I got out of bed around 6 and surprised a woman brushing her teeth in the bathroom. I think we share the bathroom with the entire women's clinic where the room is. The bathroom is on the roof and the views of the surrounding jungle and rice fields are amazing to wake up to. There's been a thick fog hanging over everything since we got here, which I'm pretty sure is just humidity. I've never been so sweaty.
I went to walk around the compound. There's always a bunch of people walking around, families of the hospital patients and staff, villagers, and staff from the school. There's been a festival for the last 10 days and schools are closed until the 28th.
I sat down on the table near the kitchen and for the next hour people would come up one by one to talk with me. Very few of them spoke English, but we'd talk all the same. Rohi, runs the pharmacy next door and speaks English. Mitu is Biku's cousin and does the accounting and other administrative work here. I also met a few of the other members of biku and govinda's family. A villager named Ramo, who is a little person, was trying to explain one of his medical conditions to me. I couldn't understand any of it, but we had an amiable little while before he left.
Right next to the pharmacy there is a tiny hut/shack called One Stop Shop, which as far as I can tell only carries candy, cigarettes and a leaf that lots of people around here chew on. The one-legged shopkeep gave me a handful of candy and talked at me while we sat by the entrance.
Breakfast was around 830 and was a naan egg pancake. Then I spent an hour with Rohi learning about the different medications the pharmacy stocks.
Biku has a fever and got up soon after breakfast. I went with him on his rounds to see patients. I'm really looking forward to shadowing him and the other doctors/surgeons in the coming weeks.
He also gave Connor and I a full tour of the hospital. They have a relatively modern operating theatre and visiting surgeons work there a few times a week.
Biku took Connor and I to go look at the school. Even though it is closed, there were about 30 kids(ranging from around 7 to high school age) hanging out and playing cricket in the yard. I had brought a frisbee and we quickly had an informal game going. Then Connor and I (tried to) play cricket for the first time. We didn't know the rules right away and none of the kids spoke English. I was significantly less helpful to my team than the 7 year olds. It was great hearing everyone shouting and getting really into the game even though I have no idea what was being said.
After a few games, and falling asleep in the shrine by the field, we went back to the hospital and planned on taking a nap.
Privacy doesn't really exist here. Just as I was about to go to sleep(in a puddle of my sweat). Biku opened the door and sat down on my bed. We talked for a while and then it was time for what I thought was dinner. It was fried vegetables in a chili sauce. I've been pretty stuffed since I got here.
Connor and I watched a Bollywood movie about romance (that Biku wishes his life was like) and then ate again.
I have a couple more thoughts for the day but it's 11:36 and I'm trying to wake up at 530 to run before it gets too hot. Maybe I'll write another post tomorrow.
-AB
Ceiling lizards crawl
They're searching around my room
Wandering like me.
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