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Helloooo. So I'm still in Pen. Some interesting things have happened since I got back from...vacation...and I remembered some stuff I left out, so here are some notes:
Motorcycle: I rode one! =D It was crazy - there were three of us on it and Rajish drove (he was one of the hotel employees at Tiger Camp in Ramnagar where we went on safari). We drove into town from the hotel when we had to convince the train station to give us a new train ticket since our travel agent never got it to us, so we could get to Calcutta. We all had to go on the motorcycle since no jeeps were available and we didn't have any other transportation. We dodged monkeys on the road and had to hop off a few times and let Rajish pick us up further down the road to avoid police - turns out it's not quite legal to have more than two people on the motorcycle. Oops. I found that out after we were already on our way to town though and opted not to hop off the bike mid-ride.
Corbett Toilet: Wow. After half a day of safari and a cup of coffee and a bottle of water, sometimes you need to use the restroom. You would think that would be motivation enough to use whatever facilities were available..but oh man - you have obviously not seen the toilet in the Corbett Tiger Reserve. I had to come back twice before I got up the nerve to brave the lizard crawling around in the tiny, dark room among the massive spider webs and spiders, while big, ugly ants covered the Indian style toilet. It was a little bit traumatic. I think I am recovering though.
Tricorn: Sometimes when you are in a tiger reserve and there are no tigers, you begin to identify other animals, such as local birds and monkeys.. As a wise and all-knowing Zoologist, I explained to Nate about the rare and endangered Tricorns ("tri" meaning three different species and "corn" meaning that they like to eat corn) that are also indigenous to northern India, living among the other animals. Tourists rarely spot them, as they often morph into tree-like structures and can be difficult to distinguish from actual trees. We ended up seeing several of these animals along the route after discussing the possibility of their presence, and so not all was lost as we tracked wild animals through the Indian jungle. I think we even have several pictures of this rare animal, although the common eye may have difficulty distinguishing between a tricorn and an actual tree. Good luck!
Elephant Bribes: When explaining about the amazing elephant safari through the jungle, I forgot to mention that we only got to ride the elephant when Rajish bribed the park guys to give us an elephant. How exciting is that? I'd like to see you bribe yourself up an elephant safari in the U.S. =p
Film Students: On Monday of this week, we met two film students from New York who are working at CFI for a short time to make a film of the organization for fundraising purposes. The students are pretty serious about it and may actually have a professional film crew come in at some point to shoot the footage in villages or wherever they decide to take the project. Nate and I went along into one of the villages, Hedoshi, and explained what we know about the village and how CFI has been working with its residents. Our coordinators discussed the possibility of using us for part of the film or maybe just for information, but it's kind of crazy that we're getting involved with this film project now. Maybe you will see our smiling faces on a CFI tv spot five years from now in the U.S. Haha...okay, probably not, but it was neat to meet some other Americans and talk to them - first people Nate and I have been able to talk to in person from the U.S. in six weeks! I think they will be staying with us in the bungalow over the weekend, too, so that will be fun. =]
Government Hospital: We have spent a few hours at the government hospital in Pen this week and last week, observing outpatient consults and the 24-hour emergency duty. We got a tour of the hospital, including the postmortem building, where people are taken for investigation in the case of a suspicious death. We walked in and saw all these jars on the floor along the wall, and the doctor explained to us that these were people viscera (body organs) that are being saved for investigation . . . Wow. They remove the various organs, including part of the brain which they have to sort of smash through the skull to get (they showed us the big iron apparatus they use for that), and then they put all the organs into jars around the room with salt as a preservative. . . Sometimes they have to use the suction machine to remove the body fluids. . . The instruments used in these procedures aren't really cleaned, as they are used on deceased patients...so we got to see those used instruments as well. She told us we are welcome to come back and visit the postmortem building when they are working there. We are considering...sort of.
Government Hospital Doctor: Though we have yet to take them up on the postmortem viewing offer, we were invited to the home of the physician who has been showing us around the government hospital. She is one of few Catholics in the area and stays in a convent while she is working in Pen. Her family lives in Mumbai and she invited us there for dinner and to see her younger brother portray Jesus in a skit for the annual parish day at their church. Her family made a HUGE and wonderful meal for us, including some amazing butterscotch ice cream, and gave us their beds to sleep on for the night. They even made eggs and toast for us for breakfast, which is definitely not the average Indian breakfast meal. This doctor is coming over to our bungalow for lunch today...maybe we should go pick up some mango ice cream to return some of the hospitality. =] I like mango ice cream.
Future Internship Info: I think we will be moving to Panvel (about an hour north) for the last two weeks of the internship to spend time at a new medical location. There is a big medical facility with elderly patients, outpatient work, cured leprosy patients, a children's home, and many other things where we will be placed (not sure yet where we're actually staying). That should be a really interesting experience and we are looking forward to it, although we will miss our homies in Pen, and Sheetal (the woman who cooks for us) told us she is sad that we are going to Panvel. It's closer to Mumbai though and that means it's kind of like being a little closer to home in the U.S. since I am flying home from Mumbai...so that is a little comforting. =]
Turkey Day: Have a happy one. Eat some extra turkey for me, since there are no turkeys here for me to eat. Maybe some pumpkin pie, too. =] God bless.
P.S.: I am running out of India pictures from this website, so I decided to throw one in from Japan for good measure.
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