First week

The first week of training is over. We learned about the different levels of healthcare. The first 3 are known as preventable healthcare and in levels 1 and 2 health education is stressed. Levels 4 and 5 are hospitals with specialized areas.

We also did a lot of Safety and Security sessions. Yesterday, we toured the "red zones," all the places we shouldn't go. We talked about ways to protect ourselves and our personal stuff like never flash a big wad of cash, keep your money in different pockets, don't let anyone grab at your stuff. The last one is particular useful in the bus parks. These men called "touts" try to fill up the buses in order to make more money. They are very aggressive in securing passengers to the length they will grab you and your stuff to lead you towards their bus. And the buses are out of control. They don't have a regular schedule and they drive super fast warning (with their persistent honking) pedestrians, bikers, and other drivers not to get in their way. Despite their speed, they're apparently pretty skilled; you don't hear about many accidents.

As far as the food goes, it's pretty good. They only thing is we often have heavy meals for breakfast. Twice we had these sausage things that are pretty much hot dogs. One time we had it with mustard, ketchup, and mayo. The other time it was sauteed with oil, onions, and such. I eat a lot of rice, but I'm used to that. Today, I had "cook-up" with beef, chicken, some other meat, caloulo (a green), carrots, coconut milk, and spices. It was yummy. Other notes about the food: the outside of oranges are green, I eat mangos and guava, the bananas are mini size, and we eat dahl purri (it's a kind of bread made with chick peas; something in between nan and roti).