My Job

So, I've barely talked about my job here. It's been kind of lame for the past couple of weeks. I've been transcribing these interviews with healthcare providers. Yeah,they're in english and that should be easy enough, but they have STRING accents and the woman conducting the interviews has an accent AND sh talks fast. I don't like her. Her voice bothers me, to the point of kind of grossing me out. And I think she's really screwed up with some of the interviews, letting the doctors go on tangents without answering the given question, and will ask questions based on these tangents. She'll also complete their sentences for them! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SO wrong! She's screwed with the data and it totally bugs me. And one final thing, she'll ask a question, the interviewee will not understand it, and the interviewer will get flustered, try to explain with INCOMPLETE SENTENCES. She doesn't complete her thought and it totally frustrates me. I don't like her. She was also supposed to all this transcribing (which would have been better coz her English is crappy), but bailed. People suck sometimes. If you say you're going to do something, do it. Don't commit and bail.

So, that's done! Yay! And we on our way to disseminating our research results. We haven't complied all the results. We're still conducting final in-depth interviews, maybe 15 more to finish up. Basically we did baseline surveys, follow-up and final follow up. The survey asked about the marital relationship, contraception use, HIV/AIDS, and I'm blanking on the rest. I'm bad.

Anyways, before we disseminate this information back to the community, not just the study participants but the community as a whole, we want to conduct some focus groups. These focus groups will be with women participants, and we will be doing some role plays to present some of our study results. We want to talk to these women on what information needs to be shared, how to present this information to best reach the community (in order for the community to understand it), what they want us to share and who this information should be given to (policy makers, professionals, other communities, etc). It's a pretty cool concept. This information is the community's and we came in and gathered information. As researchers, it's our duty to bring this back to them before we take it to others.

So this week we've been training our field team (the women who have been with the study and have done all the interviews and surveys). We've been training them on the importance of FGDs (Focus group discussions), why we use them and then going through mock FGDs. The FGDs will be done in Tamil and Kannada. We initially wrote the scripts in English, but we had to make many changes on it, so started to do back translations. That was fun because I was able to help with the Tamil part and if I understand then these will will understand. It's been exciting to watch the mock FGDs and role plays. Our field team has been able to given so much invaluable information, such as how to better present it, what changes we may want to make, and how to transition better along with many other things. We have such a talented group of people working here. Everyday I learn so much. They're all really incredible. I think if I didn't have that, I wouldn't make it here in B'lore.

So that's where we're at right now. We'll be doing our first focus group next Thursday which I will be going to. I believe that one will be in Tamil, so I'll sit to the side and take some notes. It's SO good for me to be around people who speak Tamil. I speak in mostly English at work, and in most shops use a mix of English and Tamil. When I got to stores most people speak to me in English, as they do with everyone else. And I haven't been out and about much lately. Been too busy. Having only one day off takes a toll and gives me limited time to get out. By the time Saturday afternoon comes, after I get home from work (which is usually around 1:30), I just want to nap, but I digress.

Anyways, so we're on our way into the dissemination process. We will conduct about 4 FGDs and take this back to our Ethics Committee for their review before we move forward. It's getting more exciting.

Oh, and I leave for Goa in 8 days. I really need to get out of Bangalore.........

Peace.

What's Up dog?

Seriously, what's up. So, there are so many little pups running around Bangalore (and all of India). And these little guys have their spots. There is the usually brown mutt that hangs out with the rickshaw drivers outside of the hospital near me. I see him there every morning and every evening....he's usually passed out. But one day, the rickshaw drivers walked around the corner to get some tea or something and he was there, right behind them, following them like he was one of the crew. He probably thought he was gonna score some cookies if he went along.

Then there's this adorable black dog that hangs out on the street that I work on. Every family on the street takes part in caring for him, meaning feeding him, and with that, he protects the street. If another dog enters the area, he will shoo them off. He's cute and sweet. He's always passed out, either in the sun, or in the nice shade. At times, he goes and hangs out with the guy that does the ironing for the street. (So, there are guys on every street with tables and if you give them your clothes they'll iron it for you. They stand outside, usually under some shade and are there EVERYday. The guy on my street charges me 3 rupees per item. I hate ironing). So this dog makes me crack up all the time, because I'll see him just laying around with his legs crossed, like he's thinking about something important. I'll have to take my camera to work and get a shot of him. He's so sweet. I heart him.

Well, there's this other dog, that comes and sleeps outside my gate, but only late at night. When I've come home past nine p.m. he's been sleeping there, but when he sees me gets spooked and runs off. Last night, i was walking back home around 10pm and from afar, i see something weird looking outside me gate. It was this pup, sleeping on his back with all four paws in the air. i went for my phone, but forgot I have a ghetto old school phone w/o a camera. I REALLY NEED to bring my camera with me EVERYwhere in this country. There are so many things that I see that I need to share.

These dogs are adorable during the day, but at night time I hear them fighting. They're extremely territorial, and I think posses fight in the night time. I really shouldn't be out late at night on the streets (11pm or so), because that's when they start. Scary. I was walking to Commercial street the other weekend, during the day, and one of these pups barked at me and freaked me out. I don't want to get bit by a dog because I don't want to go to the doctor and have to pay for injections. And it'll hurt.

I still love all these dogs though. The one that barked at me was probably trying t protect the guy he was with. Extremely loyal...sweet little jerk.

India, india, india.

It's been an interesting week. I got a prepaid internet plan about 3 weeks ago. I was told I'd get 3GB of downloads. My stupid ass thought the downloads meant, downloading documents, files, etc. I even asked the sales guy this question, to which he replied, "yes MAY-DAM." I asked him the same question in a different format a few more times, and got the same reply. So, I thought sweet, only RS. 500 a month (but I prepaid, so gave them 1500). Well...NO, that's not what it meant. Downloading a webpage is what 'downloading' means. And i used those 3 gigs in 3 weeks. With this company you're allowed to check your usage online, and I had been trying, but hadn't been able to get to that part. When I called after the net stopped (and when they told me I reached my limit) and told them about this, they said, "but yes maydam, we were updating our website, so it hasn't been working." OF COURSE! I should have known. When I asked about getting my internet back up and running, I was told that I had to email the helpdesk and tell them I wanted a new plan. Well, I had to do that at work, and though I did my best to flood their inbox with emails from me, they were non responsive. They said someone will call in a couple of days and that was last week. In the meantime I went ahead and signed on with another company, which, from many people, I've heard was pretty good. I'm in the IT hub of India and I continue to have internet problems. Let's hope this new company solves some of that. Ugh.

Ok, some stories. I went to the Police Commissioner's office to register. It's something I need to do, since I'll be in India for over 6 months (straight). I walked there on Saturday, and the day started out well. I had to wait in reception for awhile coz I was early and I chatted with one police guy and another woman for awhile. Both were working the desk. I got to use my Tamil which always makes me happy, since it's such a useless language in the U.S. Well, finally I went in to do this registration THANG. I get in there, and the man tells me that they can't do it today, coz it's a holiday (second saturdays are holidays for most, even me!). I was like, ok, not really sure why there were people inn the FRRO office if it's a holiday, but hey, India is weird like that. The man told me to come Monday and someone could take care of it. He was nice. Well, I asked him what exactly I needed to bring and that I had copies of my passport and PIO card, passport size pics of me, the whole deal. His reply, "yes maydam, yes." Ummm, ok. I asked again, is there anything else I should be bringing, "it's ok maydam, yes" Hmmm. ok. not really sure what that means. I wondered if I should have spoken to him in Tamil, but he was speaking english just fine. I ask him a couple of more times and then asked if there was paper work i needed to fill out. He said yes, but it was something I would do when I came back. Finally, after asking again what I need to bring, he went back, got some paper and asked me if I was a housewife. I was like, "no, I'm doing research." The look he gave was priceless, "Oh, I don't know maydam." It was then that I finally decided to leave because I think I was making this guy's brain work too much. Well, I was annoyed, I have started to accept the fact that people just don't understand questions. The whole idea of communication doesn't exist here in India. It's something I'm going to have to live with for the next 6 months. I think I can do that without going crazy...I hope?!?!?!?

One more story and I'll leave you all. So, it had rained pretty hard this weekend. It was awesome. Although, when I walked out of my place Monday morning to go to work, I saw a HUGE rat, DEAD RAT, lying under this table outside my place. I almost threw up. Well, this little kitten ran away when I had opened the door. See, the thing is, there have been these 2 kittens and a cat hanging out near my place a lot lately. The kitten are super cute. The cat scares me a little. Cats kind of scare me. I'm trying to rid that fear, but it's difficult in India, when my experience with cats has always been them hissing at me. I probably deserved it coz I was always messing with them, but I digress. ANYWAYS, I went to work, trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do about that dead rat. I swear, it was about the size of Shaq's shoe. And the tail....oh god, that tail was DISGUSTING!!!!! I can't get the image out of my mind.

Well, I was at work, and one of the girl's I work with told me, that the cats probably gave the rat to me as an offering. Ew. The big cat, the other day, was meowing, and when i opened the door to my place, started to come up the stairs to my place. I immediately closed the door. Cats scare me, especially street cats.

When I came home, the rat was gone and I haven't seen the cats since then. I think they realized that their offering didn't impress me.

This place is crazy. The experience, already, has been interesting. I remember before writing that if I knew what I would be going through I wouldn't have said yes to this all....I take that statement back. As annoying and frustrating India is, I've become more independent, more confident in myself, more of a bitch (and less passive..ain't nobody gonna walk all over me!), and I've gotten to get to know a new city, which I love doing.

I'm also just happy I have internet again. Sweet, sweet internet. I love thee.

Oh, and Prem and Jenny (my brother and sister in law) will be in India in a couple of weeks and I'll be meeting the jerks up in Goa. I. can't. wait.

Dipsy, is that you?

Before I explain my blog title, I wanted to answer Jenn's question about my mattress. Jenn, it sucks. I lived with a crappy mattress for the past 2 years in DC. The one thing I was excited about, once I finished school, got a job and moved, was purchasing myself a nice new, expensive mattress. That's the one thing I wanted to spend my money on. I don't need a t.v., or a microwave, or furniture, I wanted myself an amazing mattress. I left the most beautiful mattress in Los Angeles when I moved, and I was excited to find her sister and snatch her up. Well, clearly plans never work out they way they're supposed to. I have a crappy mattress here. It's about 2 inches thick. But I'm only here for 6 more months, so a nice mattress will have to wait. I'm looking forward to that day.....

Ok, now what the hell do I mean by Dipsy?!?!? Ya'll know the teletubbies, right? Well, they scare me. So here's the story.... I was walking home last night and I walked past my grocery store, Spencer's. They were blaring music, not sure what band, and there was a Teletubby hanging out outside, by the entrance. See below for a detailed picture. He was waving. I REALLY need to being my camera everywhere with me. Because nonsense like this happens on a daily basis here. Another bonus...there is a store by my office that makes 'DUBLICATE" keys. that's how they pronounce it here. Don't be jealous...i'm working really hard on keeping my American accent here, but I have to pull out the Indian accent when speaking with the bus conductor or clerks, because they don't understand my American english. Fun times.