Busy, busy, busy

6/6/11

This past weekend was relaxing, as I did not take any trips. Saturday I worked in the Department for a half-day, even though I’m not required to work Saturday (score points for me). I finished, for the most part, my editing of the PACE paper, which is the one about adolescent cardiovascular disease risk factors. I was all set to go over it with 3 of the team members Saturday morning, but when I got in at 9, they told me 10am, then of course 10am came and went. We probably started looking at it around 11:30. We all gathered around one computer and there were a lot of loud voices, arguing back and forth, and other random people looking over shoulders to try to give their input. Ten minutes later and only one paragraph down of the 15 page paper, everyone except for Dr. S at the computer got up and left! They went about their business and did not finish reviewing the paper. It was chaotic and not at all how we would review a paper in the U.S., but I guess that’s just India for you. I’ve gotten used to it by now. Another thing to note- people here love to have full on conversations with people in other rooms. So one will shout to another room down the hall ..”Farah!!!!” and then she will respond, and they will talk back and forth, instead of just getting up and going to the other person. It’s so strange. Let’s just say I have been wearing my headphones and listening to my iPod all day, just so I can concentrate!!

After work Saturday I went to lunch at the Hospital Canteen with Katinka. The Canteen is the dirt cheap restaurant on campus where all the students and people that work in the hospital eat. You can get a good meal for around a dollar, sometimes less. It was particularly crowded in the “doctors/staff” room that afternoon (yes, I sit in the doctors/staff room to avoid the chaos that is the rest of the Canteen). Katinka and I were sitting across from each other at a 4 person table and due to the large crowd and nowhere to sit, we had 3 separate pairs join us at different times during our lunch. A little odd to sit next to others at the same table, maybe, but this is all normal here. We really didn’t mind. The last couple of men to sit with us were doctors and one, Dr. Sanjiv, was a pediatrician. When he walked up and asked if the seats next to us were taken, Katinka shook her head, which of course here means ‘yes,’ so we started walking away when I had to call him back and tell him that no, no one was sitting here. He said ‘ohhh, right, your shaking head no is our shaking head yes.’ He ended up being a really nice guy and we talked about the best way for foreign students to study here- what type of visa to get, etc.

After lunch Katinka and I went to Fabindia, one of the nicer chain stores here for shopping. I got a very pretty kurta, my 4^th one! I still need to go to the tailor and have one handmade- I will pick my fabric, any borders, the length, the sleeve length, and then they measure me and make it to fit me perfectly. I think I’m saving that outing for a rainy day. Also still need to check out Commercial Street, where ‘the best’ shopping is here. After Fabindia we stopped at a coffee shop and had giant mocha milkeshakes…so delicious but definitely did not need that!

Saturday night I went out to The Filling Station bar with Steve and Jose. We got a Tower of Beer (will add picture of this later): Kingfisher of course. Around midnight we wanted some food and the only place open past 11:30pm in Bangalore is the Paramount Hotel, so we went there for some late-night snacks. Kind of cool to see where everyone that’s hungry in Bangalore convenes late at night! Of course there was lots and lots of staring, as I was the only white person there and was out with two Indian guys. I’m sure they were thinking, 'what the heck is she doing?'

Sunday, after leisurely waking up at 11:00am, I walked downstairs to get my milk from the communal fridge for breakfast. Being on the 4^th floor, the journey to the first floor fridge every morning is annoying, considering I have to put on pants and at least a t-shirt to ‘maintain modesty.’ In my room I like to wear a tank top and shorts- it’s not that hot at all but no point in wearing pants if I can wear shorts. Anyway, on the way down to the fridge, I heard a teeny little voice weakly say “excuse me” and looked over at the 2^nd floor lounge to see a girl on her laptop. She walked up to me and goes “are you from America?!” It was so cute and reminded me of how desperate I was for friends my first week here!! Vanita is from California and just finished her BA in Public Health at Berkeley. We ended up doing lunch and dinner yesterday and will probably travel together- possibly next weekend to Hampi or Munnar. We will go to the travel agent today (Monday) to see what’s available as far as the buses go.

I also did some significant work on my special project this past weekend. I read all the articles I have collected so far, and have updated my reference database to include them all. I’m also a good chunk of the way through my proposal, which probably should have been done a month ago but I didn’t really know about it until last week (oops). My goal is to finish that by Wednesday.

This morning (Monday) I started my week off on the right foot with a 4 mile run around the track. It feels so amazing to run, I don’t know why I haven’t run more while I’ve been here. I think it’s a combination of laziness and…laziness. Need to set a goal- maybe 15 miles a week? What I really need is a running buddy to keep me on track! Vanita told me she had already run around campus, so now that I know she runs, I’ll have to drag her with me to the track in the mornings.

The whole week I’ll be here in the Department. I’m now working on an Adherence study- Dr. S has written 85% of the paper, now I need to vamp up the discussion section and write a conclusion. I’m really crossing my fingers that something I work on here will get published at some point, because that will mean I’m published, even if I am only the last author on the paper.

This morning when I got to the Department I sat in on an “Inaugural meeting” of some 4 month long health course 29 sisters from all over India will be taking. All the sisters I have met here are so nice, they always walk right up to me with no hello, no nothing and just say “where are you from?” Never fail, that is exactly what every single one of them approaches me with. Of course I am always all smiles back to them and explain where I’m from and what I’m doing here. They are always excited to learn I’m from the U.S., and will go back to a group of sisters and tell them that, which in turn makes them all come over to talk to me for themselves. A lot of them are from Kerala, which is a state just south of Karnataka, where I am. Kerala is very Christian- I think every Christian I’ve me here is from Kerala. When I told Sister Gina, who is from Kerala, that I will be visiting Cochin in 2 weeks she got so excited and told the others, and there was lots of “ohh, you will love it!”s and “oh that’s wonderful!”s going around. They are so adorable and I love when they talk to me. They always end with “God bless you” and “All the best.” J

It’s so hard to believe that come Wednesday, I will have left Tampa 4 weeks ago. I never thought time would actually fly by this fast. I still want to at least visit Hampi, Munnar, Cochin, and maybe one other spot, but I only have 5 more weekends left. June 18-20 is for Cochin, this weekend I might go to Munnar or Hampi, and that leaves 3 other weekends for travel and work on my special project. If anyone has any suggestions of good places to go to in South India, please let me know! There is a possibility I may meet up with three other girls from my MPH program that are also currently doing their field experiences in India. We are pretty scattered and are trying to find a good weekend and place to convene. Possibly Mumbai, but when I wanted to visit Marc there a couple weeks ago the flights were too expensive. This loan money will eventually run out, you know, and I don’t have a full-time job waiting for me in Tampa, so I need to be extra careful!

Dr. Rajaram is here! He emailed me and wants to get together later this week. So excited to hang out with him in his hometown!

Better get to work now… will write more later this week. It’s Katinka’s birthday Thursday and the German girls’ last week here, so I’m sure there will be fun times ahead.