Hola!

Feeling so much better today! Plenty of rest, and tried to drink lots of water.

Today after waking up, I ran, showered, and went to the Bangkok Hospital... only to find out they were going to give me the wrong vaccination and charge me 2,000baht for it. Which is rather expensive, and they didn't even have the correct vaccination.

So I went to the Phuket International Hospital across town, which I contacted before leaving the states. When I went to the front desk to ask for help, no one spoke English. Thankfully I had a pocket Thai-English dictionary in my bag, which didn't help, haha. I was trying to say, "vaccination," but they didn't understand. In my bag I had some other tricks up my sleeve to help them understand "I want to get a vaccination." But nothing helped.
Finally, I remembered I had printed off the email from the PIH, telling me that they had both Hep B, and JE, and I asked to speak with the person who signed the email (his name was Rouchy, or something). So the 3 ladies who were helping me, pasting together what little English they knew, then huddled around the email whispering "Rouchy, Rouchy. Rouchy. Roughy." It was like a little Thai chanting club going on. Then one of them said, "Ah! Ah! Vaccine! It's a vaccine!"
"Yes!" I said thankfully. "You understand?"
"Chai, chai, a vaccine," she said nodding, and getting some papers. "Okay, you come with me." She motioned me to follow her outside across the walkway to the emergency room where I filled out some papers, and received a little hospital card with my name on it. Afterwards she told me to wait in the waiting room.

The ER. I felt bad sitting in that room. There were so many sick people, and tourist, most of who had scuba diving accidents. I was kind of in a daze for awhile, wondering if I was truly in the right place. Around 10 people needed immediate attention, and I was leisurely walking in for a vaccination. To make me feel worse, was a stone statute of a girl holding a donation bucket in her hand. Her expression was in a sad looking frown. Several people were coughing, and limping into the ER.
I pulled out a bag of dried pineapple from my bag and started munching on my lunch. Suddenly, a blood curling scream pierced through the air. It sounded like someone was dying, or being murdered. "I CANT BREATH! I CAN'TTTT BREATHHHH!!!" High pitched female vocals, and screams sent everyone in the waiting room turing around to look where the sound was coming from. It was like a nightmare! I could hear gasps of breath, and choking sounds, then "I can't breath," again and again. This continued for almost 2 minutes, then after the woman stopped screaming, and all was quiet again. This little Thai guy dressed completely in white, turned and looked at me. "It is scary, no?" he said smiling and shaking his head. I just nodded sweetly, still traumatized.
20minutes later my name was called, and this guy took my blood pressure, weight, and height, again noting at how low my blood pressure was. Then I went back to my seat and waited some more. 30minutes later my name was called and I saw a doctor who spoke English very well, and looked at my shot record and wrote the nurse a note saying I was cleared to receive the vaccinations. 45 minutes later, a nurse called me into the emergency room...basically a huge room filled with curtains, and 4 beds, all of which at the time had patients in them with problems. I was seated in a chair, and got to see this guy getting a huge growth cut off his toe, and a woman who had a hole completely through her knee. There was a little french boy who had split his chin open, and was getting it butterflied back together. I was thinking about how much I would like to watch the doctors treat the patient, or even know how to treat the people myself... when the nurse came up with my vaccinations. She reviewed what she was giving me, and let me look at the bottles before she gave me the vials. I didn't even feel the JE go in my left shoulder, but the Hep B was 1ml, and I felt that, but it wasn't painful.
I walked out of the hospital and went to the Big C, which is this huge fresh fruit market, and bought some bread, fruit, and some clothes. Everything was super cheep, and delecious! I then went to Central Festival which is like a huge mall with every store imaginable. I didn't spend too much time there, but walked back to Phuket Town, and had dinner at this fresh vegetarian food restaurant owned by two young girls. They didn't speak English, and the whole menu was in Thai, so I just said I wanted food, not spicy. It was by far the best meal I have ever had! Fresh veggies sauteed in light sauces with a little chicken and put on top of rice. Yum!
I walked back to the school, saying hi to some Thai people along the way, and now am blogging. 

It was very hard to get out of bed this morning. I slept a lot yesterday, and today but there is some construction going on outside my window so I was awakened by the sound of hammers and blocks of concrete crashing on the pavement from dropping 4 stories. In summary to say the quality of sleep I am getting is very poor, if any at all. I woke up today covered in sweat. I think I might have been dehydrated because I didn't realize how much I sweat at night because of how hot is is here, on top of running in the mornings, and sweating throughout the day. I will try to drink more water. Regardless, I am feeling so much better today, and feel refreshed!

Today was the only day I felt a little homesick. Miss you all!


If anyone want's to skype me, my name on skype is: jenalacy, and I'm usually free in the morning at 6-8am EST!