Home at Last

7/17/11

I’ve been back now for 4 days. I fell back into the groove of U.S. life pretty easily. The plane rides weren’t that bad but felt soooo long. It took 34 hours door to door! I became very nervous when I got to the airport and found out that my Kingfisher airlines flight from Bangalore to Dubai was delayed by 45 minutes, meaning I wouldn’t have much time to make the flight in Dubai to Atlanta. Luckily they rebooked me on an Emirates flight that left 45 minutes earlier! Emirates is a glamorous airline…very cool to be able to enjoy a little of the luxury. I had a couple free glasses of shiraz and chatted with a lady next to me for most of the 4 hours. The flight from Dubai to Atlanta was 15.25 hours!!! It felt like 3 days long. Every time I looked at the clock I couldn’t believe there was more time than a full work-day left. I could hardly sleep and watched 3 movies: the Hall Pass (stupid), the Notebook (for the 52^nd time), and Dear John (so cute!). When I got to Atlanta I couldn’t believe I still had ANOTHER flight. I had to go through customs and immigration then get my suitcase, then re-check it again. The flight to Tampa was only an hour, thank God. I managed to stay away the entire day and crashed around 9:30pm—and slept until 8:30am the next day (11 hours!). After that the jetlag was pretty much over, although I’m still waking up kind of early on my own each morning.

It’s really good to be back, but I definitely miss India. I know I have to go back some day. It’s just such a different life there and I feel strange knowing that hardly anyone here knows what it’s like. It feels like I have a secret that even if I told someone, they wouldn’t understand. It’s hard when people say “how was your trip?!” How the heck am I supposed to explain 2 of the most incredible months of my life in a few-sentence response? I just tell people to read my blog to get a little glimpse of some of my experiences. No one could ever understand what I did, saw and felt…but I hope they at least might get somewhat of an idea.

It’s back to the real-world now…finishing my special project and graduation requirements, bills, trying to find a job, and dealing with my new roommate—Trooper the cat! I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog. I know I’ve really enjoyed writing it and chronicling my experiences for myself and everyone reading has been fun and rewarding. I hope if you get an opportunity to do some out-of-the-box traveling one day, you pick India!

Last day in India 7/12

I’m sitting in my room at the Annexe staring at my two giant suitcases all packed up and sitting by the door, ready to go. I’ll leave here in about half an hour and get some lunch and head to the airport. It’s so surreal to be leaving. Two months in the scheme of a lifetime is nothing, but when I’m sitting on the tail end of the two months thinking about all the things I’ll miss, it feels like a while that I’ve been here. I’ve really fallen into a groove of work, hanging out with friends, traveling, etc. It’s more carefree here than in Florida, perhaps because this isn’t my normal day-to-day life. When I go back I have to worry about bills, finding a job, finishing my special project and graduating. Reality will smack me in the face! Before leaving for India, I thought, “there’s no way when I return that I’ll experience any reverse culture shock.” Now, I’m not so sure. I’ve gotten used to the hustle and bustle of a busy city and to the way things work here. It’s so, so different at home and I don’t really know how I’ll react. I’m anticipating being a little bit bored with life at home. It all just seems so mundane now. I guess we’ll see what happens in just 1.5 days, when I arrive back in the U.S. I’m flying Kingfisher Airlines from Bangalore to Dubai, then taking Delta to Atlanta then to Tampa. I’ll arrive in Tampa just before 9:00am on Wednesday morning. Funny, because I’m leaving India Tuesday evening. I gain a day back, which is kind of nice. I’m hoping the flights go off without a hitch and more important, that my two suitcases arrive in Tampa with me and in one (or two) piece(s). I haven’t purchased much here, but what I’ve bought is important to me, so it better make it home! I’ve got Indian clothes (mostly just kurtas), shoes, spices and tea. Wish me luck.

Pondicherry Trip 7/9- 7/11

I went to Pondicherry with 4 others, just for the weekend. The bus left at 11pm Friday night and arrived in Pondi at 5:30am. There are two roads to Pondi- the old, bumpy road and the new, smooth highway. Guess which way the driver decided to take? The bus was a seater and the seats didn’t recline that far, so I just napped when I could. We got a couple of rooms at Hotel Green Park (or Palace?) and they were very nice- and air conditioned!! It was so hot and humid the whole time there. Every time I leave the plateau Bangalore sits on, I’m drenched in sweat. It’s going to be a rude wake up call to go back to Tampa.

The main attraction of Pondicherry is the French quarter, which is situated along the Bay of Bengal on the east coast of India. Pondi is about 4 hours south of the main city of Chennai. After a couple of hours of much-needed sleep, we headed out to the French quarter to check it out. There’s an interesting way of transportation in Pondi called the share-auto. It’s a slightly bigger version of the auto-rickshaw and they cram about 10-15 people in the back on benches. Kind of a fun experience except for the camera phones in our faces. But anyway, it’s only 4 rupees (9 cents) each way…dirt cheap!! The French quarter had some beautiful architecture and all the street names are in French (e.g. Rue Saint Ange). It was a charming little town and it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. First we went to the coast/beach (tiny beach, mostly it was rocks) and hung out for a bit and dipped our feet in the Bay of Bengal. The most fun was walking underneath the pier, hopping from plank to plank (they weren’t really planks but I don’t know what else to call them) and taking pictures. Afterwards, we went to a café that was playing Kenny Chesney! You have no idea how happy that made me. It was all country! We had some beers and hung out for a bit but decided not to eat lunch there, as the menu was a bit pricey. The alcohol in Pondi is relatively cheap compared to Bangalore because it’s Union Territory (not part of the state of Tamil Nadu). By 2pm we were starving, as we never had any breakfast, so we stopped into Madame Shaste, a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet, for lunch. Marie, Steve, and Vanita had some tasty looking pasta dishes and I just had some stuffed paratha and a cheese naan. We fixed a plan for the rest of the afternoon and decided on the famous ashram in town. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram (http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/index.php) was founded in 1926 and it is most famous for “the Mother,” a woman who was entrusted with everything spiritual at the ashram. Her face is everywhere! It was peaceful to go sit in silence for 5 minutes and just be. I did not get the chance while in India to go to an ashram for a stay (at least staying a few nights) but I think it would have been an ‘enlightening’ and distressing experience for me. After the ashram we were all completely exhausted from the long day, barely and sleep, and hot sun, so we stopped at a bay front café to have ice cream (I had black currant flavor! Yum) and then went back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We headed back down to the water via share auto for dinner around 8, and we were really lucky to see a live rock concert! At the same café where we had ice cream, a large crowd had gathered and a 3-man band of young guys from Bangalore was covering songs by Jimi Hendrix, Dire Straits, and others… then they had some of their own material too. Young and old all listening to this band…big crowd, right on the water, lots of fun! They had a lot of those plastic chairs they love so much put out and lots of old people were sitting in them, listening to an Indian band cover Purple Haze…awesome! After we had enough of the concert we went to a dimly light restaurant with lots of options, however, almost all of us ended up having delicious brick-oven pizzas. Pondi has lots of good pizzerias so I wanted to try it. I had “Hawaiian” which strangely enough was nothing like a traditional Hawaiian pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple- actually it had neither of those. It had chicken, capsicum (green pepper), and some other veggies. Really tasty, but not Hawaiian. We had dinner with some guys Corinne met-one was from France and the other from Quebec. So, the 7 of us had dinner together- American, Indian, French, Canadian (Quebecois), and British.

Sunday we had an amazing breakfast at the same café we had ice cream at the day before. We had cheese omelets, toast, and coffee while looking out over the bay. Corinne and I even split a pain au chocolat J, which is kind of like a croissant filled with Nutella. We went to the rocky beach again and just hung out for a while, but the sun was way too hot to sit there for long. We took a rickshaw about 15 minutes to Auroville, a town nearby (http://www.auroville.org/). Auroville is “a universal city in the making in south-India.” The website says: "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." It reminded me a little of scientology…slightly creepy. We got dropped off in the parking lot and then walked into the visitor center, which was a combo of museum and gift shop. We watched a short video on the whole “meaning” or Auroville and what it’s supposed to be about, then we took a walk over to this giant gold golf ball looking structure that looks just like the Epcot ball. The ball is called the “Matrimandir.” We took some pictures then went to the cafeteria for some cold coffee and fresh lemon soda. They put a small amount of the lemon concentrate in the bottom of a glass, then they give you a bottle of club soda and sugar to make it yourself.

After Auroville we headed to the beach and I rolled up my pants to say I’ve been in the Bay of Bengal. Steve went in the water, but that’s easy for him to do because he’s a guy and no one is going to stare at him! He lost his glasses in the water L and was pretty pissed… I guess I would be too. We went to lunch at a restaurant nearby and waited- I kid you not- an hour- to get our food. By the time we ate it was 3pm and I was starving! We got on the local bus afterward to head back to the hotel and my wallet got stolen!!!! So annoying—I always keep such a good eye on my stuff and pride myself in being alert and careful not to let something like that happen, but somewhere in that crowded bus someone must have reached into my bag and taken it. I think I got really lucky though because also in my bag was my cell phone, my iphone, my passport, and camera…and they didn’t get any of that. The only thing in my wallet was about $80-100 US dollars worth of rupees and my ATM card, plus my room key at the Annex at St. John’s. The key was about $5 to replace (the sister was NOT happy) and I had my dad cancel my ATM card immediately so there was no fraudulent activity. Losing the money sucked, but I would have wasted it on shopping for clothes anyway. Such a crappy way to end the Pondicherry trip, though. The bus ride back was awful too- we literally got the last 5 seats on the bus and they were in the way back, over the engine, so despite it being AC it was hot as hell and they took the old, bumpy road again. The seats don’t really recline back there either so I got basically no sleep. Luckily when we got back around 6am I could go right to sleep and not have to worry about waking up for my internship. I slept til about 11! I remained pretty lazy on my last full day in India.

View of a funeral procession from our hotel room. Fireworks and everything.

Little dip in the Bay of Bengal

Matrimandir in Auroville

Irony at its best

Scooter ride- Indian style!

Last Week of Internship

French restaurant "Cafe Noir" for dinner one night- this is my lemon tart :)

Yoga class with Marissa

Mixing paratha with chicken biryani in Ambur (Tamil Nadu)

7/8/11

The last full week of my internship really flew by. Monday and Tuesday I worked on a couple papers and Wednesday I got the opportunity to visit a shoe factory in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. It was a 3 hour drive and Andre, Dr. Deepthi (a doctor in the Dept. of Comm. Health) and I went by hired car to Farida Exports in Ambur. I was eager to see some occupational health in action before my stay was over. The shoe factory visit was really a wonderful experience for me. First, Andre and I have become friends so getting to go with her was nice. And I hadn’t really had the chance to talk with Dr. Deepthi so it was also nice to be able to chat with her a bit and learn more about what she does. Andre taught a class to 15 women about reproductive health. The class was taught in Tamil, the language spoken in Ambur. Andre is from Pondicherry so Tamil is her native language. The women learn about various health topics. These women take around 6 of these classes (all on different topics) and then go forward with the materials given in the class and teach the content to the rest of the factory workers. This factory has around 1500 employees and 80% are women. The classroom and manager’s office were on the upper level so I had a bird’s eye view of the factory operations. They make Timberlands there! Too bad I couldn’t get any pictures- this was prohibited. We stopped for a yummy breakfast on the way there and I had a masala dosa, which was surprisingly different than the ones in Bangalore because we were in a different region (different tastes to the foods in different areas). For lunch we had biryani delivered to the factory by one of the local restaurants. Ambur is known for their biryani, which is a very flavorful rice dish. I had the chicken biryani, but we also ordered mutton biryani (goat)…but I had never tried mutton the whole time in India and didn’t feel like starting then! Because the place is so famous for biryani, Andre and Dr. Deepthi ordered lots of extra food to bring home. We even stopped on the way back for more take-out!

The following day I was supposed to go to Mugalur for one last time, but the car was full. It was OK though because I had a lot of work to finish up in the Department. Thursday afternoon I got a cake for everyone to say thank you and goodbye. It was a caramel praline cake and it was all gone in about 5 minutes! They devoured it. I felt bad because I don’t think everyone got a piece, but I really wasn’t expecting it to be so popular! It was a big cake, too. I passed out thank-you cards to people that had made an impact on me, and tried to talk to each person before I left. Friday was my official last day but by then I was done with my work, so I took a half day. Friday afternoon was relaxing! I prepped for the trip that evening to Pondicherry. Weird to be done with the internship but 2 months really flies by—it felt like no time at all. So happy to have met everyone and had such a wonderful field experience—especially because I know some others that are not having such great field experiences! I feel quite lucky!

Weekend in Bangalore and Last Full Week

7/4/11

Happy 4^th of July, everyone! This means nothing in India, of course, but that’s OK. There will be other 4^th of Julys to celebrate, I suppose. I’m at work today in the Department and it’s official—I only have this week left and then I’m done! Wednesday I may get the opportunity (barring approval) to go to a garment factory to do a little occupational public health observing, and Thursday I’ve arranged to go to Mugalur for one final visit (maternal and child health clinic day). I’m finishing up the manuscripts I’ve been working on this week and then it’s off to Pondicherry on Friday evening for the weekend. I bought some thank you cards for select people in the Dept. and will also bring in a cake for everyone some time later in the week. Monday I will be busy packing, tying up loose ends (like returning the cell phone and books I’ve borrowed), maybe getting one last cheap manicure and pedicure, some menhdi (henna), and perhaps visiting some of my favorite area pubs J. I’m going to try to get to the airport by mid-afternoon Tuesday even though my flight doesn’t leave until 6:15pm. There’s no way I can chance missing that flight! I think I’ll miss India but 2 months is starting to feeling like a while now—ready to get home soon.

I got to see a lot of Bangalore that I’ve been meaning to see this past weekend. It was the reason I stayed in town this weekend instead of traveling. Saturday I attended a presentation given by interns in the Department—some sort of economic evaluation of diabetes in a rural section of Bangalore. It was slightly interesting but once again it’s hard to watch a presentation here because the poor presenters get interrupted every 5 seconds and torn to pieces by the chairperson and faculty in attendance. Constructive, I guess, for the presenters to get the feedback, but I think maybe they should discuss all the problems and ways to improve the study at the end of the presentations so at least there’s some type of order. I think it’s mostly just unnerving for those presenting. After the presentation I went to a coffee shop (Café Coffee Day, India’s Starbucks) to work on my paper and got a solid 3 hours of work done. My epi. advisor gave me the long weekend to finish things up and I’m pretty close now; I have 20 pages written and the main table is 80% finished. I’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief when the whole thing finally gets signed off on and I can graduate.

Saturday night I went clubbing!! So much fun! I went with Vanita and 3 guys, including Steve and two of his friends. The place was called Athena and it was in the basement of Leela Palace hotel (www.theleela.com/hotel-bangalore.htm). It got pretty crowded by about 10:30 (bars close at 11:30 and the hotel was only open maybe a half an hour later!) We danced the night away! I felt totally comfortable dancing and everyone was just enjoying themselves. I feel like it was a lot less judgmental than clubs at home. A lot more modest dancing styles, too, if you know what I mean. For once I wasn’t stared at. Don’t know whether that was because it was dark or because there were a handful of white people there (it’s probably a combination of the two).

Sunday I slept in for once and then worked on my paper until about 1pm, at which time I went with some friends to the other side of Bangalore to the more “trendy” area. We ate a late lunch at this awesome restaurant called Queen’s and then went to Commercial Street for some shopping. It was similar to New York City in the sense that there were tons of stores and huge crowds, minus the skyscrapers. I liked that area and would go back if I had time (which I don’t). It was a bit overwhelming but there was definitely great shopping there. Didn’t buy anything as I’ve already finished my shopping, but it was nice to walk around. We went to Guzzler’s Pub on Church Street (off Brigade Rd, another popular area nearby) afterwards for a drink and then I actually got a personal pan pizza from Domino’s to take home to have for dinner. Yum!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

Dinner at Sukh Sagar (one of my fav spots) with Corinne and Marissa.

Corinne has a cheese masala dosa, Marissa has a mango lassie, and I have a North Indian Thali

Guava man on the street. He puts a little bit of masala and salt inside the cut guava! Tasty

A road parallel to Commerical Street, Bangalore

Clubbing at Athena with John, Steve, Vanita, and Jithan

With Vanita at the Filling Station for dinner and drinks before the club

Stressful Week In Progress

6/29/11

This week is and will continue to be very rough, as I have several manuscripts to work on in the Department and my special project first draft is due FRIDAY! There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Today is already Wednesday and I still have at least 13 pages of my SP to write. I have a meeting with one of the doctor’s later today to go over the manuscript for the alcoholism study, so I’m hard at work at that.

Last night I was invited to one of the Department’s doctor’s homes. She lives alone in the staff quarters just off campus. A post graduate student also came. She took 2 hours to make a wonderful meal of palak paneer, chapattis, rice with a curd sauce, and a chicken kebab dish. There was also a yummy homemade pudding/spongecake for dessert! We had a good time just talking, relaxing, and watching Spiderman 3. It was such a lovely evening and a nice break from all the work this week.

Not the best quality pictures...but it's all I've got:

Ashwini and Rashmi cooking dinner!

Making chapattis

With Dr. Ashwini (post-graduate student) before dinner

With Dr. Rashmi

Taking tomorrow off from work so I can get a full, solid day of special project work done. I’m staying in Bangalore this weekend to explore the city and see the spots I’ve been meaning to get to—MG Road, Commercial St., and Brigade Rd. That’s all for now!

Munnar Trip 6/24- 6/27

The four of us (Corinne, me, Vanita, and Marissa) in the middle of the spice garden

The trip to Munnar was amazing! It’s my favorite place that I’ve visited in India simply because of the scenery and calmness. The landscapes are breathtaking—I literally was left speechless at times. After about 10 hours on the semi-sleeper bus we had to transfer to a much smaller bus that was capable of climbing the steep hill and navigating the hairpin turns as we weaved our way to Munnar. The last couple of hours of the drive were unforgettable. The first tea plantation we saw out the window left everyone going “ohh..wow!!” and every single person’s camera came out immediately. Munnar is famous for its endless rolling hills of perfectly manicured tea plantations and arranged like a puzzle. Of course it’s rainy season there now, so we dealt with off and on showers, but it really didn’t take away from the experience at all. In fact, I think it added to it. It was so chilly there…somewhere in the mid-60s I would say if I had to guess. I had my sweatshirt/sweater and scarf on the whole time.

After we arrived, the taxi driver picked us up from the bus stand and took us to a restaurant for breakfast. After not eating for the past 16 hours, we were all starving. I had a masala omelet and some idly, which is kind of like a paddy of cooked rice (wet, not dry). Of course, being in Munnar, we had to have tea too, and it did not disappoint! That was the first of MANY cups of tea in Munnar...

After breakfast we went to the resort to check into our bungalow. It was a decent place; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a patio that backed to the woods, and a full kitchen. Being in the middle of the woods, there was no cell phone signal and the internet sticks wouldn’t work, so we were literally stuck there and had to place a lot of trust in the reception folk that they would bring us our dinner and breakfast and pick us up to go back to the main office. The resort was so peaceful in the middle of the woods (lots of bugs, though!). A couple other issues were there was no heat (and it was freezing, especially at night), and the hot water and gas did not work so we couldn’t take showers or make tea to warm us up. The perpetual dampness in Munnar also meant a damp bed and damp sheets. I just told all the girls to pretend we were camping and that helped keep my spirits high…plus it was only for one night! The place was cute and we got an incredible deal on it because Rohini’s and Steve’s cousin is the managing director, so we really couldn’t complain!

After we checked in, we went to ride elephants!!! My trip to India is complete now that I’ve worn a sari, gone to an Indian wedding, and ridden an elephant. It was a small place tucked away in the woods and luckily it was just 2 to an elephant, so I rode one with Vanita. Fairly cheap at Rs. 200 a person ($4.50), too. The elephant walked super slow down a path in the woods about 200 meters long, then walked back. It was about 10 minutes total but honestly that’s all you need, otherwise it’s a bit boring. It was so cold out that it was nice to sit on a warm elephant J. Such a cool experience!

We also took a drive and went to some scenic viewpoints to take pictures. There were so many gorgeous waterfalls and rolling hills of tea plantations. We went shopping for a bit at a market and also went to a very crowded spice store, where I purchased a few more spices on my list.

List of the spices I purchased in Cochin & Munnar:

- Coriander

- Fennel seed

- Candy-coated fennel seed (it’s the after-dinner mint here)

- Cinnamon

- Vanilla

- Black pepper

- Bay leaves

- Cardamom

- Garam masala

- Tea masala

- Turmeric

- Red chili powder

- Cloves

Big packets (100g) of these spices were anywhere between 30 and 90 rupees a pack, which is about $1-2. Wayyy cheaper (and fresher!) than you can get in the U.S., so I had to load up. I also got a ½ kg of broken leaf tea (B.O.P.) which I believe is just regular black tea. We’ll see when I get home and test it out! The art of making tea is something I’ve become interested while over here, especially with having at least two cups of tea a day. The process of boiling the tea with the water, then adding milk, bringing it to a boil again, adding certain spices, etc. is definitely something I will dabble in upon returning home. Especially with all the delicious spices I bought! Can anyone else think of any other spices I should look for?

After the spices and shopping we headed back to the bungalow and had dinner brought to us (woohoo..room service), which consisted of ghee rice, fried fish, a fish curry, chapattis, and veg korma. Yummy!

Breakfast was brought an hour late on Sunday…something about the kitchen “not being open” on time…eh, it was fine though. After the meal we headed out to some more scenic points and even stopped along the way to catch a glimpse of a wild elephant family walking through the woods! We went to a spice garden where we had a tour and learned about how all the different spices are grown. The driver tried to take us to a flower garden next but we decided against it (something he wasn’t very happy about because he gets commission at each tourist place he takes us to—whatever, it’s our money and our time!). We did a tiny, tiny bit of trekking- only about half an hour but that’s all we had time for. That’s where I took the video I posted to my facebook. I even saw an endanger giant grizzly squirrel!! It was huge, black, and awfully scary..and was darting through the trees. After the trekking I got some delicious ginger tea from a little tea stall at the top of the hill. It took at least 5 minutes for the man to make it and it was so cool just watching him at work.

We went to a lovely restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet called Rapsy Restaurant where we loaded up on lunch/dinner. Vanita and I took a different bus home than Corinne and Marissa because the other girls couldn’t get seats on our bus. The buses left between 4 and 4:30pm, so we had to make lunch last through the evening and night. We ordered tons of food!! Parottas (spun tortilla-like bread), veg korma, chicken chaps (spicy..yum!), lassies, and omelets. This restaurant is known for being tourist/foreigner friendly and there were all sorts of handwritten messages in different languages on the wall. Not to mention, the cashier kept striking up conversation with Corinne in French!

The bus back was lonnnggg..probably felt the longest out of any of the trips I’ve taken so far. This could have been because it was just a seater, not a semi-sleeper or sleeper, and the seats didn’t go back very far. It was impossible to get comfortable and my night consisted of a few 30 minute naps. People kept getting on and off and on and off…it felt like a local bus. We were jarred awake by the driver’s screams of “Madiwala!!!” (our stop) unexpectedly early, at 4:30am. We did not anticipate arriving until at least 6am. Good thing we knew exactly how to walk back to St. John’s after getting off because we were completely bombarded with auto rickshaw drivers asking us where we were going and if we wanted an auto. I had to repeatedly shout “no!” and tell them to leave us alone. It would have been a nightmare to someone who didn’t know what they were doing. Fortunately after having been here 6.5 weeks, they weren’t going to get to me. It was a little creepy walking back..it was only about 10-15 minutes, but we made it back safe. After sneaking in an open gate, walking past a slumped over sleeping guard, then passing another two slumped over sleeping guards about halfway through campus (awesome security), we got back to the Annex around 5-5:30am and could fortunately sleep for a few hours. I’ve never felt so relieved to get back there!

A tea plantation in Munnar.

I took this picture with my iPhone then used the Instagram app to give it this neat filter.

Passion fruit

The backyard of the bungalow we stayed at.

It was so peaceful sit out there and just listen and watch nature.

The spice shop we spent quite a bit of time (and money) in.

So crowded!

Elephant ride with Vanita

On the slow walk...

Me, atop an elephant! He/she was a sweetheart.

Six Weeks Down

6/24/11

Today is six weeks since I arrived in Bangalore. What a whirlwind six weeks! I officially have only two weeks left in the Department. I’m trying to finish up this Alcoholism study manuscript; I need to add to the qualitative data results section and rewrite the discussions and conclusion sections. It shouldn’t take me longer than a few more days. Dr. Avita asked me to meet with her to talk about some data she would like analyzed. The two following days she was not here; she ended up spraining her knee. It’s now Friday and I wouldn’t be surprised if we just waited until next week to discuss the project. Hopefully I have enough time to help her with it.

One of my goals while being here has been to continue my job search for when I get back home. Come August 6^th, I will desperately need a job! Those student loans aren’t going to just disappear. I interviewed back in early May for a clinical trial study coordinator position at a research center near Clearwater and yesterday I received an email from the guy I interviewed with. He said some coordinator positions opened up and asked if I was still interested in working there. I guess this counts as an informal job offer, no? I don’t want to speak too soon. I’m meeting with him as soon as I’m back in town to discuss specifics and learn more about this opportunity. In addition, I had an interview with the company I currently work for a couple weeks ago over Skype. It went well, I think, but it’s just so hard to tell when it’s over the phone and not in person! That’s a huge disadvantage I had going into that interview. The woman I interviewed with told me to get in touch with her when I get back, so we’ll see what happens. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Although the work week was only 4 days long for me (due to my vacation day Monday), it feels like this week dragged on forever. I’ve had a ton of work to do and by the end of the day my eyes burn from staring at the computer screen. After work I usually work on my special project for another few hours. My advisor wants the draft by next Friday..as in, ONE WEEK from today! Next week I’ll have to crack down big time….not looking forward to it, but I’m so close to graduation..just have to stay focused on the prize….

I’m leaving for Munnar tonight with Vanita, Corinne, and Marissa. Munnar is only a 5 hour drive due east of Cochin, where I was last weekend. It’s in the state of Kerala. So excited to go because it’s supposed to be absolutely gorgeous with big rolling fields of green tea plantations. One of Rohini’s and Steve’s cousins has some properties there and is letting us stay in one of the houses. From the website it looks very nice: www.pulimoottilestate.com. We are hiring a driver (car) for the weekend because the place we’re staying is about 10km from the bus stand. We’ll have him the whole weekend so hopefully we’ll do lots of sightseeing. I want to get up to the top of the highest cliff and overlook the plantations! The only problem with the weekend is that we are taking a bus, and it’s only a semi-sleeper on the way there and just a seater on the way back!! It’s a 14 hour journey…sighhhh. I’ll bring my laptop and ipod, as I’m sure I won’t get that much sleep.

Anyway, wish us luck on our journey and I’ll post pictures early next week! TGIF!!!

Cochin Trip (Kerala) 6/18-6/20

Rohini's parents' backyard, overlooking the river

Lounging on the houseboat...

This houseboat is much bigger than the one just the two of us took. They have such cool architecture!

Rohini driving the houseboat!

The houseboat we traveled the backwaters with is in the background

Coconut water, straight from the coconut. Not my favorite, but I had to at least try it!

With some flowers at the Gateway Hotel

This weekend I took a trip to Cochin (also called Kochi). It’s barely a 1.5 hour flight south of Bangalore, and on the west coast. Kochi is in the state of Kerala. I waited at the wrong bus stop for half an hour before moving to the correct bus stop, where I waited an additional hour for the number 7 bus to come. This is the only one that goes to the airport without having to switch buses. It’s nice too, and air conditioned. The flight was on time and Rohini was there to greet me in the airport when I arrived. Rohini is a classmate from USF who is also doing her MPH. She is interning with an insurance company in Cochin and she is from Thodupuzha, about an hour away. Saturday after I arrived we went to lunch at the Grand Hotel then did some window-shopping in Fort Cochin. We saw Jew Town, but the famous 400-year old synagogue was closed. We also went into the Dutch Palace, a famous spot in Cochin with a museum of old artifacts. Afterwards we had coffee and went to a spectacular 4 story sari shop where brides go to buy their bridal saris. Such a cool experience—you sit down in chairs and the women who work there bring you different saris and you tell them what you like and don’t like. They have thousands and thousands. They bring you coffee or tea if you want it…kind of like they bring you drinks at the bridal shops at home. Next we stopped at a gold jewelry store, just to look. That night we went to dinner at the spectacular Gateway Hotel (looked like we were in NYC or something) and returned to Rohini’s very nice furnished, air-conditioned apartment.

Sunday we headed south near Allepy to Kumarakom to take a houseboat tour on the Kerala backwaters. It’s so beautiful there. Really makes you forget the crazy city that is Bangalore. After lunch at a resort we spent 3 hours on the boat, just relaxing, learning about the surroundings, and enjoying coconut water (straight out of the coconut) and a huge meal at the end of the trip. There was fresh cooked fish, omelets, chapatti, pineapple, some kind of curry, and appam (unleavened bread popular in Kerala; you use toddy to make it). We had one of the staff on the boat go out and get us toddy, or this drink you get from the coconut tree. I’ll have to research this more because I didn’t quite understand the process when Rohini was explaining it to me. Anyway, toddy reminds me a bit of yeast. It smells a little like yeast and if you keep it in a water bottle with the top on tight, after ‘some time’ when you untwist the bottle, a ton of air escapes. Strange, right? Have to keep the bottle top on very loosely or else it might explode. The backwaters were soo beautiful… the pictures don’t do it justice! It’s the rainy season right now in Kerala and Rohini told me it’s been pouring all day for weeks. For some reason though, the whole weekend was perfect- all sun and no rain. It did rain a bit Monday though, but the rain is so pretty to look at and we had no plans, so it didn’t ruin anything.

After the backwaters we went to Rohini’s parents’ house in Thodupuzha. They have a beautiful house where Rohini and her two brothers grew up. Her mom fed me, of course, (so nice, but I wasn’t the least bit hungry after all the food on the boat!) and I went to bed early. It was so great to meet Rohini’s two little girls! They’re 4 and 5, and very cute. I can’t explain how hospitable everyone here is. Rohini and her family took such amazing care of me! It really makes you think about how many wonderful people there are in the world. On Monday Rohini’s mother drove us around town and showed us some of the sights including this very old foot bridge that crosses over the river that backs to their house. It’s very rickety and shaky…kind of scary if more than one person is walking on it and it’s bouncing all around. We also saw the rubber trees and I learned that they are one of the main things grown there. I got a little lesson in how the rubber is harvested from the trees. The trees aren’t ready to be tapped until they are about 7 years old and they have to be drained of the milk every day. Afterwards, we stopped at Rohini’s grandmother’s cousins house, where we were fed payasum (vermicelli noodles in milk with sugar and raisins..so good!). Next, we went to her grandmother’s house and had fresh passion fruit juice, fresh pineapple, beef cutlets and fish cutlets. As if that wasn’t enough, Rohini’s mother fed us chicken biryani, mango, and cake for lunch! I can’t eat for three days. Everything was so good though and it was neat to get some Keralan food as it’s a little bit different than Bangalorean food.

I got back to Bangalore Monday evening and worked on my special project all evening. My short work week will start Tuesday! This coming Friday night, Vanita, Corinne, Marissa and I leave for a weekend trip to Munnar, which is also in Kerala. I think I plan on staying the following weekend in Bangalore and spending the last in Pondicherry (east coast former French colony). These last three weeks in India will be so short!

Fifth Week

6/18/11

My fifth week passed by just as quickly as the past four, if not faster. It seems there are never enough hours in the day (seems this is a problem all over the world…what else is new?). I work all day in the Department on my internship projects and when I get a break, download articles to use for my special project. When I get done for the day in the office I go back to my room or, more often, to a local coffee shop to work on my special project (the proposal I submitted for it last week got rave reviews by my epidemiology advisor…yippee!). My favorite coffee shop is fast becoming my least favorite because their free wi-fi has not been working now for a while and probably won’t be fixed for “some time.”

I must explain about “some time.” You see, it’s an expression Indians use when they really have zero idea of when something will happen. So I asked when a bus will come and the response will be “some time,” or I ask when the wifi will be fixed…the response is, you guessed it, “some time.” At first it seriously annoyed the hell of out of me, but now I can see why they say it and I think I’ll adopt it because it really helps to say it when you have no idea but don’t want to look entirely stupid. Truthfully, everything happens in “some time” but I was asking WHEN(!), which calls for specifics here, people! Now I just laugh when people say “some time.” Yes, I think I’ll start using it.

The next two weeks are crunch time- I’ve got to finish 3 manuscripts in the Department and also do some data analysis for my supervisor. In addition to the internship, my special project is DUE July 1^st..as in, less than two weeks. This is going to suck. I’m going to stick to a motto though- ‘work hard and you are allowed to be rewarded. But no hard work, no reward!’ So funny how before coming to India I was so worried about having zero social life and nothing to do, no way to pass the time, and afraid of the food. Now all I do is eat and make plans with friends (aside from work and studies). I never have a spare moment to myself. It’s the total opposite of how I thought this trip would go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so thankful for all the great people I’ve met and all the cool things I’ve gotten to do. It has certainly been an unforgettable time.

Aside from work in the Department this week, I was lucky enough to get out of the building and go to Mugalur again. That place is really growing on me. Friday (6/17) was the Unit of Hope clinic, which is a rehabilitation clinic for kids. One of the pediatricians and one of the post-grad students plus an occupational therapy student and I made the trip out in the morning and arrived just in time for tea (shocking). The clinic was cool- got to see a kid with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy and watched him fail the tell-tale test for diagnosing Duchenne’s. We had him sit on the floor and get up. He had to use both of his hands to get up…not a good sign. Also helped with a minor ‘operation’ if you want to call it that; a little boy about 8 years old came in with some glass lodged between his toes. Poor thing…he was laying on the table while the doc was using some forceps-looking-thing to pick out the glass and cut of the dead skin, and he started crying and freaking out a bit. Little guy was brave though. I just stroked his hair and tried to keep him calm while still trying to watch the doc fix him up. You know what else is growing on me? Medicine. Who knows…maybe I’ll study for the MCAT and give it a shot someday. An MPH and MD could be a cool combination.

This little guy wanted to stand next to me and wait for the bus, too

The tailor at the silk shop writing down all my specifications for the 3 kurtas I am having made. The red material is for my mom, the green for my aunt, and the bluish/green/gray color underneath the green is for me

Flower market in Bangalore

One more story I just have to tell:

After Domino’s pizza for dinner and a few Corona Lights at an awesome lounge/club with some friends, we headed back to the campus around 11:30p to go to bed. When we arrived at the gate we found the other girls also staying in the Annex and they informed us that the guard would not open the gate for us without an ID badge, which none of us had. The head sister that runs the annex had to be called and she came out to the gate to vouch that we lived there so the guard would let us in. She was pissed too, and informed us that the rules clearly state the campus and annex are locked at 11pm every night; no entry permitted after. Now I don’t know if this was a good idea or not, but I promptly told her that there have been several nights I’ve been back past midnight or 1am and been let in with no problem. Eh, whatever, she already has a low opinion of me since I am Western, so I gave up a while ago trying to win her respect. She didn’t look happy and also didn’t believe me. She again mentioned the rules, to which I told her there is no rule sheet in my room and I don’t know what in the world she’s talking about. Then, if you believe this, she told me it was my responsibility to ask for the rules. I said, “in my country we don’t have rules for people in hotels. You pay your money, you stay, you pretty much do what you want. You can leave and come back whenever. I think that’s a cultural difference you didn’t realize and I would have no idea that I’m supposed to ‘ask for rules.’” She agreed about the cultural difference. Seriously though, so, so, so ridiculous. I have been extremely open and tolerant up until this point about everything in India. After all, who am I to come into another country and say they are wrong? But I just thought this incident took things a little too far. A curfew? Really? It’s just ridiculous….I am an adult and I paid my good money (and a lot of it, too) to come and go as I please, not to be told by some crazy nun that I’m “breaking the rules.” You’ve got to be kidding me. I haven’t had a lecture like that since the 10^th grade. Somehow, I seriously doubt that if a students' parents were staying at the annex and came back after 11pm that they'd be given a lecture and told to refer to the rules. Sorry to rant, but I just had to.

Sari Madness!

This is the Sari Andre (my coworker) wore for her nursing school graduation. So beautiful!

This is the South Indian style of draping it.

So much fabric! Aside from the gold blouse underneath, the sari is just one long piece of fabric.

The sari measures at least 5.5 meters (6 yards) of fabric (= 18 feet long!)

The traditional North Indian style of draping a sari

Love the colors!

A traditional sari from Assam (northeast region of India), where Andre's husband is from

Some Weekend Pics

Lalbagh Botanical Gardens

Australian tree at the gardens

Andre with her husband and the huge 100% home-cooked meal!

Mmmm so much food!

Eventful Weekend in Bangalore

Snapshot from the wedding.

Bride and groom are in the middle with the garland around their necks. Next to me is Andre, my coworker, and her husband is beside her

6/12/11

It is Sunday evening and I’m thinking “what happened to my weekend?” I was so busy with so many wonderful things; I hardly know where to start.

Saturday I went into work for a few hours in the morning and then in the afternoon went to Sukh Sagar (which has become one of my favorite restaurants) for lunch. I went to Cuppa by myself afterwards to get some quality work done on my special project. It was such a cute little coffee shop with a few tables outside under an awning. Thank goodness I sat under the awning because just as I was about to leave, there was a downpour and I had to wait to head back to the annex.

Saturday night I got to go to a real Indian wedding! I was really hoping I would get to attend one while in India. I went with a woman I work with, Andre, her husband and her neighbor. It was her neighbor on the first floor off her apartment building’s wedding. The couple that got married is Hindu. Interestingly enough……..they are also first cousins. Draw your own judgments because I don’t want to go into that conversation. The wedding really wasn’t what I expected. There were maybe 500-1,000 people sitting in stackable plastic chairs (these chairs are a favorite in India, no matter where you go) looking at a stage where the bride and groom stood posing for pictures. There were very bright fluorescent lights and little decoration except for the backdrop on the stage. People don’t really even dress up for weddings, it seems. There was also one large television on each side of the stage and a videographer walking around broadcasting live video of the event onto the TVs. Everyone forms a line and goes up to wish the couple congratulations, and there is also a meal afterwards. Because there are so many people to feed, people are fed in batches. After lots of staring and some great pics with the bride and groom, we were escorted outside the building, around the back, and into a secret entrance where we skipped the whole line of people waiting to eat and were seated right away! The meal was served on a plantain leaf. Many servers came around with big buckets of food and ladled endless amounts onto the leaf. As soon as you get close to finishing something, they’re back again with more. I even got a coconut to take home as a party favor! Once you are finished with your meal, you grab the side of the leaf furthest away from you and fold the leaf towards you, to signify happiness. If we were at a funeral, we would fold the leaf the opposite way to convey sadness.

We were only there for about an hour and a half, so I don’t know what all that business about Indian weddings taking days is about. I’m sure in some cultures and religions this is true, but not the one I went to. The reception started at 7:30 that evening and probably ended around 10:30. The ceremony, oddly enough, was the following day and Andre told me that will be 2-3 hours. I did not attend the ceremony as I had other plans the following morning.

Sunday

After a bloody encounter with a huge black ant that bit my toe, I went to Bangalore’s Lalbagh Botanical Gardens with Vanita, Corinne, and Marissa. Marissa is a new girl that just arrived here from Harvard. She’s a very sweet girl, and also very young- she is just entering her sophomore year of college next year! The poor girl never wanted to come to India but got suckered into doing a research project here last minute. She’s never been out of the country before. The gardens were very pretty and we wandered around for a couple of hours taking pictures and soaking in this little bit of nature that Bangalore offers.

After the gardens we wanted to try Mavali Tiffins Room (MTR) restaurant, as we have all heard great things about this historic place. We got there about ten minutes before it opened and were shown a side door to enter, where we stood only about 10 back in line waiting for the cashier to starting ringing people up at 12:30. By the time it was 12:30, there was a huge line behind us and many people standing around. Now that’s how you know it’s a great restaurant! There is only one thing offered at lunch, and it’s some sort of all inclusive meal. After you pay you go upstairs and sit down, and the many waiters start bringing around endless amounts of food. All different curries, basmati rice, white rice, unlimited puris, salad, a sweet dessert type creamy, soupy dish, a fried slice of capsicum (green pepper), and even ice cream. Of course as soon as you are running low on a bit of food they come around with another heap for you. I learned a word at the Indian wedding the previous night that I think will serve me well here- I think it sounds like “sulpa” and means “less” or “little bit” in Kannada, which is the native language here. I used it today at MTR and the staff was pleasantly impressed with my Kannada (as were the other girls I was eating with!)!!

This past week Andre and I got to talking at work and I told her how much I enjoy Indian cuisine and trying all different foods. She graciously invited me to her house for lunch on Sunday to meet her husband and have a home-cooked lunch. I went over around 1pm and didn’t leave until 5! They fed me an amazing lunch, which we ate sitting on the floor (loved it!). Afterwards Andre dressed me up in two different types of saris, gave me a mango and a cucumber to take home, gave me 4 books to read by an Indian author (Chetan Bhatan) and showed me pictures of her from recently as well as her childhood.

Andre’s husband works as an accountant and all of his clients are Americans, namely in Connecticut. (Side note: He is so funny- he told me that he read in a book one time that now in the U.S. instead of mothers telling their children “eat your food, there are children starving in Africa,” they now tell their children “study hard, or an Indian will get your job!” ) They are both, especially Gogoi (Andre’s husband) extremely fascinated with American culture and learning about other cultures in general, so we did a lot of comparing of our cultures and asking each other questions. It’s so refreshing to see someone so interested in the way other people live their lives. Americans aren’t the only people in the world, you know, and we’re not the center of the world either. I don’t think Americans truly understand this until they travel abroad.

It was so much fun for Andre to dress me up in a sari (also seen it spelled ‘saree’). Aside from the top underneath the fabric, a sari is just a long, long piece of fabric wrapped, tied, and pinned a certain way on the body. She dressed me and did my hair, drew a bindi on my forehead, put me in the sari and then also wrapped it on me in the northern way. Said I looked “damn good”..and she said it twice! Her husband said if I went out and walked the streets I would get 200-250 marriage proposals. They probably took 25 pictures of me and had me pose in different ways and even got out some props!

By the time I left, it was already 5pm. I went to Mr. Beans, my new favorite coffee place nearby. They have free wifi! How did I not discover this until halfway through my trip? They have the most delicious coffees and milkshakes, and a huge menu of drinks to choose from. I really like their cold coffee. I need to go there every day after work to continue work on my special project. I’ve got 40 references now..just need to write up the 30 pages of text!! By July 1^st!