Library Mural

Anne has been remodeling and reorganizing the library in a big way.  I wanted to contribute in a way I know how—painting a mural!  I still have to add a book title and a fun library quote over the top but it is essentially finished.  I took a combination of clipart I found and then drew a mural with the different animals.  I drew it on the wall and started painting away.  Mike and Anne helped a lot as well, it’s a result of everyone’s efforts.  I may be partial but I think it adds a little life and fun to the library.  I also painted a little mouse reading in one of the corners that will be posted shortly I’m sure. 

Thanksgiving in India!

As we approached our first big holiday away from home, we knew we’d have to be creative and flexible.  We all had our own traditions and expectations but we meshed them well.  Overall I think I can say for all of us, it was successful!  The day started out in classic Anderson style, with a morning turkey trot.  Mike and I even made turkeys out of paper and pasted them on our back to broadcast to all of Pune it was Thanksgiving (I’m suuuure they understood the meaning of the random, colorful handprint on our back).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the day off from work to make the day a little more special and we spent our time relaxing, reading, cooking, and walking.  One of Mike’s highlights was going to the wonderful used bookstore in the area, Sophia’s books.  While I was taking a nap mid-day Mike put around the room little slips of paper that said things he was thankful for about me.  It was a splendid way to wake up.  We made a menu for the big feast and invited two friends for the occasion.  The menu included: homemade stuffing (on the stove from bread and broth), a sweet walnut squash dish, mashed potatoes with gravy, rotisserie chicken from a nearby shop, apple pie with ice cream (store bought, we don’t have an oven), fruit salad, corn on the cob (off the street) and wine.  Surprisingly our first attempt to make a Thanksgiving feast worked out.  We ate to our heart’s content and everything was delicious.  Mike’s favorite part of the meal was hosting it for Ryan, another American volunteering with Deep Griha and Shirish, an Indian who does part time volunteering with Deep Griha and has lived in the states for five years.  Shirish took this picture, but here is the spread and the gang of people celebrating an American holiday in an Indian land:

I truly enjoyed our first Thanksgiving together and look forward to many more.  It was hard to talk to our families and not be able to be there, but we were thankful that we were able to talk to most of our families (even if that meant we woke up at 5 am!).  We talked about what we were thankful for and our wonderful families and friends were extremely high on the list.  We are thankful for all the letters, emails, encouragements, comments, and love! that is poured on us while we are there and away.  Without your support this trip would be extremely difficult.  Thank you! 

Hospital Visit

No worries, there is no emergency or dire situation.  Thought I should throw that disclaimer out there before anyone freaked out.  I’ve had a cyst on the back of my hand for about two years with no problem, but it’s started bring my hand pain in the last couple of months.  Considering healthcare is pretty cheap here and we don’t have insurance back home, we thought we’d test the waters about getting it removed here.  This is the before picture of my cyst:

We had no idea how appointments were made so we just went to the hospital to get an idea of what to expect.  Little did we know that appointments aren’t necessary!  We came during the free consultation period (3-5pm) and waited for about an hour to see the general surgeon.  We went in his office and gave him the low down.  He said there is no way I was feeling any pain, as the cyst was not by any nerves.  Thank you Dr. Compassionate.  But he was willing to take it out.  Come back tomorrow before 10:30 he says.  The best part is that he gave me a prescription for everything needed for the surgery.  The injection, the wrapping.  Later he made me go get a “large needle.”  Again, not the thing I want to hear.  It ended up being about the size of a coffee stirrer and was hollow inside. This was what the doctor would use to drain my cyst.  We went once at 10 and were denied but then returned at 12 to this wonderful hospital:

We waited again for about an hour (we were ready with books this time).  While we waited, patients on stretchers and wheel chairs were just rolled up to this end of the hall and left, waiting for a doctor or something.  There is little to no patient privacy here.  Then he called me into this unmarked room at the end of a hall, with a setting that reminded me of the 1950s.  I quickly scanned to assess the sterilization of the room and the tools.  It passed my test.  I was instructed to lie down on the table and stretch out my hand.  Mike came in with me thank goodness (I’m not a huge fan of needles, ask my mom).  They cleaned the area and then used local anesthetic.  The procedure was uncomfortable and nerve racking for me (though I didn’t watch it) but I was thankful I felt mostly a hard pressure and weird movements of my hand.  Mike watched the whole thing and said I should be glad I missed the show, didn’t look pretty.  Anyways, after using the hefty needle, they injected me with something that was supposed to break down the capsule that encased the cyst.  During the whole thing, they spoke mostly in Marathi or Hindi, unless they were telling me to hold still.  It was hard to be comfortable when they weren’t communicating with me what was going on, but Mike was the most compassionate person in the room and took care of me and my anxieties.  One doctor was teaching the other how to do this surgery and then there was a nurse.  The whole process took about 10 minutes.   I felt really queasy afterwards and had to sit down while Mike took care of the billing.  The doctor wanted to get an X-ray to see if there was any bone because there was still some swelling.  While waiting (this was my favorite part of the whole thing) I saw a man with hair around his ear lobes that stuck out for at least an inch.  Built in ear-muffs!  It had me instantly laughing and feeling better.  Here’s me after the whole deal with my x-rays and wrapped hand:

The whole process was a learning experience and I was telling Mike that you should always embrace the chance to visit a international hospital to get a full cultural experience.  Some interesting observations we had:

1.  No appointments, first come first serve

2.  Cheaper than the US (the whole thing (injection, wrap, doctor, x-rays, drugs and all): under $20)

3.  There is little to no description from pharmacist.  The drug for reducing swelling did not come in a box and had no instructions attached (no side effects, no how to take instructions, nothing!)  I had to look it all up for myself.  I don’t know how other people do it!

4.  Patients must be very proactive to get information from the doctor.  I questioned everything and asked a lot of questions because I knew what questions to ask and how it should be done.  What do people do that don’t know how to ask, do they just assume the doctor knows everything and doesn’t need to understand themselves?

5.  The pharmacy was just a room that had people running about filling prescriptions but there was no educational piece with the patient. 

6.  There are a lot of people.  everywhere in India there are a lot of people.  It certainly had the hospital hustle and bustle feel. 

7.  Doctors don’t seem to make bank here, unless there is an outside fund that salaries come from because treatments are so cheap. 

8.  The toilets at this hospital (at least the one by general surgery) should be avoided at all costs. 

Pataleshwar Cave Temple

Besides the hospital visit, we had a fun weekend.  We visited Pataleshwar, a cave temple in Pune.  It still amazes me how people can make caves from hard rock.  Here are some shots from the actual cave:

 

There were square pillars around the outside and inside.  There was a statue of a cow in front of the cave, carved from stone. The actual cave went back about 50 feet and was dark and wet.  There were a couple of small rooms for different offering rooms.  This mural was outside of the temple right next to the cave and was over a pond with fish and two turtles:

Then a completely random picture of Andrew (“Bub”) and Mike wearing their HIV positive t-shirts that they had to wear during a Wake Up Pune event on Friday.  (Be positive about HIV and not discriminating towards people with the disease.)  Wake Up Pune is an organization that works with different venues to create awareness and education around HIV and AIDs. 

A First Cricket Experience

This Sunday was the finale of an 8-day tournament called Condom Cricket that an organization called Wake-Up Pune sponsors every year.  Wake-Up Pune is a collaboration of about 10 different NGO’s from all around Pune that all work with HIV in some form.  Condom Cricket is an event that they sponsor every year  that acts as an outreach tool for high school and college age kids.  The idea is (for those of you that know how cricket is played)  that the ball is HIV, the wickets are your health, the bat is a condom, the batters are “you” and “me”, and the outfielders are different opportunistic infections.  So “you” and “me” use the condom (the bat) to protect our health (the wickets).  There are signs all around the field that make reference to cricket as well as safe sex such as “You wouldn’t face Brent Lee without a helmet, why would you have sex without a condom?”  Its basically a way to get the idea of condoms out to younger people and since EVERYONE here plays cricket it seems like a perfect match.

Well Bub and I were able to make our debut in the world of cricket at this Condom Cricket tournament.  The winner of the tournament played a short (5 over) friendly game against the hodge-podge Wake-Up Pune team, made up largely of volunteers from around Pune and two very white Americans whose closest experience to cricket is baseball.  

It may look like I’ve actually hit the ball in the second picture but don’t be fooled, I’ve just swung too early and the ball passes right past me.

We were glad that we could help out with the event as our game didn’t really count for anything and they were wanting for volunteers to play.  Sara was really wishing that she could have played too, as she has a better handle on cricket than either of us, but her trip to the hospital the day before for a cyst removal put her on the DL.  She was able to take all the great pictures that we have of the match though.

 

Since I’m on the subject, I feel the need to impress upon you just how popular cricket is here.  Almost anywhere in the neighborhood that there is an open space available there will be kids playing cricket using anything from a metal folding chair, plywood or even a tire for a wicket.  In the more open fields in town there is usually a more organized game going on among older kids and young adults.  If all the enthusiasm about football, basketball and baseball in America were combined into one sport it might match that for cricket here in India.

Ironic or Entertaining Signs

 

There are no stop signs here and if there are they are mere suggestions, not commands.  It blows my mind that traffic isn’t in a constant accident.  This is one of maybe two stop signs we’ve seen in India.  They have to clarify you can proceed after stopping. 

 

 

 

 

Notice the solar cooker is a “real boon for housewives.” Bummer it isn’t helpful for all of mankind. 

 

 

 

This just makes me smile. A funny picture of a gent.  It’s the sign for the bathroom at the energy park.  There are far too many here with mustaches.  At least the pictures resembles reality.

 

 

 

Mike was ecstatic he found Lifebuoy because it was on “A Christmas Story.”  The rest of us were not as impressed, but he said Jason would love it.  

 

 

 

This is our laundry detergent.  The part that gets me is that it is “Winter Wash.”  They don’t even know what winter is!  What winter wear could they possibly have, it is upper 80s here most of the time!

 

 

 

Here is their “bike lane” but everything and almost everything goes done it.  Goats, cows, motorbikes, pedestrians.  Living in Madison has put bikes in a sacred spot and this does not do it justice.  At least it’s there…that’s a step. 

It may be hard to read but tourists are advised to go on the terrace at their own risk and the parvati trust will not be responsible for “any unfortunate accident.”  At least they translated this one into English.   

 

 

 

A little bit of Wisconsin in India—Kohler!  We spotted this sign on our quest to find the snake park.  Mike had to have a picture, so here we are!

 

 

So there you have it, a brief glimpse into some signs we see.  I’m sure we’ll have more to come. 

Children’s Day

This Saturday was Children’s Day and was celebrated with color and festivities at the school.  There was an Arts Fest, involving multiple schools coming to KC Thackeray and having their hand at creating multiple art projects.  It was quite the energetic event!  Everyone got colorful shirts that had the company sponsor on front and “Be the Change” on the back.  Mike and I explored the area around the school for awhile on foot and then stopped by to see the action.  When we arrived there was dance music out of loud speakers and everyone was dancing.  My students wanted me to join in the fun, so I showed them all my latest dance moves.     Then all the schools mixed and split into groups to rotate through stations throughout the school.  Each station was a different art project.  None of the classroom floors will ever be same, glitter, paste, and paint will forever remind the students of the day.  I’m sure for years to come.     The four of us tried to help out where needed, but it was unclear where that may be, so Mike and I ended up starting a mural in the library of a mouse reading.  At least it was art right? 

These pictures capture some of the joy and high energy of the day, but it was definitely a celebration of Children’s Day.  Children’s Day, which Mike found out was started by the first prime minister of India, who loved children.  He wanted to celebrate his birthday in a fun, honorary fashion so he made it a national Children’s Day.   The group of kids in the orange, are my students.  The one of just the little girl is one of the cutest third graders in the school.  They have school every Saturday but we haven’t committed to being there.  This was a special Saturday though and we’re all glad we got to be a part of it in a small way. 

 

Bonus Pictures of the Caves

I really liked some of the pictures from Sunday so I thought we needed a second installment.  Here are some from the first cave, Karla Caves:

 

The line of people hiking up and the elephants in front of the cave.  There used to be tusks of ivory.  Seems funny to take them from the real deal and put them in a bunch of cement…

 

 

 

 

 

The one on the left is the monks quarters at one point and contained lots of little rooms with cement slabs for beds.  The second is of Mike in one of the rooms looking out at the beautiful, mostly farmland view. 

 

These are a collection from the second cave, Bhaja Caves:

The view half way up, notice the dark clouds that are coming in.  That should have been our first hint that it was going to rain!

 

Here’s the view from the top.  this slope was filled with random waterfalls after the rains started coming.  It was beautiful green, hills all around us.  The picture of us was taken in the Bhaja Cave when it was storming.  A great view we have to say.  Perfectly timed rain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These monuments are a part of a bigger cemetery.  There were fourteen “stupas” bearing the names of the person in whose memory it is made.  They were taller than me and quite the collection. 

Day Trip in Lonavla

Sara and I went on an adventure last Sunday 50km west of Pune to a little town called Lonavla.  Near Lonavla in two little villages near there are two beautiful caves in the mountains.  We caught a train at 7:50 in the morning to arrive in Lonavla at about 9:00 in the morning.  Thanks to the Lonely Planet Guidebook (which comes highly recommended) we had a little map of Lonavla that led us to the local bus station where we c aught a bus ($0.20/person!) to the little town of Karla at the base of the first mountain.  The climb up the first cave took about 20 minutes and was it ever busy!  Most of the people there were coming to visit a much newer Hindu Temple built right infront of the caves.  There were stone steps that led the whole way up the mountain and lining these steps were vendors selling everything from live chickens, lassi (a sweet or salty yogurt drink), chikki (like peanut brittle that Lonavla is famous for), flowers for offerings and lots of little jewelry.    The caves at the top of the mountain were absolutely stunning.  A very large sanctuary type room made up the main part of the caves with many little caves around it which served as the monks living quarters.  The wood beams shown in the picture are said to be original which is impressive considering how old they are (almost 2000 years).  Surprisingly, the caves were very open to visitors with not much regulation, it was very dark on some stairways and families were even having little picnics inside of them.

We made our way down and walked about two hours south through two small little towns to the base of the next mountain caves called Bhaja Caves.  This cave was much less busy with less then 20 people compared to the previous caves 500.  The cave itself was very similar in appearance with a large single room and many smaller monks quarters surrounding it.

The fun began when just as we were going to start heading down the mountain a torrential downpour occurred.  We had ignored the forecast for 60% chance of showers all day and until then we thought we were going to elude the weather.  About 20 of us tourists huddled inside the large sanctuary room pictured and waited out the rain, thankfully Sara and I brought cards and dice to pass the time.  After about 30 minutes the rain let up and we headed down the mountain quickly incase it started up again.  The great thing about this was that the rain caused there to be lots of waterfalls on the way down the mountain which were gorgeous!   As soon as we made it down the mountain the rain picked up again and didn’t quit for the rest of the day.  We were able to catch a rickshaw to the local station to take a train back to Lonavla ($0.08/person!) where we had dinner and then made our way to the train station to head back to Pune.   In Pune it was still raining which meant that the rickshaws at the train station would be very expensive, especially for foreigners.  So we decided to walk a ways out of the train station and try to catch one which kind of worked after about 15 minutes of getting rained on.  Ironically, just earlier in the week I had asked Sara if she thought we would ever be in a rickshaw that broke down.  Well, about halfway home the rickshaw broke down and after arguing with the driver that we only owed him half the fare, Sara and I had a delightful walk home in a soft sprinkle.  To top it off, about 5 minutes after arriving home the rain started coming down in sheets.  We had a wonderful little weekend daytrip with everything included for under $20, which is something that I will never miss about being in India.