfortable hours on the floor attempting to sleep, people watching, getting weird looks, and glaring at the creepers giving us weird looks. Finally we wandered into a small restaurant to find something to eat and get coffee. We ended up talking to this guy from Holland who’s traveling alone for 6 months, which luckily killed some more time. He asked advice for what to do in Bangalore and surprisingly we didn’t have that much, but I guess that’s good because it means we’ve actually lived here and not just been tourists. We finally left at the more respectable hour 9am and arrived at Mathyoo just in time for breakfast!

Maddy is here for a couple more days and I just finished packing up all my stuff for my flight home tonight…

Kerala backwaters

Our boat

Backwaters

Fort Cochin

Coast of India!

Abbi Falls

Chinese Fishing Nets

Monastery

Monks during prayer time

Days 48, 49 & 50
(7/6-7/8)

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of good-byes. It all started on Friday, my last day at the hospital. I spent the morning in OT and went out with a bang seeing some pretty cool procedures! The most exciting one was an umbilical hernia- basically this guy had a mass of tissue coming up from his abdominal wall, into and out of his belly button (you could see this big lump of tissue right where his belly button would be). The doctors went in laproscopically and basically just pulled the tissue out from his belly button into his abdominal cavity (which was filled with gas so they could easily work). It took a lot longer than expected, though, because the mass was so big that it wouldn’t fit through the laproscopic holes, so the doctor had to take it out in pieces. Finally, they put mesh over where the hernia was so it won’t come back- and took at least an hour longer than was expected.

After the surgery finished, it was time to say good-bye. I went around to the different units to say bye to the various doctors and nurses I’ve met. It was very bitter sweet; I’m glad it’s done but at the same time, I’ll miss seeing everyone everyday. And besides, how do you even say bye to people in all honesty you may never see again in your life? I mostly got a lot of “best wishes for your future,” so I guess that’s how. The nurses are who I spent the majority of my time with, and I’m going to miss their personality and questions and tours around the units (not to mention the IRC team and everything they did)- so if you guys ever read this, thanks for a great six weeks!

Yesterday (Saturday) was spent running a ton of errands: to the phone store to fix a slight problem, mailing postcards, sending a box of clothes/souvenirs home (Sam), and to the bookstore because we’ve all run out of things to read, which could be bad during 24 hours of travel! That evening we had a final get-together/thank-you party for everyone we’ve worked with the past month and a half. It was actually really nice to talk to everyone and thank them one last time (although once again, there were more good-byes, including Laura's friend who I really enjoyed talking to; she's going into public health and doing an internship here dealing with maternal/fetal health). I also wore a sari (borrowed from Laura), which was awesome!

Today was full of more good-byes. Yoshi left early this morning, as did the Rajasthan group. I’m leaving tonight, and more people are leaving tomorrow as well. It’s exciting to be heading out for a week (or two) of travel, but also weird leaving Bangalore-our home for the last two months- and everyone we’ve spent so much time with. But I’m definitely looking forward to the next week and seeing other areas of India!

Me, Navee, Maddy

Day 47:

Today and tomorrow I’ll be in the operating theatre again. I really enjoy being in the OT; not only is surgery interesting in the first place, but there’s always something new going on! I arrived and walked in on the tail end of a complete mastectomy. Then I got to observe the removal of hardened tissue from a woman’s uterus and her selective fertilization (basically her tubes were tied). Finally I got to observe part of an abdominal operation where I believe the man had some sort of rectal cancer, had part of his large intestine and/or bowel removed, and the doctors were connecting everything again. I had to leave early, which was unfortunate because there was an entire day of surgeries planned. I did have a good reason, though, because Mr. Ramesh and the IRC team wanted to take Cathy and I out to lunch. We went to this really nice North Indian place and had a huge lunch of really yummy food.

Tonight we had a big group meeting about checking out of Mathyoo, plans for this weekend, and advice for travelling. Hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of work!

Day 46:

Today I shadowed a Pediatrician on the OPD unit. I’ve met the doctor before and he’s the one who let me give vaccinations yesterday, so it was interesting to observe office visits after seeing him in other areas of the hospital. It was also nice because his hours ended early, so I got a free afternoon. 

View from the bus stop

The type of bus I take to work

Days 44 & 45
(7/2/12 & 7/3/12)

Yesterday I was on the oncology unit, and specifically where they give chemotherapy treatments. Even though these patients are sick and have terrible diseases, it was a relatively calm unit. Once the nurse set up all the IV’s with the drugs, there was basically nothing else to do, other than general maintenance here and there. So basically it was boring for me. Luckily one of the patients (and his sister) spoke English, and we ended up talking. I also talked with one of the nurses for a while. We actually talked about some more personal topics, such as marriage and jobs and hopes for the future (mostly hers).

It’s interesting because people always think that everyone across the world is so different and foreign. But that’s not true at all. Even though we speak different languages, wear different clothes, worship different gods…beneath all that everyone has the same hopes and dreams for their futures, their careers, and their family. And I bet the world would be a much more peaceful place if people would just realize that!

It’s also interesting because I was talking to this nurse about arranged marriages and how the woman is submissive to her husband. She told me that she didn’t have any expectations for her future spouse, and that she didn’t have problems with obeying him (and in regards to clothing, wearing what he wanted would keep away unnecessary attention). We always think we’re doing good by trying to make all these social changes, but it makes you wonder about the validity of our efforts if the people we’re attempting to help don’t think there’s a problem in the first place?

Today was a whole different adventure. I’m realizing more and more that what I thought was a completely organized six-week internship is not quite that organized. The medical director had told me I should shadow the ENT in OPD, so I showed up at 10am expecting to do just that. Expect the doctor doesn’t come in until 4pm. So then I had to figure out what to do with myself for six hours.

After wandering around a little, talking with some nurses, and touring the ambulance (it’s actually very nice, called the ACLS Ambulance, equipped to handle all sorts of emergencies), I ended up asking one of the pediatricians I had met before if I could shadow him. Apparently Tuesday is unlucky for some reason so he really didn’t have any appointments, but he was going to OB to give vaccinations so I followed him there. It actually worked out really well because he let me give some of the vaccinations! All the babies are required to receive polio, TB (I believe) and Hep B, and I helped give the Hep B shots. They’re called IM (intramuscular), so the nurses and doctor not only showed me how to give the vaccination, but also how to load it, including getting the medicine in the syringe and then changing to a smaller needle. Pretty cool stuff!

After several hours in OB, I finally headed over to the ENT’s office. I hadn’t realized it before, but I already knew the ENT. I’ve seen him around the hospital multiple times before- in casualty for a couple biopsies, in the operating theater- and he’s always really great about explaining what he’s doing and also allowing me to participate/view/help whenever possible. Of course, it being Tuesday, he had almost no patients as well. But he did see one patient; it was a post-op follow-up from surgery to remove cancer from the tongue and lymph nodes. The patient was there to have the staples from surgery removed, and the doctor let me try (and I ended up removing most of them)! Unfortunately that was the extent of his appointments, but he did tell me I could come back tomorrow and see some more.

Days 42 & 43:
(6/30/12 & 7/1/12)

This past weekend was the last free weekend before all our programs end and we head out of Bangalore. Most of the students had to stay back and work, but Sam and I decided to head out of town while we still had the chance. We left on an overnight bus from Bangalore at 11pm, and arrived at Hampi the next morning at around 7am. Basically all we knew when we got there was that Hampi is known for its ruins, but boy were we in for a surprise because it was so awesome!

Before going exploring, we headed off to find the B&B, called Gallery Guest House, where we were staying to drop off our stuff… it was basically this little family-owned place, and I’m pretty sure we were the first foreigners to stay there! But it was actually really nice, had great food, and affordable. What we also didn’t realize was that first you have to cross this river and then go at least a couple kilometers on the other side before reaching the place. But it turned out to be really nice because we were out of the way of the other foreigners and got to see some local villages.

After dropping our stuff off, we walked back into town, stopping to take tons of pictures along the way, and basically spent the afternoon walking around all the ruins (and there were SO many). It was so nice to be out of the city and surrounded by palm trees, rice paddies, rock formations, water buffalo, monkeys, and green! We stupidly forgot to put on sunscreen and got some pretty bad sunburns, so later that evening we went back to the B&B and slept and read in hammocks in the nice breeze for a couple hours.

On Sunday, we slept in late, ate breakfast, lazed around on the hammocks for a couple more hours, and then walked into town. We thought about going on a rickshaw guide of some of the farther-out temples but decided against it. Instead we spent the day walking around, sitting by the river, talking….basically we just had a really nice relaxing weekend which is what I think we both needed!

We took another overnight bus back to Bangalore- it left at 8pm, we rolled into the bus station at around 6:30, got back to Mathyoo around 7, and both left for a full day of work around 9! Needless to say we’re both going to bed early tonight!

Also a final note about Hampi: we both felt like we stood out much more as foreigners. For example, we were buying water (after a long day in the sun) at a roadside place and this guy comes up and says “your faces look horrible.” But his eye was swollen shut, so it’s not like he could even talk! But we definitely weren’t sad to get away from the whistling, obnoxious staring, and heckling (although the kids who tried to talk to us in English were cute).

Just your average cow walking up the stairs

Lakshmi, the temple elephant

Our home away from home

Life doesn't get much better than this!

View of Hampi from across the river

Eating the remains of our mango

Rice paddies

Sunset over the river

Some of the many temples