Monday, May 28, 2012

Blog #3 - May 28, 2012

This past week I ran off into the unknown parts of the city that I had never been to. I was searching out specialty dentists. The hard part is that directions are very general. For instance, one of the directions of the dentist was the name of this huge and long street with the adress being "opp old Shanthi Theatre, Shahi Grill". So when I got to what I thought was the right part, I just had to look around and ask people. If I wasn't close to where I needed to be then people often looked confused, had no clue what I was talking about, or would point in different directions. The closer you get to right location, the more people start to recognize the name and when you are pretty much standing on it, the people can finally point you to the clinic. What may be seen as a polite gesture is if they do not know, they will just sort of point or say its a certain way. They may think I am talking about something else, but I have been led the wrong way various times. This process happened for a day, where I would ask for directions and be led all over the street until I could find it myself. It was fun being able to completely find things on my own, but there was also a feeling of uncertainty because I was in areas that I hadn't been to, looking for things I wasn't sure if they were still there. We got our surveys professionally translated and typed. We put together consent forms to help the natives understand our seriousness and professionality. We also purchased business cards to give the informants so that they could feel free to email or get in contact with us if they had questions after taking the survey. We are pretty sure we know where to begin finding informants for our research. The job shadowing is going great. The general dentist is teaching and showing me a lot. They love having me there which is evident from the food they bring into work for me, the regional treats they bring to have me try, and all of the information and help they give me. I am going to try and set up a few other clinics to go to so that I can compare and contrast. It will help me to see if people go to those clinics for the same reason, or if different reasons spring up.  We have made some sweet friends from the local branches. One of the guys speaks great English and he goes around with us helping us so that we don't get hustled and showing us sweet places to go. He is going to sit us down next Friday and go over anything that we want to cover. He will explain culture and customs, religions, history, and anything that we want. It should be good and I'm sure it will help us with answering the questions for our IAS class.  Our neighbors in the village love us, as much as they can. We can't speak to each other but they will fill up our water tank with a hose while we are gone. They say hi and bye to us. Some of the kids that can speak will come up and talk with us. They have tried to teach us as much as they could about how to do things.  The buses are great. You get a good 2 hours each day to read or listen to audio books. We are getting some good reading done. It's a little awkward how close you all are to each other, similar to being thrown into the middle of a mosh pit, but you get more and more used to it. Especially because they try to help you to find a seat when one opens up so that you can sit down. Once you sit down, its easy coasting for the rest of the trip. While standing people are bumping into you, the bus conductor is trying to walk past you to collect tickets, people are going in and out of the bus, so it is just pretty hard to get comfortable.  All is well in India though. We are having lots of fun. As doors keep opening and we keep finding opportunities, it becomes more and more fun.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

India - Post #2 - May 15 2012

India is awesome. I'm not going to lie, eating with my hands at first made some of the food unappealing and I even lost interest for eating. I can finally say that those feelings have left. I love eating with my hands. You can pick up exactly the size of bites that you want to put into your mouth, you can mix the rice with the correct amount of curry ratios, you can pick up more chicken or drop chicken depending on how much you want in that bite, it's great. We have had some great food and the more I eat, the more I enjoy it. At first, I despised the style of food and conned myself into thinking that I only like North Indian food, but that is adjusting. I keep trying new things and keep liking them. Aside from the food, we are all settled into the house and it feels great. Although it's not exactly like home, it is pretty darn close. In fact, the change is rather fun and enjoyable because it breaks the routine. I love camping and I am not even joking, it partially feels like we are camping. We have to pump for water, light mosquito coils, sweep the dirt away, cook on a kerosine stove, and squat to use the restroom. The nice features are that we have electricity, a closed brick house, neighbors, etc. I had my research translated by a younger member in the family. After finding an individual who is great at English and Tamil and who writes novels, he said the translation was okay but it could be clearer and more precise so that when people take the survey they don't get frustrated and confused. I agreed and I asked him to retranslate my survey so that I could gather the best results. I am going to pay him for his work and it will be totatlly worth it. He is actually a good friend of ours now and we see him often. Once I get this finalized, I can really begin pounding the streets and malls for individuals to take my survey. I will also ask a lot of the individuals who I have become friends with to help me by taking the survey as well. I hopefully will be able to find a lot of people who are willing to take it. They may be willing to do it for the simple reason that I am white, which is a good enough reason for me, as long as the data that I gather is accurate. It's fun though because we have made a lot of friends without the intention of having them take our survey so they have a friendship with us and trust us. We are staying active and trying not to get burnt by the sun. It scorched my face yesterday so I should probably be a little more careful to wear sunscreen or stay in the shade more. What can I say though, playing sports was totally worth it.  Everything is going great in India and time is flying by. If it weren't for the freezing cold shower that I take right before I go to bed each night, I might go crazy because of the heat. Otherwise, the bugs are finally beginning to leave me alone and my skin is healing from all of the bites!

Monday, May 7, 2012

India - Post #1 - May 7 2012

India! I can't believe we are finally here. As much as it is nice to see pictures of what India is like, there is nothing like actually experiencing it. Taking in each breathe filled with all the fumes from the hundreds of cars, auto rickshaws, and taxis, the piles of trash letting off their rotting smells, the jasmine stands that provide beautiful smells of flowers, and the food stands each competing for your stomachs attention. It truly is an amazing place. At the same time you find it to be an amazing place, you also realize the other side of it. The extreme poverty, the poor conditions, individuals begging for food and money. As far as my courses are concerned they are going well. I am already established in a dental clinic with a great dentist that has agreed to have me shadow him. I have already been able to observe some great things, from root canals to extractions to fillings. I have already clocked in 9 hours and need a total of 90 hours over my stay in india. They are great because they speak great English and are very easy to learn from. They were born and have grown up in India so I can ask them questions about anything and they are great at answering them.  For my research I had to get a footing on the culture before I started to give out surveys. I feel like talking with people and settling down has helped me a lot. I understand a lot of the norms and what people do or do not do. I understand things that are okay to ask and others that are not. I know how to word questions so that they will understand them. I have also gone through and Edwin has helped me to translate key phrases in case I need to use them to help the informant to understand. I haven't done a full translation but I hope to work with people that will be able to help me to explain words.  Once I get my survey finalized it will be easy to find boys to take it. We talk to them all day, every day. I am still trying to figure out how to approach girls or if it is even appropriate for me to do so. If it is appropriate, we have a hard time even finding girls that we could approach to talk to. If anyone knows proper ways to approach girls to take my survey that would be helpful. Maybe I could approach girls in Brookefield Mall and request their assistance.