I haven't been able to blog for the past few days because of internet problems. I have internet now, so I guess I'll have to post while I get my chances! I apologize for some of the choppy-ness of some of these - I think they are starting to get shorter as my days go on. I don't have all the time in the world to blog. Also, if I try to spell Indian words or foods, I may spell them wrong because I pretty much just do it phonetically.
We asked a lot of questions about Indian culture and learned
all about the different markings that Indians make on their heads. We took our first visit to the vet school and
had our first meeting with some of the doctors and students. Our first project we will be working on is
about brucellosis and tuberculosis. We
started to learn about the differences in the cattle industry between India and
the US and had our first tea time and cookies.
The tea was actually rather sweet, so it was good, and I’m not a tea
person. They use milk in their tea too. There was a dog that had just died of
suspected rabies, so we got to see a suspected rabies case. Dead, but we saw one. Not very common in the US! We came back and had lunch at the hostel. We went back to the vet school to learn about
our Mastitis project. After dinner, we
played basketball on the court that the hostel has. We were a quite a spectacle out near the
dorms playing in the dark. Americans,
especially American women, playing basketball.
We had one Indian male student join us, and another came to talk to us,
so now we have a few friends! It was a
lot hotter at night than we thought, but it was better than in the heat of the
day. We were all dripping sweat by the
end (gross!).
Today, I woke up early and was able to actually skype for a
few minutes! We had omelets, Indian grits, and chutney for breakfast. Then, we went back to the Hostel and played
cards during our hour with no power. We
drove to the vet school to attend an inauguration ceremony for a seminar taking
place at the college this weekend. It
was nice to attend, although it was longer than I expected. The worst part was that the auditorium was
not air conditioned! And there were
hundreds, if not thousands attending.
The air circulation was extremely poor and after about an hour, I was
getting very restless as sweat droplets were dripping down my face, arms,
chest, legs, back, etc. The bad thing
about sweating in India is that you WILL sweat, but it is so humid that it will
NOT evaporate very well. This seems to
create an even harsher layer of liquid that traps in body heat and you just
seem to boil – there is no relief except for a huge gust of wind in the shade
or air conditioning. At the conference,
there was a ton of Indian press because there were very important people there. Since we are the local attraction and looked
different and out of place, each of the camera men at some point came up to us
and literally had cameras pointed in our faces like a foot away. And were we supposed to just pretend that we
were still watching the ceremony? I
couldn’t see the ceremony with them in front of us. We’re not used to being the celebrities yet,
so we all found it very awkward and would start laughing when there were like 4
men taping us at once. Speaking of
celebrities, later on in the day we were walking through the vet school and an
Indian woman was walking the other way.
When she got near us, she was extremely excited and offered her hand for
what I thought was a hand shake. She
took my hand and kissed the back of it.
I turned beet red after that because that was not at all what I was
expecting! It was very strange, but
somehow I feel like that won’t be the last time.
A "store" on the side of the road where you can buy food and freshly squeezed juice.
After breakfast, we took a field trip around the block to go
to Spencer’s, the grocery/corner store here.
We got laundry detergent to finally do some laundry. We also got handsoap finally, so we don’t
have to use hand sanitizer all the time when we wash our hands. I got a coke, but it has a different after
taste than in America. Probably less
sugar because it’s not quite as sweet.
We then rented an auto-rickshaw after lunch to go to the mall. They are the little taxis that fit 2-3 people
and are basically large go-karts/bumper cars.
It was terrifying and fun all at the same time. We spent a few hours shopping for some
souvenirs and just looking around.
Afterwards, we came back to the hostel, played some taboo, ate dinner,
and skyped. We had some coconut milk
with dinner, and it was very yummy! Tomorrow
will be a long day at the clinic, so to bed early! Except, it will be a light sleep because guess what I just found crawling in the middle of our hostel living room floor? A cockroach! Yuck!!!!
First Few Days
Thursday 6/7
Today, we woke up around 7 to go online and shower. This was my first experience with the shower
in the hostel, and our showerhead does NOT work well – only like 3 holes squirt
water, and only one goes towards the ground.
So…I decided that the best option was to use the squirter near the
toilet to wash my hair and body well (it looked like a squirter that some
people have on their kitchen sinks). I
then found out that this was not a foot washer like we thought, but was similar
to a bidet…. great. And that’s what I’ve
been spraying in my face! For breakfast,
we had omlettes and toast. The toast
here is toasted in a pan of butter I believe, which makes them taste like
really good grilled cheese bread, just without the cheese!
We asked a lot of questions about Indian culture and learned
all about the different markings that Indians make on their heads. We took our first visit to the vet school and
had our first meeting with some of the doctors and students. Our first project we will be working on is
about brucellosis and tuberculosis. We
started to learn about the differences in the cattle industry between India and
the US and had our first tea time and cookies.
The tea was actually rather sweet, so it was good, and I’m not a tea
person. They use milk in their tea too. There was a dog that had just died of
suspected rabies, so we got to see a suspected rabies case. Dead, but we saw one. Not very common in the US! We came back and had lunch at the hostel. We went back to the vet school to learn about
our Mastitis project. After dinner, we
played basketball on the court that the hostel has. We were a quite a spectacle out near the
dorms playing in the dark. Americans,
especially American women, playing basketball.
We had one Indian male student join us, and another came to talk to us,
so now we have a few friends! It was a
lot hotter at night than we thought, but it was better than in the heat of the
day. We were all dripping sweat by the
end (gross!).
Part of an Indian meal - actually mostly solids for this meal!
Friday 6/8
Today, I woke up early and was able to actually skype for a
few minutes! We had omelets, Indian grits, and chutney for breakfast. Then, we went back to the Hostel and played
cards during our hour with no power. We
drove to the vet school to attend an inauguration ceremony for a seminar taking
place at the college this weekend. It
was nice to attend, although it was longer than I expected. The worst part was that the auditorium was
not air conditioned! And there were
hundreds, if not thousands attending.
The air circulation was extremely poor and after about an hour, I was
getting very restless as sweat droplets were dripping down my face, arms,
chest, legs, back, etc. The bad thing
about sweating in India is that you WILL sweat, but it is so humid that it will
NOT evaporate very well. This seems to
create an even harsher layer of liquid that traps in body heat and you just
seem to boil – there is no relief except for a huge gust of wind in the shade
or air conditioning. At the conference,
there was a ton of Indian press because there were very important people there. Since we are the local attraction and looked
different and out of place, each of the camera men at some point came up to us
and literally had cameras pointed in our faces like a foot away. And were we supposed to just pretend that we
were still watching the ceremony? I
couldn’t see the ceremony with them in front of us. We’re not used to being the celebrities yet,
so we all found it very awkward and would start laughing when there were like 4
men taping us at once. Speaking of
celebrities, later on in the day we were walking through the vet school and an
Indian woman was walking the other way.
When she got near us, she was extremely excited and offered her hand for
what I thought was a hand shake. She
took my hand and kissed the back of it.
I turned beet red after that because that was not at all what I was
expecting! It was very strange, but
somehow I feel like that won’t be the last time.
One of the lizards that like to perch outside our hostel by the lights to catch the bugs!
We have one in our hostel too =(
We arrived back at the Hostel and had a lunch with different
types of rice and some pork, which was pretty good. We played cards all afternoon because the internet
was out. We went back to the vet school
to learn about our 3rd research project on Newcastle Disease in
“backyard” flocks of chickens, saw a pelleting machine for the vaccination, had
tea time, and started looking at materials for our research project on
brucellosis and TB. We came back, had
purry and potato for dinner, and played cards until bed.
Saturday 6/9
This morning, we slept in until around 7:45. For breakfast, we had chutney and a sauce
that was a little bit spicy, omlettes, toast with pineapple jelly, and a juice
from a “fruit” that was similar to a pear.
We went “tanning” on the roof for about an hour – made sure to use lots
of sunscreen! Then, after lunch, we went shopping! We went to a department store that had 7
floors and each floor was dedicated to a few different items. There were so many things to choose from, and
sooooo many people it was insane! We got
a lot of stares, smiles, laughs, handshakes, and pictures taken of us. All of the girls got sarees (also spelt
saris) for the weddings we will be attending.
I liked so many! They were all so
beautiful and so many had such elegant beadwork and embroidery. Mine is a lavender color. We spent a while trying to find matching
jewelry as well. We went to buy some
shoes from a shop off on the side of the sidewalk, and we went to get the
blouses of our sarees tailored because all it is is a square of fabric when you
buy it. We had an Indian student
accompany us to the store so that she could show us what to do, show us where
to go, ask questions to, help us translate, etc. I am so glad she was with us because, with
all of the people and the lack of English spoken, I would have been lost! We came back, played some more cards, ate
dinner, and took an early bedtime because it was a tiring day on our feet at
the stores!
A "store" on the side of the road where you can buy food and freshly squeezed juice.
There is literally trash everywhere! Especially along the sides of the roads.
Sunday 6/10
Today, we didn’t have much planned which was nice because we
start working tomorrow! I woke up early
and got to skype for a little bit.
Breakfast was similar to what it has been, and I really only ate toast
and an omlette. For lunch, we had white
rice which I was totally excited about, but it tasted like the tap water, so I
felt like I was showering and eating it, so it wasn’t as good as I expected. I’m starting to get tired of the Indian food
already – I don’t think I’m going to be able to eat liquidy things again for a
few days, just because they do not look entirely appetizing. Basically, I miss a meal full of solid
foods! And I miss CHEESE! I want cheese so bad, and they really don’t
eat much of it here =(. I’ve decided
that it is impossible not to smell like Indian food, which is why Indians
always smell like their food. It is such
an aromatic food that when you are anywhere it has been prepared and eaten,
your clothes smell like it. I feel like
I might even be starting to sweat Indian food smell (but everyone smells like
that, so I don’t know if I do or not).
We can all smell it in our clothes at the end of the day, though.
After breakfast, we took a field trip around the block to go
to Spencer’s, the grocery/corner store here.
We got laundry detergent to finally do some laundry. We also got handsoap finally, so we don’t
have to use hand sanitizer all the time when we wash our hands. I got a coke, but it has a different after
taste than in America. Probably less
sugar because it’s not quite as sweet.
We then rented an auto-rickshaw after lunch to go to the mall. They are the little taxis that fit 2-3 people
and are basically large go-karts/bumper cars.
It was terrifying and fun all at the same time. We spent a few hours shopping for some
souvenirs and just looking around.
Afterwards, we came back to the hostel, played some taboo, ate dinner,
and skyped. We had some coconut milk
with dinner, and it was very yummy! Tomorrow
will be a long day at the clinic, so to bed early! Except, it will be a light sleep because guess what I just found crawling in the middle of our hostel living room floor? A cockroach! Yuck!!!!
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