Blogs from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 2

Ok so first things first...I am on my way to the computer lab and a guy stops me. He is speaking perfect English but I am just looking at him not understanding what he was saying. He kept repeating, but because of his tone of voice, I couldn't grasp what it was he was trying to tell me (I thought he was trying to ask me directions and couldn't understand why someone would stop the only very obviously foreign person). Turns out he was saying "there is an insect on your head". ok if i stopped someone to tell them that, it may have been more like "THERE IS AN INSECT ON YOUR HEAD" while squatting it away. He was so cool, calm and collected that I just didn't quite get it. He then very nicely ... read more

So...to bring you all back to my wardrobe dysfunction of Friday-it got worse!! Not only did I have a hair elastic holding up my pants, right before I was about to start teaching, I was squatting on the ground and completely split my pants down one leg starting at the knee! yikes! Luckily these tops are super long, but becuase of the splits down the side, I had to be super careful. I had to modify some techniques that I was teaching as to not scandalize the staff! I am just bummed I ruined my pants but i will get them fixed if I am not too lazy. Ok so Friday night was just spent hanging out and being silly because one of the girls in my building is heading back to australia today. we had ... read more

So I just signed on here to attempt to finally share some pics. I saved them from my computer onto a memory stick although one of the med students told me he had trouble getting the computers to recognize his. I boasted that I hadnt yet had a problem with that and maybe he was doing something wrong. I now am unable to get the computer to recognize my memory stick. boo hoo. I even just took a picture of myself in my pretty little outfit in front of the hospital. well, you'll have to keep waiting...maybe another computer will open up while i am in here... ok so class number 2 also went well. I got a bit more done and even finished early! Each day I end up sitting in the campus canteen for ... read more

Ok so this is going to be short cause in a few minutes i have to head back to the department to begin my teaching... past few days have been great! i have been working in the clinic and already have seen some things that i wouldn't normally get to see. yesterday was a holiday (Happy Pongal to you all) so it wasn't as busy as normal. So far the students have been the ones to really try to learn from me. I will start talking to one and then 4 others will just show up and listen. i'll share more clinic stuff later when i have more time... yesterday, being Pongal and 2 of the australian med students last day, we ventured out to a real restuarant for dinner. it was the rooftop of a ... read more

A lot happens when you're not surrounded by the mundane. It's probably moreso a matter of the more liberal application of the tag "happened". For example, I bought an ice cream near my room and ate it while watching a rhesus monkey. No Solomon Shechter kid could make TCBY memorable. Most of my time is spent working on the project. That's been progressing nicely enough. You end up meeting some really interesting people, in either fortunate or unfortunate ways. We did a home visit for a retired teacher who is really friendly and endearing, clearly a proud man for his own experience in education as well as that of his children and their spouses. I guess he is one of the success stories of India. On the other hand, we met a patient today who is ... read more