Friday, 18 January - 7:00 AM

Sorry I missed writing yesterday, I was so busy I didn't even get a chance. And the worst part was that I didn't sleep a wink last night. I was up tossing and turning, a bit freaked-out by the two cockroaches I encountered in the bathroom during the night. I got up around 6:30 and went for a walk with my hosts. They live near an army base and it was so cool! They have a zoo on the base and a temple (of course). Had great conversations with Veerdhaval, his sister and her son.


Reindeers at the zoo.


Walking with my hosts.

After my bucket bath and breakfast, I met up with the team and we began our very long day. We started at the KLES hospital which is this massive teaching hospital - the biggest in the state. We toured all around and met the people in charge (Rotarians) Everyone kept snapping photos as if we were celebrities, then we had tea with the head of the hospital.



From there we visited Hindalco where we learned how beauxite is mined to produce alumina, a chemical used in many household products. It was cool because we got to wear hardhats.



We has a terrific lunch buffet there at Hindalco and then we were off to VTU, the largest technical engineering university in Belgaum. A very impressive campus. During our tour, one of the host Rotarians shared his own views with us of why India is experiencing "brain drain" - which is when students leave India after finishing their degrees to live and work in other countries. He said Indians don't have the same sense of loyalty and patriotism that Americans do. I found that to be interesting.

By around 5:00 PM, exhaustion hit me. After not sleeping the entire night, walking around hospitals and dirt factories for seven hours and just missing home a little, I had a mini-meltdown. Just started to cry during another tea that we were having at the college. I think I scared the Rotarian hosts a little so they mercifully took us back to our hosts to relax.

But not for long. Soon it was time to get up and get ready for the dinner. The Belgaum Rotary club held a huge dinner party at an outdoor restaurant for the GSE team, hosts and their families. It was a lovely time. I wore a salwar kameez that I had gotten as a gift from my Dharwad host family, and we all hung out and had a great time.


Paying homage to Rajiv.

I came back home, took a Benadryl and slept like a log for the next 7 hours. No cockroaches - no worries. Today I feel like a new Jen! This morning we're going to visit a fort, the Tata Company power plant, and then are making a presentation to the Rotary club at 6:30... which will probably end up taking place around 8:30, IST (Indian Standard Time) hehe.

Oh yeah and I almost forgot - today is my birthday! I have a feeling it's one I'll never forget :)

Namaste,