Monday, July 25, 2005

life on the T/B border




Yo my peeps! The other day at the Mae Tao Clinic here, this K---- (ethnic group from B----) dude came in b/c his penis hurt. When the doctor and my med school friend probed the patient (no pun intended) about it, they found out that he had injected coconut oil into his schlonger to enlarge it. I guess they're late adopters of the penis pump here. so, I'm finally starting to adjust to all the bugs over here, they can't seem to get enough of me and I'm slowly accepting the fact that these bugs are here to stay. Fortunately, I don't think any of them have the potential to lay larvae in my body like Amazon bugs, thank god, but I have other things to worry about - malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, cockroaches the size of mice that hopefully don't fly. And mangy dogs. dogs here suck, and they like to bite people, like me. I got attacked by a dog last week, possibly rabid, so I'm on now a month-long, 5-injection course of rabies vaccine. Really, it wasn't too bad, my leg got a little gashed up, no stitches though. As for my work, I had the chance of attending a BP District Field meeting held by my org and their collaborating agencies at a location i can't disclose. Let's just say I had to dress like an ethnic K---- and live in a refugee camp near the border to attend this 4-day meeting. So there I sat, shootin' the shit with the ------------- etc. I mostly sat and listened, but got to chime in once in a while when they mentioned human rights survey, advocacy, or they needed an explanation on some public health terminology. Got to chew some betelnut with them. Was constipated for 7 days. My work has been picking up, as I'm about to start up training sessions. I'll have to travel north for a week, then south a week later. this is because we have a bajillion logistical hurdles to go through. like having to sneak medics into thailand from b----, how to rent a truck to carry to transport illegals, how to ..one of our budget line items is bribing thai officials to permit road access...we were even trying to figure out a way to carry our printers on a boat to take to our trainings...besides all that excitement, the food is just as exciting, especially since there's always an element of surprise and I get to eat so many things out of plastic bags, even my lemonade. If I'm lucky, I actually end up getting what I ordered. And that happens when I can point to what I want. Otherwise, I just accept the fact that I might be eating fishball soup, again. ok, miss you all dearly, i gotta meeting to run to, SAWADEEKAAAA!!!
ps. i really liked to wash down fried amphibians with a cold iced nescafe in a bag on a hot summer afternoon...if you look close, the mommy frog is holding on to her baby frog when they fried the crap out of the two.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is the craziest blog I've read. I was just finising my breakfast burrito and I read your blog about that lady's tumor on her eye, with maggots coming out of here eye. And that fried moomy frog holding onto her young which is also fried. Not to be insensitive, but this is hands down the GROSSEST shit I've ever read.