Vientiane and More Maria Teresa

Last Friday was a Food Festival! On the last Friday of every month, the women-groups (one from each department) prepare different Lao traditional food dishes and sell them at the hospital. I tried soo many different dishes, most were very good but some I couldn't get myself to try and some were not really my idea of delicious. I had an awesome fried rice kind of dish that had coconut and peanuts in it and your ate it with all kids of leafy herbs inside a bigger leaf like a taco kind of. I also had the coconut gummy candies that were really good, and some rice with custard that they all think is very nice, but I think te custard could just be alone without the rice and it might be nicer...lol The one thing I really didn't care for was an egg that was cooked, then mixed with a bunch of seasonings and put back into the egg shell and boiled. I don't know if it was the texture or the seasonings, or the combination of the two, but I could only take one bite which is saying it was pretty gross cuz usually I can eat anything. haha I also did not try to egg that contained a baby duck. Even if it did taste delicious I don't know if I could get over it. I was too afraid to try. Besides that their were a ton of various vegetable salads, meatball-type things, rice of course, and some seaweed that is "river-weed" (algae) as they insisted since Laos is a landlocked country--duh Sabrina.
Last weekend I went to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It is really quite a small city--about the size of Davis, but with more tall buildings, busy markets, monuments, and temples of course! I pretty much just walked around a bunch, took a couple pictures, ate food, went into shops. It was a nice weekend overall. Nonglak drove me from the hospital since she was going to Udon Thani in Thailand anyway. On Friday night we had dinner with Dr. York (definitely not how you spell his name but w\e). Dr. York is from Germany but has been working with the same agency as Nonglak for 3 years. He worked at Maria Teresa until 2 months ago, but has since decided to do something different. He is currently negotiating a contract with someone who is trying to open a new hospital in Vientiane for the rich of the country, because currently they just go to Thailand for medical care. He thinks this hospital is a start to elevating the health care in Laos, because it will bring in new medical technology and eventually Lao doctors will gain skills and knowledge from the new hospital. Dr. York says that currently in Laos they can do nothing for patients with heart conditions because they don't have the training\facilities for stinting, pace-makers, or any of that stuff that is pretty common in US. The only trauma center in in Vientiane. Also, for some diseases they are only able to treat symptoms because they don't have the funds to obtain the better treatment options. On top of this I have noticed that language is real barrier to the hospital. Most drug information and current research is published in English and sometimes French--but definitely not Laos. Of course many of the doctors can speak and read English, but not all of the staff is proficient, and if you've ever read a drug information sheet it is riddled with technical terms and usually very high-level vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure. Yesterday, one of the nurses, Keota, and I spent over an hour just on the side effects of a particular drug, translating so the nurses will know what to look for and what to warn the patients about. We will finish with the rest of the information today, but of course its just one drug, and I am not usually here to explain, and though some Drs have very good English the translation is a lot of time-consuming work. All in all, I don't know if this elitist hospital will help elevate the level of care in Laos, but I think it is a way to keep Lao money in Lao as well as introduce higher medical technology to the country.
On Sunday night I came back to the hospital and have since then been visiting various wards, helping where I can, but mostly watching and talking. On Wednesday, Dr. Penoulad took me to see the Nam Ngum Dam which generates enough hydroelectric power to serve all of Laos and still have some left over to sell to the Chinese and Thai. Very impressive scenery at the dam, complete with grounds for picnics. We also stopped at a restaurant that is famous for their BBQ duck. It was saep lai lai (very delicious)! Yesterday I visited the nursing school that is next door. Of course the staff were extremely welcoming and took me to lunch and everything. One of the women that works there acutally has family in the US--her mother is currently staying with some cousins there--though I did not understand where she said they were. Oh well. Also, the director of the nursing school is from Vang Vieng, and her brother runs a guesthouse near the river. Since I am going to Vang Vieng next week I think I'll stay there! :-)
So yeah, this weekend I'm just hanging out at the hospital, and then Tues afternoon I'm leaving for Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang, until Friday when I will meet up with Nonglak again in Kasi District to head back to Thailand. I now have a confirmed flight for the 19th, so I will have a couple days to spend down in a nice beach town near Bangkok called Hua Hin. Nonglak recommended the place, said it was a better place for a girl alone to spend time at the beach than on Ko Samet, and it looks like there is tons to do. If I get tired of the beach I can take a trip to the nearby caves, waterfalls(which by the way is what I'm planning on checking out in Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang--there are amazing mountains there to explore!), or to see the royal palace that the royal family uses for vacationing. It looks like an awesome place to rest after a week of heavy duty travelling and spend a few days before the long plane ride home! :-)