Thailand

Recently, I attended an emergency medical conference on the island of Ko Samui. Most of the attendees were Australian nurses, paramedics, and doctors craving a hot beachy getaway, but there were also 25 State Department colleagues from all over the world there too! Meeting new embassy colleagues made the whole sweating, eating, and learning sessions feel extra special. The Australians were as interested in our collective health unit specialty of working within an embassy, as we were of them, but some did think we were spies, trying to collect intel on Australian medicine. Or maybe they were joking? It was hard to tell.

Most of the speakers were engaging, sharing their stories and medical expertise, but what ended up being my favorite session, took me by surprise: “Hand and Finger Injury Management in the ED” led by two nurse practitioners who reminded me of Frankie and Grace. They were funny and grody, but still delivered meaningful information on assessing and managing things like ruptured hand tendons, finger amputations, or hand fractures. These two women were so inspiring, that by the end of their session, I was looking into grad school options to find my special purpose. 

It was a fun week, but it was also lonely without the family. I took myself on one excursion to snorkel, see pigs, and hike around several beaches collecting shells, but mostly I spent time walking around the island on the main road, trying to avoid scooters, cars, and trucks, and people-watching at the night markets. I also spent a lot of time washing my underwear in the sink, I was sweating so much. Normally I like hot, and maybe it’s my age, but wow, Thai hot is something else.

Spring break was the following week, so the kids, Mark, and I rendezvoused on Ko Tao for scuba diving and snorkeling, and a whole lot of steep hiking, because our Airbnb was situated on a mountain top. Parts of the road had a 20-25% incline, getting my heart rate to 180 beats per minute trudging up the hills. We did hire a taxi (the back of a pickup truck) for some of the commuting, but for the most part, we hit the pavement/beaches/trails on foot. We fueled ourselves on mango smoothies, coconuts, and as much Thai food as we could eat. Every day we’d get home, salty and sandy (and terribly uncomfortable), and immediately jump into the pool to cool off before we could even think about doing anything else. Usually that “anything else” was drink gobs of water and Netflix, then bed. 

On the way back from Ko Tao, after a ferry ride, bus ride, and plane ride, we took an extra night to visit Bangkok which I immediately fell in love with. That city has a vibe. The four of us were on a bicycle tour when the earthquake happened so we were none the wiser. Only after wading through horn blasting traffic and throngs people in the streets of Chinatown did we figure out what had happened. (I stupidly thought someone famous was visiting that area, because nearly everyone had their phones out filming.) The guides pushed us along on a strict timeline, so we didn’t get a chance to think about the earthquake’s impact until after we got back to the hotel. Luckily, our Bangkok friends were okay, though a few got stranded outside of the city had to wait hours and hours before finding a taxi to get home. Some had structural damage to their apartments and others were evacuated from their buildings but overall, everyone was safe. 

Our flight home was the next day which took off without incident and got back to a totally transformed, now winterless Astana. Getting used the city’s snowless look felt a lot like seeing Mark without his beard: a little startling at first, but also… nice. 

Turtle

A less gross slide from the Hand Injury presentation. 
This hit close to home because I once had a patient who had this.

Pig Island. Gimmicky. But pretty. Also hot. 
Sand is SO hot.

Margo en route to Ko Tao

Water Taxi 

Self study portion of the conference. Subject: OB Emergencies

Honestly, it was too hot for beer.
I drank mostly soda water.

I want this logo on a t-shirt

Embassy crew, representing
London, Thailand, India, Greece, Tel Aviv, 
Qatar, Iraq, Vietnam, China… <3

Should have been a 10 minute hike.
Ended up being 45 min due to the line for the view.

Black tip reef shark

Best part of my trip: Thai food every single night with these guys.

Hiking to get a good view.

The view.

Jim View Bar with a cover charge
And mandatory food order (which we did with pleasure)

A good view.

Hiking back down from the good view.

Bangkok. I love this city.

Paying our respects.

 

Springish Moods In Astana

I am surprised by the number of people, locals in particular, who have been shocked by the extra 8” of snow we received the first week of March. I assumed winter would run through June, honestly. I can’t complain, the freshest batch nicely covers up the shades of gray, brown, and yellow crusty snow, but we are running out of space in the yard to shovel it. The piles are so high the dog could easily jump over the neighbor’s walls and I fear she might, given an opportunity. On one side is a school, the other a Kazakh family with a guard dog, and the house behind us, we think, is a private banya. So, not great options for Ginsburg to explore.

At any rate, spring is near. I didn’t see any effigies of Maslenitsa get burned to bid winter farewell, a common Slavic pagan tradition, but we did eat many pancakes/blinchiki - another custom that decrees  "spring-is-nigh!" Ramadan began, a time honored tradition too. Once the pancake binge has finished, fasting begins… and blood sugars plummet. The pre-spring vibe is full of renewal, devotion, declaration, hangry people, and dumb amounts of traffic as people distract themselves from their empty tummies by running errands, planning meals, and driving aggressively into a sea of cars and road blocks. 

In the spirit of our own renewal and distraction, we’ve been trying a few new things. Small things, like horse meat flavored peanut snacks (salty), camel milk (salty), dried fish crisps (salty), shelf stable yogurt (not salty). Fairy dish soap now comes in watermelon scent, so now the dog smells like a Starburst when we wash her. Mark and his buddy dug out a snow bar in the backyard, while smoking pork loin and enjoying a sunny day that got above 30F. Then there's big things, like Margo and Deets joining volleyball teams at school, which I am to understand is the sport for which the school is known. It’s a short season, lasting less than 12 weeks, but it’s a fierce period of practice and tournaments. We went to our first KZ Premier League match with the FC Zhenis club and bought team scarves, so I guess we are Zhenis fans now. The capital has two teams, them and FC Astana, an oligarch owned team. Naturally, we picked the underdogs.  

As for my personal attempts at springtime renewal, I’ve been focusing on trying to be an overall softer human being, and less of the jaw gnashing shrew I feel I have become these past months (I completely disagree with this characterization, the author is now and always has been awesome.-ed). A while ago, when I was struggling with an uncomplicated, simple yoga pose- the seated forward fold, my teacher pointed out that I’d get more benefit if I relaxed more into it than muscle my way through it. I later heard this same suggestion from a work colleague about a problematic, bullish person whom I had no control over (why can’t people just do what I want them to, when I want them to do it?? Ha ha). And the same advice to soften and chill out came a third time when I felt my anxiety bubble over when I was leading a triage review and emergency preparedness. 

I don’t know if I need more reminders to CTFO (chill the eff out) than the average person, but I have literally forced myself to set alarms and calendar invites to do just that: Breathe. Meditate. Read a Pema Chodron or Anne Lamott quote. Doodle. Sing karaoke, make beaded bracelets with affirmations saying “Let Them” or whispering “very demure, very mindful” to myself every morning or before a staff meeting. I’m doing the work, but is it working? I’ll let you know come spring, or at the end of winter, whichever comes first.

horse meat peanuts:
neither thumbs up, nor down. 
fantastic crunch, not good for mindless snacking

I get shelf stable milk,
 but shelf stable yogurt?
I can't wrap my head around it.

soapy fruit

fishy snack bites - they all taste the same. fishy.

ginsburg and her two toys: winter and margo

deets and ginsburg CTFO better than anyone

bar babes

office amulets

FC Jenis Logo. I think it's a leopard. 
Mark thinks it's a polar bear.
Margo reckons it its monkey-cat.
None of us know what the 2nd tail is for.