Day 6- Congestion

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Well, this morning I woke up with a horrible sinus headache and major congestion! I was feeling very ill prior to breakfast, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the group today. After food and some DayQuil, I was feeling somewhat okay enough to venture out into Chiang Mai with my group.



Our first stop was the Donkaew Hospital which has a Thai Traditional Center. At the center, we learned how to make a compress ball by combining various herbs with salt in a cloth, balling it up and tying the corners of the cloth together to form a handle. The massage therapists use these compress ball during massages to relieve aches and pains throughout the body. They steam it and firmly pat it across your entire body! After we assembled our compress balls, we all headed to a massage room to get a sample of a Thai massage. IT WAS AMAZING!! The best 10 minutes of my life! I made sure to secure a full appointment on the 21st so I can fully embrace the art of the Thai massage. The Donkaew Hospital is incredible because it’s completely free and is catered towards those who may not have adequate access to health care.



I forgot to mention that this day was particularly rainy with a downpour occurring all morning and into the afternoon. This made it difficult to do the home visits originally on the schedule for the afternoon so instead we assisted some of the BCNC students with activities at a local immigrant school. The BCNC students are currently studying psychiatric nursing, and were specifically focusing on ADHD in children. It was a lot of fun to work with the children!! We played various games that helped the students focus together on creating a structure out of cardboard, paper and coloring utensils.

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