And the rain kept pouring down

So the Democratic party escaped unscathed but Thai Rak Thai is to be dissolved, and its 111 party executives (including Thaksin, of course) have been banned from politics for 5 years. They had 13,000 armed police at the ready but apparently all was peaceful in BKK last night - some are speculating that this might change over the next couple of days but I guess it'll be a wait and see type of proposition. The end of the ruling didn't come until after 11pm last night. I guess judges work later in Thailand.

Anyway.

We spent today at temples - 3 of them to be exact. They were really quite extraordinary and each very different from the next. Today also happened to be Buddha's birthday, so with >90% of Thailand's population being Buddhist, it was pretty huge, especially in the morning at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which is the most popular of Chiang Mai's temples (of which there are many). Of course there was also the usual contingent of tourists too, so cameras were clicking everywhere, there were flowers and garlands, incense, children, shoes, prayers...

It was much more peaceful at the other two temples, although there were people quietly making food, floral arrangements and decorations for this evening's festivities. I'm not religious, but I had the feeling - one I've often had when visiting Buddhist temples - that were I to enter a religion, Buddhism would be it. I'm not sure how much of this is because of my cultural background and the resultant familiarity with the rituals and practices, but I do think a large part of it (apart, obviously, from my agreement with Buddhist principles) is the feeling that I would find a way to make it relevant to me, something that I don't feel about other organised religions.

Our guide for the day was a guy who spent 15 years as a monk, before his two older brothers died of HIV and he was forced to leave the monkhood to look after his mother. In the 10 years since then he's been a barber, a singer, a tourguide, a driver - a true jack of all trades. But he really wishes he could have remained a monk for life. He was a great guide.

It's now been raining for about 3 hours. It started the usual way - lightning, thunder, sheets and sheets of torrential rain. I was forced to resort to two minute noodles for dinner because it was too wet to go out in search of food. I am mourning the loss of a fabulous meal I will never be able to eat again.

And both BBC World and CNN are down.

My day in pictures

Judgement Day

The whole of Thailand (or from what I can tell, anyway) is edgy today, waiting to find out the verdict of the Constitutional Tribunal ruling about the future of the two biggest political parties in the country - basically, whether they will be compulsorily dissolved or not. It's nearly 5pm here and still no decision. Waiting, waiting...

I'll post more later.

EDIT:

I'm too tired to write much. The rest of my day consisted of rice with grilled chicken, rose apple, dragonfruit, iced tea, dessert taufoo in ginger syrup, Skype conversation, and shortly to include crashing in bed. Tomorrow we're going up Doi Suthep (mountain) to see two temples. Might ask about meditation courses too.

Asia Hunger

I have been here for 2 days now and my Asia Hunger is settling in rapidly. Asia Hunger is the state of being hungry all the time (Phil, if you are reading this - withhold your laughter) despite eating all the time. Yesterday I ate:

• a bowl of noodle soup
• a bag of pineapple
• some rice chips
• a plate of more noodles and more noodles
• a massive cup of grass jelly drink
• a bag of dragonfruit
• rice
• about 10 different dishes with that rice
• fruit

Add to that about 3 litres of water, and I think that's quite substantial - but I would have been quite happy to eat again before bedtime. This morning I've had breakfast and a cup of tea already, but I'm already thinking about lunch. In fact it is all I can do to resist making myself some instant noodles before I go to classes.

Inexplicably, I have found in the past that despite the presence of Asia Hunger, Asia makes me thinner. Worms? Genetics? Who knows?

I started Thai language classes yesterday. I'm finding the pronunciation and grammar (what grammar?) quite easy, but I hate that stiltedness when first learning a new language, just having to think about each word so hard before saying it! Plus there is waaaaaay too much vocab to pick up. Still - yesterday was the first lot of 4 hours in a course of 120 hours' total language training, so surely by the end of June I should be able to get by. I think it's about trying to think in Thai. The slowness is in the mental translation.

I have a bruised head. The right hand side of my forehead is bruised because I got hit on the head with a metal tray on Friday night at Tutto Bene, and the back of my head is bruised because I got butted by a wooden goat last night at dinner. Don't ask.

Oops - I'm off to Thai classes now. I'll write more and post some photos tonight.

EDIT: (after finishing classes)

God I have eaten so much already today. I think about food all the time. It's as if I'm worried I won't find my next meal or something. Oh well. It's all good.

This morning we went to the main market in Chiang Mai (not the night bazaar, but the biggest market here) as part of our "cultural orientation". It was great - I picked up more essentials like a rain poncho, knife, more fruit (rambutans, jackfruit and mangosteens - weep, people, WEEP), jasmine tea. I'm pretty much all set up here now with the little things I need (particularly in relation to feeding myself). My only real complaint is that yesterday my air conditioner inexplicably started to make an alarmingly loud, ratchety noise whenever turned on. It still seems to cool, but I keep thinking it might be on the verge of exploding. Or something.









A few of my new "essentials" - note matching Hello Kitty mug and fork/spoon set; this air conditioner looks harmless enough but turn it on and it produces a whirring, squeaking, percussive, ratchety cacophony.

I'm particularly interested in comparing Chiang Mai with my experiences in Vietnam. My impression is that the culture is very similar, minus the communist government (even during the coup apparently it was just life as usual, plus or minus a few armed police around the cities) and with more money. The essentials are much the same. People do not wear their pyjamas out on the streets here though, much to my disappointment.



My accommodation here is right near the university and as such is a little west of the city centre. I think (although I may be wrong) that it is a reasonably well-off part of town - lots of fairly large houses in good condition, large blocks of land, pretty clean and spacious really. Lots of you will know that I love love LOOOOVE Saigon, so I kind of liked heading into the middle of the city today and nosing around the more cramped, crowded pockets - more varied, more colourful, more bustling. Overall Chiang Mai is quite beautiful - the mountains are useful for this cause. I've not taken many photos yet but will attempt to rectify in the next few days. Have so far resisted taking pictures of everything I eat (if I did this it would mostly be to torment my mother anyway). Today I had lunch at the university. It cost me 15b (about 55 cents).

The other thing that has really stood out so far is the incredible reverence for the king. Everyone wears yellow t-shirts +/- the royal insignia, there are billboards and tributes everywhere. It's pretty cool, actually.

I've loved getting all your emails in the last couple of days, and this blog is getting quite a few more hits (what? you think it's more interesting now that I've actually left Australia?), so it's nice to know that people are interested. Plus my counter software tracks all the visiting IP addresses so I know who you all are, too. *stalker*

Blisters, toilet paper and the language barrier

I arrived in Thailand in the early hours of this morning after a pretty pleasant flight - which I found surprising, but only because usually I hate flying. Too impatient. Anyway, the plane had screens on the backs of the seats so I watched Little Miss Sunshine, ate quite a decent green curry, then slept off most of the rest of the flight. Lucky I was tired - by the time I got to the airport last night the pharmacy was closed so my plan of bombing myself out was thwarted early.

The only annoying thing was that the hideous plastic shoes, which I was told by more than one person would be "sooooo comfortable and light!", gave me blisters. So they are in the bad books at the moment. Might have to persevere though, my shoe repertoire here is severely limited!



The three of us came to the tragic realisation that we really do look related; the offending "so comfortable" shoes




My room; the view from my balcony (hope the neighbours don't mind, I made sure there was noone in the shot!)

My first impressions? Well, the thing is - I don't think I have any yet. I got off the plane in Chiang Mai, met the person who was picking me up, and was whisked to my hotel/apartments/whatever with only a cursory stop at the 7-11 on the way. So I really don't know. What has struck me is the frustration at being unable to read/write/speak/understand the language. I think this is compounded by the fact that it sort of looks like Vietnam here, so I feel like I should be able to function fully on my own. Bring on the language classes, I have to become less pathetic!

But it is pretty green here. And there are mountains.

I'm in my room now - it's lovely, spacious, light and clean. PLUS there is cable internet, cable television (hurrah for BBC World and bad Thai soaps!). It is particularly satisfactory now that I have purchased toilet paper and a new SIM card for my phone, had a shower and eaten some lunch. It's just about time for a post-prandial nap, I think.

I haven't copped my first mosquito bite yet. Any takers on how long it'll be? I'm thinking, not long.

Lasts

There are always firsts, and now I guess it's time for lasts - at least for the next little while. I'm leaving for the airport in 40 minutes after a mad day. Now that I'm just about all packed and set, I'm feeling a bit wistful and pensive - probably pretty much par for the course, I guess.

I spent my last night in town with an old friend - dinner and wine at a lovely restaurant, followed by Mahler. It doesn't get much better than that. I got home last night, and I felt lucky.

The phone has been ringing hot all day - excited friends wishing me well, promising to visit, telling me this will be amazing. Text messages from my new fellow volunteer friends, emails from others. I'm terrible at goodbyes. MQ came home this morning for a fly by visit before heading back for the debating grand final. He's crap at goodbyes too so we were crap together, laughed a bit, and waved to each other as he left in Mum's car. That was about it.

There have been so many huge changes in the last few months, it is hard to fathom how I ever got here. At the moment I kind of feel like I don't even really know where "here" is! But a new beginning can't be all bad - actually, it's exactly what I need.

So - a deep breath, and here I go.

I'll see you in Chiang Mai.

PANIC!!!

It's official - I am leaving on Saturday.

I am leaving on Saturday.

Crisis averted!

Yesterday started off well enough - had a good morning, then brunch with Angela (whose chicken pox spots have cleared up, hooray!). It was pouring with rain when I got home, which in hindsight I should have taken as an omen for what was to come.

I rang the powers that be to see if there was any news on Ernie, spoke to two of the PTBs and was left none the wiser (to be fair, it wasn't their fault either). I spent the afternoon undertaking the messy and pungent task of treating my clothes with permethrin, and then got a call from one the PTBs at 4:30. Here is a potted paraphrasing of the conversation that followed:

PTB: Hello Q, do you have time to talk?
Q: Yes of course [feeling vague sense of impending doom from the "we need to talk" vibe]
PTB: Unfortunately I don't have good news for you.
Q: Oh?
PTB: No, we've heard from the NGO but there's problem with one of the legal agreements. The lawyers are talking about it, but we're trying to work out a way to get around it. Plus your police check isn't through yet.
Q: Oh. Um. Okay. What does that mean?
PTB: Well what it means is that we have to...[insert protracted paragraph of mumbo jumbo involving lots of acronyms, names I didn't recognise, nebulous turns of phrase and very little actual information]...and then we just have to wait and see.
Q: Um. Okay. What is the worst case scenario?
PTB: Well, obviously the worst case scenario is that you don't go.

[cue internal brain explosion]

So poor Nome and Mon had to put up with my furious/frustrated/disappointed rantings last night over Malaysian takeaway and cab sav (must say, ranting is much more pleasant with good food and wine), we watched Desperate Housewives (which I have never watched before), and then I went home to an annoyed sleep.

This morning a rep of the PTB rang and told me that it was all miraculously sorted, that he hadn't thought it would be (yes - I could tell. You could have just said so.) and that now as soon as the Feds get my check done, it's hellooooo, Chiang Mai!

Naturally my first thought was, "Excellent, now I can buy a digital camera."

Anyway, so I spent most of today cooped up in the house in an attempt to begin packing. God it is DULL. How many pairs of long pants do I need? I reckon 3. Mum reckons 4. I can only find 2 that are suitable. When was the last time I had insufficient clothing for my needs?

If I ever actually make it to Chiang Mai, this is where I'm supposed to be staying:









Mildly compound-like from the outside, but the inside looks pretty good. Apparently there is high speed internet and air conditioning, so it's much plusher than anywhere I've stayed in SE Asia before!

After the horrors of Sunday morning, it was comforting for me to discover that Phil and George also had hangovers from hell. Makes it sound like a little club, actually. Much more cool than being the sad chick who can't hold her drink (which I can! I CAN, damn you!).

Chocolate, cows, wine and cards

I left Orange on Friday and spent the evening with Belinda in Sydney. We nattered for a couple of hours and then went out for a boozy girly chatty food-ful night out. Here is a summary of the night's notables:

• The place we went to used to be a strip club. The poles are still intact downstairs.
• One of the hostess people was wearing this dress that I have wanted for ages, but she wore it so badly that it killed my desire (boring for all of you, but exciting for me)
• Alex Dimitriades (you know, the Heartbreak Kid guy) sat at the table next to us with his tall and glamorous girlfriend who looks like a drag queen
• Whoever wrote the cheese menu deserves a Pulitzer. We ate one cheese that was the "Ancestor of Brie" and another one which was apparently super duper special because only one certain breed of French cow is "authorised to produce the milk" for it. I kid you not. See the pics below. Could you pick a cheese made from the milk of an unauthorised, fraudulent cow?
• The chocolate dessert Belinda had was unbelievable - basically a football sized round pocket of puff pastry which, when stabbed, OOZED hot dark chocolate ganache. Seriously, there must have been 400g of chocolate in that thing. See pics.

We had every intention of being in bed by midnight. This did not eventuate. Must remember (for future reference) that 4 hours' sleep is really not enough and makes flying even more blah than usual.


I backed up and had my farewell drinks last night. This morning I felt quite a lot worse for wear. In fact, I think it was the first proper hangover of my adult life. How do people do this every week? I spent the morning longing, longing, longing for death.







On the bright side, I thought the red slapper dress worked quite well in the end.

Also on the bright side, it was a lot of fun. There were party pies and pinot noir (and pinot noir and pinot noir and then sticky...the thought is making me feel ill), card tricks (no sorry - illeewwwwwsions), the three Jesses (is that the correct plural of "Jess"?) were all there, and my and Phil's plans for our palatial Wongbong North abode crystallised a little further. We had a little secluded corner of the Supper Club to ourselves. I hit the wall around 3 and fell asleep in the taxi on the way home. Not bad for an old spinster on 5 hours of sleep!

Now that I've had my farewell drinks, it would be nice to know when I'm actually leaving. That's a HINT, Ernie.

The national schools' debating comp kicked off today. MQ is in the Victorian team - GO M! How can someone who says so little at home have so much to say in public?

Fog

So I'm back in sunny Orange. My flight from Sydney was pretty delayed because of the massive fog (pic from http://www.smh.com.au/) but other than that it's been pretty uneventful. I'm doing a lot of on call. Blah.

Time is galloping away under my nose while I'm here, away from the hustle and the practicalities of life in Melbourne. I'm still trying to get stuff done and finish up things that need finishing before I leave, but it's always that little bit harder from far away. I'm hoping there won't be too much when I get back, but it's always hard to know. I'm sure it will be a whirlwind of frantic errands and last minute organisational crap. Ugh.

I still haven't decided what "skill" to teach to the other aid workers at the briefing yet. I NEED IDEAS, PEOPLE.

Youse have not been commenting on my last few posts anyway. I know youse are perusing this blog so WHERE ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

Anyhoo, I don't have too much that's interesting to add. I was watching Insight last night (did anyone else see it? Always interesting to watch the alcohol lobby vs the drug and alcohol specialists. Like Thank You For Smoking, only less interesting and the people are older and fatter.) and have since arranged to consume my allocation of standard drinks tonight with some of the Orange gang.

I'm still cut up about Eurovision. Who do you think should have won?

EDIT: For once, I agree with Jeff Kennett.

Tying up loose ends

It's been a busy weekend so far. Lots of running around yesterday, getting some pressing things done with a couple of girlfriends and then at the end of the day, collapsing in Nome's new pad with pizza, pinot, ice cream and chocolate. Moving is exhausting! I'd been dreading yesterday for some time and so it is a relief to have it done.


The night before we glammed up and went out for dinner at a swanky restaurant for Mon's birthday. The food was fabulous but the entrees were so enormous that we could barely finish our mains (and in fact I couldn't - unheard of), let alone even think about dessert. Then we went to my favourite late-night establishment where the others, sadly, vetoed my idea of party pies (different stomach for party pies, you see) but we did scoff the delicious choc-coated almonds and drink some sweet stuff.

This afternoon I'm off to Sydney to catch up with Margie (and try to watch Eurovision) and then I'm working in central NSW for the week. By the time I get back it will be mega-headless chook time, I suspect. I'll have to make some lists during the week; I don't really like making lists but it does make rushed packing a bit easier.

Zimbabwe finally got some mainstream news coverage yesterday, but only because the Aussie cricket team are boycotting the tour. There are several levels of stupidity to this. #1 - that one of the reasons given by people opposing the boycott are along the lines of, "Well if WE don't go to Zimbabwe, no other cricket teams will go either!". Who gives a stuff??? #2 - for insightful political comment about the situation, the commercial news channels consulted erudite, articulate, politically astute commentators. Like Tony Greig. #3 - why why WHY does it have to involve sport before Australians even get a sniff of what's going on? #4 - as if boycotting a cricket tour will make even an iota of difference to Robert Mugabe. HE'S A DESPOT, PEOPLE. I am just as enraged as the next person about Zimbabwe, but it's not about a cricket tour. I wish Thabo Mbeki would grow a spine about it. That said, it's pretty questionable whether cutting off most of Zimbabwe's say, electrical supply (as Mbeki could do) (on a side note, did Mandela really endure everything he did and make the sweeping changes he did in order for Mbeki to sit on his hands?), would make any difference in a country where the government makes the law (regardless of what the law says) and horrendous human rights abuses have been perpetuated for the last 20 years.

EDIT: I'm watching Eurovision as I type this. I just wanted to capture the moment for posterity. We love Ukraine (but why were they singing in German?), Sweden (the bare chest, the gothic makeup, the dinky moves, the sequins), Belarus (how did those dancers stick to those screens?), Latvia (top hats, jackets, roses and...jeans?), UK (channelling Hi5 and also adding in some semaphore for good measure). Best English lyric of the night - "Leave me alone, I wanna go home" (courtesy Finland, trying to look like Evanescence). I also thought Romania were pretty cute. Ngy, you MISSED OUT. I hope you caught some on YouTube.

43 is the new 1

Today it's been confirmed that Jose Ramos Horta has won the East Timor presidential elections with about 70% of the vote. It's not that surprising, although perhaps the fact that Dili is apparently fairly quiet is. Here's something unsurprising: following on from my ranting post about world news and the Australian media a week or so ago, I would like to inform you all that this news (which keep in mind is in "our" region, has involved "our" men, and thus is "relevant" to us as "Australians") made its grand entrance on page 43 of the Herald-Scum. Bless. No wonder there are so many people wandering around who don't know that Liberia is a country. Or is it Libya? Are they the same?

Anyway, here's a better quality article about the story.

I've spent most of today running around trying to get annoying errands finished, and I think I've mostly managed it - finished my immunisations, bought travel stuff (mosquito net, permethrin, antibiotics, blah blah blah), dropped the last of my pre-departure paperwork in, popped up to the hospital to talk to the powers that be about what jobs I should go for next year, had a bit of a chat to a few people. That sort of thing.

Now my main tasks are to try and consolidate all my stuff into boxes properly for storage over the next 8 months and also to tie up all the loose ends with my furniture tomorrow. And then I'll be just about set to close one chapter of my life, and move onto the next! All that will remain will be to pack, steel myself, go to the briefing, and leave. Simple, really (- right?).

I am now in possession of an enormous kit of medical supplies. 7 months of antimalarials, and similarly a whole heap of other drugs to counteract the side effects of those antimalarials. Sigh. I hate taking medications - not because I have any issue with taking stuff, but more because it involves remembering to do something regularly.

Doxy and DEET - my friends (or foes?) for the rest of 2007

It was weird popping in at work today, seeing all those familiar wards, corridors and faces. I feel a bit removed from it - which I suppose makes sense since it's been nearly 4 months since I last worked there. Talking to the boss lady about jobs and training options for next year, I was struck by how detached I felt from it - it just feels so far away, almost an impossibility. Do I want to do specialty jobs or gen paeds jobs? Do I want more stress or less responsibility? How many weeks of x, y or z have I done already? I kind of felt like I didn't really care, but I know that one day (not even that far away) I will, so I tried to listen carefully and ask lots of questions that I know I'll eventually want the answers to.

I just can't help feeling that there is a massive mountain to scale, and that all of that practical/training/future stuff is somehow in the valley on the other side, obscured from view by the mountain. All my curiosity, motivation and drive is focused there at the moment, but I suppose it is wise to put things in place so that when I come back, disoriented and jolted back into the old reality, it's all ready to roll so that I don't have to think about it.

Thaivision

It's almost that time of year again - the Eurovision final is on Sunday night! I hope you are all planning wildly enthusiastic Eurovision parties. I will be eating pizza and gluing myself to the screen at Margie's house. Can't wait. Although I have to say, nothing has quite matched the year that Turkey won (with that girl who was like a Turkish Shakira) but was nearly pipped at the post by that weird pseudo-Gothic hippie ambient new age Belgian group with the bizarre hand actions (Ngy you will remember this...we got a lot of mileage out of that hand-dance!).

The UK's entry this year is called SCOOCH. I don't know about you, but I don't have much faith that they will break the UK's annual tradition of being TRAGIC at Eurovision.

In other news, I got an email from the "mobilisation team" at AVI about the pre-departure brief. Apparently I have to bring a "teaching skill" with me, something that I can teach the other 23 volunteers in 5 minutes. I hate these exercises, I think they're lame. Plus we had to do them at this teaching workshop at work (back when I had a paying JOB and all of that). Any ideas? (Keep it above board, please!).

Anyway, so the other volunteers are going to PNG, Vanuatu, Thailand (I think there are 3 of us), Vietnam (lucky buggers), Malawi and Cambodia. I'm kind of looking forward to this briefing business (apart from the teaching thing). Should meet some interesting people. That said, I am still waiting for the IRC to officially confirm my appointment. That hasn't stopped them from already asking if I can extend my assignment to 12 months. (I said no; I'm sure by the end I'll wish I could stay but there is the small matter of coming back here to start working, studying and generally getting off my paediatric backside and getting somewhere with my career. Sigh.).

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH MY TRAVEL ITINERARY JUST GOT SENT TO ME 1 MINUTE AGO.

I am terrified!

Asymptomatic

Yesterday Tom (who is 7) came for his violin lesson with lots of questions about what I'm doing and where I'm going. We talked about what refugees are, why they have to run away from their homes, and why sometimes they can't return even after a long time. He also wanted to see where I was going, and in fact this is a question I've been asked quite a lot. So here is a map:

(Pic from TBBC website - http://www.tbbc.org)

The northernmost province is Mae Hong Son Province, and there are two camps there - Mae Surin and Ban Mai Nai Soi (red dots). I'll be based in Mae Hong Son (the town) and will be training refugee health workers from both those camps. Here are some pictures of MHS and the surrounding north-west hills region for you to peruse:











Pretty green and lush, hey? I'm told it's one of the most beautiful areas in Thailand. It's also one of the most malarious areas - obviously my friend Anopheles likes lush greenery too. I've been on planes quite a bit recently (as some of you would know) and each time it's been really striking just how brown everything is. So MHS will be a nice change. Rainy, too.

I'm just in the process of tying up some loose ends in Melbourne, then next week I'll be off interstate again to work a few last hurrah shifts (and to check out Orange Nat's plumped lips). By the time I get back there will possibly be just a handful of days until Ernie (pending the Feds), of which half will be pre-departure briefing (although I'm still hoping to get to the MSO Prokofiev Sinfonia-Concertante/Mahler 4 concert). So even though it feels like time is dragging and that I'm not getting anywhere, in reality it's passing pretty quickly and probably before I know it, I'll be getting off a plane in Thailand and stepping into the great unknown.

Someone much wiser than I told me today that the way I'm feeling about it (talking about it a lot but feeling like it's happening to someone else) is not uncommon for people who are stepping into a situation which is largely unknown. He drew the analogy (for all you medical types) of disease vs. illness - disease being the abstract fact and illness being the experience of the disease. He said it was just like having subclinical disease and said, "Quynh - you're asymptomatic of going away!"

What I am symptomatic of is getting ever older. How did I ever pull all-nighters in my whippersnapper days? A couple of big nights over the weekend and my whole musculoskeletal system protests for days and I end up with a cold. Ugh. Youth, do not forsake me yet! Please tell me this happens to you, too.

I finished Where We Have Hope today (for people who haven't read my old posts, it's a journalist's memoir of 23 years spent living and working in Zimbabwe) - I thoroughly recommend it! I have read quite a few books in the last couple of months and it was by far the most gripping, inspiring and illuminating. I've started another journalist's memoir now - by a Norwegian journo in Iraq. Will report back once I've read enough to have an opinion.

Ben bought half a boat

Here's a picture of Ben's half-boat; I don't know which half is his and I was hoping for a side-on shot but still - there it is and it needs a name. (Don, I don't know that your suggestion will make it - care to try again?)

As for me, I've spent the last 3 days shut in the house, supposedly to write the essay I mentioned in my last post, but in reality I procrastinated a lot and it eventually got done mostly yesterday in the end. Despite my reluctance to actually write the thing (and many of you will be able to vouch for my general lack of a work ethic when it comes to study), this was a great paper to write because the topic is so relevant to what I'm heading overseas to do. So I've built up a good amount of rage and motivation about it over the last few days, always the sign that I'm getting into something.

Meanwhile, I'm not getting very much planning done for Ernie. I'll have to get most of it done in the next week because I'm heading interstate again the week after to work again. In any case, I don't need to take much with me, do I? Really? Mostly books and mosquito nets and a couple of changes of clothing, iPod, laptop...I think Asia is a good place to travel really light.

This post is not very interesting, I can't remember any of the things that I thought of over the last couple of days that made me think, "Oh - I should write that in my blog!". I blame Tomoko for encouraging me to eat dessert last night, so that when I got home I felt SO. SICK. and spent a good part of the night groaning. Ugh.

Incidentally, the restaurant we went to last night only has full-cream milk. I don't know whether this extends to the exclusion of soy milk as well, but that's the second restaurant in Melbourne I've been to that has such a policy. I don't mind it, but then again that's because a) I can't drink milk anyway, and b) if I could, I'd drink full-cream. What do you guys think? (Great Questions Of Our Time, #423)

How do we get over the apathy?

Today I'm at home, trying to start an essay about internally displaced people in Burma. I've left it pretty late (it's due Friday, ugh) but now I've got some articles, and have started reference stalking (you know, when you find one paper, and then stalk more papers through the references, then through the references of the reference, and so on. Before I start big essays, I always think "Oh, 3000 [or 5000 or whatever] words is so much - how am I going to do this?", but inevitably once I've started researching I start to wonder, "God, 3000 words - how am I going to say anything?"

That said, I've not written anything yet so it is early days. Sigh.

Reading more about Burma and the atrocious inequities and human rights abuses that exist there brings up the realisation (again) that I know squat about very little, even though I like to think I'm interested in international health and development. I am barely scratching the surface of one country's crises and yet I know there are tens more that I know nothing about, and that would make me feel just as angry and impassioned - most of Africa, for example. I have sometimes wondered whether Australia's geographic isolation helps create something of a fog of ignorance about these issues - maybe they're just too far away? But the information is so accessible now on the web - so it really comes down to a lazy mind and a mouth that's disproportionately big. That said, how much of this stuff really gets covered in the mainstream press here? Let's be honest, most people will read maybe one or two newspapers a day and watch a news program or two. World news gets relegated to about page 12 or 14 in the major papers here and even then it's all compressed onto two or three pages of broadsheet (or, in a curious feat of inverse proportionality, one or two pages of tabloid - gotta love the Herald-Scum.). I don't know much about the media world in Australia but the editorials don't tend to make much of a fuss about these international issues - too far away? too "irrelevant" to Australians? too hard? Australia too small?

I don't know the answers. If you do, please feel free to enlighten in the comments section!

So I resolve to do what I resolved to do months ago (resolutions are not my strong suit) and to read a few articles each day from ReliefWeb, or Human Rights Watch, or Refugees International. I've done this intermittently in the past and I'd like to make it part of my daily routine. Every now and then I find myself in a flurry of information grabbing and hungry reading eg. about Sudan a little while ago, or Liberia before that, Zimbabwe and Burma now - but I'd like a broader perspective on things.

Child soldiers, high maternal and infant mortality, HIV, TB, malaria, nearly half a population with no access to proper sanitation, torture, rape, human trafficking, malnutrition, anti-personnel landmines, daily internal conflict between a military junta that nobody wanted and dozens of ethnically diverse militias - just life for the people I will be working with when I go. To think that it won't be confronting, shocking, horrifying, would be pretty foolish.

And then here I am, trying to work out the vagaries of duty free shopping to see if I can claim back tax on shoes.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should have been a violinist, then I probably wouldn't think about health and politics so much, and I wouldn't be able to afford shoes. Two birds with one stone.

On a slightly less self-conflicted note, I've been talking to Ange about her plans for Laos - so exciting! The really nice thing is being able to share the thoughts and the plans and the anticipation with someone who wants to do something in a related vein. Now, if only Ernie seemed real...

And lastly, but not leastly, Ben needs a name for his new half-boat! Well, it's a whole boat but he half-owns it. Apparently it is small (4.5m long or something?), has a motor and is blue. When Ben sends me a photo (hopefully SOON Benny!) I will post it up here and you can all suggest away!