Rambo the movie

I'll be going inside to a camp of internally displaced persons in eastern b---- to conduct a malaria workshop. It's pretty close to the border, but it's also only 10 minutes away from three b---- army camps. And we have to cross the river accompanied by either the thai border police after greasing their palms (i think that's the term) or the ethnic armed group. Thousands of people fleeing their villages now live in this camp. There have been major military campaigns in northern k---- state, which has resulted in 6 of our program sites to cease operations. There is speculation that many more clinics and villages will become inoperable this coming year as the b---- army plans to push force a ceasefire with the k----. It's bizarre that my life parallels this ridiculous movie coming out, the same weekend I'm heading in. I will be incomunicado for about 9 days. Will write when back! Then i'm going up to chiang mai to see this movie for myself.


link to rottentomatoes RAMBO

LYCM!

Language lessons finally

I'm embarrassed to admit, but after so many years I've finally committed to learning urmese.
Today I learned how to read and write "the fat elder sister dances every night". MAMA WA NYA NYA KA. Easy, right? And I can also say "Really, I'm not lying!" TE GEH MA NYAAR BU! You're probably thinking that these phrases might not be the most practical, but you never know when these might come in handy for me. It's actually a really beautiful language to the ears, one that ranks high up there for me like the Dutch language. And like Korean, you have to memorize the different gender/age titles and conjugate the verbs according to who you are and to whom you are addressing. And although it's difficult to write the letters, I always get a kick out of looking at the words. Each character reminds me of people in different positions because there are a lot of circles and sticks. And then there's the character that...OK imagine a guy naked, lying supine, knees up and you're looking at him from down below, as if you're an ObGyn. Always get a kick out of that one... OK, back to practicing the script and working on some malaria data.

2007, in like a few words

"Are you a MexiCAN or a MexiCAN'T?" -Once Upon a Time in Mexico

bugs and polio dog

here in a place somewhere in b----, bugs are the size of my hand...



and there are dogs with polio.


the cardboard box is his bed. people throw trash in it. i tried to take him home with me, and when i went back to find him, they said he left. i'm not quite sure where he could have gone with his wobbly legs.

Sign the petition: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/

lek & yai

I just found out that my friend's dogs were poisoned. It's a really sad day for me because I loved Lek and Yai so much. Strange things happen in MS, I don't know why anyone would do such a thing...

What I'll miss about Thailand

Typical for dogs to travel in this manner. And typical that the raw meat stand is right next to the boiled corn and hair ornaments stand in the marketplace.