Grandmother Finch turns 100!

This weekend was my Great Grandmother's 100th birthday! I can't even imagine all of the things she's seen in her lifetime.


My mom, sister, Aunt Becky, Hannah, and me with Grandmother Finch.

Perhaps the most amazing thing is what an incredible woman of God she is. Uncle Donald gave a great tribute to the power of her prayers. He told my favorite story from the weekend.

When Uncle Donald was in Korea, he was ambushed by enemy soldiers. A man popped up in front of him and pointed a gun point blank at his face. When the soldier pulled the trigger, the gun didn't fire. Somehow, Uncle Donald escaped.

Later on, Uncle Donald recieved a letter from Grandmother Finch. In it, she told him how she couldn't sleep one night and had to get up and pray for him. It was exactly the time that the gun didn't fire.

On a side note, Uncle Donald's hair turned completely white weeks later.

Some brief facts about her life.

Her father lost the family plantation gambling.
Two of her husbands died of tuberculosis.
She has 5 children, 10 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchild.
She was born in 1907! Holy crap!

On the trip up to Pine Bluff, AR we saw some incredible signs. Perhaps the most incredible was a sign for "renoveted rooms" at a hotel.




There were lots of cotton farms on the way there.


It's cotton harvesting season, so there was cotton balls all along the sides of the roads.

Life just got a little more complicated...

Alternate title: I don't want to take the OAT again.




I heard back from UAB, and (good to know now) they have a minimum science score that you have to have to get in. My score (science and otherwise) was good, but not great. Apparently they need to be great. I have to take the OAT again and try to get 10 points, out of 400, higher than I did last time. It would have been nice to know that before they invited me to interview. And if I had known that before I could have been studying for a while now. Oh well, God's in control and there is a reason for this. Maybe multiple reasons.

To say I'm pissed off and disheartened would be putting it lightly. However, getting a better score can't hurt me... and I haven't found a job yet. So the plan is to put the job search on hold and concentrate on studying for the OAT and taking it as soon as I can. At least I don't have school to worry about. And my little sister can keep me company while we do school together.

I just don't want to do this again. I hated O. Chem the first time around, hated it when I studied for the OAT the first time around. I'm pretty sure this time isn't going to be any different.

I'm working on putting a studying schedule together today. Intense, focused Paula is back. Exam week Paula is back. The Paula that schedules her week by the hour.

I'm trying to find the silver lining in this, but it's hard. I know it's not much to complain about. At least they didn't reject me outright with no telling me why. I still have a really good chance of getting in, as long as I do better and take it by Dec. 15th.

On a less depressing note: I'm going to post some pictures of how I redid my bedroom soon. I like how it turned out.

BA Lounge, or Why I Love Business Class

I'm struck once again by how much I love business class. I'm spoiled forever now that I know what's out there.

I left Chennai at 4:30 this morning... well, left the hotel then. Goodbye forever, Kanchi Residency (and all of the assorted wonderful pleasures that go with it). I think I think that the $22 I paid per night was too much. Are clean sheets and a towel too much to ask for? At least breakfast was included. And A/C, without which my trip would have been much less pleasant.

Somehow I missed the business class lounge on the way through security, so I hung out and listened to my iPod for the 2 hours or so that I waited. The flight out of the gate before mine was to Colombo, which I think is in Sri Lanka. I've decided I want to go there. Whenever I'm on the plane and the little map showing the planes progress pops up, I see all of the cities that we're flying over and I want to go. Like Ankara, Turkey... I want to go there. It kills me that there are places in the world that I'll never get to visit.

The flight was good. I slept some and watched movies... also spent some time avoiding awkward eye contact with other passengers, since they were all old businessmen. I'm in the Heathrow BA Lounge now. Life is good.

I'm actively engaged in my usual internal conflict that happens when I come back to the US. One the one hand, I love the US and being home. On the other, I love being away and in places where I can't understand what people are saying. I love travel. And I especially love being the only American and/or white person in a place. I think that I would have been happy as a British explorer during Imperialism, except that they really sucked. As much as I love the US, my passport starts to get unhappy when I don't use it often. This year, my passport has been pretty satisfied; Morocco and India kept it that way. Next year maybe I'll visit Alex in Cairo while he's studying abroad. Possibly we can have that Johns' Cousin European Backpacking Trip of Awesomeness as well. I've decided that if I'm ever going to backpack around Europe, I should do it soon. It's weird when old people go backpacking.

I'll try and post my photos on Facebook before too long. Don't get too excited, because I really didn't take that many. In the fine line between cultural sensitivity and dumb tourist picture taking, I err on the side of never taking a picture. Not that that's a good thing.

Once final thought. I was really really blessed to not get sick or have problems while in India. Thank you Lord!

Thank you India

I've been pleasantly surprised during my time in India that no one heckles or bothers me on the streets (besides the beggars, but they bother everyone). During my other trips to the developing world, I've always been yelled at or teased by guys when I'm walking down the street. Here, it's really nice that people just stare. I mean, I would stare if I saw me walking down the street too! The only exception has been one old lady yesterday... she actually stopped in the middle of the street and stared at me. Straight up stopped dead in her tracks. But even then she didn't say anything. I was preparing myself for India to be like Morocco ("You are Spice Girls. I like all of you.") or Saudi Arabia (unknown shouting in Arabic), or even Kenya ("Hey Baby") and Tanzania (their word for sister, I forget what it was).

Anyway, this is an open thank you to India. Thank you for not bothering me on the streets. I appreciate it.

Finally some pictures!

I'm leaving Wednesday, so I guess it's about time I posted some pictures...



This is me with the cutest little puppy ever at one of the camps.



A shrine in the courtyard at one of the camps.



This is what I do most of the time. Hand out glasses.



This is the beach at Mamallampuram, from our trip yesterday. You can see the Shore Temple in the background.

Mamallampuram (that's not how you spell it)

Today, Vijay and I took a little vacation from the city to the beach. There are a bunch of temples here and lots of stone carvings in the rocks. It's nice to be close to the water where there is a breeze.

I can't believe that I'm leaving India on Wednesday morning! Sometimes, it seems like time has flown by, and other times it feels like I've been here for years.

That's all for now. There are more temples to see!

This took me forever to load, so appreciate it.

The police gave me flowers

It's safe to say my goat will never see again. In fact, he might even need a eye amputation (do those exist?). Everyone should thank their lucky stars that I decided against ophthalmalogy.

Vijay and I went to see a Hindi movie last night. It was pretty awesome. The Indian version of three men and a baby, with lots of singing and dancing.

Camp today was sponsored by the police. It was crazy and hectic and awesome. More later on today. I'm on the clinic computer.

Goat eye and the best camp ever

Today, we're doing surgery on a goat eye. I think my eye will be mutilated, if the suturing practice is any indication.

This morning we observed cataract surgery (7 of them!). I got up 15 minutes before we left the hotel. I'm not telling how long it's been since I've washed my hair.

Yesterday was a camp in the slums of Chennai. It was the best camp I've been to so far. The people were really friendly and nice. Some of the little kids wanted to take pictures with me. I'll try and post some later on today from the clinic computer. It feels great to help people who are nice. It's not so much fun to help people who are complaining and angry.

The camp was at a temple, and a cow wandered through the camp about halfway through. He almost stepped on the glasses, but someone shooed him away.

Thats all for now. Less than a week and I'll be back in the US! I had a dream last night about the Newark airport. It wasn't a good one.

We're going to a big mall called City Centre this afternoon after goat eye. Should be fun.

Suturing... a bit of a let down

Today we observed cataract surgeries and practiced our suture skills.

Suturing was basically sewing with a small needle. Pretty hard but not that exciting. Especially since I only got to do one stitch. I think the Dr. was in a bit of a hurry to get out of there. We have camp tomorrow.

Speaking of camp. At the camp yesterday I was really suprised at the ungratefulness of the people. By ungratefulness I mean storming the glasses station and demanding more "fashionable" glasses (with the exception of the lady who wanted less fashionable ones, then more, then less...). These people are getting glasses for free (reading glasses for most of them so they don't even wear them all the time!) and they constantly complained and griped to us about the glasses that we gave them. They wanted the glasses that their friend had, why couldn't they have those glasses... one guy even stormed out after we couldn't give him different glasses.

I wish that we could accomodate everyone and give them the glasses of their dreams. But we can't. So it's discouraging to drive hours on a dirt road through rice fields and finally get to the camp and have people fussing at you because they don't like the glasses. Fine, just don't take them. Doesn't bother me if you can't see!

To be fair, most people are grateful. This village seemed to be the exception rather then the norm. I guess this is part of the learning experience that I signed up for.
I'm glad I have this opportunity. That's all for now.

These are the van driver's favorite things

After much careful study, I have determined the van drivers favorite driving activities.

1. Honking the horn
This seems to be a common Indian driving pastime. Are you passing someone? Better honk. Are you going around a curve? Honk. Are you about to run a red light and hit pedestrians? Honk for Pete's sake!

2. Playing chicken with oncoming traffic.
When passing another car and honking your horn, you should play chicken with the largest mac trucks you can find. This makes the drive more interesting.

3. Stopping and asking for directions.
No lie, we stopped no less than 12 times for directions today. It doesn't matter if the last seven people have all given the same directions, you should still stop. Also, it doesn't matter if you are on a busy city street or a lonely country road. Stop in the middle of it. It doesn't matter if you're blocking traffic.

We had a camp today in a small village. We had camp at an ashram on Saturday. Anyone know what underwater meditation is? They did that there. Went to the zoo on Sunday. More updates to come. Maybe I can finally figure out how to get pictures onto these computers.

Camps, camps and more camps

Yesterday, I watched a woman lose her bellybutton.

Instead of the tummy tuck, we ended up watching a hernia surgery. By watch I mean look over the doctors shoulder as he did surgery. INCREDIBLE! I got to watch the whole entire thing. They cut in a oval around her belly button and then just took it off. The doctor kept up a running commentary of what he was doing. I was the only volunteer who knew what the omentum was... Thanks Dr. Jones! Well, I can't really brag, because I forgot what the layers of the spinal cord were... we watched a doctor give an epidural as well.

Anyway, today we had a camp at a school way far out of town. Well, it might have actually been close miles-wise, but it took forever to get to. And people only drive like 25 miles an hour here. We screened a bazillion kids. I did my best pointing at the eye chart like a professional. I have a really crucial job here. How else would the kids know which letter to read?

There is a camp tomorrow as well. I'm happy to stay busy.

I did laundry the other day. This consists of filling a bucket with water (these are very handily provided in the bathroom, also used in taking a shower), putting in the Woolite, and squeezing every item of clothing within an inch of its life. Then, the clothes are rinsed and hung up to dry. I fashioned a clothesline out of my shoe strings. Worked pretty well! Drying my t-shirts took about 48 hours. It's really humid.

That's all for now. I'm off to the grocery store to get some Sprite (and toilet paper, because that's not included). I'm still trying to get used to the fact that people eat with their hands and don't use toilet paper. That was true in Saudi too, but I didn't really think about it. Here, people eat everything with their hands. You'll see guys eating from a roadside vendor just shoveling rice into their mouths. Once again, I thank the Lord for hand sanitizer daily.

I've started reading Desiring God during my afternoons. I'm enjoying it. I'm aiming to finish it before I leave. Okay, I'm really done. There's no A/C in here and it's HOT.

Quick Update

So a quick update.

Yesterday we did a camp at a special needs home. It was awesome. More later.

Today, we observed cataract surgeries and then snuck into a surgery for squint (crossed eyes). The girl having the surgery was 10 years old and from the Maldives. How cool is that? We might go tomorrow and watch a tummy tuck and a lady getting cysts removed from her ovaries. We pretty much just show up and scrub in on whatever surgeries we want. The doctors actually invited us to the surgeries tomorrow. They're totally not part of the program.

I'll have my first experience in a Indian movie theater tonight. We're going to see Transformers.

I'm Here!

So I finally made it to India! I forgot to bring the camera cord, so no pictures today (if I can even figure out how to get pictures onto this computer).

First things first, I have a cell phone here. The number is 9962133548 if anyone wants to call. I'm not sure about the country code. And remember the 10 and a half hour time difference if you do call.

I didn't have any problems with jetlag. I've taken naps in the afternoon and still slept all night.

My first camp was yesterday. The two volunteers who have been here for a while said that the camp was really different from any they'd been too. Most of the people that we screened weren't actually poor, so we didn't hand out glasses. There was also another organization working with us, and there were no ophthalmalogists. I guess I'll see what a typical camp is like tomorrow when we go to another one. We rode out in the van to the camps (it took a long time, but I don't think it was actually that far out of the city). When we got there, we set up and started the screenings. We kept going, with occasional breaks to meet local bigshots, until about 2pm when we packed up and ate lunch that they provided for us.

Lunch was interesting. You eat with your hands, and the food had the consistency of really thick grits. Vijay said that it was rice cooked in curdled yogurt... and it tasted about like it sounds. However, it was really filling and I enjoyed it.

One interesting thing about the camp was all of the business cards that I managed to collect. A bunch of the guys came up and gave me their business cards. Thanks guys, but I don't think I'll be calling you.

We were supposed to go and watch cataract surgeries today, but they got cancelled at the last minute. Vijay and I went down to the clinic for a while to shadow the optometrists and meet with one of the ophthalmalogists. We have the rest of the day off now. It's James' last day here, so we'll probably go out tonight. This program is really unstructured. We have lots of free time in the afternoon and evening.

We have another camp tomorrow. Should be fun.

One more thing. In this city, pedistrians don't have the right of way... but cows do. Welcome to India I guess!

Time to kill in Heathrow

I had a take a little bus ride from Gatwick to Heathrow to catch my flight to Chennai. P.S. Mom and Dad the free ticket worked fine... but the lady stamped both of them so I'm afraid we're fresh out of free bus tickets for the next trip. During my brief excusion into the lovely British countryside, I noticed a couple of things that haven't changed since my last visit.

First, I still read the To Let signs (meaning For Rent) as large signs advertising toilets. This is probably due to the same brain malfunction that causes me to read retinal as renal (this was especially problematic when writing the section on the retina in my thesis).

Secondly, they still drive on the wrong side of the road.

And finally, the little British houses on the side of the road still look very sad and dingy. However, this could be due to the weather... which is very sad an singy.

My attitude right now is, unlike British houses, very upbeat and optimistic (as much as I can be functioning on little sleep with no promise of an upgrade to business class in my near future... speaking of which, I should eat before I get on the plane). I'm really excited about getting to Chennai. Or maybe I'm just excited about getting to me hotel room and sleeping in a bed. Which reminds me... what time do you think a eye clinic in India opens in the morning? Do they expect me to call them at 8am? 10am? afternoonish? Getting in at 3:25am is not condusive to a productive first day.

Speaking of 3:25am. I hope the money exchangers are up then, because it's apparently illegal to exchange Indian Rupees outside of India (a fact unknown to many in the British money exchange business... they kept telling me that they were out until I finally got to someone who knew what they were talking about). If they're not open, I guess the cab driver will be getting dollars. Maybe I should look up that exchage rate.

I'm starting to ramble... or maybe I never had a point... anyway, the next time I post, it should be from an Indian internet cafe.

Let the adventure begin!

T-3 Days and Counting

I leave for India on Thursday morning. I've started to... I take that back, have been freaking out for a while about leaving. Despite all of my world travellerness and bravado, this will be a first for me on many levels.

1. First time I change airports in London by myself (doesn't seem like a big deal, but I can't really miss my plane).
2. First time I've travelled to a third world(ish?) country by myself.
3. First time I've travelled somewhere that I don't know anyone. Well, that's not entirely true. There are family of some friends of ours in Saudi who live there, so I guess I'm not totally alone.

It's a little bit strange how travel kind of just happens for me. Since I've been planning this trip, many people have told me how much they want to go to India, have always dreamed of going to India, want to take pictures of India, etc. In fact, get this, Mrs. Julie Zeringue loves India and watches Bollywood movies! She even knows what Indian state Chennai is located in... I feel bad now for thinking that she wouldn't even know where India is. She beat me...I didn't know where Chennai was until I looked it up. I've never wanted to visit India. India has always seemed like a dirty and crowded place that I wouldn't like. When I applied to Unite for Sight, I just assumed that I would be assigned to the Ghana clinic. I was actually suprised when I found out I was going to India. I think it's good for me though. I've never understood why some people say "Lord, I'll go anywhere... just don't send me to Africa". Africa doesn't seem like such a big deal for me. But now that I think about it, India is my Africa.

I don't know how much I'll get to post while I'm there, but I'll try to post (with pictures) as much as possible.