abbey joanna: a hospital visit... Indian style.

I was assigned to go with the medical team for the day. Again, we didn't get to wash which I was really bummed about, but we got to visit the hospital. The medical van leaves early and drives around to the colonies, picking up patients that need to visit the hospital. My group headed out to the city and met up with the van @ the hospital. We were each assigned a patient from the colony to take around to their appointments for the day. Luckily the two guys Chelsea and I were assigned to needed the same care and were from the same colony so we got to hang out together. We were assigned to TIAGA RAJEN who was with his wife, VIJAYA, as well as KARPAN. We went to the cardiology department and handed in their charts which were marked "confidential." Odd since we were carrying them around.... We had about an hour to kill before the Doctor was going to arrive so we wandered to the "cafeteria." Sketchy. We spent 10 minutes refusing coffee from our new friends in our best Tamil+actions. We faked it a bit when they persisted and stuck it in front of us... it was sad to decline their offer.

Karpan, Abbey, Tiaga Rajen, Vijaya.

We wandered up to the second floor and I felt like I had stepped back in time. Chelsea and I both had the independent thought that the hospital looked a bit like the set of the movie, Pearl Harbor. Our patients were so proud of us and walked around introducing us to all of their friends @ the hospital. They would randomly be talking to people and look @ us and say something about America and then people would stare. It was so sweet. We met this man who was lying in a bed and his friend asked us to pray and bless him. Chelsea and I were looking @ each other very confused but we folded our arms and said a prayer for him... One of many interesting moments on this trip. Don't worry his friend recorded it on his phone... sketchy. Anyway, we went back down to meet the doctor and Chelsea and I basically sat in the waiting room and talked to people while our colony friends got their shots and check ups. It was so interesting to take it all in and get a feel for an Indian hospital. I took most of these photos for my dad, I thought he would be able to appreciate the appearance of this place.

Our little friend that we blessed....