bit about the last few hours later. I'll upload my last pics later too.
Thanks india!.. It's been great!
Thanks india!.. It's been great!
'Hi... Is this the WWO?.. Are you sure?.. Who am i speaking to?.. No
don't hang up!'
--
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Pondicherry has been such an amazing weekend! I've definitely had the
most fun here. We arrived at about 4 in the morning on saturday, but
had booked a hotel in advance this time so had a decent sleep before
going into town. We did the 'heritage walk' that the lonely planet
recommended and had some brunch on the way at a place that actually
had bacon, eggs and english coffee! The rest of the walk was cool
too.. The place is very unlike the rest of india. Its a lot quieter
and cleaner, with a very european feel from its colonial roots.
Then the fun really got going! Bene found a place that rented mopeds,
so 4 of us picked our toasters-on-wheels and went smashing up malls
and robbing grannies. In truth, we probably had a much more crazy time
even than that trying to navigate the streets and trying not to die.
After a while it got pretty easy... You just say 'beech' to passers by
and follow their pointing and babble, and beep your horn at anything
that moves (even at cows that decide to cross main roads every now and
then). And if there's nothing better to do, just beep your horn to
exercise your thumb.
So we went to the beach on saturday night for some night swimming, and
then again this morning to a different beach. This one, rightly named
'paradise beach' was an island that you had to get to by boat. The
waves were pretty punishing and made you do somersaults if they got
you square!
The football and grand prix was a bonus too!
Next stop madurai...
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On thursday evening, john and his family cooked for us at their house.
All 6 of us went, and we had some traditional indian food, sitting on
the floor. The food was great. After dinner, i had brought some
english coffee so i made them some of that to try... They weren't that
keen until they put an enormous spoon of sugar in it! John's father
said during dinner that as we had left our parents and families and
friends behind, they would be our indian family. We were all very
touched by their generosity!
This weekend alex and i went to dindigul to have a chill by the
swimming pool and a meal, then we met up with the other elective
students and took a bus to pondicherry, a french colony just south of
chennai. It is now 2 in the morning and we have just got off the first
bus and have an hour of travelling left. We're all looking forward to
relaxing by the sea! Probs will sleep for a while though!
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On tuesday, i joined the orthopaedic team for their surgery list. This
was a good opportunity, cos we don't get much time on orthopaedics in
southampton. I saw a hip replacement, a repair of a broken elbow and
some other less interesting stuff.
On weds, i went to theatre again with the general surgery team. This
was a pretty great day. Alex and i watched a gastrectomy in the
morning, which took forever, but it was a pretty tricky procedure.
Then in the afternoon we were able to scrub again to assist on some
minor cases. We thought it was quite funny how the minor ops make the
film 'Saw' seem like 'Pride and prejudice' and they have one theatre
with two beds in. So one guy came in for a haemorrhoid removal and was
treated to a fountain of blood (literally like you'd find in hyde
park) coming out of half a foot... Tho i think he had other things on
his mind. Anyhoo.. We got scrubbed in and i helped removing a
sebatious cyst the size of a thimble from someones chest, sewing it up
afterwards. And alex helped remove part of someone's foot. (at one
point i heard 'oops sorry' from the other side of the room, but it was
all good... Was quite funny tho)
Today, i went to a rheumatic heart clinic... Basically murmur central.
There were some great slapyouintheface murmurs that said 'look at me,
i'm a murmur', but there were often some quiet ones lurking there too.
So it was a good chance to get used to taking in the bigger picture.
Now im currently on a semi sleeper bus on my way to kerala for the
weekend. Semi sleeper means that the chairs go back and the lights go
off, but the chances of them turning the tamil film off look slim!
Just lucky i've got a loud ipod and good headphones... Good night...
yesterday, we went for a boat ride on kodai lake. kodai its self is
quite picturesque by indian standards, but there wasn't actually that
much to do or see. in the evening, we had a meal in the nicest hotel
in the town, the carlton. we had an all you can eat buffet, wine,
whisky and chocolate cake... all for about £10! we even got to see an
indian bar fight.. it was quite funny to watch, and like all things in
india, seemed to take so much more time than it needed to! oh, and we
had pizza for lunch too!
today we have done some more touristy stuff. after a long lie in in
our luxurious but budget hotel, and i chicken burger for lunch, we
walked around a market and went for a walk up coakers walk, a path up
the mountain side with great views.
now we're on the bus again about to travel back to the hospital.
indian buses have tv screens and loud stereo's, so we're currently
watching some crazy film about fighting and dancing... i think! alex
just summed it up quite well... 'india is definitely not a boring
place.. at least one of your senses is always over stimulated!' he is
quite right!
today, the three of us have gone to kodaikanal for the weekend. it is
a hill station in the ghats. hopefully we should be able to relax a
bit when we're there, maybe have something other than curry to eat and
possibly even some wine! we have heard rumours of a swimming pool too
but we dont want to get our hopes up too much!
the other day, we went on this gospel trip. it was a pretty great
evening... we didnt understand any of it as it was all in tamil, but
it was still fun to be there. they wanted us to sing some english
songs for them too, but we ran out of time in the end. i might try to
teach the guys at the hospital some at some point though!
well i think we're nearly at our stop (im writing this on the bus on
my phone so sorry for any predictive txt stuff) so i should probs pay
some attention to getting off with all my stuff! i'll try and upload
some more pics soon too.
Not sure when I'll next be able to blog.. But it's all good so far! X
I'm pretty confidet that I have everything I need with me.... However,
all previous evidence points to me having forgotton something
mahoosive. If so, I'll fill you in in due course so you can all have a
good laugh :).
So yeh, if anyone wants to pray for me, the logistics for today are my
biggest worry at the moment. I'll be meeting alex at heathrow so at
least then I'll have someone to check with!
Thanks all x
So if your particularly interested (eg grandparents etc) I'm getting
the taxi to hickstead at 0920 tomorrow morning, then the national
express coach to heathrow t5, then the BA0035 to chennai departing At
1330.
....literally can't wait!