Wandering Browns

As some of you know, I am a physical therapist. While we are doing this whole traveling thing I am not able to actually practice much PT. My PRN boss said that I can call her up and get on the schedule for a Saturday if I'm back in Chicago, but other than that, not much work happening for me. That doesn't mean I don't watch people with my PT eyes though. This is an AFO, it is used for a variety of reasons, commonly used to prevent toe drag in those with hemiplegia In India, there are some issues with quality of medical care for those that are less fortunate. In Reliance Greens where we stayed, there was a good hospital and clinic. Most of the people I remember seeing in Reliance Greens with orthopedic/neurologic issues had access to this facility, but I'm not sure there was a PT on staff there. I'm not sure about utilization of PTs outside the United States. Anyway, I saw many people who had clearly either had a stroke or were a hemiparetic  from a brain inj...

Once we knew we had a little time before Korea, we decided to come back to the U.S. for Mother’s Day and to obtain an International Driver’s License. Austin’s last day was Tuesday and we had tickets for Saturday. Austin tried 3 times to change our tickets to Wednesday, but we were only able to get a flight to Mumbai on Wednesday, followed by a flight to Chicago on Thursday. That means we had about 30 hours in Mumbai to kill. The process for flying starting from India was a little different. Jamnagar airport has one normal flight per day from Jamnagar to Mumbai. First, we needed to show our itineraries and tickets to a lady outside the airport before we were allowed in. Then, we put our big baggage pieces through a big scanner. Then we checked in. We needed to have tags placed on all of our carry-ons. Then we waited for security to open up. The toilets at the airport were almost all holes in the ground. That was fun and exotic. When security opened up, there were separate lines for me...

We are wrapping things up here in India- leaving Thursday to return to the US, then leaving the following Tuesday for Korea. My feelings about India are complicated. Personally, we have been treated practically as royalty or celebrities here with very courteous staff and hosts. Everyone loves Landon and wanted to play with him at the pool or the park. Reliance Greens is very nice and relatively clean and well maintained. However, there are many extremes in this culture. There are the young people that want to be westernized. There are the older people who think it is a break down of centuries of tradition. The poor are really poor- living in tarp shacks with dirt floors and washing their clothes in a really dirty river. The rich are really rich- the guy who built this refinery is the richest man in India and built this whole compound for the workers to live in. His son has 2 Mercedes and a Lexus, and is SO rich. Infrastructure is a problem- the water is dirty, the roads are bad, the...

Our adventure this past week was adventurous, but not necessarily enjoyable. Austin used his nights off to craft this post for us. Enjoy, but not too much or I will be unseated as official family blogger. Like Elise has already said, the township we’re staying in is quite nice, but it’s not exactly a bustling metropolis.  On top of that, being in a “coastal” area, Elise feels like the sea has been calling to her since the day we got here, and so she naturally wanted to go to a beach.  Now, there is a specific beach that supposedly has reasonably good waves (named after the American contractor that went there often when the refinery was under construction, so I think I believe the rumors), and that was her first pick.  Well, the customer isn’t too keen on letting us venture too far away from the township, and apparently this particular beach was outside of our permissible radius, so we were out of luck with that one.  At this point, panic ensued, and any beach wou...

Today I had an awesome conversation with a teenage girl from Reliance Greens. We met her last week when she and her friends found us on their way to the mini mart and talked to us all the way home. They loved Landon and kept calling  him a doll. Anyway, she has been trying to find me ever since. She likes speaking English, but does not have very many people to practice with. And she wanted to see Landon. So I was out for my morning walk/run and she biked up. We talked for about an hour as we wandered through Reliance Greens. First she was going to take me home, then I was going to take her home, and then she ended up escorting me home so Landon could have some lunch. It gave me great insight into the current life in India, although it is biased because it is the viewpoint of only one person. I didn't know where to put these pics- our driver took us to look at a market outside the walls of Reliance Greens where some people from the compound get their veggies, fruits, clothes,...

I will try to describe some of the food options here at the guesthouse. We have eaten almost exclusively at the guest house, so you know, the food might not be the yummiest of foods, but there are always good options. Breakfast: This is the hardest meal of the day for me. There are muffins that are almost always dry and have candied fruit in them and taste like dry cupcakes. The buffet consists of: some sort of processed meat (ham, chicken sausage, chicken salami, etc), hard-boiled eggs that are almost always rendered inedible because the shells are broken, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, cheese, cut papaya (which I think tastes exactly like dead person) and oatmeal. I have oatmeal or corn flakes. Every day. There are some options on the Indian food side if I am feeling in the mood for a savory breakfast. They have Pav, which is basically a grilled roll. There are  sometimes fried bread and a savory rice and vegetable pilaf to put inside it. Coconut chutney is green but is pre...

Coming from the beastly Chicago winter, I was SO READY for some heat and sun. I am still enjoying the heat, but man, it is also brutal. The weather in this area is basically the same every day- sunny, no clouds, over 100 degrees. The humidity has varied- it was more humid in early April vs. now, but in exchange it has gotten steadily hotter. This time of year (March, April, May, and half of June) are the “summer” months in Jamnagar area. It is hottest at this time. In June, monsoon starts and I guess that is not considered summer. Sometimes, there is a stray cloud. One time, I saw clouds that looked like rain, but it didn’t rain in Reliance Greens. Sometimes I have to change clothes in the middle of the day because I am soaked with sweat and am dripping wet. The Indian people seem to be amused that I sweat so much, especially when I am running. Landon and the swans... naturally I have to make sure he doesn't join them in their pond Chasing the boy. All day long Th...