After breakfast I went on rounds with Biku. After each patient, we would talk through the cases and treatment plan. I'd also check the vital signs for each patient. Most of the patients in the women's center are recovering from hysterectomies and many of the male parents have hernias. After the rounds, we went into Biku's room and talked about many of the common problems the hospital sees and their etiology and treatment. He gave me several old medical school books in English. I'm going to use them to look up more information about the medical cases we see in the coming weeks.
Then we found Connor and went to the primary school to play cricket again. There was a match going on with students from a neighboring village so we watched for a while and then went to play frisbee with lots of the other kids. They throw surprising well and are getting much better. We can usually tell what they're yelling about from the context but definitely have to learn more Odia. I was trying to practice the basic phases I've been learning and some of them work, while others get nothing but a lot of laughter in response. I always carry a small notebook with me and I was learning some of their names. I asked one of them to write theirs down (I was having way too much trouble pronouncing it) and all the other kids ran up and crowded around shouting to be put in the book. So now I have a page in my notebook filled with 15 names I'll have to work on placing with students faces. Dudulee great at catching the frisbee and we soon had the students calling him magic hands. They would also shout "niiiice" and "OPA!" Whenever someone made a good catch. Connor and I are planning to teach them California slang soon. Bringing a frisbee was a great move and we're trying to get a game of ultimate going at the high school around 4. One of the teachers at the high school said to meet him "around evening" and expected us to know when that is. Before we left for lunch we had to ask him for slightly more specificity.
On our walk back, Biku showed us a couple of his marriage proposals and explained the process for parents selecting matches. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable embracing this part of Indian culture.
Connor and I have been finding these small red bug bites clustered in various places on our bodies and I think I just found the cause. I have a small sleeping bag liner that I bring with me when I travel and when I got into bed a few minutes ago I found what looked a little like tiny red ant-like bugs chewing on the outside. Upon closer inspection, there are at least several more visible against the white parts of the bed cover. I'm not quite sure what, if anything, to do with this development, but I thought it was worth noting.
I'm came back to the room to read some of the textbooks and write this post and there was a pile of feces on the roof between the door and the bathroom. It was washed away when I went to use the bathroom about half an hour after that, but it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. I may find a new place to do push-ups.
There is also a lizard in our room that I'm working on coming up wth a name for.
I'm starting to feel like I'll eventually figure out a routine and my place here.
-AB
Playing ultimate
Magic hands on my team please
I'll name the Lizard
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