Loy Krathong and the hospital

Hello! So the big news is that we got internet at home which I'm using now to post this blog!! Woo Hoo!! Pretty exciting stuff. So now we can call people on Skype and it's only 2 cents/minute or free if you have skype. So everyone should go get Skype and it will be awesome.

The other big news is that we went to the Loy Krathong festival on Saturday night. Everyone goes down to the river and buys/makes this little boats made from banana trunk and leaves with pretty flowers, candles, and incense inside. You're supposed to put hair and nail clippings in the boat along with some baht and send it down the river to get rid of your sins for the year. It reminds me a little of Rosh Hashona in that atonement of sins way. Justin and I bought boats and sent them off. Here are some pictures of them:










We went with our boss Jason, his wife, and Andrea and David the other two teachers. It was pretty fun. The also sent off balloons with candles in them for good luck. They were very beautiful. Here's a guy sending one off.



The other major thing this week was going to the government hospital on Friday. Justin and I got appointments, him for his back and me for a minor infection. We drove out and got there at 11. It was super crowded there with dogs running around and people selling food inside. It was definitely a different standard of hygiene than in US hospitals. The bathrooms didn't even have soap, which I guess is the norm for Thailand- but I thought it would be different in the hospital. All the gurneys and wheel chairs looked really old fashioned - like maybe what we used in the 40s.

So once we were there we waited in our separate areas till noon when they told us everyone has lunch for an hour. I waited in line standing up for an hour to talk to the nurse first about what was wrong. Justin finally got xrayed around 2 at which point they told him the specialist he was there to see wasn't actually there. After Xrays, they found the doctor, but he said he saw nothing wrong with the xrays and prescribed more muscle relaxant things, which I don't like. On my end, by 2:30 I was still in the line for the doctor and decided to call it quits so we could make it to our Friday staff meeting. All in all it was a pretty frustrating experience. I think next time we need the hospital we can go to the private one. We didn't this time because our health insurance cards hadn't come through.

Justin's looking to buy a Suzuki like his one back home soon. We figured it would be good for when his parents come in December for their month visit AND Justin's new plan is to drive around Asia and Europe after we finish here. At first he wanted to drive the motorbike, so this is definitely an improvement. We'll keep you posted on that progress as well.

Oh and I saw a dance studio in town that I want to go check out for classes maybe.

Happy Holidays to all!! Thinking of home and everyone often!!