quick update

I still do not have my own internet access and so am using a public, shared computer at the international student hostel (dorm) where the boys are staying.  We girls are at a farther, cheaper hostel since the international one was apparently full by the time they figured out we're both girls and want to stay together.  :(  Ah, well.  So I'll try to update more completely in the coming days when I have my own internet username and password.

Jetlag continues, although Nithya's reminder that it is worse when she travels from California (waking at 1 a.m.) reminds me to be grateful that I wake at 4 a.m.  I'm also reminded to be happy I'm normally a very good sleeper (right, Deana?).  :)

My pediatrics rotation has been interesting - a combination of inpatient and outpatient, although I don't know much about what's going on for either one!  I've seen a lot more congenital heart defects than I had previously (ASD, small VSD, PDA for you medical types) as well as infectious disease things I definitely haven't seen before (e.g. scrub typhus, dengue, extrapulmonary TB leading to psoas abscess and vertebral osteomyelitis).  The differential for meningitis includes TB, a rare consideration in the States, and I've seen at least one LP (lumbar puncture = spinal tap) each day on the inpatient wards. 

I'm slowly meeting other international students through planned functions (a reception Monday night, dinner out tonight) and very slowly getting to know the residents (called post-graduates) on my team.  I find the language barrier predictably frustrating, although I remind myself that even if I knew Tamil (the state-predominant language here), I still wouldn't know Telegu or Bengali or Hindi or Malayalam...  So I smile a lot and nod my head at people; I haven't picked up the Indian side to side head wobble yet!

I'm off to a dipper bath now and then bed before my 4 a.m. wake-up call with dogs barking and birds calling.  More updates and stories later!