feeling somewhat productive

so today was a good day...there are no more formal meetings scheduled for ben and i, so we're pretty much left to our own devices to figure out what we want to do. fortunately, this morning there was a CAB (community advisory board) meeting so ben and i sat in and i translated some of what was going on for him. it was pretty interesting, actually, and a variety of topics were covered (recap of the International AIDS Conference and the Global Village held there, a presentation on a study of the different places people can buy and drink alcohol around Chiang Mai, review of the current data from a study that's going on regarding voluntary counseling and testing in communities surrounding Chiang Mai, introduction of a study that Merck is planning to do re: the new HPV vaccine in HIV+ women, and more...) it was actually really informative and interesting to hear from non-medicine types (PLWHA, or people living with HIV/AIDS and community members) although i don't really understand Northern Thai dialect. after the CAB meeting, there was a yummy served lunch.

in the afternoon, ben and i hung out with our site mentor, dr. vit (also a thai american who's been working in thailand for the past few years) and chatted about the different studies that were going on, politics (both in thailand and abroad), the shan, and other fun things. before i knew it, it was 4 pm and i had to book it in the rain to my first thai lesson, where i ended up reading tons of proverbs /allegories and then answering reading comprehension questions about them...the reading comprehension questions reminded me of 2nd or 3rd grade, but it was a good time). My Thai teacher attempted to convince me to try and do some dictation but I refused. I might do some tomorrow, but I really don't remember how to write Thai at all.

Anyway, I'm going to try and go everyday for this first month since it's going to be slow at work until I figure out what I want to do. I'm really interested in this trial that works with injecting drug users but there's some administrative holdups right now and we're not sure when the trial will actually get off the ground (hopefully by the end of this year). In any case, I'll probably check out some other studies in the meantime, including one that just ended testing a six-week intervention for youth (focusing on sexual health, decision making skills, etc.) who are both sexually active and active methamphetamine users. the interventions just ended :( so i won't get to see any of them but i think there could be interesting data to look at and im also interested in analysis and writing, so we'll see.

Tonight was also Ben's bday so me, him, and Vit went to eat Korean food. Entertainment for the night included random drunk Korean dude in the back taking off his pants and then the girls with him giggling. It was a little too much excitement for us and we headed back home. So, that was my day. Not the most exciting, I know, but I feel like I'm settling in and making progress on a few fronts (including finding someone to do my laundry - this nice American lady who relocated to Chiang Mai a year ago and lives down the hall invited me in to chat for awhile last night and told me I could have my laundry done with hers and that it would be picked up and delivered weekly for ~ $1.50. how sweet is that!!!)