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 1st..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.
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 10th 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.
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