Wat Miracle?

Apparently, at one of the wats near our house, there was some construction going on and something collapsed revealing tens of small Buddha statues, that are presumably old, since no one knew they were there. This is likely not an actual miracle, as someone probably buried them at some point, accidentally or purposefully, but it is the closest I’ve lived physically to any sort of religious happening. Tomorrow, I plan to go visit and try to see these Buddhas, as I hear they are quite attractive. (Oh, and get used to the Wat puns, I anticipate they will keep coming.)

I learned about the small Buddhas from my first independently-acquired friend in Vientiane. I have not lacked for social engagements or opportunities since getting here to Vientiane, but all of them have been with people that Christine or Chris and Amy are friends with, and you never know whether you’re being invited to stuff because people want you to come, or if they feel obligated. And I sense that there is some degree of visitor / short term guest fatigue that sets in amongst the people who have been here for several years. I don’t know if it would bother me, but I can see how many people would just get tired of meeting and getting to know new people at some point. So I am happy to have independently found a friend, because I was feeling a bit frustrated / worried. Although, when I think about it objectively, how many non-med school classmates and non-relative friends did I have a month after moving to Minnesota? The answer is zero, but I think I feel more pressured here because I am probably only here for a year so I need to get started. :)

Tanja is a Swiss doctor visiting Vientiane for 3 months to finish the 2 years and 3 months of work abroad she needs to do to qualify as a specialist in tropical medicine in Switzerland. Yes, MN friends, that is 2.25 years abroad. We are lucky with our 2 month requirement from ASTMH. She is also a pretty cool person. Her first year abroad was in the Congo with MSF. I told her I was impressed and I didn’t think I’d be brave enough to go to the Congo, and she replied that she really felt quite safe there. She was re-building an old Belgian hospital that had been destroyed in the civil war, doing clinical care, and training local MDs. The area was accessible only by bush plane or extended (many days) over-land journey. It sounds like it was an incredible experience, though in some ways very frustrating because of very limited resources. She was evacuated once, but she thinks MSF was maybe too aggressive about taking people out of potentially dangerous situations. That’s reassuring, I guess. Her second year abroad was in French Guyana where she had great resources and equipment, but struggled with the poorly trained and un-motivated to learn doctors. I think this supports my theory that patients and doctors are unsatisfied to some degree with their medical care system worldwide, no matter where it is. It’s not much comfort, but sometimes when you’re really frustrated with your situation at home, it’s a little. Her first impressions (after 2 weeks) is that the Lao doctors are really eager to learn and provide good care with limited resources. I think this is true in my experience as well, and since she’s on a ward with several of ‘my’ residents, I’m happy to hear she is impressed. And to be fair, the ID ward she is on has limited diagnostic resources, but Paul, the lab director and ID specialist seems to have picked those resources very well to tailor to accurate diagnosis and timely treatment of the problems they see most often here.

The Australian rules Football Grand Finals was very fun - somehow heckling is so much more enjoyable with crazy Australian slang and accents. And it’s a game that can actually be pretty edge-of-your-seat exciting, and worth heckling. This game in particular - it was tied at least twice in the last quarter with the last (and tying) goal being kicked in the last 2 minutes of play. There is no overtime, so we get to watch _another_ grand finals match next Saturday. From my perspective this is awesome, though of course the people who were rooting for a favorite team are pretty disappointed. Next weeks game probably won’t be as close or exciting, but we can hope. We are not sure if Chris will actually come home this week - he may stay if he can get a ticket for next Sunday’s match. We will miss him at resident’s games next Saturday morning, but will understand if he stays in Australia.