This is just one of the many adorable babies in Thailand. I took this photo during an assignment to make a photoessay about work. That baby means business.
This is the market in downtown Khon Kaen. It goes as far as the eye can see.
This is the house I stayed in while living in the illegal forest village and that's my Paw just getting home from a motorcycle ride, hence the Bandit Chic look.
In the illegal forest village


Well, I think the word has traveled pretty fast, but the big news here is that I was given the opportunity to fully experience the Thai medical system! The other day, I wasn't feeling very well, and the general protocol around here is to go to the hospital if you aren't feeling great, or are a little exhausted and want to get a saline drip to perk yourself up. Here in Thailand, there is universal healthcare, which is something the USA could learn a little something about. (Barack? You reading this?) Basically, any Thai person can buy a 30 baht health card (that's about $1) and and they are pretty much covered. We talked to some very poor, rural people living with HIV/AIDS who said they get all their medications for free. So anyways, I wasn't feeling very well and had been up all night so I popped into the hospital. Turns out I had to get my appendix out that afternoon. The hospital was clean and the doctors (maa) and nurses (payaban) were all super nice and attentive and my room looked like it was actually in a resort. Besides being lonley and bored and now behind in my work for the program, it was overall as positive an experience as getting an organ removed can be. Plus, appendectomy in Thailand makes for a pretty bomb story.
So now, I'm missing a few days of the next homestay in an organic farming village, but at least it will give me time to catch up on the paper and Thai language midterm I missed while I
was recovering, and then on Saturday (Valentines Day!!!) I'll meet up with the group in Yasothorn (the village). There are a bunch of great exchanges we'll be going to so I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about next week when we get back. Meanwhile, there are those few pictures at the top of the post.