Day Two

Hello to all from Kanpur!
After arriving here yesterday afternoon I have:
been greeted at the train by medical students
gone to a religious ceremony
given a speech at a medical student meeting
attended a wedding
Then today I participated in a discussion with a group of 10 medical students who spoke on India's culture and about becoming a doctor, while I spoke about Canada, the medical school and health care systems here, why I am in India and why I want to become a doctor. I really enjoyed this morning, and was excited to hear that many of the things the students were saying are things that I have come to think myself. It makes me feel again that this trip will be a really eye opening experience.
Anyway, then we had breakfast and headed off to the eye screening being held in Kanpur (which incidentally had been postponed for 2 days to make sure I could see it). The screening was held in a room (it is usually used as a marriage hall) full of people waiting to go on the stage and have thier eyes screened. The screening process consisted of several stages. THe first was looking into the patient's eyes with an opthalmoscope (or a flashlight) to see if you could see the blood vessels in the retina. If you could not and could just see a whitish reflection, that meant the patient does have a cataract. If they do not have a cataract, but have another problem (infection or glaucoma, for example) they will be given medication or referred to a place that can treat them. If they pass this first screening they can proceed to get their pupils dilated and sent downstairs to have more careful testing and to check thier blood sugar (if it is too high they cannot have the surgery because of risking infection). There is so much more I learned but I want to keep this at a sort of reasonable length.
I spent this time observing and learning largely in the company of about 5 or 6 young medical students who have been so willing to talk to me and show me around. I am generally overwhelmed by the welcome I have been given and by the warmth of everyone I have met. This group of young men also took me out to have a quick look at the market in the street. we also crossed the street several times which was a terryfying experience (at least in the car I feel like we would be doing the damage in an accident ; P). I had to walk in the middle of the group for protection, which was also a unique experience for me. One thing I had not really expected was the amount of attention I would get just sitting in the car. I knew that I would be an object of curiousity but this goes beyond anything. Kanpur is most assuredly not a tourist destination and so I am so so unusual. One of the medical students who asked to take a picture with me last night, said that I was the first foreigner that he had met. The students today were wonderful, though disapointed that I know no Bollywood stars. They also want to teach me to play cricket.
In conclusion for now, (because I have to attend the marriage reception and go look at the clinic again tonight), I will just say that the people here have been so wonderful to me and really have welcomed me into thier lives for my time here. I wish I could express my thanks more articulately. Since I can't, I'm smiling alot : ) Ok! More later.
Oh, and my Hindi sentence about the boy chasing the girl or the man chasing the girl ( I can't remember), which was so funny to every Hindi speaker in Canada is doubly hilarious here. ThankYOU Rosetta Stone...
Also, sorry for the rushed tone and lack of proofreading.