finishing the course

we finished our one-month course yesterday, and received marigold, rose and jasmine garlands, so that "the fragrance of the flowers can spread like our service," and a scarf "for scholarship." we dressed in our saris and received certificates. then a group of thirty women from andra pradesh [who had accosted me more than a few times that morning, insisting that my sari was not put on properly (despite my very good attempt at putting it on myself after training sessions from, not one but, two women who work at CRHP) - i declined their help out of frustration and vowed to burn the damn thing because of the hours i've wasted trying to put it on] shook each of our hands and congratulated us, then took pictures with us for two hours in the screaming heat and the discomfort of my (admittedly poorly-put-on) sari.

today, saturday, we booked it to pune, rinske (a dutch medical student), kate (an australian social worker) and i. after a five hour journey in the maharashtra state bus - quite a trip, i must tell you, but adventure is not so glamorous, my friends - we arrived, only to be duped by a rickshaw driver. after we arrived at the bus station just outside pune, we walked up to a rickshaw driver and clearly stated that we wanted to go to the center of pune, a maximum five minute ride. ten minutes later we screamed at him over the traffic that we should not be getting on the mumbai highway, and, without turning off the meter, he said, as though shocked (though not convincingly), "pune center?" [despite the fact that he had repeated it confidently when we first asked him to take us there] and turned the vehicle around. When we arrived at our intended destination, he told us that the cost of the ride was 150 Rupees (the cost of the trip out of the city, back in, and to our destination). We told him we were giving him 50 Rupees, even more than the intended trip would have cost, and that was that. But he followed us to our hotel, smirking somewhat and not threatening, because we both knew that he was just trying to rip us off. Rinske started yelling at him, because she was even more frustrated than i, and when we told those at the hotel front desk what had happened, they told him to go away and he did.

afterwards, we realized that we had been fighting over two dollars, and felt stupid. ah well - it was the principle of the matter!

tonight we are at a high-speed internet cafe, which is a lovely treat after the very slow and inconsistent dial-up connection we have in Jamkhed (broadband has not yet reached that village). tomorrow we intend to go shopping and take it easy, then go back to jamkhed. monday morning i begin rotations in the hospital with dr. shobha.

i've been a bit homesick, partly because i've been nauseous the past few days and just crave my own bed in those moments of illness, but also because at this time of transition (the course ending and the rotation about to begin), it's easy to think of home and allow the desire for the comforts and familiarity of home to invade my thoughts. three more weeks, though - and i'm sure i'll be sad to leave because this experience has been just the renewer of spirit that i needed to confirm my choice of going to medical school, and created the images of patients that will motivate me through the next year of pathophysiology and pharmacology.

on that note, i'm off to experience some indo-chinese food and good company with kate and rinske. til next time...