The End

Made it home safe and sound! The first few days back were a bit challenging due to stomach issues...left over or just getting used to fruits and veggies again! Glad to be back but is taking a little adjusting after living in such a different world. I will attempt to figure out how to post a link to all 1,000 pictures if anyone is actually interested! Pics from the last week are posted below.
For now, thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next adventure...which will hopefully be sooner rather than later!
SK.

Just to Finish Up...

What a week! I realize I've been neglectful of my blog but we really have been going non-stop since I left CRHP over a week ago. I will try to do a quick summary of the week but of course its hard to get everything in!

We got to Mumbai on Tuesday night and we had dinner in Colaba, which is the main tourist area. Wednesday we just hung out and enjoyed being back in city life. I went to breakfast with my friend Chantal at the Taj Mahal (a couple of the group people were staying there) and had the best $20 breakfast ever. While it merely consisted of coffee, crepe, and fruit salad, the fact that I got a FULL cup of coffee in an actual mug was a very exciting thing. Ah, its the little things one can appreciate in life :)

On Wednesday night after getting Kelly, we headed to Lonalava (me, Kelly, Chantal from CRHP, and her friend James that had flown in from London). Lonalava is a hill town about an hour outside of Mumbai that is great to visit Monsoon. Its high up in the hills (more like small mountains) and the clouds and mist surrounding the area of so beautiful. We toured around and just enjoyed the scenery. On Friday we headed back into Mumbai for a few days. Mumbai is a great city! It is very metropolitan and much easier to manage than Delhi. We did some shopping, went to a Bollywood movie, did a walking tour of British Mumbai, and took a boat out to an island to see some caves. We also went to a "real" dinner out at a fancy restaurant, definitely the best meal I've had in India! It was fun to get dressed up and see how the other half of India lives (meaning the wealthy side). Chantal and I did a "tasting menu" of about 800 courses and it was to die for. It made for a really fun night!

Sunday we flew up to Udaipur, definitely one of my favorite places in India. It is so beautiful and really indescribeable. Its a mixture of being in a small Italian town and in India at the same time. I will post pictures as soon as I can. We were met by my tour leader (G) who is from Udaipur. It was so great to have him there to be our guide. Our hotel there was amazing, and we got there just in time to enjoy a drink on our roof top overlooking Lake Pichola. We then headed to a Rajasthani culture show which was very interesting. After that G took us to his family's art shop where they specialize in "melawari" style which is really intricate painting. They painted little figures on our fingernails that were so detailed--it was quite amazing. We got to meet some of G's family and everyone was very nice. After we headed to dinner and just had a great time. Monday we headed to some touristy spots in Udaipur and did a little shopping. We also visited Monsoon Palace (James Bond Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur) which is high up on a hill overlooking the mountains and Udaipur- SO beautiful. That night we went to a palm reader, lots of fun and everything is looking okay for me so that's good to know :)

Tuesday Kelly and I said goodbye to James and Chanti and headed to Jaipur. Again, had a very busy couple of days! Right away we find Abu, who works at our hotel and became our rickshaw driver for the next two days. He's a young guy of like 22 who actually has a stereo in his rickshaw...so funny and very sweet. Really we would not have had such a smooth visit without him. He took us around to all the sightseeing spots but also to some "hidden" stores/warehouses where we were able to do some shopping hassle free (of course he got something out of it to in commission but totally worth it to us). Attempting to shop here is an experience in itself and takes A LOT of patience. You walk down the street and every shop owner gets in front of you trying to sell you something then when you like it you have to spend time bargaining down to a reasonable price, can be very exhausting. Yesterday Abu took us to some out of the way sightseeing places we hadn't planned on visiting so it was great that we had him. We also got to ride an elephant!! Something I had wanted to do since arriving and was happy to finally get too (although the excitement didn't last all that long once I realized its really not all that comfortable riding an elephant...).

The only slight hitch in the Abu story is that last night on our way back after an exhausting afternoon he knew we were starving so he pulled off the road and bought us each this cold sweet thing. The main rule in India: do not eat street food. Well, we couldn't refuse so we ate up (it was delicious...) but we are both waiting for the shoe to drop on that one...luckily Kelly is in a nice hotel tonight but I will be on an airplane...hmmm. If we make it 24 hours then we should be in the clear. The past two days have been a challange for us in that department anyway so hopefully it won't get worse. Today we flew to Delhi and are now hanging out in Kelly's fabulous hotel. A real bed! Wow. I have a couple hours left and will have a chance to shower, etc before heading to the airport.

I cannot believe I leave India tonight! It is so strange that my time here is over. Of course I'm excited to come back to the states but also sad that its all ending! It has been such a great experience for me and I can't wait to share it with everyone when I get back! I have a ton of great pictures and will post them when I'm back at a REAL computer with fast internet. That's it for now, next (and final) post will be from the good ole' US of A!

Goodbye to CRHP

The above pictures are of Tai...a little girl who has been hanging around the hospital since we have been here because her brother has been suffering from malnutrition. She is always so happy despite all the pain in her life, from the pictures you can see a little deeper...I really love these.

While the last 48 hours at CRHP have not been the best yet, its hard to believe its already my last day! I had another stomach attack over the weekend (I will leave out the gory gory details), this time seemed worst than the first with the addition of churning stomach knots…luckily Cipro came to the rescue once again. I spent most of yesterday sleeping and feel a ton better today. I’m not sure what the culprit was, could have been eating the local food at the Wedding we went to…maybe not the best idea. Anyway, these types of experiences are ones I will not miss once home again.

We usually stay after dinner and play cards for a while in the Mess, the past two nights we have spotted a mouse running along the wall. Last night we asked Revi (one of the Aroles) what they would do and he simply responded they would let a few Indian Rat Snakes loose overnight and that should take care of it…gotta love that Indian solution. Ick.

So today we presented our final projects and had a “graduation” ceremony. It was really amazing. First it was great to see us all applying the principles we learned to another city. I really liked our plan and if only we had ½ million in funding, I think we could totally do it in DC.

The ceremony was very nice. They presented us each with a flower garland, a shawl (representing knowledge), and a candlestick (representing us spreading the “light” of what we have learned). The Aroles each spoke and said some amazing words, I think there were more than a few tears in the room. They basically spoke about all that we have learned and their hopes for us as we begin our careers and that we remember our experiences and our time in Jamkhed. They said that when many of us could have done other things with our summers, we chose to come to a rural village in India (without really knowing what we were getting into, without entertainment, etc) and learn about another way of life and how to help those who need help the most. It really puts the last 4 weeks into perspective (or at least begin too…I think the real perspective will begin to come once we leave). Anyway, it was a very nice way to end the course.

I just finished packing and luckily everything was squeezed in! Tonight we have a final dinner and goodbye party. Off to Mumbai in the morning. It is definitely emotional to be ending this but am excited for my last bit of traveling in India and to meet Kelly in 2 days!

Time is a Flyin'

Its been quite a week here! The days are going fast and its hard to believe we are working on final projects. Anyway, its been a great week. We've been having class presentations which have been interesting but also doing a good bit of personal development. Today we had an open forum with the Drs. Arole where we got to ask any questions. They talked a lot about motivation and balance. Doing development work can be such a challenge but they both say they haven't felt like they have made any sacrifices. We also did a very cool meditation today where you had to picture your own funeral and what people where there, what your friends and family would say about you and what you would want them to say. Then we had to write our "life" mission statement. Really a neat thing to do and makes you think about where you are and where you want to be.

Speaking of life, had an amazing experience this week of getting to see a live birth. Tuesday night we had another poker game (I won this time!) and were just all hanging out because we knew there were two women in labor. I was set-up to see the 2am birth - bad prediction because 2am turned into 3am turned into 4am...you get the idea. But it was fun because a few of us just stayed up talking. Finally around 6am we went to the hospital. Unfortunately it was a very hard labor and the woman (20 yrs old...) was in a lot of pain. She kept wanting to walk around and the contractions were horrible. We tried to comfort her but by the end she was saying she didn't want the baby anymore...oops, too late for that! Finally she was fully dialated. By this time though she was so exhausted that the doctor had to push for her. Soon enough though a brand new baby boy emerged! Definitely one of the most amazing things I've seen. He was healthy and the mother is now fine. After a good rest she decided she would keep him :) I went and saw her the next day and she was in much better condition. Wednesday was a long, exhausting day but definitely worth it! (by the way, the first thing I did was call my mom and thank her profusly for going through that...)

Yesterday we got to attend a Wedding Reception! It was so neat. We went in the afternoon, basically with the whole village. We didn't really understand the customs but it was very cool to see. We are now working on "action plans" which is applying the principles we've learned to real-life. My team is doing young women in inner-city DC and I'm really enjoying the exercise. This weekend we have a final dinner and work on our projects which we present Monday morning and then have a "graduation" ceremony. Tuesday we head out! Crazy. Once I'm out traveling again not sure of the internet situation but hopefully I'll get that chance.

Monkeys and Bats

First off- A few people have asked about donating to CRHP. Absolutely! Just go to their website (you can just type in Jamkhed into Google) and I think it’s the first cite that comes up. They have an online donation link. I promise your money will be used very well and help the good work they do here.

I think I left off about a week ago prior to the snake charmer….it was quite interesting. He had 2 cobras, an Indian rat snake (they bite, but don’t worry, not poisonous) and then 2 other snakes that both look alike (don’t worry, only one is poisonous…you just better know which one). He did some magic tricks and then brought out the cobras – SCARY, especially when they loose their grip and the snakes go a flying. Anyway, we all survived.

On Wednesday we went to CRHP’s farm. They grow food (most of what we eat comes directly from there) and have livestock but also use it as a training area for villagers wanting to get more into farming. It was neat to see and its been a pretty successful venture, in the past 2 years they have started making some profit and are now using some of the acres for more high-tech farming like cotton. After a tour we had the opportunity to ride a tractor or bullock-cart. Due to the fact that I am well-versed in driving a tractor thanks to our place in the country, I choose the bullock-cart (cart pulled by ox). It was a lot of fun and those ox actually go pretty fast! After we sat for snack and tea and heard from one of the women who works the farm. Quite an amazing story. She was married at 15, her husband had AIDS and died when she was 18 but not before giving her AIDS. She did not know until she was pregnant. Then her baby died because she could not support it. After all this she attempted suicide. It was at this point that someone brought her to CRHP. They treated her with medicine and gave her a job. 6 years later she is thriving, basically running the farm, and raising her sister’s daughter. She is so beautiful and tells her story so non-challantly considering what she has been through. She is only 24. Incredible that she has lived such a hard life and is still so young. It really puts your own life and hardships (or lack thereof…) into perspective. Really a moving experience.

Friday I gave my presentation on living with physical disabilities in a rural village and that night in celebration of the 4th of July we had a party! Apple crumble and great food (almost like Thanksgiving, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey). We even sang the National Anthem in honor. They also had a little fireworks show which was great, plus we had our own little dance party through people’s i-pods (side note: I didn’t realize before I left that my i-pod is in fact BROKEN and no longer runs on charge, only works when plugged into speakers which is how I had been using it at home…sad).

This weekend we went to Aurangabad to visit the Ellora Caves and an awesome fort, amazing. Its about a 4 hour drive from Jamkhed. The Caves were all built between 600 – 1000 AD by different religions (Jain, Buddhism, and Hindu). One of the caves has the World’s largest monolithic sculpture that was made from the rock over 150 years. The next day we went for a hike up to the top of the hilltop fortress – Daulatabad. So cool, the best way to describe is that I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. Draw bridges, dark caves led by torch-light, tons of bats, secret passage ways to stop invaders. Plus it had amazing views of the surrounding area. There was a hilarious (and terrifying) incident with a red-faced monkey. We had been warned that they are mean and were shown that first hand when one of the guys in our group tried to get next to it for a picture and it came after him. Then it saw another person with a plastic bag…went up to the guy, ripped open the bag, growled at the guy, took out a bag of chips, and proceeded to go to a tree and eat the bag. It was quite funny except that he was running in my direction and I was a bit scared. Anyway, it was truly a great weekend ending last night in me watching my first Cricket game on TV. It was the Asia Finals, India against Sri Lanka, unfortunately India lost. I think I got the basics finally so I can join in some of the games we have been playing with the local guys.

Hard to believe I leave Jamkhed a week from tomorrow! The time has gone so fast and meant so much. We have most of our travel plans set for after so I’m getting very excited about being back on the road (a little more well-versed in “Indian Travel” this time around). After meeting Kelly in Mumbai we are heading with a Brit gal from my group (and her friend she’s meeting) to a “hill town” outside the city for a couple of days. A hill town is basically what it sounds like and is said to be really pretty during monsoon time. Then we are back in Mumbai for a few days before heading north to Rajasthan. We have 2 days in Udaipur and 2 days in Jaipur (one of the places I was supposed to visit on my original tour but did not get to because of the protests).

To Market

It was a fun weekend here at Jamkhed. Friday night we had the poker tournament that lasted until 2am! It started with around 10 people and I’m happy to say that I came in a respectable third place. I could have left at 1am but stayed until the end as "dealer," mostly so that I would have someone to walk home with to protect me from any lurking cobras.

Saturday we had a class and then headed to the markets. First stop was an animal market, basically people selling cows, bulls, and goats. A cow is pretty pricey but you can get a good goat for about $80. It is quite an experience, pictures attached. The pink on the bull humps is a Hindu offering and a holy color. As we were leaving we saw a snake guy (not really a charmer because he wasn’t playing music) who had these baskets and just started pulling out snakes. While I was trying to keep myself from having a heart attack, it was cool to see. There were three long snakes in one basket and then a COBRA in another. It was frightening but something you can’t look away from. Side note: apparently we all have some fear here of snakes so tonight they are bringing in a real snake charmer to help us "feel okay" about the fact that there are poisonous cobras living with us...we will see how that goes.



After we went to the vegetable market, which happens every Saturday. Lots of local veggies. I bought some mangos which is a nice change from the bananas we have every single day. In the afternoon a few of us went on a long walk around the compound area we are staying in. Really pretty area, we were attempting to find a lake and were unsuccessful but it was still a worthy journey.

Saturday night we had our party. Definitely lots of fun! They supplied pizza, cake, chips, and drinks. We had music and played some games, including flip cup. Playing flip cup in the middle of rural India, it doesn’t get more surreal than that! We even had one of the kitchen staff ladies playing which was quite hilarious.

Sunday we went and sat in on a meeting of the “adolescent girls clubs.” They bring girls here every week and teach them self-defense, nutrition, and other things. It was great to see the enthusiasm from these girls, full of hope, which is a great thing to see here. One girl even said she wanted to be a lawyer! Then a couple of the girls cooked pasta and cheesecake, another nice break from the food and very good.

Yesterday we actually had a free day and I spent it working on my project and panicking about travel. Apparently all of the flights I had intended on taking after are now booked…so Kelly and I are needing to rethink itinerary yet again…however I think we resolved everything today and will actually get to visit some of the cities that I missed before on the tour! Cannot believe it is July already! Time is flying...

And So Life Begins

Its been an interesting couple of days here. Yesterday we went on another village visit (pictures attached, the first pic is of my room). What is amazing to me is I’m actually starting to be so familiar with villages that I can tell the differences between them in terms of size, wealth, etc. We were looking at pictures last night and discussing that while we are taking them it seems like no big deal but then we looked at them in a different way and though how really amazing they are and that anyone back home would be thinking "wow." Brings you back to the reality of the situation.

The village we went to yesterday was “really nice” and I use that term loosely because I realize by Western standards its not. Anyway, the village has been very successful with the health program, which of course leads to success in all other areas. All the women have businesses now and the village has clean water pumps, etc. We met one woman who thanks to the women’s group (empowering groups that help women get money loans, etc) now has goats and an acre of land and a house. I joked with the group that she is actually better off financially than I am! We also saw a good program they have to help any malnurished children to ensure they are eating. Basically they bring the kids and moms into this room and stay there all day and weigh them every couple of hours to make sure the food they are eating is helping them to gain weight (picture of child eating the banana is one example, the dark around his eyes is coal, something they do for Indian kids because they believe it widens the eyes and helps eyesight).

Today I witnessed my first caesarian. Awesome. There really are no words and seeing life come into the world was incredible. The way the Dr. just put her hands in there and pulled out a baby! I won’t go into all the gory details but it was very cool. However, while it was all happening I couldn’t help but think about all the hardship this little boy was going to face. I was also thinking that the mom would be very relieved it was a boy and that is just such a sad thought. He was very healthy though and I’m sure I’ll be checking on him during the next few days!

This afternoon we had a “personal development” class, which so far have been some of my favorite class sessions. You all know I love reflection :) Today we talked about values and people we admire (funny that I was the only person who put Oprah…) Its no surprise that the people we tend to admire live the values we like, most of us had the Arole family and of course my parents were numero uno on my list.

Many of us had similar values that we found important (family, health, service, justice, compassion). It was an interesting discussion with Dr. Shoba (the daughter of the couple that started the program) about how these values have led us here and that while everyone chooses their own values, your upbringing and environment have a strong impact on them. One of the things we discussed is that while we all have these values we might not be actively living them and that it can be a life process. I definitely found that true in my case and one value that I have and really want to live more actively when I get home is service.

She made some pretty profound statements that I totally agreed with all sort of centering around the idea of making decisions that are a part of your values. She made the point that being “static” in your life is not a good thing and you should always be trying to make your life creative and making an impact on those less fortunate than you. Again, something ringing very true for me and my life choices in the past few years. Of course in a room full of people in India wanting to do global health and work for the poor it was kind of like preaching to the choir but hearing it from someone who has lived her life that way was totally inspiring. She also made the point that we are so fortunate to get international experiences because learning from other cultures expands your world in so many ways beyond what you know. Again something I couldn’t agree with more.

Anyway, it was very thought provoking and I feel drained for today! Luckily its Friday…tonight we have a poker tournament with a 100 rupee buy-in (a little over $2). Fortunately for me not everyone grew up playing poker (who knew it wasn't a normal family event?) so I feel like I have a good chance. Tomorrow we go see the markets which should be interesting and tomorrow night we are having a “party” (again using the term loosely) with pizza and beer! There is much excitement about that.

A Day in the Life...

Added pictures of our trip to Pune in the previous post...

Things are settling in to a nice routine here at Jamkhed! This week are learning more specifics about certain issues and the training that is involved for the Village Health Workers. We've spend a lot of time on Women's issues since that is a MAJOR problem here. It is pretty unbelievable how women are still treated in this society. Luckily the project has been able to change some of the problems through education but there is still a long way to go. One of the biggest problems is sex determination - people finding out what the sex of a fetus is and then getting an abortion of its a girl. This has led to astonishing numbers, there are now only about 700 women for every 1000 men. If a girl is born she is basically treated horribly, eats last, doesn't get to go to school, has to work, and then is married off at 12-13 so the family can get rid of her. Then she is treated bad by the in-laws family and if there are any problems with childbirth or she has girls, she is sent back home and treated badly by her own family. We've listened to stories of women who were beaten, burned, tortured for no reason at all. These women talk about it like its a normal occurance and that makes it even more sad. Of course all of this stems from poverty. Anyway, I could go on but I'm sure its depressing to read.

So, I thought I would give a little insight into my typical day at Jamkhed.

7am - walk/jog with a few of the other ladies

8am - breakfast

9am - my attempt at meditation, pretty hard...

9:30am - 1pm - class or village visits

1pm-3:30 - lunch, rest, study, read

3:30 - 5:30 - class

5:30 - 7:00 - go into village, study, hang out

7:00 - dinner

7:30 - 10 - hang out and chat, ping pong, board games (yes, that is what we do at the village...we've gotten pretty good at Jenga and have moved onto cranium)

10:30 - read and bedtime!

The days actually go by fast and I don't seem to have a lot of free time. I thought I would have so much time to read the books I packed but really haven't! That's about all I have to report at the moment. The pictures here are mostly from village visits and one out my building window.

Pune or Scream

First - Pics are up! It was very difficult to pick from the 500 photos I've taken but I tried to select a few that would be representative. I also attempted to match with the blog so I posted with each entry.
Second - I have an icky chest cough/cold. No fun.

In Pune right now! We left yesterday and its about a 4 hour drive from Jamkhed. We squeezed 12 people into a 10 person van, not the most comfortable but normal for India, in fact, had we been Indian we would have put about 5 more people in! Pune is a pretty big city comparatively and we are staying at a nice place. Last night we went to dinner at a restaurant called "Flags," definitely the nicest place I've eaten so far. Huge menu with dishes from all over the world. Our eyes were all much bigger than our stomachs for some non-Indian food so of course we had tons left over but it was yuummy.

After dinner we headed to a club at a really nice hotel called "Scream - The Club." Now while I trust and rely on the Lonely Planet to get me through this trip, there is one place they have let me down. The book says to only bring conservative, loose fitting clothes. While I haven't necessarily agreed with that statement from the beginning, its been okay. However, last night, when I was forced to go to a trendy club in linen pants and flip flops while the rest of the population looked like they were in London or New York, I did feel like the book had led me astray. Anyone that knows me understands why this was a difficult thing for me, I did overcome and had a great time, but for future trips anywhere in the world will always remember at least one fun Western outfit :) Indian music is so fun to dance too and there was the occasional western song too. The club was interesting because it was "couples only" meaning girls can enter, but if you are a guy you have to come with another girl.

Today we are touring around Pune and hopefully doing a little shopping. I'm trying to find a pair of tennis shoes because I've been walking a lot around Jamkhed and my sandals just aren't cutting it. Plus they just opened a boxing gym and I'm going to start doing that some mornings (assuming I like it...)

The last few days at the Project have been great. We continue to learn about the principles of primary health care and the history of that movement. We are also doing some personal development stuff, thinking about how we each ended up here at Jamkhed. Also, I've gotten to spend some time at the hospital. On Friday I got to observe three different surgeries (partly because there are two tables in one room and they were operating on people at the same time...). I saw a breast lumpectomy, a hydroseal (Sarah M...I assume you know what this is...GROSS), and a fistula repair (also gross). I won't describe those but let's just say that happened in places you wouldn't want surgery. It was a great experience and I was totally fine...some of the med students got faint and neausous I was good though. The conditions are astonishing and the US would have a fit about this OR. Even though not considered sterile by our standards, the rate of infection is actually really low.

Yesterday a few of us got to do "out patient" with Dr. Shoba. Saturday is market day so they get a lot of villagers coming in. We saw a woman with advanced stage cervical cancer, so sad. We actually got to see it and at that stage its not a good prognosis. Also got to diagnose a TB patient and listen to her lungs. All very cool clinical stuff. Anyway, need to do some other stuff since I have an actual good internet connection here in Pune. Hope all is well there!

Jamkhed

Jamkhed - my home for the next month is a small village about 6 hours east of Mumbai. It is home to the Community Rural Health Project (CRHP) which I have learned a lot about in the past three days!

The first day here we did a tour of a local village and had several class meetings on the history of India and the caste system. Its important to understand the people we see and their history. We met Dr. Arole, one of the founders of the project and talked a lot about the health system here in India and the problems with it as well as the problems with the US system...that it is all about money.

Yesterday was basic orientation on the program and the history of Jamkhed. We have class twice a day on various health topics and also do village visits twice a week to see what the village health workers are doing. The basic story is that Drs Mabelle and Raj Arole met while at the best med school in India. They both had similar goals of wanting to help the poor and enable them to help themselves.

After training all around India and the US they decided to come to Jamkhed and start the project. Basically they have a hospital and then mobile health teams to go around to villages. They train local women to be "village health workers" who can take care of basic needs and tell people when they need to go to the hospital. The project started in the 1970s with an infant mortality rate of 176 per 1000 and now its 19 per 1000. Leprosy and TB have been cut down over 60 percent. Only 5 percent of women used to get prenatal care now 96 percent do. Not only has health improved but the education has helped the villagers to move beyond the caste system, build businesses, etc.

The women who are village health workers are honored whereas they used to be treated horribly. It is absolutely amazing and inspiring what these two people have done. They know serve 1 million people around the area and 75 villages. They have trained over 100,000 people sincw the 1980s.

We toured the hospital yesterday and while very basic compared t ours it is sufficient. The Aroles daughter is now the main doctor but they have specialists come in all the time. We went around and met all the patients - some TB, a malnursished 2 year old (so sad), 2 new borns, a woman who had clampsia (she delivered safely last night), appendicitis, etc. One thing different here is that any patient brings a family member who stays with them the whole time and brings them food and stuff. Most of the nurses don't have any real training but do an amazing job.

Today we heard from a few village health workers and their personal stories. Really amazing. During the month we will give a presentation (mine is on birth defects and disabilities and how villages deal with them). We also will get to shadow Dr. Shoba. Should be a great month, I know I will learn a ton!!

The Group: really a good group. There are 13 of us: 5 boys, 8 girls, one married couple. 4 people from MT Sinai med school who just finished their first yeat. 3 from suny down state med school, 1 going to vanderbuilt med in the fall, 1 girl finishong her undergrad at unc, 1 guy from san fran who juat finished 3rd year med, and 1 girl from london who just finished 3rd, 1 guy who is a clinical psychologist (half of the married couple). So I'm the only MPh but since some haven't even been to med school yet it doesn't really matter- its not clinical at all. Everyone seems to be gettting along well and we are all taking a trip this weekend to a city about 4 hours away. I'm staying in an apartment type building with one other girl and have my own room. Pretty nice except the geckos that live with me, but supposedly they eat bugs so okay. No AC but shockingly IT IS NOT HOT here!!! Its so much cooler than up north and a nice breeze goes all day! Fabulous.

Anyway, that's a lot of info. I could go on but have class in 15.
Later!

wishes and prayers, end of part 1

The past few days have been packed, a lot with travel. Our last in Varanasi was spent doing a hindu prayer ceremony on a boat on the ganges. You light a candle which is in a little holder filled with marigolds. From the middle of theriver you make a wish and if it floats to one shore still lit your wish comes true. Too bad for us because it was really windy. Luckily we eventually rowed in a bit and I know at least one of mine made it!


In addition I have learned that because of my birth date I fall under number 7 and am ruled by the planet neptune. 7s are restless and love travel and change...sound familiar?? Amazing how accurate some of this astrology stuff is.


Anyway, Saturday morning we took a ride out to Saranath which is where Buddha gave his first sermon, pretty cool. In the afternoon we did some shopping,and ever since the tiger fiasco I really wanted to find a little Ganesh (elephant, son of shiva-hindu god, means good luck). So I finally found one at this little store that was actually his house. People always say bargain here but I just can't bring myself to bargain over 100 rupees (2 dollars) with some of these people who obviously need it more than me. So, all trip I have been looking for these pants my roomie had from thailand, no where to be found. The Next store I went in after buying Ganesh had them and they cost a whole 2 bucks. The luck has started!!


We then headed to the train station in a torrental downpour and what turned out to be my most exciting/terrifying rickshaw ride yet. The streets were flooded, traffic was insane (as was my driver), its like being in a video game.

Anyway, we made it to our sleeper car. 4 of us were in one area with 4 other people + one very spoiled and loud baby (these parents really needed to learn some control or have another kid ASAP because this one is on her way to being a brat). Survived the night, we had bought the worlds best apple pie from a restaurant to take on the train and it was pure heaven. Made it to morning and our train was 3 hours late...no big deal except that I had a flight to catch. We finally made it to Delhi, again raining, so we are wading through puddles (ew) trying to get to the cabs. I had a seperate one so had to say very quick goodbyes to thr group- its amazing how trips like this bond you so quickly, you get so used to being around them.
So the trip ended as I headed ro the airport. I am SO happy I did the trip, it was such a great way to be introduced to India. Intrepid is fantastic, for anyone looking for some travel experience, I highly recommend. I will defintely be going on more in the future.

I was on a flight with 2 kids next to me and 2 behind with their parents way up front. These kids were out of control and barely got buckled in for takeoff. I think the stewards were not happy. But the flight was great, they give cool towels, snacks, meals, eveb on a short flight! So made it to Mumbai where I immediately noticed a difference in the city. Its cleaner and less chaotic,they even have traffic lanes and use blinkers! They also have stop lights which count down how long the light will be red which really only leads to cars running the light starting with 3 seconds left. Drove the 6 hours to Jamkhed and got here about 11 last night.

Today was great but I'm tired and need a shower so I will fill all that in on the next post.

Hope all is well, I'm devestated about Tim Russert and still can't believe it. I don't know that I will ever feel the same about Sundays :( Another reminder that everyday is valuable.

The Ganges

We've spent the last day getting to know Varanasi, the holiest town for the Hindu people because it is home to a very holy temple and the Ganges River. Last night we did a walking tour all along the river and the Ghats (different series of steps leading down the river). It is quite amazing, the rivr is used for everything because it is considered "pure." People bathe in it, drink it (ICK), brush their teeth (double ick), throw out trash, wash clothes, cows bathe, kids swim, they fish in it, pray in it. One of the most important things is that in several of the Ghat areas they cremate people (I walked by people actually being cremated on the shore) and then the families spread the ashes in the river. The Hindus believe that if your ashes are spread in the Ganges then you will be taken out of the reincarnation cycle, which is a good thing. However, there are 5 types of people that cannot be buried there because they are not ready to "die" yet: these are holy men, pregnant women, children, people bitten by cobras, and people with lepracy.
Last night we went to awesome prayer ceremony, pictures to come. Its hard to describe but there is a family of men that stand on these platforms and basically make all these offerings to the river.

This morning we did a sunrise boat ride and watched all of the morning rituals. Mostly people bathing and doing laundry and praying. A great experience and you feel part of their world for a minute, although they probably look at us tourists wondering why we are so fascinated by them brushing their teeth. The amazing thing is that no one ever gets sick, my leader says its because "they believe the river is pure" and apparently scientists have studied it.

We also went to a Bollywood film today, not the typical one, more drama but still interesting watching an entire movie in Hindi (Kel - a must do for Mumbai). After some more walking around the market and an attempt at visiting a temple (hindu's only) we made it back for a short rest before we head out to a prayer ceremony tonight.

A big highlight of this town is the amazing dinner last night that included pizza...yuuum. A much needed break from Indian food before I head to the village where I'm sure that's all I will have. You don't realize how much variety we have in the US until its gone!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Only if you are lucky!

Its been a great and interesting couple of days over here. I think when I left off we were in Kaharajo. We had an interesting stay there and saw the "love temples" which were quite detailed, the kamasutra scenes were interesting and our guide insisted we should pay attention and learn something. Funny. India is an interesting country in that people feel like they can just walk up to you and start a conversation. I was walking in Kaharajo looking for an ATM and a young guy walked up to me and just started talking, asking where I was from, what I was doing in India, etc. He then went on to ask what i was doing later and if i would like to go on a date. Totally harmless but needless to say I promptly ran into my hotel and waited until later to do to the ATM :)
I'm not sure what it is but there seem to be only men in this country. In hotels, on buses, on trains, on the streets, LITERALLY all men. The women are busy tending to the house, etc. but it is quite eery.

After Karahajo we headed to a National Park for 2 days. It was really a neat place, minus the many bugs and lizards that inhabited our rooms. We went on a jungle safari in one of the best Tiger Reserves in india. We split up in 2 jeeps and left at 5:30am to try to find them. Our jeep saw one mother Tiger from very far away and the other jeep saw 4 literally walk in front of them. Needless to say our car was very upset so we went back later that afternoon for another try. Instead we ended up in an open jeep during a torrential downpour. Clearly someone in our car has bad karma. We were joking that two people in the other cars had "ganesh' statutes with them, which is an elephant and the son of the hindu god sheva, and means good luck. Our leader joked that it is all about the luck. Anyway, i was disappointed but the park was still beautiful and we got to see tons of monkeys, deer, peakcocks, spotted dear (look like gazelles), and wild boars.

After the park we headed to Allahabad, which is town where a lot of the political people live, come from. It is the birthplace of Nehru, a good friend of Ghandi's and the first prime minister of India. There is a lot of controversy regarding Ghandi and the continued ruling of the Nehru family but i will spare the details now (don't worry Dad, we can talk all about it when i get home). The town is also a very important site for the hindu religion because it is where the three holy rivers meet (ganges, can't remembr the other two). We went to that spot, again in a torrential downpour, I guess now I will learn to carry my rainjacket after now having two days of wet clothes. The best thing about Allahabad was the nice hotel, including AC, TV, and a restaurant with Non-indian food. We all had banana splits for dessert yesterday, fabulous break from spice. It was also our first experience in an Indian bar that was in our hotel, again ALL MEN. Our leader was telling us its not safe for women to go, even with boyfriends, etc.

So today we took a local bus (very uncomfortable, the seats are so tiny because most Indians are short) to our last stop, Varanasi, which is right on the river ganges and the holiest place of Hindus. They come here and bathe in the river as well as cremate loved ones. We are here for two days and doing boat rides among other things.

While most of the trip was not the original plan, it was still been great, i can't believe we only have 2 days left before our overnight train back to delhi on saturday! I did have to rearrange some plane tickets, etc to get down to mumbai on sunday which was an extra expense i hadn't thought about but it has all worked out.

I fly from delhi to mumbai on sunday afternoon and get in aroudn 3pm. Apparently the program has arranged for me to go wait at some hotel lobby until 11pm that night when another girl from my program arrives and we have a driver that will take us to jamkhed at that point. All i know so far is that there are 12 people in my program arriving in the next 3 days. Looking forward to going down south so i can face culture shock all over again :)

I hope to post pictures in the next few days from my leader's computer. Keep an eye out.

Thank Goodness for Medicine

The last couple of days have been a bit tough on our group! Half of us sick, including me. I had awful stomach issues and a fever but luckily within a few hours of taking antibiotics I had brought with me I was on the mend. My stomach is still iffy but I'm thinking that might just be how it is from now on. Two of the girls got dehydrated and one fainted, scary! Everyone is doing better though. A few nights ago we went to a local family's home for a cooking demonstration. It was really neat but at the height of my illness and I couldn't eat anything. Had to go use their restroom twice and by restroom I mean hole in the ground...didn't help that there was no power either. Anyway, survived but didn't get to eat any of the food.

Yesterday we went to a small village and stayed at the palace owned by the grandson of a past maharja. We also did a village tour which was really interesting, saw the school, hospital (we saw a baby that had just been born an hour earlier!), jail, homes, etc. By the end the entire town's children were following us. I also got a great picture of a woman that is 110 years old. It was quite an experience.

Today we are in the town of Kaharajo (home of Kama Sutra). We are touring a bunch of temples this afternoon. Tomorrow we head to a National Park for a few days which should be great. Unfortunately we are not able to do our original tour because of the continued protests but it is what it is.

Have had some really interesting conversations with our tour leader. He is also a palm reader so that has been quite fun. That's about all from here! I have to go now and rearrange some travel arrangements because of our change in plans. Later!

On the Road...

First things first...Yay Obama! Hopefully we can all unite now under the fabulous party we know we can be (Katie P...this means you :)).

So the last few days have been good...it has been so nice to get to see some of the country (read as: out of insane Delhi). The first day we took a local train to Agra, quite an interesting experience. They have different classes of cars and if you are in a non-ac car, they literally squeeze in to the point where people are hanging out the doors (picture to come...sorry haven't posted but am in internet cafes and can't really download). We were luckily in an AC one and the ride was fine. When we got to Agra we toured a huge fort built buy the Moghals (muslims). Very interesting. After lunch and a rest in our VERY HOT NOT AC guesthouse, we visited the Taj Mahal. Amazing. Words and pictures don't do justice. It was such a great experience to be there and I felt very lucky knowing that most people will never go. We were a handful of westerners in a crowd of Indians which basically made us celebs. For some reason (likely because they don't see a lot of white people), the Indians like to take pictures of themselves with us. They walk up (kids and adults) and say "one photo." And if you say yes, their entire family is all of a sudden beside you. A nice thing, the first time...but after a while it gets annoying and I now have a new sympathy for celebrities. I took about 100 pics and those are to come too. Really was amazing. After the group had dinner on the roof of our guesthouse, overlooking the Taj and talked with our leader all about India religions, etc. It is such a complicated country and I'm sure I will never fully crasp but its neat to learn.

The next day we took a local bus....oy. Non-ac, and again, piled in, but only for 2 hours so it was fine. We went to a really cool Fort and then on to a Palace where the Maharja lived all the way until 1950. We stayed right near a very famous bird sanctuary, which unfortunately because of global warming is now closed. The place we stayed was neat though, a hut roof and pics of birds everywhere and the most important thing: AC.

Today we were supposed to go into Rajasthan but because of the violent protests the company changed our trip (hopefully for only a few days). So after a car ride and another train we have ended up in a very nice small village called Orechha. I'm actually glad because it has been really neat. We are staying in these really nice tents (think back to British Rule, green grass, nice gardens) with AC and TV and there is a pool. We are here for 2 nights and get to do laundry- YAY, very necessary at this point. We just walked around the village and it is small enough that there are not beggars and they don't hound you in the markets. There are two huge palaces and tons of cows everywhere. There are also lots of "fake holy men" who sit around all day and smoke hashish, our guide told us we can tell fake from real because of 1. their smell and 2. fake ones ask you questions instead of tell you things.

Seeing the villages has been quite interesting - there are ladies that walk with water on their heads (2 pots even), cows and goats everywhere, men using anything and everything as their toliet, it really is like looking back in time. It has definitely been a test for me but is getting easier as I adjust.

Sorry for the lengthy post, I will sign off now, we are heading to have something cold to drink in the village and then back to the hotel for dinner, where apparently there is some nightly dance show. Hope all is well back there.