Clinics and Fishing Industries

During our last maternal and child health field visit on Thursday we went to the same maternal clinic that we had visited the previous week. This time, however, I spent the whole time at the maternal clinic working with two doctors from Manipal in the examining room. The clinic was very busy during the entire time we were there, so we had a constant stream of patients coming in to get their monthly checkups. These visits are very important because the doctors check for any abnormalities in their pregnancies and this simple checkup is the absolute most effective way of preventing maternal and infant mortality. After about two minutes of standing around just observing the doctors do their work, one of them asked me to take the patients blood pressure. I was happy to help and pretty much every patient that came in after that they had me taking their blood pressure. They also taught me how to feel the women's belly in order to get an idea for the position of the baby, measure the belly, calculate the gestation period and listen for the baby's heartbeat. So by the end of my two hour day at the clinic I was doing all of these things for the doctors, we had gotten through about 20 patients, and I learned some words in Kannada which will be useful for working at clinics in the future. I was so happy that I got to finally do something besides just observe what was going on. I learned so much more that way. It also makes me glad I'm in India because we all know that the U.S. would never even think about allowing an undergraduate student (gasp) to do the things I was able to do.

Besides that visit, it has been an extremely long week with a lot of homework and readings. On Saturday our study abroad group went on a visit to the local fishing industry as part of our contemporary Indian society class. The little town where the harbor is is called Malpe. It relies heavily on the fishing industry. We spent most of the day right at the harbor where all the fishing boats are docked and where the fish are sorted and shipped off to different parts of the country and the world. It was definitely a very trying day for all of us as it was extremely hot and sunny the entire day, not to mention the intense fish smell that we could not escape. Despite all of that, everything we learned and saw was very interesting. When we stopped to ask some women workers about their jobs and working conditions and such, we slowly started to attract a crowd of workers who surrounded us from all sides. They were all extremely curious as to why these foreign people were asking questions to workers. At one point two women came up behind me and just started to feel the sleeve of my t-shirt and were probably talking to each other about the material or something because they seemed very impressed with it. We luckily had a translator with us so we could have conversations with the women there and they also were able to ask us some questions about why we wanted to know so much and where we were from, etc. After visiting the fish meal / oil factory, I pretty much felt like I was going to pass out and we were all pretty delirious. As a nice treat at the end we got to go eat lunch at a hotel overlooking the Arabian sea which did make me feel a bit better.

The Malpe Harbor

The women awaiting the next boat of fish

Sorting the fish that just came in

Fish heads getting unloaded at the fish meal factory

Malpe beach

This coming week is short because Wednesday and Thursday are holidays so I can't wait to get some relaxation time in. Also, it has been getting sunnier and less rainy every day which means the monsoon is ending soon! It's so nice to finally see some blue sky. I think a trip to the beach might be in store for next weekend if it stays nice.

-Mia

Life is Good

So it has been a long and interesting week since my last update.
I finally feel like I know my way around Manipal and the campus, and I’m starting to explore things here a little more on my own. I’ve become a regular at the coffee shop in the mess hall to the point where the lady just smiles at me and starts making my cappuccino as soon as I walk up to the counter. I’ve also started doing the Indian head wobble without even really thinking about it. I still, however, find it hard to interpret when other people do it. Every question I ask seems to get answered with a head wobble. It’s basically like both yes and no which definitely adds to the communication issue here. In spite of all the obvious cultural differences and what not, I’m pretty much settled down now and feeling quite at home.

Last Tuesday was our first ayurveda class. When we got to class, the professor asked one of us to volunteer to be the patient for the day. One of the very brave U.S. Students said he’d do it. We basically spent the entire one hour class watching him get a full body massage with tons of sesame oil by two ayurveda technicians. It looked amazing, but I don’t know how I would feel about everyone watching me get a full body massage. Our next practical is tomorrow and we will all be getting head massages since they only take about 10 minutes each. I can’t wait!

On Thursday I went to my first maternal and child health class. Most of the class is spent going to a different child and/or maternal health clinic every week in rural areas which surround Manipal. We went to a very small town about 45 minutes away from Manipal which had a small maternal clinic and then a children’s clinic across the street. We visited both while the professor explained everything from how they are run to what kind of help mothers and children can receive. The two clinics were actually established by the same man who established Manipal University. He noticed that there was a lack of health care in the villages around Manipal and established 7 (I believe) free clinics, all within 25 km from Manipal. They are still completely funded by Manipal University, and are considered to be some of the best rural health centers in the state. The clinics are very simple (1-2 rooms) but somehow manage to get to all of the patients who need help. It was vaccination day at the children’s clinic so we watched a little baby get two shots. She was crying hysterically, but at one point she looked over at us (the white people from the U.S.) and immediately started to laugh. I guess we have that effect on people.

The maternal health clinic

A doctor examining a baby before the vaccination

Children waiting to get their vaccines

Friday was similar to Thursday in that we spent the day doing a field visit. We went to a primary health center in a small rural town called Padubidri. We spent all of our time with a group of graduate students studying public health here, who were familiar with that particular clinic. We basically just observed how it ran on a day-to-day basis and spoke to some of the staff. The clinic was equipped with a small pharmacy, lab, and even a tiny morgue out back. The public health students explained to us how this was one of the better rural primary care centers in India, and how, in general, the state of Karnataka has been more successful than other states in giving rural populations access to good care.

The Primary health center in Padubidri

On Sunday me and some other study abroad students decided to be adventurous and spend the day in Mangalore which is the nearest big city to Manipal. We took a nice air-conditioned bus (only $ 1.50) to Mangalore which is about a two hour drive. It was definitely a different feel to walk around in a big city. There was just a lot more traffic than in Manipal, more people, and more intense smells. It was fun to walk around aimlessly while not really knowing where we were going. Of course, our goal was to find good places to shop for Indian clothes, shoes and jewelry. After about 15 minutes of walking we looked in front of us and there was this big mall. It’s strange how we had no idea where we were going or what we were looking for and wound up at the perfect place. Beginner’s luck I guess. I splurged on a new salwar kameez at a very nice indian clothes store in the mall. The clerks there thought we were so funny because we spent about 2 hours in that store alone. After we left the mall we got caught in the monsoon and some pretty bad winds so we decided to call it a day. When we finally found the bus to take us back my clothes and hair were dripping and on the ride back I was actually a little chilly which is definitely a first for India.

On a side note, there are these tiny newborn puppies who live inside this pile of gravel right outside of my dorm. I think the mom burrowed a hole into it so she could keep her babies safe there. They are always sleeping inside the hole, piled on top of each other. I’ve seen them stretch and yawn every once in a while. The puppies are SO adorable and every time I pass by them I have to stop myself from picking one up and taking it back to my room to take care of it. It’s just so sad to have to think about their future lives as street dogs.

Sleeping puppies

The hole that the mom dug for her puppies

I better get to bed so I can be well rested for my ayurvedic head massage in class tomorrow. It’s such a hard life.

-Mia

Jumbo Jumbo Pants and More

So yes, it is true that I am still alive. I finally got internet and it feels so strange being connected to the world again. I've been waiting to get my student wireless account set up here and after about four "tomorrows", it happened.

Anyway, I have been in India for about a week so far, and today was our first day of classes. I have been loving every second of it. There's so much that has happened since I got here, so I don't really know where to begin.

Views along the road from Mangalore to Manipal

After arriving to the Newark airport with 5 minutes until my flight left and sprinting across the entire airport to catch my flight, I pretty much fell asleep before we left the ground and slept for almost the entire 15 hour plane ride. When I arrived in Mumbai I met up some other girls from my program and a driver took us to our hotel near the airport. I guess when they say "near" in Mumbai, it means 30 minutes of weaving in and out of continuous death traps, which some may call traffic. The next day we went to the domestic airport to catch our flight to Mangalore. After waiting for that flight and realizing it was probably delayed, a man came up to the gate and told us there was a "bird hit" which I assume means a bird hit the plane. In Mangalore we got on a bus to Manipal which was supposed to be air conditioned however the air that was blowing in the bus was quite warm and musty. On top of that, the windows did not open. Needless to say, when we arrived in Manipal we were all pretty delirious and sweaty.    

As soon as we arrived we started meeting many of the professors and other Indian students. Everyone in India is so friendly and welcoming. None of the students I met were shy at all, and they all wanted to know everything about us. A few students decided to show us around Manipal and the campus and just went out of their way to help us.

On Friday we went to Udupi, which is the nearest bigger town. It's only 6 kms from campus. We visited the famous Krishna temple and ate dosas at a restaurant where they were supposedly invented. Apparently Udupi is famous around India for its food.

Krishna temple in Udupi

Street in Udupi

On Sunday we drove about 2 hours to visit Sringeri, which is one of the four hindu mathas in India. The drive up there was amazing and crazy at the same time. Just to give you an idea, it's about 80 kms from Manipal to Sringeri, but it took over 2 hours to drive there. It involves driving up some intensely steep mountains through monsoon rains and about 30 switchbacks. At one point the driver came to a screeching stop because of a giant cobra in the road. I learned later that cobras are very sacred here and no one will kill them (a little scary). Sringeri itself was very beautiful. One of the temples, the vidyasankara temple, was built in the 14th century. It has these amazing ornate carvings on both the outside and inside. Another one of the highlights was the elephant blessing. Basically you just stand right in front of an elephant and it puts it's trunk on your head. It is considered to be a great blessing by Hindus.

On the road from Manipal to Sringeri, which is located at the top of that mountain

Getting an elephant blessing in Sringeri

Vidyasankara Temple in Sringeri

Yesterday was Indian Independence Day so there were no classes. Me and a few other people decided to go to Udupi because we've been very anxious to buy Indian clothes. We had all decided that we really wanted a pair of these baggy pants that a lot of the girls here wear. The only way I can really describe them is that they're sort of like genie pants. Anyway, we went into the first store we saw and asked one of the ladies if they had baggy pants. As usual, the language barrier was an issue and she kept asking us to repeat ourselves so we proceeded to describe them the best we could with words like "big" and "baggy" with a lot of hand gestures thrown in. Finally she turned to one of the other workers and said to her "ahhh, they want jumbo jumbo pants"! All the store workers started laughing and kept saying "jumbo jumbo" to us so we just nodded and laughed along with them as they pulled out some jumbo jumbo pants from under the counter to show us. Later in the day, we learned that they are called patialas, but I think I like jumbo jumbos better.

My new salwar kameez with jumbo jumbo pants

I could keep writing but there's so much to say it's just overwhelming so I think I'll do another update this weekend when there's a little more time.

-Mia
 

Leaving Soon...

Hello Everyone

I'm off to Manipal, India in exactly one week from today!
For those of you who don't already know, I will be studying public health and Indian studies at Manipal University for a semester. I couldn't be more excited to finally get out of the U.S. for a while and experience something different from what has been my monotonous life for the past two years.

I won't actually arrive in India until the 10th, but I'm leaving Wisconsin in three days to go celebrate my grandma's birthday in Estes Park, Colorado, so I'll be leaving for India from Denver. I'll update again once I arrive in India. Wish me luck!