friends.

"She held her grief behind her eyes like an ocean & when she leaned forward into the day it spilled onto the floor & she wiped at it quickly with her foot & pretended no one had seen." -brian andreas

the clinic.

This week has been my first week working at the local government community health clinic. I will be working at the clinic three days/week serving however is most helpful. Some days this involves taking blood pressures, giving vaccines, helping with prenatal check-ups...etc. What I love most about this clinic is the diversity in the patient populations that we serve. More than half of the patients are Akha or Lisu (two hill-tribe people groups here). Beyond this, most of the others are northern Thai villagers. Because it is a community health clinic we will also be going out into the community every few weeks to teach about preventative healthcare issues.

One thing that has been quite a challenge is that most of our patients and the staff speak Northern Thai. I have been studying central Thai. Central Thai is main language in Thailand that you can use everywhere in  the country, and the language that is taught in the Thai education system. However, in each part of Thailand (North, South, East, and West) they have their own dialect specific to that region. For some words this just means a different accent, but for MANY words it is a completely different vocabulary. I'm excited to learn more Northern Thai, but have quite a ways to go yet.

The staff I work with are all Thai (one masseuse, two public healthcare workers, one nurse practitioner, and two nursing assistants. Everyone works together very well as a team and they have been very kind in welcoming me to work alongside them.

more photos.

a few things that are different from life in the States.

Most of the food we eat here is fresh, and unprocessed. Every day we ride our bikes to the market and get fresh meat and vegetables to cook for dinner.

We know where our meat comes from. Often we hear it dying or see the process of our dinner being killed in front of us.

Sites like these are common places to fill up your motorbike with gas. It's a small station where gas is pumped from a barrel into your bike.

We get to eat lots of interesting fruits that we don't have in the States. This is one of them (Dragon Fruit) that is currently in season here.

Foods are not necessarily breakfast specific. It's common to eat foods like Pad Thai (fried noodles) for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Apee Meeyo.

Apee Meeyo is one of the grandmas in the Akha village that Luka is from. Libby lived in this village for the past 1.5 years and has now left Thailand to return to Seattle. Apee Meeyo loved Libby and was always the one looking out for her, asking where she had been, when she will return...etc. Since Libby has left Apee Meeyo has had some serious blood sugar issues, so I've been going up to the village occasionally to check on her, as well as for some Akha lessons. Yesterday Apee Meeyo wanted to make a video to send to Libby. The first video is her teaching me how to say, "crying" in Akha...this word is super hard for me to pronounce. Give it a try. I will try to visit Apee Meeyo weekly to practice my Akha...which has a very LONG way to go.



Below is Apee Meeyo's message to Libby. My friend Ae helped me translate parts of it below, but it is a rough translation for sure...



"Libby, I miss you. Now I'm very sick, so please pray for me. Now you aren't with my anymore, but one day well meet in heaven with Lynette's baby. God is with us. Everything that happens in my life is God's plan, and evidence of His love for me. God is like medicine for us in the ways he cares for us. Even today he takes care of us. I want to tell you how much it has meant to me that you have cared for me so many times. Now you are gone but Lynette will take care of me."

"Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life." -brian andreas.

photos from our time in Lynden/Seattle.

photos from Bangkok.

since being back.

It's been four days since we arrived in Thailand. In many ways I was holding my breath before returning, worrying about how it would feel to resettle in a place holding so many memories of Olive. We spent two days in Bangkok reconnecting with some of our Thai friends there, as well as with the nurses from the government hospital who cared for Olive while she was in Bangkok. We were also able to see our Thai teacher and good friend Janya and her husband Barry before they moved back to Cananda on July 9th.

Last October-December I had been e-mailing a few updates about Olive to the receptionist at our favorite hotel in Bangkok. He speaks great English, and in the past when I asked him where he learned to speak such good english his reply was, "Everything I know I learned from Brittany Spears." : >) He had been coordinating rooms and pick ups from the hospital for my parents, and Rusty's mother and sister when they visited, so he had heard some about Olive. When we arrived to the hotel on Wednesday morning he asked how Olive was doing. When I told him that she had passed away this past January his eyes immediately welled up with tears and his only reply was that he was so sorry to hear this news.  His response met more to me than he probably realized.

Going to the government hospital was harder than I had imagined that it would be. So many memories flooding back, but with reality sinking in that Olive was no longer there...it felt like a strange dream. i treid my best to hold back my tears, but when i saw two nurses in particular who deeply loved Olive there was no stopping them from coming and we all cried together.  After visiting the hospital we went out for dinner with a group of the nurses we became closest to at the government hospital. 

In Chiang Rai we were met at the airport by the staff and some students from the Akha Youth Development Center. We've been overwhelmed by their kindness since returning. Being back feels so familiar and comfortable and right...yet strangely different. It almost feels like this last year has been a dream, but then reminders of Olive bring reality back into view. Her coffin that our friend Gee made for her is still in our house, as well as bag fulls of baby gifts that were sent back with Rusty last year. It's hard to describe the mix of emotions going on inside of me these days, but underling them all there is a deep sense of peace. Besides this a gratefulness for so many in our lives that have loved us so well over this last year.

Being back in Chiang Rai has also been better than I was preparing myself for. Yesterday morning Rusty and I drove around on our motorbike saying hello to different local restaurant owners and market friends. Each one asked us about Olive and responded so sweetly saying things like, "Chan dai yin luuk saow kong kuhn by sawang leew. Jep jai duay na ka" or "I heard your daughter went to heaven. My heart hearts for you."

So thankful to be back. 

Below are some pictures of our time with friends and the nurses in Bangkok.

Pam in Chiang Rai.

Rusty and I stole two badges from Libby's room when we visited her parents in Michigan a few months ago. Both of the badges have childhood pictures of her playing baseball and basketball, and we have been taking random pictures of friends wearing the badges. Yesterday we were on the same flight with Pam from The Office to Chiang Rai. I went to the bathroom at baggage claim and we were both washing our hands at the same time so we started talking. I tried my best to not act completely weird and star struck, but it took lots of focus. By the end of our conversation she kindly agreed to wear one of Libby's badges.

Bangkok.