A Way Overdue Update

I keep making a mental list of all the things that I want to write about, but then I never have the time to write (or just forget about actually writing), and so the list keeps getting longer without any of them actually getting written. Obviously this hasn't been working, so I'm going to keep this one short, and not write about all the stuff I'd been thinking of writing.

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates all this time. Has it really been SEVEN months since I last posted anything on this blog? Well, apparently yes. And this post will be one of the last few, if not the last, before I leave India.

Speaking of leaving India, I will be flying out early morning on Saturday, May 14 (just as it gets unbearably hot & humid here!). After a 23-hour layover in Singapore, I will be traveling to Tokyo to visit my friends for a week. Then I will spend a few days in Seoul to see my relatives, followed by a few days with my family in SoCal, and then off to Oklahoma City to get hitched! Woohoo!!

To summarize my 9-month experience in India... I'm just thankful for everything. For all the friends I made from all over the world, for all the beautiful and exciting places that I got to visit, for all the fun times I've had, for all the challenges I've faced, and for all the life lessons I've learned, I'm just so thankful to God!

I realize I never actually wrote what my project is all about... it's a long story, so maybe I'll write more about it in another post. But briefly, things have been going quite well overall. As of today, all the fieldwork has been completed, and now I'm wrapping up data entry before I leave India. I'll let you all know if my study gets published (hopefully!).

I can't promise anything, but I will try to write about some interesting stories from India, and (more importantly) post pictures! But for now, I need to go take a shower or something 'cause it's so hot and humid here (AC in my room isn't working at the moment).

Ten Days Down, Ten Months To Go

I can't believe I've only been here for 11 days now. Seems like it's been much longer. I've settled in fairly quickly, and I feel pretty comfortable getting around places and finding things on my own. I didn't even feel any jet-lag at all (getting lots of sunlight in the morning really works)! I've seen quite a few things and met many people in the past several days. It makes me wonder how much more there is to come in the next 10 months.

Although, I have to admit, I don't feel like I've gotten much done in terms of work yet. I only have a vague idea what I might want to research. I still need to meet with more people, read more papers, and figure out what might be a good project to work on with the limited amount of time that I have. I hope that I'll find something exciting, and that I'll have a productive year.

By the way, today (15th of August) is India's Independence Day. So, Happy Independence Day, India!!

In a completely unrelated news (or maybe it is related to adjusting to life in India), this morning I had my first formed stool since coming to India. TMI? I know, but it's a great news for me so I had to share it. :P There're always many things to thank God for.

Darling Residency

Darling Residency (photo from its Facebook page).

Every Wednesday night, many of the international students (about 30 or so) gather to eat at a rooftop restaurant in a hotel called Darling Residency. It's another great opportunity (other than the swimming pool) to meet with people from around the world.

This week I met students from Malaysia, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, and Canada in addition to the ones I met last week, who are from Austria, Nigeria, Australia, UK, France, and Denmark. It's been a bit of a challenge learning their names (and I'm sure they have just as much difficulty with mine), but it's been a lot of fun learning about them and the places they come from.

The Mixed Sizzler.

Darlings serves quite a variety of dishes (mostly Indian and Chinese), and they are fairly descent (and more importantly, clean). This week I decided to go for one of the most expensive dishes (although it was still only Rs220, about $4.80) called Mixed Sizzler. Basically they put a bunch of stuff (chicken, lamb, prawn, fish) with gravy, and serve them on a sizzling platter. Interestingly, the menu says it comes with "ice cubes & butter" and we were all curious to find out what that was about. That was really the main reason I ordered it, but disappointingly I didn't see any ice cubes or butter. Although, it did make quite a sizzling noise when they brought it. It's a small place, so the entire restaurant could hear it coming.

In any case, I like coming to Darlings because I get to meet new people, not so much for the food. International students come and go throughout the year, so I'll probably get to meet a lot of people during my time here. By the end of it Lucy and I could be experts on Darling's menu.

Here are some more photos from the night:

Med students from Malaysia and UK.

Shellva from Malaysia, me and Florian from Austria.

Lucy from Boston and James from Australia.

The three midwifery students from Denmark and Craig from Canada. (Sorry Eric, I cut you off accidentally.)

Shopping Spree

This week Lucy and I are meeting with various doctors and research officers to get a feel for the type of research projects we might want to work on. In the morning we headed over to the CMC hospital and met with Dhivya Anbu, who is a PhD candidate working on probiotics trial for prevention of diarrhea caused by rotavirus and cryptosporidium spp. In the afternoon we met with Dr. Rajiv Sarkar and Deepthi Kattula at Community Health Training Center (CHTC) on CMC campus. They were Fogarty scholars in the past years, and their research involves cryptosporidium in children (e.g. change in immune response over time in chronically infected children). Because our mentor Dr. Kang is in the gastrointestinal department, much of their research pertains to diarrheal diseases.

I have a lot of personal experience with diarrheal diseases (parasitic in particular), so I would definitely be interested in doing research in that field. We're scheduled to meet with people from other departments, so I'm excited to see what opportunities are out there as well. I can already tell that I'm going to have a hard time deciding on a project (or two) because there are so many different options here.

Harish Bakery

After our meeting with Dhivya in the morning, I went to the Eye Hospital to pick up my new pair of glasses (I can SEE now!). Then I walked over to Harish Bakery (my new favorite bakery in town) for lunch and got a variety of savory baked goods to go (I like their "puffs").

Next to the bakery is the Harish Grocery Store where you can get lots of imported food, toiletries, and household items (at marked up prices, of course). So I bought some food and a bunch of other stuff, such as insecticide spray, body wash, and hair conditioner (yes, guys use conditioners too... right? How else am I supposed to keep my hair nice and silky?).

One of the surprisingly expensive things in India is toilet paper. Four rolls of TP cost Rs180 (about $4.00)!

After our meeting with Dr. Sarkar and Deepthi this afternoon, I went over to the CMC College Store for more groceries, and stopped by the street vendors for some fruits and vegetables. I also got a new pair of sandals for Rs150 (compared to Rs180 for 4 rolls of TP).

One thing I couldn't find anywhere was insect repellent spray. The best I could find was insect repellent cream at the College Store. I'm not too worried about malaria since it's not endemic in Vellore, but I definitely don't want dengue fever.

I still need to buy some slacks and short-sleeve button-up shirts since a lot of men wear those to work here. I would wear shorts and t-shirts with flip-flops everywhere everyday, but I probably should try not to stand out too much.

Praise God for another great day in India! I actually felt pretty productive today, learning about all these research projects and getting a lot of shopping done. One thing missing from the day is a trip to the swimming pool, which unfortunately is closed on Mondays.

Luggage

I got both of my checked bags today! I had to take a 5-hour round trip to Chennai on a cab, but clearing customs was relatively painless. They put zip-ties on zippers of checked bags and wrap them in these huge plastic sheets here. I suppose it's to prevent people from stealing stuff out of the bags.

Thank God I have clean underwear now.

Traveler's Nightmare

After a series of unfortunate events, I'm finally at my apartment in Vellore!! But my luggages are still in Mumbai...

So the past 40 hours or so of traveling has been an example of what NOT to do when you travel to India (or most places abroad). Basically, I missed my flight from Mumbai to Chennai, bought a new ticket, and waited until morning for the next flight. When I arrived in Chennai I realized that I had left my checked bags in Mumbai! I guess I didn't realize how absent-minded I could be after a 15-hour flight from Newark to Mumbai. So before you ask "What were you thinking?" let me answer you in advance: I wish I knew!

I'll spare you the details but will share with you some of the lessons that I learned:

1. Keep your carryon-bags under 40 lb. Otherwise you maybe forced to pay extra and/or get a 5-min lecture on why having a heavy carry-on is dangerous (I got away with just the latter).

2. Keep your checked bags under 50 lb (or whatever airline's limit is). Usually you can get away with 2 or 3 extra pounds, but some people are very picky, and will ask you to take stuff out until it's exactly 50.0 lb.

3. Be aware that you can become very disoriented, absent-minded, and careless after a long flight. Try to think straight, and don't assume things. Don't forget common sense.

4. When traveling internationally pick up your luggage from baggage claim and clear customs at the port of entry (e.g. Mumbai), even if some Continental Airline staff tells you that they will go straight to your final destination (e.g. Chennai).

5. Don't exchange currency at the first foreign exchange booth you find. Find couple others, and compare their rates. There can be huge differences.

6. In some parts of the world (e.g. India), you can't checkin to your flight until couple hours before the flight, and some flights have designated counters. But just because the flight doesn't have a designated counter number, don't wait until 30 minutes before the flight to see if you can check in. You have to check in at least 45 minutes before the flight, and you can go to any counter as long as the flight is open for checkin.

7. Don't put cash in a clear ziplock bag and put it in the outside pocket of your luggage. And don't be careless to think that it won't get stolen, because it will. Keep cash with you.

Learn from my mistakes and hopefully you won't have to go through what I did!

In any case, praise God I've arrived safely!

Consolidation

Now that I'm about to travel to India, I'm going to start blogging again. I've combined this blog with my old Haiti blog (Zanmi Haiti), and redesigned it to simplify things a little. From now on I'll be posting on this blog for all general topics, rather than making a new blog each time I travel. I never got to finish writing about my Haiti experience, but hopefully I'll be able to keep it up this time.

I'll be flying to India on August 2, and will be spending about 10 months in Vellore for an intensive clinical research training at Christian Medical College through Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars Program. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing opportunity! Praise God!

Stay tuned for updates!