A Day in the Life

I wake up to the sound of prayer chants and music. The same familiar song plays over and over as I sip on a Nepali tea and gulp down balep korkun and fried eggs. An ever eventful bus ride sees me on my way to school where a flood of warm Namastes, Hellos and Good Mornings from parents, students, teachers and even people on the street, greet me at the entrance.

We all assemble in an outdoor courtyard, with the children completing a number of rounds of different prayers and chants. All the children know every word, even the smallest Montessori students. They finish up on a handful of English nursery rhymes and songs, which I get to lead today, playing ukulele and doing the actions out the front with the rest of the teachers.

 I teach them a few new songs and games, with their favourite being the Hokey Pokey. It has us all in stitches as the students and teachers try not to tumble over in the dirt as we run into the middle for the WOAH HOKEY POKEY. I sing some Australian folk songs to them before wrapping assembly up, after over an hour of fun and games! It’s off to class, where I teach a foundation (3-4yrs old) class of 20 students. We sing songs and play instruments with a focus on mathematics and literacy, counting and chanting the alphabet.

The children understand only a little English, but that is the beauty of teaching using music; we all find a way to understand one another. We finish up with an art activity that is chaotic, but results in some very beautiful artworks. Lunch is a short break, filled with cheap, delicious momos at the City Market. When I get back to school I receive an invitation to a wedding on the weekend! I’m beyond excited as the teachers tell me they will find me a beautiful Sari to wear. I skip off to hold a teacher training session. I hold a seminar for the primary teachers at the school, focusing on a few different areas. We discuss how to integrate creative arts, with a focus on music, into their curriculum and ideas related to behavioural and classroom management, mostly concerning discipline. It’s amazing how interested the teachers are in our methods of education and I feel incredibly encouraged by their willingness to participate, ask questions and take on board the information. We all leave with big smiles on our faces, after playing egg shakers, drums and singing together for hours.

I catch the bus home, grab a little treat for the kids in my host family and go inside to talk to my host mum about the amazing day I’ve had. I spend a little time inside before I duck out to take a shower. There is nothing better than the feeling of tipping that cold bucket of water over your head each night in some attempt to feel something other than sweaty in this amazingly humid climate. Dinner is delicious, and the evening is spent chatting about all kinds of things until we all have nothing left to say. I go to bed knowing tomorrow will be equally as amazing, but nothing will be as I expect. There is nothing typical about a day in Nepal.

A Pal-umporium of Experiences!

So before we get into the ins and outs of placement in week 2, we have to describe the incredible first weekend we had in McLeod Ganj, home of none other than the Dalai Lama himself. While we were not able to visit him personally we got to see the temple and were both amazed and deeply moved by the enlightening Tibetan museum.

Our favourite meal was exquisite Mo Mos (like dumplings) at the Tibetan Kitchen. Matty wanted Ti-bet who could eat the most Mo Mos. Justin won that competition hands down, as he just ate Mo and Mo! We also got to do an overnight trek to Triund and the snowline in the Dhauladhar mountain ranges. The hiking was truly world class and the views were so expansive and clear that Jack wanted to Tri-and spot Palampur! Unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day with an abundance of clouds and fog – nonetheless we train our best to push on through the ter-rain! After 20km of climbs and descents each day, we were quite tired by the end. Charlotte said she was so exhausted she sore stars. It was a truly hard work out for the collective squad-riceps.

This week, the physios have been split between 3 clinics. We are really starting to get really involved in patients’ treatments, and have been given freedom to assess, treat, develop treatment plans and prescribe exercises. The patients and staff have been incredibly friendly and open to us. We have enjoyed chai breaks, learning body parts and counting in Hindi. One patient was being a bit lazy so Cassie told him to chai harder. In all seriousness, we have really enjoyed being in a tea-m environment. Jen had a patient with a rare hip concern. The symptoms were exacerbated with the cold. Thus her primary hip-othesis was that the patient was suffering from brrrrrrrr-sitis. 

Sophie has been treating one lady with knee osteoarthritis. It was clear that the patient knee-ded to strengthen their thigh muscles. Eric has been at a clinic next to the police training centre. One patient had shoulder pain. Eric thought it was due to overuse of the rotator ‘cuff’s, and advised the patient to take ‘arrest’. The health sciences students have been shadowing a local GP, seeing lots of patients with kidney stones, gallstones and diabetes. Justin was so concerned when he saw a young child in pain, he said ‘this kid-ney’ds urgent treatment!’  

Eloise’s favourite part of this week has been the daal-ightful food back at the house. Alison has been at a school with younger children and enjoyed the triumphs and challenges that inevitably come with corralling younger humans. They’ve enjoyed counting to ten, although one or two have been a bit ten-tative. Although she’s always been ‘four’ their learning, once in a while the kids have been in a silly st-eight. We have all come to discover that Palampur really does have a ‘number’ of interesting areas with an a-pun-dance of invaluable experience to be gained.

An Incredible Indian Adventure!

India – a place that so far seems totally manic. In the two weeks leading up to our placement a few of us were lucky enough to explore the northern half of the country. A week into the trip we all had mixed feelings, one of a vibrant and bustling culture and the other of a chaos but colour. The physical experience was taxing, personified by the omnipresent sweaty stench of faeces as dogs, cows, goats and people urinate and defecate in public space (reconsider?). After a long week of scorching heat, constant symphony of traffic horns and being stared at, it was time to escape the hustle of the city.

Manali became our home for the second week, a backpackers paradise with an abundance of adventure activities, cheap restaurants and bars, friendly locals going about their daily business all nestled on a tiny road engulfed by majestic mountains. It was a treat to sit at a street side café drinking chai tea as the local Nepalese women carried hay baskets up hill for their cattle, and the men herding Yaks back down towards the aqua stream below. After the two roller coaster weeks we were Palampur bound!

We arrived late afternoon after a scenic drive through the North Indian mountains, a scene like out of Jurassic park as gigantic mountains towered either side, waterfalls speckled throughout. The drive lived up to the world famous hype, it was nothing short of spectacular. Having nestled into our accommodation and meeting our in country partners and the other students we were feeling reassured and excited to begin the first day of the next 4 weeks.

At first, it was a bit daunting to discover that each and every meal at the house would be Indian vegetarian. But we soon found out, every meal was made fresh, full of flavour and accompanied by home grown organic vegetables. Almost one week in and each meal continues to satisfy both the stomach and the soul. We are completely hooked on foods like dahl, chapati and paneer (look it up). We are embarrassed that we once enjoyed a sausage roll or meat pie from the servo.

Making our way to placement each day is an adventure. We catch the local bus and get off at the local market which is just beginning to show signs of the hustle and bustle that will inevitably characterise the streets during the day. Catching a second bus, we wind our way towards placement. The manic driver takes violent turns at lightning pace, it's important to hold on tight!

The placement so far has been an eye opener, there are so many differences in physiotherapy between Australia and India it's overwhelming. At this stage we are just observing and although we see things that we consider to be different, we are learning the role of cultural and social influence on treatment in order to achieve greater patient outcomes.

The stroll back through the market at the end of the day is highly anticipated. A plethora of amazing fresh sweet and savoury delights, hot steamed momo’s, cool butterscotch ice cream and a big grocery bag full of afternoon snacks for a mere $2AUD. We are currently planning our weekend which will consist of exploring Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj, with hiking and culinary experiences high on the to do list.

Five Must-Do's in India!

COUNTRY: Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Individual
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Piplica

This trip in it's entirety has been one of the best things I have ever done. I have learnt so much and, importantly, I feel like I have been able to give a lot as well. There are so many amazing experiences I will take with me. These are just five of the most memorable parts of the last month.

5. See the Taj Mahal 
You may have seen it a million times in art and popular culture, but this stunning piece of history cannot fully be appreciated until it is seen close up in all its detail.

 4. Go trekking in the Himalayas 
Perhaps one of the most physically challenging things you will do; well worth it for the spectacular views and to be able to say "I've gone trekking in the Himalayas!"

3. Camp under the stars in the Himalayas 
Everything you'd imagine it to be: keeping warm by the campfire, sing-alongs and watching the gorgeous morning sunrise over the mountains.

2. Go horse riding through the mountains in Manali 
Feels like a scene from a movie. The most amazing landscapes accompany you; a great time to relax and reflect on how lucky you are to be in India!

1. Volunteer 
By far the most rewarding experience of all is volunteering in India. You will fall in love with the beautiful and hospitable people and will leave with a great sense of having a second home in India.

Exploring India's Breathtaking Landscapes

COUNTRY: Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Individual
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Piplica

We woke up bright and early to get on the bus for Bir. There were some really beautiful sights as we drove through the windy streets closer to the mountains we had been viewing with awe all week.

When we arrived we began our trek - which was a 1.5km incline over 7km distance – very steep! It was like no trek I have ever done before. There was no rest, no flat, just incline all the way and I realised I hadn't mentally prepared myself for the ensuing aerobic exercise, or the constant burn in my thighs! Luckily, the views were incredible and worth all the effort. It was a perfect sunny day.

The mountains in the distance looked unreal, like you could easily paint their shapes different shades of blue - darker for the closer ones and lighter for the more distant ones fading into the clouds. So beautiful, competing only with the brilliant shade of blue of the sky.

On the way up our guide teased that we might see a bear. Apparently, this was unlikely – although possible. But we did see the most gorgeous white monkeys. 

When we finally made it to the top, 2 and a bit hours later, we were completely exhausted and paragliding down was going to be the most rewarding feeling as we could see just how far we had climbed.

I was keen to go first so when the first parasail had been laid out, and the strings untangled (hopefully) my pilot told me to take a running start off the cliff and continue running in mid air until he said stop. There is an awkward moment where you are running on the spot against the weight of your pilot strapped to you until the wind picks you up. My video shows me screaming as I run, although I don't quite remember it that way. And then you're running mid-air, 1200m over thousands upon thousands of trees. It is the most surreal feeling looking over this landscape of mountains. It’s unlike anything we have in Australia. The mountains look like archipelagos in a sea of clouds. Every now and then the wind picks you up and you feel weightless and like even your pilot couldn't possibly be in control. Your heart drops into your stomach. And it's freezing cold up there too.

When it was time to land, the pilot spun us around and around, he described it to me as "G-force", basically it lowers you down to the ground. You feel like you're in a washing machine. And then we were landing. I didn't bother to stand up, I wanted as smooth a landing as possible so hyperflexed my legs out in front of me at a right angle and landed as gracefully as I could on my backside with a huge smile on my face. It was an amazing experience I'd recommend to anyone.

After everyone had landed we went to a restaurant for lunch. It was only when we dug into these very delicious curries, rice and chapati that it occurred to us that it was 3pm and we'd had breakfast all of 7 hours earlier, not to mention we had done that massive trek. It was no wonder that we were calling for more of everything to the waiter. Aside from the hunger, it was the most amazing food I had in India yet and I was looking forward to coming here tomorrow. After lunch, we were driven back up the mountain to our camping site. Again, on this trip we were treated to the wonders of just how far we had climbed. In total it took one hour by car, circling up the mountain, to reach the site. Needless to say we were glad when we reached the top.

And it was breathtakingly beautiful. None of my photos could have done it justice. We reached it at sunset; we promptly put on our extra layers and made our way up to the fire for some garm garm (hot hot) chai. It was a nice little bonding experience, dinner, tunes and shielding ourselves from the cold around a camp fire.

Exploring Friendly Palampur

COUNTRY: Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Individual
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Piplica

We had a yoga session last night and a little bit of a sing along following our dinner. My favourites in particular were the 90s hits: Backstreet Boys 'As Long As You Love Me' and Britney Spears’ 'Hit Me Baby One More Time'. It didn’t feel like it was long enough before my alarm went off at 7am.

The walk to the bus stop is filled with friendly hellos from every person you see. They will make the effort to call out from the roof of their two-story dwelling or from their patio, which is often a steep drop down to the road. Little kids will ask you what your name is. I will respond 'mera naam Sarah hai' and they let out a sweet high-pitched, uninhibited giggle at my attempt to speak their language.

By 9am we arrived at the placement, today it was at Kayakalp Himalayan Research Institute for Naturopathy and Yoga. It is a very lush and expansive hospital where patients check-in to resort-like rooms for long stays to receive holistic treatments in physiotherapy, naturopathy and panchkarma. Alternative methods like these are less common in Australia, so it will be interesting to observe the treatments over the next week.

Today we were taken through the Panchkarma department. Panchkarma or Ayervedic medicine is one of the world’s most ancient healing methods and is based on the idea that disease is caused by a build up of toxins in the body. The belief is that removal of these toxins will in turn heal the patient. Sitting in the Doctor's office, listening to her describe the treatments with such passion and conviction, I realised how rare and special an opportunity it was to be learning about these treatments in the country in which they originated. Being a science student, these methods conflict with what I’ve been taught, but they are still relevant to my degree as part of being in my field is having an understanding of different cultures and their health behaviours.

We had a bit of a break and were given the opportunity to wander the grounds. We found a canteen that served a masala chai that was the sweetest most delicious thing I had ever tasted. I happily sat on the hessian bag covered concrete seats and sipped away.

It was then time for yoga. The teacher was really good, incorporating a lot of breathing cues. It felt good to stretch and move.

On the way home we walked through some markets and I was feeling brave enough to finally get some Henna tattoo done on my wrist. I didn't want it on my hands as I knew it would constantly distract me if I did. It was really hard to explain this to the non-English speaking artist though, who no matter what hand gestures I made continued to try and paint on my hand. It was an experience I was only able to laugh about it later, but the result turned out okay.

At home, not much happened in the afternoon. I will say though that I spilt a whole box of what promised to be delicious Burfi as I tried to take a photo of it. Tragic!

That night we were treated to our lovely chef Jogindar's amazing curries. We had a tiny blackout in which I was happy for the opportunity to try out the head torch given to me by Antips in the early bird registration pack! It worked a treat when I did a late laundry load and hung my clothes on the line.

Adventures in India – Learning How to Go with the Flow

COUNTRY: Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Individual
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Piplica

I arrived in Delhi today after about 36 hours travelling - including an unexpected but pleasant overnight stay in Dubai New Year’s night - for what I had hoped would be 'the trip of a lifetime' 'an eye-opening experience.'

I started the trip off grumpy. I was busy being particularly irritated at someone pushing in front of me in the line for the transfers desk at the airport when I remembered something that had come up constantly in my pre-departure prep – to be patient. People run on different clocks and to different cultural norms, and this idea can't be fully appreciated until you are travelling among people from all different walks of life. I realised that I was on the journey, one that I had waited in such anticipation for and felt so lucky to have the opportunity for, and that it was time to start enjoying it – not when I finally arrived in Delhi, or Palampur, or when I felt settled in, or any other time but right now. And enjoy it for absolutely everything that it was. Accha! my eyes were opened....



A solo adventure in Delhi

I love India. I love the Indian people. By the way, India smells fantastic. The lobby of my hotel, my room, peoples' perfume – everything is overly scented in fragrances I have never smelt before and can only describe, rather unsophisticatedly, as flowery and spicy.

I went on an adventure today. I forgot to pack two things – a phone charger and shoes – rather important things. So I thought I would settle into my hotel, get cleaned up and leave for the shops by midday.

On jumping into the taxi it was clear that the driver's English was not the best and he was unsure of where he was taking me. We set off and about an hour later, sitting in traffic I began to feel slightly panicked that maybe we weren't going to the shops 15 minutes away.

I was happy when we finally arrived, but looking up at the building – quite dilapidated, with saris and bronze articles in the windows – I was pretty sure I was not going to find an iPhone charger here.

It turns out choice of wording was critical. I was asking for "shops", but we established that I should have been asking for a "mall". I tried some of the Hindi I had been too shy to practise since being here. "I want bahut bara sundar mall". "I want a very big, beautiful mall" thinking that should be a good enough description.

Maybe he understood me, maybe he had no clue what I said, but eventually we were driving up to a huge mall comprising of 3 buildings, with brands splashed across the outside. It was such a relief. There was no parking lot, instead surrounding this multiplex of Western luxury, was slum dwellings and people selling street food. It was the strangest juxtaposition.

Taj Mahal

I was picked up from my hotel today and taken to the Delhi volunteer guesthouse where some of the other volunteers were already staying. We had breakfast together and it was lovely to get to know the people I would be sharing the next month with. They are all sweet, kind and interesting people and I felt like we all clicked straight away. Breakfast was delicious, roti with honey and some sweet masala chai.

A group off us set off for Agra at 7.30am and when we finally arrived at lunch time I was alarmed at the size of the line, but then realised with relief as we were on foreigners tickets we got to skip the lines. There must have been about 15,000 people there that day. After security we walked inside to the main entrance.

A red stone building with a large archway. Walking through that archway, I knew Shah Jahan's obsession with symmetry meant that that second arch would soon reveal the adjacent white marble palace. But not even knowing this prepared me for the awe I was struck with.

To be honest, you spend most of your time at the Taj trying to snap that perfect picture. When we finally got to the entrance we were taken through the finer points of the design by the guide. All the marble and semi-precious stones set into the walls were hand-carved. The detail is magnificent.

Placement

Palampur is amazing. I love the walk to the bus stop through the fields in front of our house and then up the long windy hill. It's something out of a movie - the tall, majestic snow-covered mountains looming over us as we walk through the town, past little corner stores and their smiling owners, and even bigger-grinning kids on their way to school in their smart, brightly-coloured uniforms.

I have just started my placement at the Karan Hospital. The doctors are really friendly, and involve us a lot in explaining what they are doing throughout their consultations. I have learnt so much from them in this short time. I really respect the work that they do in the context of having considerably fewer resources than we have in Australia.

They invite us to observe all sorts of procedures, etc. and it is really helpful to my degree as I get to observe the broader health sector in general and how this hospital fits in with that. I am able to link common ailments and aetiologies with determinants of health for the region and the country in general, and I am looking forward to health promotion week where we might be able to have our own individual impact on the community here given what we have observed.