Thai'ing To Cope With Our Last Language Lesson

Hello! Happy Tuesday from Anna and Kayla!

This morning we took our second trip out to see a health center. We met with Dr. Chalom at the Chiang Mai Public Health Center. He focuses on epidemiology (infectious diseases) and informed us about the most common diseases in Thailand. He talked about how the success rate of many treatments of the diseases have increased. Some of the most common diseases he mentioned were TB, malaria, HIV, dengue, and influenza. The doctors in Chiang Mai have only treated 2 cases of rabies in the last 13 years, which is far less than many of us were expecting. Many diseases that are transferred into the country come from areas near the border of Thailand such as the forests. Tourists and migrant workers among others are ways the diseases can be introduced to Thai people. 

Sadly this afternoon we had our final Thai language lesson with Ajaan Thongchai. Our lesson focused on names of buildings and traveling. We told him about our experience with the elephants yesterday, and he taught us this cute elephant song which helped us learn the different body parts of an elephant. One of the things we looked forward to most in our lessons was asking Ajaan about thai culture. Today we learned that young adults often stay with their parents throughout their mid 20’s until they have had a job and can support themselves. It is very common for multiple generations to live in the same house.

We changed our dinner plans last minute and went to a Thai restaurant that Pi Poom recommended. Everyone got a mix of traditional Thai food. Pi Pop ordered her favorite fish and Tom Yum soup and was kind enough to order some for everyone to try. Many of us liked the fish, but the soup was way spicier than any of us had expected or preferred. Lia devoured every part of the fish, eyes included. :) 

So far our trip has been filled with so many different types of good food and new adventures. We can’t wait to hang out with more elephants tomorrow! We get to be tourists at the elephant center we will be surveying at (Mae Tang).