The Monsoon has started!

Presumably as we get into the swing of things, I won't post every single day, but our daily schedule is pretty relaxed after work. After all, it's not exactly like the four of us carry busy social lives over here (not yet, at least!). However, as things are still new and as I begin to adjust, I'll continue to post as things happen.

Today was our first full day working in the hospital. We met Dr. Kelkar, the hospital administrator, for the first time this morning. After talking for a bit, he helped to begin organizing our schedules for the summer. It looks like we'll be doing a lot of observing, as well as participating in some sort of clinical research and some community health. For the rest of this week, we'll simply be observing and really just figuring out how things work and the way things are done. However, the morning was a bit awkward for the two of us, with Donna spending time in the OT (Operating Theater) and myself in the ICU. This was fine, except I wasn't sure what to do when I got there. I ended up talking to one of the residents there for a while, who explained how the ICU worked there and described one of the diseases they had there. Since it was a respiratory infection (not TB), the lady had to be put into a walled-off room, whereas the rest of the ICU patients were separated by curtains.

After lunch, Donna and I both went back to the OT, where we were able to observe several operations. The first was the end of a C-section, and the second was the beginning of a laproscopic surgery on the gall bladder. We obviously weren't able to participate at all, but it sure was fascinating to watch.

As Donna and I were walking out of the hospital, the sky was overcast for the first time, and we wondered whether the imminent monsoon would start today. Sure enough, as we started driving home, the rain started pouring down. By the time we got back to our flat, the rain was pouring down, complete with thunder and lighting. We're still not quite sure what the monsoon season will entail, other than a lot of rain. Hopefully it won't be pouring down rain nonstop all day long. We are in for some wet two months, I'm sure!