Chiang Mai Living

Sawatdii Ká!

Kun chūū arai ká?

Mai chūū? Mai bpen rai ká!

We have been learning Thai, it's fabulous. Last week we were given Thai names. Most Thai folks have long multi-syllabic elaborate names, and most tend to go by nicknames such as; "cup", "the verb to grind a large mortar and pestle", or funny sounds, or even, "pig". So we had a lot of fun acquiring Thai nicknames in class. Incidentally I am Jǔm, which is a fun sound.

In other courses: our first psych clinical is Monday, we will be visiting the Chiang Mai Child Development and Drug Addiction Treatment center. I’m looking forward to learning how mental health is viewed by the Thai community, if there is more or less stigma/acceptance/understanding than I imagine there is at home, or from my only previous mental health experience working in England as an auxiliary nurse in a mother-baby mental health hospital. We are also taking community health nursing courses, and our first clinical was to explore a given neighborhood and perform a community health assessment from our observations. My group and I chose the area around the Women’s Correctional Prison. It was fascinating, perhaps we can arrange a visit inside the prison at a later date, but we did receive massages from former inmates who are taught massage in prison so that they may have access to a sustainable occupation when they are released. Eighty five percent of the incarcerated women were there for methamphetamine use. My masseuse volunteered that she used to sell cocaine... sort of, here is how that came about:

My friend Kimberlee said: "How was your experience in prison?"

Massage practitioner: "What do you mean?"

Kimberlee: "What did you do... [trailing off "there in prison?"]

Masseuse: "[Interrupting her] Ah, cocaine."

Kimberlee: "Oh, cooking?"

Masseuse: "I sell."

Kimberlee: "sewing?"

Jane: "She just told us she was imprisoned for selling cocaine."

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We're staying in the faculty nursing dorms on campus at CMU and my end of the hall is full of international masters and PhD students in the nursing department; from China, Lao, and Vietnam. It's very fun, especially cooking together in the kitchen.  I have been recruited for English grammar assistance on a regular basis, just the other night I edited a 20 page excerpt from a PhD students thesis on job satisfaction in nursing. It was a huge editing project. I am certainly going to be busy with homework while studying in Thailand... just not my own!

We had our first field trip as a group this weekend as well. We have been seeing lots of great nooks and crannies of this amazing northern town. The photos above are from the trip to Doi Suthep, a marvelous temple with 306 steep steps, already high up in the mountains—it was beautifully misty, as well as the elephant reserve, where we cuddled sweet elephants and fed them sugar cane and bananas.

Life here is wonderful, and my mom and grandmother just arrived in Bangkok! Welcome to Thailand!

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Jane Silver
  
Faculty Nursing Dormitory 3
  
Chiang Mai University
  
110 Inthawaroros Road
  
Sriphum District Muang
  
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50200

Mobile #:

[from the US] 011 66 853 404 155

[from within Thailand] 0853 404 155