Love me some lazy weekends!

It has been a fantastically lazy weekend here in Thanjavur, with almost chilly-like weather (i.e., < 100 degrees Fahrenheit)!

Yesterday (Friday) was spent shopping downtown at the Oriental Market (I think that was the name?), where I managed to stock up on lots of American goodies:  Nutella, peanut butter, Snickers (!!), honey, and Pepsi (!). Oh, and a non-cement-like pillow (!).  Now I just need to find some gluten free crackers or cereal and I'll be in heaven!  Luckily, some of each are somewhere over an ocean heading this way (thanks, mom!).

In other big news, I think I might finally be conquering my fear of cows!  Yesterday morning I found myself walking down the busy street next to two smallish cows, and although I flinched a little bit when one of them turned around to look at me, I didn't feel the need to freeze (in hopes that it wouldn't see me) or run in the opposite direction!  I'd definitely call that progress!

Last, but certainly not least, the most important news of the day is a shout out to my friends Alyssa and Steve who are about to tie the knot (T minus 1 hour or so)!  Congratulations, friends!  I'm so incredibly excited for the both of you!

Paneer, BLS, and my return to middle school!

As you can tell by the title, it has been a busy few days!  Tuesday night we celebrated Dessa's birthday at Hotel Sangam, our go-to food joint, where I enjoyed in delicious paneer butter masala (yes, that is cheese, butter, and delicious masala, i.e., artery clogging goodness).  We were joined by Ramesh, Ravi (our co-instructor) and his beautiful family, as well as our house-mom Tendrall and her son.  After dinner, Tendrall and Mukesh helped us get home by taking us on our first bus ride in India!

Allison counting all the rupees for Dessa's birthday dinner!  (The birthday girl is sitting at the head of the table)

My Wednesday was spent entirely in lecture.  During the first few hours, we learned about cardiovascular disease in India and honed up on our sphygmomanometer skills (i.e., blood pressure taking).  Then, we were treated to Basic Life Support (BLS) training, provided by instructors from Chennai.  Oh, how ICTPH spoils us! :)  Anyway, during this training, we refreshed our CPR skills and learned how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).  

Our BLS instructors, SVGs, and TPS students.

Practicing taking blood pressure

Today, we had another field visit to Ambalapattu, where our GI team (Sangeetha, Stephanie, Erin R., and myself) started gathering more information to help us develop an intervention to address diarrheal disease in children.  After we picked up our local SVG, Suda, we stopped by a local middle school to chat with the headmaster and some of the teachers about existing health education and current handwashing/sanitation practices.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of this beautiful school, but I'm sure we're going back sometime soon, so I will share then!

We also went to the homes of some villagers to talk about their water use practices, where we enjoyed some local delicacies: mangoes from a tree in their front yard and .... water.... from their local tap... In case Ramesh is reading this, we only had a sip, I promise!  We then visited the city's one working public bathroom (pictured below).  However, we learned that it apparently hasn't worked for at least a week.  

The public bathroom.  Apparently they fill that bin up with water once per day and villagers take water with their hands and use it to clean themselves after they use the bathroom. 

The GI team with the school librarian in her kitchen!

Today also marked our first attempt at geo-tagging!!  In other words, we use this awesome iPhone app (Theodolite, because I know the brothers will want to google it) to take pictures of things around the village (water sources, in our case) and send the latitude and longitude coordinates to a computer so it can be mapped and analyzed.  Super awesome!

Well, I'm off to find some Nutella and crackers before bed!  Looking forward to a long weekend of sleep, paper-writing, and errand-running!

Beautiful India.  :)  

Ambalapattu

I definitely was suffering from a case of the Mondays this morning, most likely due to post-vacation apathy!  Luckily, we had a fantastic guest lecturer, Sangeetha, who not only happens to be a member of ICTPH but also is the team leader of our GI team.  Sangeetha provided us with a great introduction to ICTPH's process of selecting and training community members to serve as community health workers/Sugha Vazhvu Guides (SVGs). (Side note: Sugha Vazhvu, a partner of ICTPH, is an organization that has established micro health centers in rural communities in southern India, in an effort to address health concerns of these underserved areas.)

I should probably warn you that this post will probably end up being ramblings about public health and therefore a bit dull.  I would add more pictures to balance out the dullness, but I didn't get a chance to take many today...  Maybe I'll throw in some more from Pondicherry! :)  Anyway, read at your own risk!

After lunch, we headed out on our third field visit, to a city called Karambayam, which is about a 45-minute drive away from Thanjavur.  Here, we got to chat with the community's local SVGs about their health concerns for the area and witness their incredible enthusiasm about their roles in the community.  I couldn't help but smile when these women eagerly expressed their desire for more advanced training!

We then split up into our teams and explored the neighborhoods.  My GI team went to the nearby village of Ambalapattu with Sangeetha and two SVGs.  (Before I forget, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to these 3 wonderful women for helping us navigate our visits today!  I really appreciated it!)  Our first visit was to the home of the Panchayat (aka, the community's "President"), where we learned about the community's infrastructure for water distribution.  We also were told how parents (especially those of upper classes) tend to take their children to expensive private physicians instead of the easily accessible (and cheaper) clinics.  Interestingly, although a cheap, effective treatment exists for diarrheal diseases (i.e., oral rehydration solution [ORS]), this method is rarely used, as parents prefer to receive treatments that supposedly provide "instant" relief, e.g., vaccinations or antibiotics.  When the Panchayat was explaining this to me, I couldn't help but think of the parallels to perceptions in the US, where American parents often demand antibiotics for treatment of their child's ailment, whether or not this treatment would even be effective.  Sorry - off of my soapbox!

We also were informed that school-based education campaigns about health might be the most effective way to spread health messages.  The Panchayat's young daughter provided us with proof of this successful message campaign by shyly reciting some of the health messages she had learned from school:  brush your teeth twice a day, wash your hands after you use the toilet, and eat fruits and veggies (this may not be exactly what she recited, but I was too distracted by her adorableness to fully pay attention!).

Our next stop was at a house just down the road, where I was immediately fascinated by the mango tree in their yard and the hundreds of coconuts lying out in the driveway, soaking up the intense Indian sun.  The couple that lives in the house soon explained that they were in the process of making coconut oil, which they joked would most likely end up being sent to the US!

At this house, my heart yet again melted at the level of hospitality we've received here in India.  As the older couple scrounged up some chairs for us to sit on their porch, they told us "when you're in our home, you're family."  We had a long discussion about the family's health and soon learned that this couple was raising their 4-year-old grandson.  We further discussed the effects of clean water on health, how corruption seems to be infiltrating all aspects of Indian life, and comparisons between the US and India.  I was a bit surprised that the family and even the SVGs were asking us American students about the best ways to stay healthy and how water fits into a healthy lifestyle. Clearly, this community is eager to learn! 

Apparently our GI team was a bit too engrossed in our conversations with community members, as we ended up making the rest of our class wait almost 1.5 hours to leave Karambayam!  Again, sorry friends, but we were just having too much fun in Ambalapattu!  Anyway, this delay ultimately resulted in our car being stuck behind a celebratory parade for a temple festival, during which our car full of American students somehow became part of the spectacle!  We also saw some men walking an elephant down the rural highway, offering blessings to community members!

caught in a temple festival parade!

Elephant butt! :) 

All in all, a good day!  Gotta hit the hay so I can stay up late tomorrow to celebrate another classmate's birthday (Dessa)!

UW SIGHTING!! :)

Hello faithful readers,

We have officially returned to Thanjuvar after a fun-filled weekend in Pondicherry! Good news: the trek back to Thanjuvar was much less eventful than the ride there!  A little background on the city: historically, Pondicherry was pretty much under French rule until 1962, when it was reclaimed by India.  This interesting mix of cultures has made the area a hot spot for Indian and worldwide tourists.

We stayed in a hotel called Ginger (no red-headed jokes, please, friends) that ended up costing me $20 for the three night stay (my family should be proud of that frugality!).  We spent the majority of the weekend exploring the city, which definitely included some shopping, as the city gets a lot of cloth imports.  Let's just say that there's a chance I purchased a pair of floral MC Hammer pants, and they may be more awesome than you could possibly imagine.

A lighthouse that took us 45 minutes to find, even with the help of some locals, and then it ended up being off limits to visitors.  Either way, it was a fun adventure!  Super cute side story: our driver asked a man on the side of the street for directions, and after we continued on, the same man showed up on his motorbike to make sure we found the lighthouse.  I really am finding the Indian culture to be incredibly hospitable and generous!  (As another side note:  Indian men are not afraid to ask for directions.  Just throwing that out there!)

If you look closely, you can see that instead of using barbed wire to keep people from climbing the wall, they use shards of glass, like broken bottles.

Bay of Bengal!  Woo!

I loved how colorful the egg cartons are!  These were on the back end of a man-powered (read: bicycle) rickshaw!

I love this picture!  Perfect timing of Epi and Josh getting soaked by a wave from the Bay of Bengal!

Necklaces being sold by a local vendor.  

Old lighthouse in downtown Pondicherry that is now being utilized as an office building.

Clearly the French still have an influence in Pondicherry!  

We also enjoyed over-indulging ourselves in French-influenced cuisine, which was a nice change of pace from curry and sumbar!!  I also spent a good chunk of the weekend perusing stores for gluten free cereal (as I've been craving some Chex right now), but sadly the only types I could find were Fruity Pebbles and Cupcake Pebbles (google it!).  AlthoughI love me some sugary cereal, I just can't bring myself to eat Fruity Pebbles.  Or Cupcake Pebbles.  Anyway, back to the French food!  I know this might be sacrilegious here in India, but I may have enjoyed a tenderloin steak...  And it may have been incredibly delicious...

We spent both Friday and Saturday nights at rooftop restaurants overlooking the Bay of Bengal.  Friday night, we enjoyed some beverages at a place called Seagull's (see picture) followed by dinner at Bamboo's Garden Restaurant (or something along these lines), where I enjoyed a delicious butter chicken masala under a palm hut!

Rooftop restaurant/bar called Seagull's that we hung out at Friday night!

Epi, me, and Megan at Seagull's

Saturday night, we ate at a pretty posh restaurant above the Promenade Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel overlooking the Bay of Bengal.  It was one of my classmate's (Shawn's) birthday, and we thought we all deserved a little spoiling for the occasion!  Some of my classmates actually met some other American students earlier in the day and invited them to join us for dinner.  We ended up comparing our experiences here in India and bonded over how often we get stared at because we don't look like native Indians.  Interestingly, we (or at least I) came to understand why we get so much attention here in India, because as we Americans were exploring  Pondicherry, I found myself curious and sneaking glimpses at the many Caucasians I encountered!  I guess the culture really is becoming a part of me!  Speaking of attention, Dessa, Epi, Josh, and I actually got mobbed by a tour bus of Indians who all wanted to shake our hands, hug us, and get pictures of us.  I can now say that I understand what it feels like to be a famous celebrity!

Promenade Hotel (stole this pic from Leslie)!

Celebrating Shawn's birthday at the Promenade Hotel in Pondicherry (again, stole this pic from Leslie).
Left to Right:  Josh, Megan, Epi, Leslie, Whitney, Shawn, Dessa, me, Erin R., Sonia

Anyway, in addition to meeting some other American students at the Promenade Hotel, I also had a Wisconsin Badgers T-shirt sighting!  I guess it is true that Badgers are everywhere!  Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to the guy to discuss our assumed mutual love of cheese and cardinal red, but I'm sure it would have been a great conversation!  Weirdly enough, I also met an Indian man at the Promenade Hotel who claims to have been a drinking buddy with Brett Favre.  I didn't quite know how to respond to that without relaying my disdain from the man, so I cut the conversation short! :)

Josh in our van of awesomeness, getting ready to head back to the Thanjavur!