1) my parents. i havent seen my parents since i left the US in August! (weird for us since i see them almost every weekend when im in med school back at Michigan). they came to chiang mai for my dad's annual TPAA meeting (Thai Physicians Association of America) so they were pretty busy. while they were here, we helped my mom buy some thai dried foods at warorot market, hung out with them at their hotel, and ate some yummy chinese food with them. now they are in bangkok carousing with family and friends.
2) nan and mon. nan and mon were my two bridesmaids from bangkok. they came up to see the royal flora ratchapruek (this three-month-long international floral expo held in celebration of the Thai King's 60th Accession to the Throne) and we accompanied them there one day. ben, the other fogarty fellow, came along too!
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| Flower Show with Nan, Mon and Ben |
our faves of the exhibition were the orchids (there were orchid competitions of natural gardens, creative gardens, individual plants, and a showcase of endangered/rare orchids) and Bug World.
mon left early, but nan stuck around and satisfied her craving for farang (foreigner) food. we took her to some of our favorite places in chiang mai, including 8 inch, a local thai pizza place where you can get your own personal pizza for 89 baht (a little over 2 USD). we also visited wat phra singh, and learned that it maybe wasn't such a good idea to ride all together (3 people) on our motorcycle. |
| Chris and I paying our respects to the Buddha |
| Wat Phra Singh with Nan |
3) chris b. chris b. is one of my advisors from hopkins who also was on the selection committee to bring me to thailand on the fogarty. he is the head of the center for public health and human rights at hopkins and totally supportive of students. i had an hr long chat with him about my frustrations with the year so far (i dont have a mentor, im not on an NIH-funded-project, etc) and he didn't make me feel like a failure for not having accomplished those things. we're working on turning the rest of the year around work-wise, and i'm really hopeful for the next few months. chris also helped me out by writing a letter of recommendation for the wallenberg fellowship to support a clinical elective at dr. cynthia's mae tao clinic during my 4th year (more on this later).
4) liz. liz is one of my best friends from med school (and also a bridesmaid!) she just arrived
last night and is crashed on the couch right now. we've been really chill so far, and have watched two movies that she brought with her, including This Film is Not Yet Rated (about how films get rated by the Motion Picture Association in America - fascinating stuff!) and The Winged Migration (a documentary about migrating birds). we've also discussed residency rank lists, eaten some yummy thai food, and just been enjoying each other's company again.
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| Liz's midnight snack |
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