First, it's been raining a lot. The rains are a phenomenon that I still can't decide if I like or not. Before I came to India I would hear about the "Monsoon" and how it just rains like a sheet of water all day long for 3 months. My reaction then was "wow, that sucks - I'm going to be soaking wet all the time, lovely." After being here in the dreadful 110 degree weather in June I have to say, that I was looking forward to the rain like everyone else because it promised at least a 20 degree drop in temperature. And it definitely did. It's so much cooler now (between 80 and 90 lately) and only slightly more humid. The thing that I never thought of was the combination of monsoon style rain, un-paved dirt roads, open trash piles on every road, and the wide array of animals that roam the street. Needless to say, walking around is not the most pleasant experience...I still think I'd take walking in trash water over 110 degrees, but that's just me!
One other thing the rains have going for it, it makes (some) things very beautiful, like this flower outside of the data office. Yes, I was in the data office working when I looked up to see this perfect flower right outside the window. That was definitely a good moment.
Here's an example of the animals that take over the streets. This picture is taken from one side of the street looking back across to the driveway to the hotel. The free part of the median that the cow is occupying is the same area I use to cross the road...it was an interesting, and much too intimate experience for me and the cow that day!
I've mentioned in previous posts, but our project's office is just a room in another girl's apartment who also works for the same company, but on a different project. She left India for good this morning and had a farewell party at the apartment on Friday before she left. Here are a few pictures....
The guy on the left in the following picture is the owner of Knack, the software company that entered all of our surveys. It's his personal office that I've been working out of lately mainly because that's where our surveys are!
The guy on the right is Deepak. He has seriously been the most helpful and dependable person that I've met in India. He was part of the baseline data collection for the bednet project, and so he knows everything and I mean EVERYTHING about the project. I'm technically his boss, but he and I both know that I need him more than he needs me! I think we have a good understanding...Anjali is in the middle (the one who's apartment and party it was).
This next picture is of all the people (besides Deepak) that I know in Bhubaneswar. The 4 girls that aren't Anjali and the guy are interns with UNICEF. They are very nice girls and we try to get together every couple of days for dinner or drinks (at one of the 3 establishments that will serve women...). It's nice for me because all the rest of the time I'm eating and being alone and it's nice for them because otherwise it's just the 4 of them all the time (the live together, work together, travel together, etc). It's a nice symbiotic relationship : )
Deepika (from Delhi), me, and Anjali.
The night after the party the 6 of us girls went out to dinner and while we were waiting for our food a magician came to our table and did some tricks for us. You wouldn't think something like that would be very good, but it definitely was. He had all of us laughing with our mouths open in shock. I guess the still picture doesn't really capture the magicalness of it...
And that's about it. I haven't seen or done much interesting lately except work, which (honestly) is what I am being paid to do, so I can't, or shouldn't, really complain. I am really looking forward to going to Rourkela next weekend to do a field test of our malaria test kits at a local malaria clinic. Also, on the way back Deepak has offered to take me to one of our project's study villages so that I can meet some of the people that they interviewed. I can't wait!!
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