Day 7: Visitors, Hospital, and 7-eleven

My friend who showed me around the temple on my first day came back today to help show around a group of students visiting the temple. 18 young adults from nearby countries, such as Cambodia, Burma, and Sri Lanka came to meet Venerable Dhammananda. She helped the samaneri lead the tour of the wat in English. I find it amazing that everyone came from different countries, but could all speak English. I really enjoyed Ven. Dhammananda's lecture and I even got to take some pictures. I hope I can get a recording of the Q&A section to share with family.

Q&A in the library

It was nice to have more people around for lunch, even though the laypeople sat at a different table from the students. Once they left, I went to teach English class, but no one came again. It looks like I might not be teaching after all.
At 4 pm, I decided that it was time to ask Venerable to go to the doctor for my heat rash. Her sister offered her car and a nice volunteer drove us to the hospital. I found it funny that I left a Buddhist wat to go to Bangkok's Christian Hospital, which is actually in Nakhon Pathom and not Bangkok. I learned that nurses in Thailand still wear old-fashion nurse uniforms and lots of makeup. At least in the hospital that we went to they did.

I thought that taking a picture would be rude, but this is kind of what they looked like.

Credit: http://www.colorsmagazine.com/issues/67/67images/11.jpg 

They said that the doctor and nurse spoke English, but it was so choppy that I could barely understand it. Some of the doctor's sentences were not even coherent. The visit and medication cost 431 baht, about $15. That is even cheaper than a co-pay with insurance in the US, not to mention the medication!
On the way back, the volunteer took me to 7-eleven, perhaps the highlight of my day. I stocked up on so many snacks: banana cake, yogurt, chocolate milk, cookies, candy, mentos, etc. It made me feel like I could actually make it for a couple more weeks before a trip to Bangkok. The volunteer laughed at my pile of food and offered to take me shopping at the grocery store every weekend. I don't know if that will actually happen, but it was very nice of her!
For dinner, I made toast, which felt like a delicacy after so much Thai food. Evening chanting went well, but the dhamma talk for meditation had no English parts tonight, so I had trouble staying focused and keeping my back straight.
I also learned today that maggots smell rancid. I found nests of them in the all the corners of my room. I used a piece of paper to scoop them up and throw them into the grass outside. I might want to do a thorough cleaning of the room I live in now.