I got our internet back after a lot of hand motioning at the front desk today.
Friday we were supposed to help in the blood bank but for some reason we didn’t. There was a Buddhist celebration parade going on, so we rode in the ambulance to the parade. We were the medical team there. It was so much fun. No one needed us (surprising b/c it was hot and there were some people who were a little too old to be in the parade in that heat). The parade had a Go Green theme. They focused a lot on agriculture. There are 13 subdistricts in the district we’re in. Each was represented in the parade. There were women doing traditional Thai dances, people wearing traditional Thai clothes, people wearing peasant clothes, playing Thai musical instruments. It was so cool. We were almost more of a show than the parade. People kept wanting to take pictures with us. People would even step out of the parade to get a picture then catch back up. One subdistrict had us pose with their banner for a picture. It’s so funny to me because I don’t feel like we stick out that much. I’m used to being around a bunch of non-white people in the US so I don’t feel at all out of place or like I stick out, but to them we do. They’re not as used to it.
When we were saying our goodbyes at the hospital, the hospital people gave us all a plaid blanket that is very traditional Thai. It can be used as a wrap or blanket or whatever. They fit them all to our personalities. They said they were nervous about having us come, but they quickly realized how easy going and easy to please we are. They kept thanking us for coming. I don’t think they realized that they did so much more for us than we could ever do for them. I’ll say it again, I can’t believe these people!
Saturday we were up bright and early to go to a mobile clinic. Med students from 4 or 5 different med schools were represented. We had close to 100 people. The main clinic was set up in a Buddhist temple. They did a lot of the chronic care stuff.
I went with Dr. Gibson and a fellow resident to a subdistrict hospital/ clinic to do women’s health. They were doing pap smears upstairs, and we were downstairs doing sonos on the pregnant ladies. They fed us lunch there. We had time before our van came to get us, so we played around with the sono machine. Me and our medical student were doing transabdominal pelvic sonos and measuring our uteruses; we did a thyroid sono on each other; and we did a liver sono on Ian. Sonos are fun.
In the afternoon everyone split up into four groups to do a home visit. The group I was in went to the home of a 52 year old diabetic, hypertensive with end stage renal failure who is on home dialysis. The students had a list of questions to ask him, most of them psychological, like how are you coping with your illness, would you change anything if you could, etc. The groups all got back together and talked about their home visits (all in Thai of course). Thai people like ceremonies, and they drag them on and on and on. It was hard since I didn’t understand anything. I really like that they go into the villages and communities a lot here. The community takes responsibility for their people and takes care of them and it’s not just up to that person. Each village has volunteers who head up the groups to take care of the ones who need extra care.
Today was a relaxation day. I ran and swam, did laundry, got an oil massage. We had dinner with a couple from Chicago who has lived in Thailand for over 20 years. They were friends with the Gibsons when they lived here. They were truly amazing people. They are missionaries to the rural villages around Korat. Really inspirational. I would love to get to know them better.
