Today was Saturday, and I had the day off. I spent it on a good long run in beautiful weather, catching up on some reading, and hanging out with one of the intern guys at the office. Well, not really hanging out. He was skyping with his girlfriend and just a wee bit distracted. J We have some visitors coming in this week, so after our guest room is vacated by its current resident who trained the interns this week, I have the job of prepping the room for the next person: You know, change sheets, set out some towels, set some booby traps, that sort of thing. I can add “housekeeper” to my illustrious list of job titles!
I ate lunch at the Stop Light Restaurant, which is not its name, but just what we call it because it is near…you guessed it. We’re a pessimistic bunch, aren’t we? No one calls them “go lights.” Anyway, I successfully ordered me up some “dtam yam ka moo” – a rocking soup with pork and mushrooms with a side dish of morning glory in a great sauce. It was awesome! This was a big step for me because I didn’t have anyone else with me this time to help with the ordering. I do have a new book and set of CDs for learning Thai and Burmese, so I expect I’ll be completely fluent in two or three days. Heh.
Then tonight, I ate at this cool little “hut” restaurant with Ashlee and Cin Ciin who is a visiting instructor from YWAM in Burma – good food, good company and fun conversation, and an interesting atmosphere. We ate in these little huts outside, seated on a raised bamboo floor beneath a grass roof and shared a soup, a mixed veggie dish, and a yummy papaya and shrimp salad. The Thai food here is awesome! While there are definitely some dishes I like, Burmese food is typically a little more oily and a little heavy on fish-parts-I-usually-wouldn't-eat, so I don't enjoy it quite as much. Ironically, Cin Ciin, who is Burmese, doesn’t like seafood so there are plenty of non-fishy choices out there.
Tomorrow morning I have a shift with the Safe House kids, which is always a blast, and then I go feed Su Su again in the afternoon. Su Su had some seizures earlier this week – she’s back and doing alright, but some scans revealed some abnormalities in her brain. They may be the result of malnutrition in her first few days of life, but no one really knows for sure. We successfully paid the bill for October, just before the seizures and the expensive scans started. Oh, yeah: Kellie told me that Su Su probably smiled last time because she had gas, not because of me! J On a related note – if you or someone you know works for Eucerin or Vaseline, we need a hookup for some good lotion for her in bulk quantities. A stat: her skin disease is so rare, there’s like 10 people in the US and 100 people worldwide who have it!
This week we’ll begin offering health checkups to the residents at the dump, so that will mean some longer days than usual. During the day, the garbage trucks come all day long every 30 minutes, so we have to wait until evening to start so as not to interrupt their work. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I’ll have a hand in that or not – I’ll be happy to help if they want me to, but since I’m not a medic I don’t know if they’ll need me. Pray then for the medical people that will be key - Kellie, Les, and Jen - for their patience and against fatigue, and that communication goes well with and through L John the translator. Most of all, we’re hoping that these checkups can reveal some opportunities for preventative education that will result in genuine and lasting health benefits at the dump. Thanks!
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