Where to begin? While each day feels like it is going by rather slowly, time on the whole is passing by super quickly--only 37 days until I leave to head back to the United States! This weekend was a perfect getaway to break the monotony of Thanjavur (there is just not really anything to do there).
This past week we had another field visit and then to skills labs where we learned how to check for problems related to oral health as well as oral cancers. I think the most interesting part of the academic side of things has been to see how interconnected all the different teams' topics are: Child and Maternal Health, Cardiovascular Disease, Oral Health, Cancer, and GI. I think the potential collaboration between groups and their solutions could create a systemic change that is all interconnected. Saying that, our individual teams need to start working together and make a lot more progress before collaboration is even in the picture. As my team has been assigned CVD, I think the hardest part for us will be creating a successful culturally appropriate intervention rather than identifying the determinants.
Currently I am in Puducherry (spelling varies considerably). It used to be a French colony and is a really fun city. Today we wandered around the city, went to an Ashram, the beach (you cannot swim.. but it is a nice coastline), meandered through the streets, lighthouse, and so forth. We found this fancy hotel/restaurant and had steak/lamb/fish for lunch--I had the snapper. We are going to its sister restaraunt for Shawn's birthday tomorrow (it is a rooftop restaurant overlooking the ocean). The amazing part of being here is that four people had drinks, main course and desert for about 50 American dollars. Saying that, because everything is so cheap, we sometimes forget how little what seems like so much here is. I am highly considering returning here for another weekend trip.
Tomorrow we might take an organized tour of the city or perhaps just walk around and visit the specific spots we want to... time will tell. As much as I want to take the organized trip, it is also our weekend and I would love to relax and try meditating or walking through the lush green park in the center of city. I just went for a workout in the hotel's (very limited) gym, and am getting ready for drinks as we watch the sunset and then dinner in a bamboo hut. On that note, I must go, soooo I will write more soon!
This past week we had another field visit and then to skills labs where we learned how to check for problems related to oral health as well as oral cancers. I think the most interesting part of the academic side of things has been to see how interconnected all the different teams' topics are: Child and Maternal Health, Cardiovascular Disease, Oral Health, Cancer, and GI. I think the potential collaboration between groups and their solutions could create a systemic change that is all interconnected. Saying that, our individual teams need to start working together and make a lot more progress before collaboration is even in the picture. As my team has been assigned CVD, I think the hardest part for us will be creating a successful culturally appropriate intervention rather than identifying the determinants.
Currently I am in Puducherry (spelling varies considerably). It used to be a French colony and is a really fun city. Today we wandered around the city, went to an Ashram, the beach (you cannot swim.. but it is a nice coastline), meandered through the streets, lighthouse, and so forth. We found this fancy hotel/restaurant and had steak/lamb/fish for lunch--I had the snapper. We are going to its sister restaraunt for Shawn's birthday tomorrow (it is a rooftop restaurant overlooking the ocean). The amazing part of being here is that four people had drinks, main course and desert for about 50 American dollars. Saying that, because everything is so cheap, we sometimes forget how little what seems like so much here is. I am highly considering returning here for another weekend trip.
Tomorrow we might take an organized tour of the city or perhaps just walk around and visit the specific spots we want to... time will tell. As much as I want to take the organized trip, it is also our weekend and I would love to relax and try meditating or walking through the lush green park in the center of city. I just went for a workout in the hotel's (very limited) gym, and am getting ready for drinks as we watch the sunset and then dinner in a bamboo hut. On that note, I must go, soooo I will write more soon!
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