Hello again, Chiang Mai.

Last week included a three day trip to Chiang Mai that included two doctor visits.  We returned to Mae Sot for a two-day strategic planning meeting for all the Partners staff in Mae Sot. And then we turned around and came back to Chiang Mai.

And because we’ll be visiting the doctor more in the next week and were actually scheduled to be in Chiang Mai as of this Friday to pick up a team, we’re just sticking around for about 12 days.  We’ll meet the team here for a few days of orientation before we go back to Mae Sot, volunteer for about ten days, and then, oh yes, we’ll be back to Chiang Mai for a couple days of debrief with them.

We’re practically moving up here for the month of August.

Good or bad? I haven’t decided. It’s more expensive, which I’m not a fan of. But…the money buys you wonderful food we don’t have regular access to (without hours of personal labor), clothing that actually fits, or perhaps a movie at the theater?!

The days ahead of us have so much potential.

Update on the ear infection:  I’m finishing up this set of antibiotics today and still taking Tylenol with codeine. And headed back to the doctor in the morning.

Stephen’s pretty good. His finger recovered from our emergency room visit, and he purchased Tetris for our iPad today because it was 80% off. He’s pretty stoked about that.

Hoping for a good week ahead, perhaps with full hearing to enjoy the endless possibilities of the big city?!

I’m consistently amazed at how deeply engrained our culture is within us.  I’m also amazed at how much I have learned about my own culture while I’m in another, or six, really, in this border town.

Two examples.

First, when someone tells you your fat, even if it’s appropriate in their culture, it’s offensive. It’s engrained within me to be offended.

Second, we were in our Karen lesson today and discussing skin: on people, on fruit, etc. I’ll just interrupt here to say that this is how our Karen lessons typically go: we have conversation for hours. We have some of the same conversations over again, and each day something new will come up for us to learn. It’s typically quite random, such as tunnels or eyebrows that we probably won’t use in every day life.

Today, it was skin. Lavender said a sentence to me and then translated it literally to, “You are white meat. I am black meat.”

She was referring to her flesh. The word for flesh is the same word used for meat in cow, chicken, dogs, etc. And humans. And though I know she is an older woman with nothing but kindness in her, that’s an offensive thing to hear.

Later, Stephen and I both said the first thing that came to mind was a derogatory term for women. I was offended; he was offended for me.

And in the moment, I can only laugh. How do you explain that? It’s just the word they use. But it’s meat. And that changes things.

Here’s to focusing on the positives.

We made the trek to Bangkok yesterday. We left around 2:30 or 3am and drove the 7 or 8 hours with a Karen family we are friends with through Partners.  I must say they are really wonderful people and probably another highlight to the day.

It was a long drive. For an interstate, the road was awful. For Thailand and the roads we usually drive along the border, it was pretty amazing. And for having an ear infection, it was just so unfortunate. I did a lot of praying and a lot of wishing I was somewhere else.

We arrived a little after 10am and saw the doctor by 11 something. He did much the same thing as before, just with a little more care, compassion,equipment, and education. He sucked the life out of my ear, again, which wasn’t pleasant and made things even more hazy.

But, it turns out I have a double infection in my left ear: a bacterial infection on top of a fungal infection. A fungal infection? Yes. Gross.

Basically, we’re aware of how much things mold here during rainy season. We are very careful to stay ahead of the game with laundry, to not hang wet things up in dark rooms, to wash our towels constantly, etc. I have various areas in the house I watch for mold. I didn’t think to watch my ear. And as we have been swimming and showering and living in rain, it was never drying completely. And then we were adding ear drops as suggested for a bacterial infection. And a moldy-like fungus began growing in me.

Anyway, that’s repulsive, so we’ll move on. He cleaned out my ear, gave me strong painkillers, and I’m one one more antibiotic to knock the bacterial infection. And I’m supposed to go back to a legitimate doctor in one week to do a followup cleaning and evaluation. We’re looking at Chiang Mai since it’s a little closer and less costly than Bangkok, but we’ll see.

We then enjoyed the next few hours. After the light headedness cleared away, I had painkillers in me, and I could hear properly for the first time in a couple weeks. We then discovered the Au Bon Pain restaurant inside this very nice hospital, and we had lunch.

That was the highlight of the day. Really good bread and good cheese to make a toasted sandwich. And Stephen got a salad because he was so excited about that.

And this really was the highlight of the day.

There was a also little shops inside this very nice hospital, so while we waited for our pickup, we found wheat germ and whole grain oats that we don’t have in Mae Sot.

Shortly, we were back in the car again. We did have some good conversation with our friends, but it was uncomfortable. That was a long way to drive for a hospital and a long way to go in one day. There were also five of us in the cab of a truck, and a small cab, where the backseat is simply a small bench without seatbelts.

We arrived home around 11pm, and we were thankful. We felt we’d made the right decision. I was thankful to feel better and to have pain medicine.

Unfortunately, I woke up today back in the same excruciating pain. We haven’t gotten my ear wet, I’m taking the pain meds, and I’m not sure what to do now. I’m just sitting here trying to write this optimistically while I wait for Stephen to get back from his men’s breakfast this morning. And honestly, I’m just praying for a miracle. I’m not sure I can take another day of traveling; I’m not sure I can spend more money on doctors & medicine & driving; I’m not sure I can handle this pain much longer. I’m just praying for a break.

Thanks to all of you who have been encouraging and prayerful. Please, please keep the prayers up!  Please pray that this will heal quickly and stop hurting. And say a special thanks for our wonderful lunch at Au Bon Pain.

 

It was a good day.

We got up early-ish and went to our favorite Burmese tea shop for a Burmese breakfast of chickpeas, naan, and Burmese tea. A very good start.

We then went down the road to the Burmese market to buy fresh vegetables and fresh flowers.

We then went to run & swim at the gym. We were greeted at the pool by a very large crab stuck at the bottom. Yes, a crab. About 7 inches across and very large pinchers. I didn’t feel so comfortable swimming laps with him inside the pool, so we had one of the staff handle the situation. He was very quickly removed and taken to the hotel restaurant.

His day probably was’t good as ours.

We were the only ones in the pool, too, being ten in the morning. And, for about eleven minutes, the sun came out on us!  It was lovely.

We came home for lunch, and then I worked in the garden, weeding with the neighborhood kids. It was beautiful to look out over the garden and see corn, okra, pumpkin, banana, papaya, and a whole lot of chili peppers growing strong.

We visited a night market in town, where we purchased two new handmade, bamboo baskets.

And then we came home with friends and made pesto using fresh basil from the garden.

Good day.

My heart is just bursting with pride. I received an email this week from The Spero Project, an amazing NGO working in Oklahoma City. One of their projects is with international refugees resettled in Oklahoma City, and it was unabashedly my favorite part of my job there. Well, the refugees and Kim.

This week, I got to hear a song that was written by some of the high school aged girls. They are all refugees from Burma, but of different ethnicities. And they wrote this song together:

Burma, Burma,
You are in my heart, though we are apart.
Rangoon, Mandalay,
We will pray for you; we will pray for you.
Burma, Burma,
You are in my heart, though we are apart.
Rangoon, Mandalay,
We will pray for you
and will see you again someday.

Absolutely beautiful. And I’m so absolutely proud!

I’ve had an ear infection for a little over two weeks.

I had some ear drops that were making do, but I was really just hoping it would heal. I hate medicine, and I really hate doctors. Even now, as I write this, Stephen has come and forced me to actually take the medicine the doctor gave me. I hate swallowing pills.

After a little over week of not being able to hear out of my left ear, Stephen decided I should visit the local clinic. It was getting annoying enough for him to always sit on the right side of me and to hear, “I’m sorry. What?” nearly eighty times a day.

So we visited the local ENT doctor yesterday. As I sat in the “waiting room”, the doctor came out, and simply looked at me with raised eyebrows. I assumed that was asking why I was there, so I said, “Ear infection,” while I pointed at my ear with a pained face.

He turned and walked away, so I assumed that meant I should follow.

“Sit.”

He then stuck the otoscope (I just Googled that one.) in my ear–the uninfected ear–along with a long tube. And he turned on a machine that then began to SUCK THE LIFE out of my ear.

It wasn’t pleasant.

He then stopped, and switched ears. He again put the otoscope in with the long tube and turned on the machine. And this was far more than unpleasant. Within a few moments I was pulling away with tears in my eyes. He stopped to say, “You can’t go away. Stay.” I tried to tell him it was infected and very painful. He then asked Stephen to hold my head still while he continued.

This went on for way too long. By the time he had finished, I was lightheaded. He confirmed I had infection and gave some medicine, but that was all a bit hazy to me.

I can hear a little better now. And I’m hoping this medicine works.

But I will continue to avoid doctors unless absolutely necessary. Maybe even more so.