Something isn't right...I'm in bed...which bed...Virginia...no....theres a spring poking in my back...smells damp...whattha..ohh....right...Africa. Morning?...no. night. why the hell am I awake?...its quiet...damn thats uncomfortable...what is?...stomach...no..."lower left quadrant"..wait....awwwww MO-THER-FU.....where my headlamp...not here...WOW..no time...wheres the toilet paper? on the fridge!...where?...too dark..HERE!!...no thats deodorant..there!! on the floor!! Get it...got it...no shoes..who cares...outside!!! COLD! I'm awake at this point..never has my mind been more focused on [View Full Entry]

---

---

So its been a while....some wait with batied breath for each post (I call them my parents..) while the rest get pissed at the email SPAM that drops into your inbox each time I make an entry...to mom and dad: Here ya go...to the rest of you..its prob sun morning what else do you have to do? Yesterday we all piled into the back of our Bukke (Afrikaans for pick-up truck) and headed out to the village the Engineering students are working in...they needed to d some work on their project while the rest of us wanted to go along for [View Full Entry]

---

---

I spent the afternoon looking around the lab for chemicals I needed for a specific test...and failed miserably...they are in the process of remodeling the building and everything is scattered everywhere. I enlisted the help of a UNIVEN grad student, and the two of us set out on a campus wide hunt for the chemicals....after an hour or two of rummaging through store rooms and boxes and the occasional bright red "Biohazard bag" ("Don't worry Jim...its not REAL biohazard"....I have no idea what "real biohazard" means but even the fake stiff makes me nervous...I decided that the chemicals proba [View Full Entry]

---

---

Things are progressing well with the study. I've been working closely over the past three days with Mr. Shakes Mathbula, a nurse at the Health Center. I've really just been observing and trying to figure out how best to work the study protocol into the day-to-day happenings of the clinic. The clinic itself is a government run establishment that is part of the Vhembe District Health Department. Its like any other primary care setting in the states. For the kids its mostly runny noses, colds, flu, immunizations and well child exams. Most adults present with similar complaints or they are receivi [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well it took a while for me to get here and honestly the number of stories I have saved up in doing so would take a day and a half to recall and you all don't have that kind of time...so I'll give you the abbreviated version and you can ask me more later. Missed my connecting flight in Paris and spent the day in Charles de Gaul waiting for the next flight. I drank 6 dollar expressos trying to stay awake and deal with the jet lag before I got to South Africa. It worked, barely, and at 11pm that [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I just re-activated this account from last summer. I'm leaving on the 13th of June for Limpopo, South Africa...be back August 5th. If you'd like to hear about any adventures I may have stay subscribed...if you want nothing to do with this little trip...shoot me an email/message and I'll take your name off the subscriber list....thanks. [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've been back now since saturday morning. I've been meaning to write down a few things since I got back but I haven't been able to get my thoughts straight until now. Mostly I wanted to describe three encouters I had over the 30 or so hour journey from Dehradun to New Hampshire. I traveled from Dehradun to Delhi via the 5am train on Friday. I arrived at the train station around noon. My flight to the states didn't leave until 11 that night, so Mayank had arrainged for a taxi to take me to a hotel for the afternoon where [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I've been away from any form of comunication for the last week or so and can only say that each day has been better then the one before...this is a LONGONE...fell free to read in segmetns...but it is an account of one of the most amazing two weeks of my life...there may alos be pictures... First off..the monsoon arrived...yes this means rain but its only a few torrential downpors a day that completely wipe out the humidity/plloution in the air...underlying theme: I like the monsoon. Now...We left dehradun last friday morning at 8am and travelled via jeep to Rishikesh where [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm back in Dehradun this week...I have an Internal Medicine rotation in the moring and then an ER/caridology rotation in the evening. My IM rotation is very frustrating...but very entertaining. Frustrating because I'm alone on this rotation and the Doctor basically ignores me. Since he only speaks to his patients in Hindi I can't even guess whats going on....every now and then he'll flash an x-ray infront of a light box just long enough for me to figure out what part of the body it is, yell some gibberish and then smile like he's just impareted the wisdom of hippocrates on [View Full Entry]

---

---

3:30AM and I'm crammed into the second to last seat on a public overnight bus to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Its dark and the bus is over flowing with the type of uncertain silence that comes from 50 half alseep strangers...all secretly wanting to scream in frustration but not wanting to wake the person "sleeping" in the next seat. The dark bus and sleep deprivation makes it easier to slip back in time and I'm not on a midnight bus to agra anymore, I'm on a school bus...its still dark and I'm laying on a big duffel bag and [View Full Entry]

---

---