Three Weeks In Review

View My Vellore Map in a larger map

Hey Everyone, after three weeks of hiatus, I'm back!

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the first two weeks in a rural village called Kuvanur near RUHSA (see map) with the 2nd-year CMC medical students for the Community Orientation Program (COP). I stayed the first night with the guys at a school building, but I couldn't sleep too well because of all the noise they made (watching movies, playing music, etc) until the wee hours of the night. I don't mind sleeping out in remote places, but I think I'm too old for all the youthful late night activities (which I used to do when I was their age). After the first night I went back to Vellore each night with the staff, so I got to shower and sleep in my own apartment. So technically I've been "back" all along, but I just haven't had the chance to update my blog until now.

As you can see from the map, Kuvanur is a pretty small village. There are 371 households with a population of 1601, according our survey data. From what I gathered, many of them are farmers, but it seems there is a large variety of occupations and a wide range of socioeconomic statuses. This past week, the students analyzed the data that they gathered, made posters of the data, and presented them for the villagers to see. You can see a sample of the posters below along with some photos from COP.

This is where we held our meetings for COP.

The inside of the hut.

The school building in Kavanur where the boys stayed.

Inside the school building. The boys slept on the concrete floor.

Believe it or not, this is a woman's bathroom. How do they do it? There's a little hole in the corner that drains out... you can figure it out.

Another woman's toilet. This one is a bit more self-explanatory. Note that neither of the above models are for number 2.

This was our temporary garbage disposal and dish washing place.

Some of the medical and OT/PT students.

Kids from the village. They are cousins, and live next door to each other.

Water tanks like these are spread across the village. They are pumped with drinking water every 2 days for people to come and collect.

As part of the COP, groups took turns organizing games for the village kids each day.

As a service to the village, we cleaned up one of their temples one afternoon.

Students put up posters they made in the old school building.

A poster on population.

Can you guess what this poster is about?

I can tell what the graph on the left is showing, but not sure about the pie chart... maybe about how many are happy with their toilets?

Birth-control education poster made by some of the CMC med students. Look how happy (and wealthier) the family is with birth control!

Students performing for the village.

Some more dancing.

My COP group: me, Ranjana, and Nitin.

It was a lot of fun going around the village doing the surveys. Each group had a Tamil speaker, and both Nitin (the Tamilian in my group) and Ranjana (from Kerala, but speaks some Tamil) made sure I understood what was going on as we met with the villagers in our assigned area. So I felt very included even though I couldn't speak Tamil (thanks guys!). My group even let me lead the interview with one of the households, and they translated for me. During free times, I read some Colloquial Tamil to try to learn the language a little. I discovered that Tamil is surprisingly similar in structure and grammar to Japanese (and Korean). It's definitely a difficult language, but using Japanese as a reference has been quite helpful. Who would have thought Japanese would come in handy in India! Now I just need to find a good Tamil tutor so I can learn to pronounce correctly (assuming that's possible).

View My Kerala Map in a larger map

During the first weekend of COP, Lucy and I travelled by train to Kerala state (west coast of south India) for Anu Paul's wedding. Anu is a PhD student who works at Dr. Kang's (our mentor) lab, and is also a fellow Fogarty scholar. Her wedding was at St. Theresa's Church in Mahe. It was Catholic wedding rather than a typical Indian/Hindu wedding, so it wasn't as crazy as one might be, but it was really nice. I especially enjoyed the Malayali (Kerala) food. The fish taste so much better there than in Vellore. We stayed the night in Thalassery (8Km north of Mahe), and explored the city a bit the next day before we headed back to Vellore in the afternoon. Check out the map on the right to see where we visited, and below are some photos from the trip.

At Anu and Shijo's wedding, with the newly-wed couple!

My first train ride in India!

This is what berths (or beds) in sleeper class look like.

Toilet in the train. Everything basically goes straight down to the ground...

Boats in Mahe.

I found the Smart School in Mahe, but I couldn't find the other kind.

Overbury's Folly in Thalassery. A nice little park with a cool ocean breeze. Apparently it's a popular dating spot for couples.

Trying out some street food for the lack of better things to do.

I was told that banana chips are good in Kerala, so I bought a half-kg of them from this place..

Dried fish at the fish market in Thalassery.

During the second weekend, I went to Men's Hostel Day at CMC, which is the only day during the year where guests (other than family) are allowed inside men's hostel. Last weekend was Women's Hostel Day, which is the same deal for female students (but I was on my way to Kerala then). So each year the med students (all of whom stay in the hostel) put together a show and serve dinner to the guests, and invite them to see their rooms. I forgot to take a picture of their rooms, but here are some photos from the event.

At Men's Hostel Day, wearing my new dhoti, which I bought in Kerala. People were impressed that I tied the dhoti by myself, thanks to YouTube. In the back is a model of the Opera House made by the male med students as an art project this year.

Some of the male med students performed a short play called Blackadder. Simple, yet quite entertaining, and the guys did an excellent job putting it together in couple weeks.

A scene from Blackadder. The female costume (right) was a huge hit among the audience.

A vaccinology course lecture.

This past week I've been attending the 1.5-week long First Advanced Vaccinology Course in India at CMC. We have lecturers and students/participants from all over India and various places in Europe and the US. The course covers everything from basic immunology to history to the latest research and policies on vaccines. It took a little getting used to (and lots of coffee) being back to sitting in a classroom and listening to lectures all day, but it has definitely been an interesting and informative course.

Couple days after we got back from Kerala, I got a bit sick (probably flu or some viral illness), so I missed out on a few days of COP. I didn't feel too horrible, but I had to drag it out for the last week and a half. Thankfully I'm feeling 95% better now, except for the little discomfort in the belly, which comes and goes now and then.

So there you have it, my past three weeks! Thanks for reading if you got this far, and I always appreciate the comments. Praise God for an amazing experience so far!