last day at RIHES

today is my last full day in chiang mai, and ive been (surprisingly) able to part with many papers and pack most of my stuff for tomorrow. yesterday was my last day at RIHES and i felt super nostalgic at one point (during the tea ceremony ill talk about below) but kept it together and successfully made it through the day.

yesterday, i ended up waking up at 430 am, mostly due to a thunder/lightning storm that really helped cool things off in chiang mai (i think we've reached108 degrees in the past few days). for some reason, i couldn't fall asleep again even though i usually love thunderstorms so i sorted through lots of papers, started packing clothes, and getting things ready for the last day. in honor of our departure, the RIHES admin staff organized a tea party for us. ben and i were hoping it would be a small affair, but there were more people there than i expected. i'd met most of them before, but because i wasn't really affiliated with any big study this year, i really didn't feel like part of a team (although i have a lot of friends who work on the MA study, but i don't think they were invited). so basically, it's this conference room with snacks/tea in the middle and chairs lining both walls.

when ben and i arrived, Dr. Thira and Dr. Suwat gave us their seats (which i was really embarassed about) and then oiy started the program with a pretty formal speech welcoming everyone. Next, Dr. Thira gave a speech about the Fogarty-Ellison program and said some nice things about us and hoped we had a good experience while in Thailand. Of course, he then chose me to stand up first and give an impromptu speech (i didn't prepare at all even though i had already gone through this at the reproductive health clinic...i think i sometimes do better off-the-cuff). I could've spoken in English but spoke in Thai anyway, using many of the incorrect pronouns as expected (I apologized for this at the beginning). Although there were few people there that I was close to, I said thanks to everyone for being helpful, welcoming, and supportive. I also said that I had never really wanted to come to Chiang Mai because I didn't have any family or friends here, but at the end of these eight months, I really felt like Chiang Mai was like another home for me. Thinking about this made me a little sad, but I'll likely be back. Noom took some pictures for me during this event.

After Ben spoke, Dr. Thira presented each of us with silver plates that say "Given in appreciation for your contribution to the HIV/AIDS Research Program, Research Institute for the Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, 27 April 2007" and certificates of completion from the Fogarty-Ellison program. Ben and I noted that the certificates were printed on regular copier paper and were just very unofficial-looking. We were both a little disappointed by this fact - although I'm proud and happy that I participated in this program, I would definitely not be proud of displaying that certificate.

In the 'party' that ensued, I felt a little awkward because I didn't really have a team (like Ben) to hang out with or talk to, but did get a chance to talk to Dr. Suwat for a little bit about the situation with the Thai CL (compulsory license) and received some gifts from study teams that I had helped out with (re: translation, or whatever). Afterwards, Ben and I were taken out to lunch by Utaiwan (one of the Thai Fogarty-Ellison fellows) at this restaurant overlooking Chiang Mai and stuffed ourselves with Thai food. This is a common theme when people are going to leave...goodbye dinners, with LOTS of food, and as the guest of honor, you don't have to chip in. Sometimes I feel bad about this, but lots of times I just enjoy the food. :)

In the afternoon, I had a short meeting with Dr. Suwat about the QOL manuscript and then said goodbye to Vit, our on-site mentor, RIHES admin staff, and walked to the hospital to say goodbye to Dr. Kuanchai and P'Wilai (the head ART nurse). Unfortunately, P'Wilai was attending a conference in Bangkok, but I got her email and will keep in touch with her. Hopefully I'll be able to work with her to help put a manuscript together for the QOL study she did among patients at the ARV clinic but right now we're just waiting to see about IRB approval that Dr. Thira's going to facilitate. It's kinda ironic, but as I'm wrapping up my time here and getting ready to leave, I've never felt busier in terms of potential projects/work that I'm going to be working on with various people here. Vit sent me an email today with the same sentiment, and wrote "Still can't believe your stint here is up! Anyhow, as I told you at the start of this (not so long ago!) that don't equate being here for 10 months with working on projects based here for 10 months!" So true!! Many of my projects are just beginning, but I look forward to seeing them through. A shortlist of what I'll still be working on post-Fogarty time here include:

1) My reproductive health study at the clinic (cross your fingers for JHU IRB exemption!) We're almost ready to submit, but I can't believe how many hoops I had to jump through to submit a proposal...new human subjects research training (they changed their rules to have to do this new training on May 1, 2007), creating a special account for JHU IRB student investigator status, uploading documents, blah blah blah. Good to experience, though.

2) QOL manuscript with Dr. Albert and Dr. Suwat. (Note that I'm now into the Thai tradition of using first names - I like it, and it reminds me of college). Dr. Albert said my last draft was excellent and I just need to find someone to help me with some stats back at Michigan and then it should be done and ready for submission :)

3) QOL manuscript with P'Wilai (talked about above).

4) Crypto study with Poo. Poo is having a resident help find more info (charts are crazy here), but will likely create the database and do the analysis here. I may help, but my main role will be writing it up. This might take a few months for all the data to be collected though.

5) Editing/rewriting some papers from the conference I attended in Jan (co-sponsored by the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at JHU) on infectious diseases issues in the border regions of Myanmar/Burma for a supplemental issue of the Journal of Conflict and Health. The first paper that was assigned to me is really interesting and studied risk behavior and susceptibility to HIV of boatmen from Bangladesh who travel back and forth between Bangladesh and Burma. I'm really excited to work on this paper and will likely be listed an author, so that's also very cool.

So, even though I'm leaving (very!) soon, I feel that I'll maintain a strong connection to RIHES and people in Chiang Mai. I was sad leaving yesterday, being like 'This is the last time I'll be in the hospital, or in RIHES, or wherever' but at the same time, I know it won't be too long before I'll be back. Next entry: farewell to friends this past week in CM.