First Week

I can't believe I've been here over a week now. I've done a lot and experienced lots of new things, but it's gone by very fast. I can hardly remember everything that's happened since I last wrote. I manage to keep busy and when nothing is going on I catch up on my reading. I've almost finished The Hummingbird's Daughter.
Saturday night Tanja and Terry and I went shopping. All the clothes here are very colorful and flashy, not at all like American clothes, so it was difficult to find something that fit with our simple tastes. All the clothes are beautiful, but they're so fancy I wouldn't know when to wear them! Tanja and I were so picky we left the store in a bit of a mess. The men started off showing us outfits and pulling them out for us but we eventually started to scan the shelves on our own and pull out the ones that interested us. We asked Terry if people normally did that at the clothes shops and she said they didn't; they just usually sit and let the sales people handle everything.
After we returned we had an arrival dinner party at Anil's house. We sang karaoke (Anil loves to make everyone sing) and ate Biryani. It was chicken so it was a special treat since we mostly only eat vegetables here. Everyone eats with their hands here which is hard to get used to. I'm trying but I mostly just make a mess! The food is sometimes spicy but I find that if I keep eating it gets easier after a few bites and the sensation disappears quickly once I'm finished.
Last week we went to market to buy a few neccessities (including an alarm clock for me) and food. We went to the place where they sell chickens. They kill them right in front of you. I was a little disturbed, of course. I picked out the chicken, but then felt guilty afterwards because who am I to choose which should have it's life ended? I'm sure they all had the same end anyways.
This weekend I saw the birth of two twin boys in the labor room. It was a really amazing experience. I'd never seen a birth before, except in films. It was very different than watching it on a screen. It's not something I'll soon forget.
Most of the women at the hosptial are there for birth, hysterectomies or cesareans. The men are often there for accidents. This one man was chasing monkeys up a tree and fell and broke his leg and both wrists! There is one patient here now, a woman, who has malaria.
There is lots of construction going on at the hospital. They are trying to make room for 20 female student nurses and their teacher. They are currently putting in a walkway outside our building and expanding the lower ward. That way they can move the upstairs ward patients down there and renovate the top floor. They are constantly updating and improving things!
I'm currently helping Anil load a new program onto the computer so that the school can do it's records on computer rather than by hand. I love all the children at the school. Whenever I walk through the school yard in the morning or at recess, all the little children run up to say good morning and shake my hand. It's hard to teach the little ones, but the middle-aged students know me very well and always want me to come to their class. They're fascinated by foreigners. I like the teachers as well. I just wish I could communicate with them better! Their english skills aren't very good. This one English teacher named Mrs. Masih translates some for me, though. She's very nice and I sit in on her classes often.
In between classes and during the walk to the gate I speak with a girl named Srishti and on the walk from the school to hospital (going home) I walk with Abijah ( I think this is the spelling). They are both in the 6th class. Abijah likes to talk about comic books and superheroes like Spider-man and Batman. I found out today that Srishti is a Jain and Abijah is Hindu.
I have watched the sunset here several times. It's so different than at home. The sun is always perfectly round, like a big orange egg yolk. There are rarely clouds here to cover it. The colors are beautiful though. Just before sunset in the afternoon it gets very still and right after the sun has disappeared the commotion begins. I guess it's the equivalent of rush hour. In town, the cows crowd together in the center of the round-a-bout to avoid all the cars and there they stay until it quiets down. I'll have to get a picture of it; it's very humorous. Everyone goes out at night and stays inside in the afternoons to avoid the scorching heat. Sometimes when I walk back from school (it only takes 5 minutes from our apartment) the living area will be completely deserted.
The wards are another matter. There are always people hanging around outside and inside them, as well as at the outpatient department. And the afternoon is the time when all the surgeries take place in the Operation Theatre.
School is out for the next two days because of festivals going on in town. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself! I'll probably work on getting the computer program for the school running. The dentist here, Ashwin, also wants to organize a dental camp for the school and wants my help in planning it.
I guess that's all for now. I'll try to write again soon!
Love, Lauryn