Amazing how far behind you get on these blog things... So, fourth week of rotation - Than Gaon village, the one I was really looking forward to. We'd been up there before for the bbq, but we hadn't really gotten to look around. Basically Than Gaon is a village of about 10 families, so maybe 100 people, up in the mountains pretty close to Moussouri (you can hike from one to the other in about 6 hours). We lived in little thatch-roofed huts, each filled with four beds covered in mosquito nets (thank goodness!). The other girls complained, but thought the nets were awesome - not only do they keep out all the creepy crawlies, but it's almost like you're in your own secret tent. (I dunno, as a kid I loved those bolster beds with ... read more

Well, I've gotten a stomach bug. Bound to happen at some point when you're traveling in India, right? =P Only no one else in my group got as affected and we've all been eating the same things, so the only thing I can think that could have made me sicker is because I'm a little short on blood. A young woman came in a couple of days ago, maybe 17 years old, who was the encyclopedia picture of extreme anemia. Her tongue was *white*, there were pretty much no blood vessels visible under her lower eyelids, and her fingernails were white too. It turns out she has no mother and she's been to shy to tell her father that she's been bleeding for an entire *month.* When we did a Hb on her, it was ***3***! ... read more

Queen of the Hills, Mussoorie, 2,003 m (~6,600 ft) high. Beautiful, a bit touristy, great views, but most importantly to me right now, the weather here is actually COOL! Believe it or not, I actually need BLANKETS at night!! It's amazing, and such an great, great relief from the incredible humidity and sweat-drenching heat of DehraDun. Here we're working at Landour Community Hospital, part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association (and is therefore Christian). It's a 35 bed hospital situated pretty high up on the mountain, and treats people from the city as well as a good 200 or so of the surrounding villages! It's not very big - right now there are only 3 full-time doctors, one 1/2 time (she's recovering from some intensive chemo and radiation therapy), a physiotherapist, and maybe 10 nurses. The doctors ... read more

So here I am in India! It's taking me awhile to really realize it. I still think I'm getting over being done with first year and exams. =P They say you're supposed to go through about 4 stages of culture shock. First Honeymoon, then Hostility, then Humor, then finally feeling like this is Home. I think I skipped right over the Honeymoon and went straight to Hostility and then to Humor. Probably because within 2 seconds of stepping out of the airport terminal a bunch of porters tried to take advantage of my ignorance and general confusion and get me to pay them "5 - 10 American dollars each," all for putting my bags (without asking by the way) into a car about half a foot away. In my general overwhelmedness (yes I know that's not ... read more