Howdy, readers! I know you have been eagerly awaiting an update, but I have been spending my evenings lately writing for other purposes. Today I submitted my secondary applications for medical school at the University of Chicago and Columbia. Oh fraptuous day! Caloo! Callay! I actually have no idea how to spell that, but you get the point. Shout out to two amazing ladies, Katie Hickey Snyder and Caroline Weisser, for editing help. 2 schools down, 18 to go. Crap.

The work world is still frustrating. We were supposed to launch the pilot test of the new oral HIV test yesterday and then my peer counselor quit. He got a better job offer somewhere else. Poopy. But it’s okay that we are delayed again, because I have had other work to do. As some of you may know, I spent last year writing a curriculum to teach Indian doctors about providing competent care for men who have sex with men. A big part of this involves reducing stigma and making them aware that these guys are not all prostitutes/rapists/nonexistent. Also it is about how to make your practice welcoming, common health issues, etc. I could babble about it for a long time, so if anyone wants to know more about the situation just let me know. I’m excited because after all my work putting it together, it will finally see the light of day next week. We are pilot testing a short version with a group of doctors from STD clinics and a group of medical interns. Yesterday I met with a doctor at a clinic for men who have sex with men, we went through the whole program and he checked it for accuracy and cultural competency. He seemed to really like it and think that it was important work! The only real changes he suggested were that I try to normalize the concept for doctors by discussing the history of homosexuality in India, Hinduism, Islam, etc.

In response to Fred’s question: yes. This is a HIGHLY Christian family. Everyone is always asking me what church I go to (I say Roman Catholic because it’s better than saying nothing, although the right answer to them would be Baptist), requesting that I sing Christian songs, reading the bible, and praying. Sabitha is the Sunday school superintendant, so on Sundays I end up going to Sunday school, worship service AND youth group. Abuh! I was also instructed to always say a prayer before entering a red light district for my research. Interesting fact: when we pray, we wear head scarves a la Islam. Another interesting fact: the Muslims here wear burkas (spelling?). The head to toe black thing with only eyes showing. Christians are definitely a minority, there are many more Muslims and Hindus. Final interesting fact: all of the Muslims are by default in the top caste.

The castes, from most high to most low, are forward caste, backward caste, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes. Christians fall into the ambiguous “other castes” category. Castes are important for making marriage matches and for education; they have the caste equivalent of our affirmative action. Government colleges set aside a large number of slots for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people, and fewer for the various other castes.

I have finally gotten to the point in my relationship with a couple people where I can ask probing inappropriate questions. As most of you know, I am in the habit of asking inappropriate questions ALL THE TIME, so restraining myself in this new culture has been a bit of a pain in me arse. I went to a Christian youth retreat on Sunday, where a pastor broke down in tears because he said the youth of today were drinking, smoking, lying, forming gangs with Hindus, and having girlfriends. Horror of horrors. So I asked Arpan, my host brother about the girlfriend thing. He said his parents would beat him if he had a girlfriend and that he was supposed to have an arranged marriage, but that many of his friends had secret girlfriends. He then, of course, asked me if I had a boyfriend. I’m not going to lie to him, so I told him that I had in the past, but I don’t currently. When I mentioned that I had dated more than one person, it was so scandalous he almost died. Except that he thought it was cool and exciting—which made me feel like I was corrupting him. I explained to him that in America it isn’t considered bad to date, that it can be more casual, and that some parents actually encourage it. Sometimes our parents ask us if we are lesbians because we haven’t had a boyfriend in a year (I didn’t actually mention that part  ) He asked me if I had told Sabitha (his aunt/my coworker/my guide to life here) that I had had a boyfriend . She asked, so I did. Apparently this was a no no. But she didn’t seem too offended at the time, I think she just wrote it off to a cultural difference. But apparently her surrogate son has a girlfriend who she is refusing to acknowledge and trying to prevent him from seeing.

News on the Hannah developing obesity front: it is now possible for me to (rarely) go jogging. I have to drag Arpan with me, and we walk to a small neighborhood park with a stone loop smaller than the size of the track at Kenney gym. I have to strike a balance between wanting to run and not wanting to blow out my knee again by going in small circles. This path is filled with middle aged people walking, so I disturb their peaceful strolls by running by. I feel bad because Arpan isn’t that interested in jogging, so he has to wake up at 6am and just sit there in the park, I think I will start bribing him to come by offering him my iPod (so he can continue to listen to the same 4 Akon songs over and over and over).

I was hoping that as this trip progressed I would be given more freedom to move about on my own, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Every time I try to do something on my own, they say “boys will tease” or “boys will say words.” I have assured them that it’s okay and that I’m used to it—for God’s sake I’ve been running in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago for 3 years now. I do like having guides when I go places because the family can answer my questions and show me good places to go, but I feel bad asking them to take me places all the time. Because it’s kind of hard for me to get out, I have adopted a new policy: any time people ask if I want to go on an errand or something, I say yes. Always. Last weekend I made a grievous error: some family members were going to a wedding in their village and asked me if I wanted to go, but I didn’t want to intrude so I said I would stay home. Never again. There was an Indian wedding, they were chased by water buffalo, and the water was undrinkable. Sounds like an adventure to me. I will just go ahead and intrude from now on, especially since I think they really don’t mind if I tag along.

If anyone is frustrated by the fact that I haven’t been responding to comments, sorry. I only have internet access at work and I have to at least pretend to be working, so I can’t spend much time on my blog pages. I type my posts at home and then quickly paste them in and read your comments. I’m generally good about responding to emails though! Much appreciation to anyone who has actually read all of this incredibly long post! <3 <3 <3 Hannah