Another Day at Sri Ramachandra

On my weekend excursion, the Muslim festivals took precedence over our sight seeing adventure so our travel agent was unable to find even the worst tickets, so we had to use the temple traveller vans the whole time. I think I may have written the wrong information previously- we were travelling west to the next state to the left. The elephants had been dangerous at one point, but when chained and guarded by people with sharp spears, were convinced not to do anything rash- these were not tame elephants, but instead the real deal. We couldn't ride them, as it was knowledgeable tribal people on top, and we were pretty much breaking a bunch of laws to even touch them, as our safari driver was rushing us through the process. There was apparently a tame elephant for riding at the palace, but we got there so late with all of the frustrating previous delays, that we couldn't by the time we were ready. At least I have touched one. A Ganesh (sp?) is an elephant shaped Hindu god that was the feature of a Hindu festival around here all week. Also, I was going to mention that I haven't been able to use my cell phone since the US, as the service is poor to nothing, and right now I am trying to leave it off while it dries out after going through a major water incident. I hope it will be ok, and will attempt to find out when I am back in the country. Yes, I found all of Jasmine's friends, Neil.

My birthday evening was fairly low key, but nice. One of the master second year nursing students was going to take a group of us to KFC, which is near the Internet cafe for dinner, but my stomach was feeling delicate still and I wasn't too thrilled with American food while enjoying the wonderful tastes of India. Also, Ardie had said she wanted to bring me to dinner somewhere, so I felt bad eating there, as I had no way to contact her. So, the master student brought me on a ride on his motor bike back to Sri Ramachandra, in my Sari! I felt like one of the locals, as some man is always driving bikes with some lady in a Sari clinging behind. I had to ride side saddle, so one foot was on the peg and the other was dangling for dear life. Since it was later at night, the traffic wasn't as bad, and he knew it was my first time so he drove slow and easy. It was very exciting! It turned out Ardie had eaten already, so I just ordered from the canteen (Tiffany's), which is a sit down place with a food court feel- you can order food from many countries, but they bring it all to your table. Then, she took me on a night walk around campus which was nice. The Indian's were excited to see me in a Sari.

Chennai is much larger than Vellore, and in many ways more western, but much more dirty. The women are rebelling a bit from the sari, and when possible seem to prefer the salwar kameezee, which was opposite of Vellore. The traffic is much worse, and we aren't allowed to ride the autos here, which are black and yellow instead of yellow, and much faster and less cautious. So, there aren't as many journey's away from campus. The hospital itself is much nicer to look at than Vellore, though tomorrow I will see the free area, which so far has been reported as shocking. I will be watching the delivery of babies, and am quite excited! Today, we went on a field trip to a leprosy clinic where we learned about some rehabilitation efforts for patients with leprosy. Again, it seemed much nicer to look at than RUSHA, which also caters to community needs, in Vellore. I think over all, I am liking the concept of CMC better though- they have limited resources that they use wisely to reach as many people as possible with quality care. Sri Ramachandra has a smaller capacity, and has fewer programs to help the poor, and invests their resources in the building too much almost- there are crystal light fixtures, marble floors, and with the recent remodels have many luxuries.

My room is quite comfortable, though a window in the bathroom is unable to close so my roommate wants to keep the door to the bathroom closed to keep the rats away. The laundry system here will not do undergarments, so yesterday I spent a long time doing old fashioned washer woman work with a big bucket and soap in the shower, and did my laundry by hand. It is still drying in my room. It is something as a hike to get up to my room since it is on the 4th floor, so 8 flights of stairs, and we pick up our key on a separate floor from where our room is. We can't really use the elevators because they are slow and power failures are very common.

Yesterday after pediatrics, where I was in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), we ended up going out to dinner with the masters students, who are all mostly our age since they start nursing so much sooner, and it was fun to talk to them about their culture, and especially their concept of arranged marriages, which seems in many ways to be deviating from their parent's views.

Health in the group is beginning to fail, as almost everyone is sick to some extent, including myself. I haven't been too nauseous since yesterday morning, but have developed a bad cough and fatigue, and am packing on the meds and water. I hope it gets better before long, as I think I am among the top 3-4 worst hit cases. Right now I'm ok, but I also had some medicine.

It is very much more hot and humid in Chennai than in Vellore, and even the locals complain of the heat and prefer to remain indoors in the air condition.

The agenda for the rest of the week is to go to OBGYN tomorrow, and surgery on Friday. On Saturday we are going to an orphanage, and having dinner with one of the nurses. On Monday, we are leaving Sri Ramachandra to go to the beach!

I hope everyone is doing well at home, and all! I haven't heard from the Rotta family yet- I hope they are doing ok!

San doch e ma. :)