Another Lab Week

Monday 7/2/12

Monday morning we went into the B/TB lab to process samples from the weekend.  We sorted all of the samples out and did all of the preliminary tests.   In the afternoon, we were supposed to go back to the lab and process more tests in the afternoon, but there was a quick “Indian” change of plans – apparently there is always a plan “B.” We were going to process samples in the afternoon, but we were shuttled to the university farms again to interview more about mastitis and collect samples for students of mastitic milk. While out at the farms, we got to see emus and 2 more ostriches (at a different university farm than the first).  This was exciting and a nice change-up from the lab work and interviewing!

A demonstration on the proper way to catch and restrain an emu

A baby water buffalo at the university farms - soooo cute!

Tuesday 7/3/12

Tuesday, we spent the whole day in the lab, mainly working on running ELISA tests.  This was my first time doing this test, so I was a little nervous that my technique would be bad or my eyes would bug out from staring at teensy-weensy plate with just under 100 wells.  I actually ended up getting my plate to work, and it was the only one so far to work!  It has been frustrating because we haven’t figured out why these tests are not working.  By the end of the day, we decided there was not necessarily human error, but that it was most likely the machine that reads the test that was causing the error in the plates.  Either way, I got a little bit of satisfaction out of the fact that mine appeared to work!

An example of the milk ring test - the middle sample is neg, and the 2 on either side are positive because they have a nice clear ring of pink on the top

Dr. Gunaseelan is the man in charge of the B/TB lab that we are working on.  When we first got to India, he was trying to remember all of our names (American names are actually hard for Indians because they are nothing like the Indian names), so he was assigning a celebrity to remember.  Audrey is Audrey Hepburn, for example.  When he got to me, guess what he picked as my name?  Jim Carrey.  Well, this is not exactly any Carrie/Kari/Kerry I know, and, well, technically this is a man and I am clearly not a man (even with the shorter hair, I’m pretty sure I look like a girl), but I just kind of laughed and went with it.  As the days progressed, he continued to call me Jim Carrey.  After a few days without stopping, I told him “You know, it’s actually kind of funny you call me Jim Carrey because I have a boyfriend back home, and his name is Jim, so people have referenced Jim Carrey around me before.”  He seemed to just eat that up, thinking that he was psychic or something and knew the connection without actually knowing.  So from then on, I have conned the nickname “Jim Carey” with just about everyone because he will literally introduce me as Jim Carrey.  When we were talking to Dr. Gunaseelan, he was talking about how my test worked and he called me Jim.  Just plain Jim, no Carrey tacked on.  So apparently now I have only one name and am a man in one man’s eyes.

Wednesday 7/4/12

This morning, we headed to the lab (again) to run the ELISA for the 4^th time since we think we know what the issue is.  For lunch, Dr. Mohan ordered a catered 4^th of July celebration to celebrate with all of our professors, fellow student “helpers,” and Virginia Tech students.  It was not quite your typical 4^th lunch being that it consisted of all Indian food, but it was a special gesture to try to celebrate and acknowledge our holiday.  In the afternoon we went back to the lab to finish the tests.  After the lab, we went to the field at the college and played some cricket, along with the guy who came from Virginia Tech.  For dinner, the cooks made a real great effort to make an American-type dinner, which was very nice and an awesome gesture!  It wasn’t your burgers and dogs, but an Indian version, I guess.  They actually found some corn on the cob for us too, which was a special treat.  Even though it reminded me of Halloween corn, it was amazing after missing so many things about the USA!

Thursday 7/5/12

Thursday morning, we spent our time back in the lab.  This was a chance to get the rest of our results verified and talk with the professors about any last questions we had for the research projects.  At 10:30, Pamela was supposed to head over to talk with the mastitis project leader, but we had only been over there once, so someone was supposed to come and lead her over there.  Well, surprise surprise, nobody showed up.  At 10:40 I figured I could probably find us our way back there or at least get us close, so we headed over there and found it!  The professor was like “Dr. Mohan told me you would be here at 10:30.”  It was frustrating trying to apologize and let him know it was not our fault we were late, but communication issues hindered that and we just had to deal with the fact that he thought we were late and incompetent.  It was exciting to know that this was the last day we would really be in the lab – all of the tests had been completed, and we would just put our results together when we returned from our weekend trip.  Yay!

In the afternoon, I went up on the roof and laid out for about an hour reading.  I don’t really like to lie out in the sun (I get bored easy) and I need to put sooo much sun screen on.  The weather channel said it was 99 degrees felt like 104 with humidity.  Yuck!  On the roof, I finished my book that I had been reading – The Help.  I enjoyed it, just wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending.  But it really was a great book.   For dinner, instead of eating at the guest house, we were invited to eat at another professor’s house – the warden of the hostel in charge of us.  The food was very good and we had some new things, so I ate quite a lot actually, which was a big change for me!  Too bad our professor wasn’t there to witness it – he still thinks I’m starving myself apparently.

Friday 7/6/12

On Friday, we woke up early to hit the road for a big event put on by the college - World Zoonosis Day.  This is a day when the zoonotic diseases department picks a village to travel to.  They provide free vaccinations and other simple care to the farmers in the area.  In addition, they locate a school and educate the children about zoonotic diseases so that they are more aware and can be more cautious about them.  This was a great experience!  I enjoyed working with the children the most – they were super excited to sing in English for us, answer our math questions, and tell us the English word for animals.  The thing they were most fascinated with was our cameras – they all wanted us to take pictures of them and with them, which was great! In walking around to do some work with the animals, it was interesting to see the different animals and how they are housed.  The vet students wouldn't let us do much in treating or restraining the animals which was a bummer, but it was still educational.  It was a very hot day, and I had my undershirt, my scrub shirt, and a heavy-duty jersey shirt on, so I got hot very quickly.  This was the first time the head had truly bothered me, and I was starting to feel some heat stress.  Thankfully, I was able to head back to the school, drink some water, and sit in the shade when we were done, and I started to feel much better.

On the trip back home, we packed 16 adults into a van for a 2 ½ hour car ride.  When we were introducing ourselves to the students traveling with us, when I said my name, I got the response, “Ahh, yes, The Mask.”  Apparently India knows Jim Carrey very well!  When we got back to the hostel, we quickly packed and headed off for our travel to Tip of India!  We took a semi-sleeper bus, and we were in the back row, so our chairs didn’t recline very much.  Long story short, I could NOT get comfortable at all (I can’t sleep on my back or sitting up), so I only got about 2 hours of sleep.  The rest of the time I was “tossing and turning”, getting more and more fed up with the way people drive in India and the jerking/slamming on the breaks that made us fly around in our seats.  How anybody got any sleep is beyond me!

Village Trip #2

PICTURES TO FOLLOW: INTERNET HAS BEEN TOO SLOW TO UPLOAD PICTURES :(

Friday 6/29/12

This morning we were invited to breakfast by a professor who lives in another one of the hostels just across from ours.  There were 3 veterinarians from the college there to talk with us and make us feel welcome.  We had some different breakfast foods, so it was good to mix it up, but they were all a little spicy for me!  It was fun to learn about some of the different things going on in the college that we weren’t aware of, learn about the professors, and teach them a little bit about American culture, too!  Then we went back to our hostel and packed for our weekend trip to Dharmapuri. 

We traveled by air conditioned train.  The trains in India, at least where we were sitting, were totally different from American trains!  They had “bunk beds” that you reserved, but there were three per wall, so there was very little space for lying down.  The middle bed folded down so that people could just sit on the bottom bed as seats if nobody wanted to sleep, which is what we did since it was a day trip.  I brought my book with me, but it was hard to read with the noise.  It got pretty crowded in our cubby at times – at one point there were 8 adults and 2 children in a space reserved for 6 people!  That’s India for you!  I’ve learned that the idea of personal space does not exist in India, and that people are rude.  Most people are very nice when they talk to you, but if you are in their way, you must move NOW even though there’s no room for you to move anywhere!  In check-out lines, there is no concept of lines.  It is whoever can throw their items and money at the cashier the fastest.  I would be so stressed out at a cashier with arms and money flailing everywhere.  I find myself getting very upset when I get pushed or get passed up when I was clearly waiting in a line.  I guess when you live in a country with 1.2 billion people, you have to learn to push your way around and fend for yourself!

We checked into our hotel, which was an old palace.  It was not quite what I was expecting, but we got a little taste of Indian royalty =P.  We traveled to some waterfalls that were about an hour away and got there just as the sun was starting to set.  On our way, we saw some wild monkeys for the first time which we were very excited about.  The area was gorgeous!  We rented these woven-boats and had a little Maid of the Mist-type tour around and under the falls.  To get down to the river in the canyon, though, we had to climb down these extremely steep steps.  I learned a few years ago that I am a bit afraid of heights, so this was a huge challenge for me, but I did it!  It was an amazing experience between the cliffs, and absolutely beautiful (perfect romantic float on the river in the canyon).  I described it as the Indian version of gondolas.  It was extremely relaxing.  There were some caves in the canyons, and the boat “captain” let us get out and climb around in them for a few minutes.  On our way back to shore, it was getting rather dark.  We looked up and saw all of these animals flying around in the sky.  They were bigger than any of the large crows we’d seen, so we couldn’t believe how big the birds were.  Then we realized that they were bats!  These are the largest bats I have ever seen, and they were flying in hundreds right above us!  Really neat – I wish I could have captured it with my camera, but it doesn’t have night vision.  Bummer!  We went back to the hotel and slept like babies (once we shut our bathroom door because our toilet had the habit of flushing itself every 2 minutes!!)

Saturday 6/30/12

Saturday was a day full of sample collection.  We visited numerous small dairy farms in the morning where we collected samples and some information for our mastitis project.  We had a veterinarian from the area accompanying us around to the different areas because she knew the farmers personally.  After some of the dairies, we went and visited one man’s chicken farm.  The chickens were housed in cages very similar to laying hens in the US right now.  He seemed rather innovative with his practices and is making quite a fortune off of the birds.  He grows his own feed on his land, which helps keep costs down too.  We had the “privilege” of watching semen collection for Artificial Insemination (AI) in the chickens and actually got to perform the AI ourselves.  After we saw all the baby chicks, we enjoyed some jack-fruit.  This fruit was extremely sweet, but then it left a strange after-taste in my mouth that I didn’t care for.  Otherwise, it was pretty good and a lot of the students really enjoyed it. 

We traveled back to the hotel for lunch, checked out of the hotel, and traveled back to areas with farms in the afternoon.  We collected samples from areas where there were a lot of farmers within walking distance of each other who all owned one or two cows.  We had a few crazy cows there – one of which we truly couldn’t draw any blood from because when we tried, it reared up on its back legs a few times like a horse.  I’ve NEVER seen a cow do that!  Especially when she’s supposed to be 8 months pregnant! In these areas, we started to get a crowd of children following us around.  Most were way too shy to talk to us, they would just look at us and giggle.   It was rewarding when we actually got to talk to them a little bit (some know English fairly well because it is taught in the schools) and got to take pictures with them.  They LOVED seeing their picture on the camera after we’d take it! Once we were finished in the villages, we went back to the hotel restaurant for a light dinner and waited in the bus office for our bus home. 

These buses are air conditioned and semi-sleepers – they lounge pretty far back!  They do not, however, have a bathroom so we try to avoid traveling in them if we can.  We knew this beforehand, so we all took a bathroom break before getting on the bus.  It was dark and relatively quiet, so I was laying there trying to go to sleep, and all of a sudden my stomach did a huge flip-flop and I felt sick.  Like stomach, I’m-going-to-throw-up sick.  And then the panic set in.  I’m in a bus with NO BATHROOM.  I’m in a bus where no one around me speaks English except my group, who are all asleep by now.  If I had to throw up, would I have enough time to run up to the driver and tell him to pull over on the side of the expressway?  Can he even do that? Would I fall over people's luggage in the isle on my way up and vomit right in the isle?  If I made it to the driver, would he know English well enough to know what I’m trying to say?  Would he understand my violent vomiting motions?  Or would I be up there, trying to tell him what’s about to happen, and it takes him too long to understand and he gets covered with my vomit?  Then I’d have a mad Indian driver on my hands, plus a mad bus because the whole bus would smell.  I laid there, just in sheer panic, all the while the pain and gurgling getting worse.  I finally decided my best option would be to open my backpack and get my tennis shoe ready.  That is the only container-type thing I could think of that I could use.  And then I spent about 2 hours “tossing and turning” in my chair, trying to tell myself that it’s all in my head and if I fall asleep, I’ll feel better.  Luckily, I did end up falling asleep and when we were at our stop in the morning, I felt much better! 

Sunday 7/1/12

We walked home from the stop at 5am.  It was the first time I had been out on the streets of India without a huge hustle-and-bustle happening.  We got back to the hostel, spent a little time online, and then went back to bed.  We skipped breakfast to sleep in and had lunch at 11.  For the rest of the day, it was relax/catch-up/post pictures/research.  We met our neighbors who had arrived over the weekend – VA Tech.  We weren’t aware that they were coming until a few weeks ago.  It’s nice to have some fellow Americans around!  We’re not the only ones getting stared at anymore!  I think there are a total of 5 Universities here now – lots of students from all over!  It truly feels like an International area now, with so many foreigners!  

In the evening, we got all dressed up in our saris again and attended a dance recital.  This was traditional Indian dancing, and it was the girl’s first solo performance.  It was wonderful to watch the different dances she did and was extremely impressive how long she could dance for (one dance was at least a half hour long!)  I really enjoyed this and appreciated her talent – I just wish I knew more about what the different dances/rhythms/moves meant.  After the dance recital, we went out to dinner at a pizza place to celebrate one of the professors, Dr. Kunnan’s, promotion he recently received.  It was a Papa John’s, and it was amazing!  They had the garlic butter sauce just like in the US!!  Delicioso! 

Can We Ride The Ostriches?

Tuesday 6/26/12

In the morning, we went into the lab to get more information and get some experience with PCR and elisas.  We split into two groups – one went to the Brucellosis/Tuberculosis (B/TB) lab and one went to the Newcastle lab.  I was in the Newcastle group, so we worked on extracting DNA for a PCR that was going to be run in the afternoon. 

When we were headed to our van to drive home, Daryl was pulled aside by a man with tea in his hand, so we thought he was a legit guy from the vet school.  He didn’t know English, so he told us to come with him and he was going to show us.  Daryl must have thought he was saying “Dean” because that’s where he took us – to the Dean’s office.  He had us all put our names on a piece of paper.  Everyone around was laughing at us, and I know they spoke English better than him, but no one was saying anything.  Daryl asked for tea, but then he tried to charge us so we didn’t get it.  When the dean walked by, he didn’t even acknowledge us.  Apparently, the Dean did not need to see us, so we had no clue why we were being held by some strange man who worked there.  We had to call our professor to come save us because he wouldn’t let us leave.  Being abducted in a foreign country? Check.

In the afternoon, the B/TB lab didn’t have any more samples to run and our professor was super busy, so we stayed around the Hostel. 

Wednesday 6/27/12

Wednesday morning we went into the lab for a lecture about Rabies.  Since we don’t have much rabies in the US in our pets anymore, they had some videos to show us that we wouldn’t see in the US.  We then reviewed our B/TB data, planned how to put our presentations together, and listened to another lecture on alternative forms of milk.  From the research, they found many different things being added to milk to get better prices or make it cheaper for themselves.  That lecture made me realize that I never want to drink the milk in India!! 

After lunch, we travelled to a peripheral vet clinic that is associated with the TANUVAS veterinary college.  We visited various farmers and their farms, interviewing them for our economic losses of mastitis project.  Two of the people from the B/TB lab had to come with us as our translators because none of the farmers spoke any English.  It was frustrating because it took a very long time due to issues with translation and understanding. 

A crowd of cows.

Some of the farms had 100+ cows!  

I just love these cows!

Thursday 6/28/12

The entire day of Thursday was spent traveling to and visiting the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) farm.  This farm is set up as an example for farmers in the area.  This is the same farm we started at for the chicken collections, but this time we actually got to see the other animals.  We saw cattle, water buffalo, goats, sheep, pigs, and ostriches.  This is the only larger-scale ostrich farm in India.  They were huge!  And we got to pet them!  We didn’t get to ride them, however, because they are not considered tame yet and are still pretty wild.  Bummer!  For lunch, we had a variety of Indian rice and other side dishes, which were all way too spicy for me.  We had rabbit and pork as well.  I actually did try the rabbit, but it was way too chewy for me, too spicy, and when I ran into a who-knows-what bone, I was done.  Then the girl next to me got a liver and I was definitely done eating the rabbit.  One bite was sufficient to know that it’s not going to be my favorite meat!  In the afternoon we collected milk samples for the B/TB project and then headed back to the hostel.

Little goat kisses!

Red sheep!

I LOVE piglets!  Babe!!

I wish we could have ridden them!  Still, the closest I've ever been!