Syphilis?

I love how you get no warning in Thailand. For example you will never hear the statement, "You have one week to complete your medical exam for your work permit." Instead you get a Thai office worker approach you just as you are about to leave for the day, and frantically tell you that you have to bring in your doctor's note tomorrow or else you have to pay penalties.

Finding a clinic last month to get our doctor's note was tricky enough. A lot of them turned us away saying they were not authorized to issue paperwork for work permits. Luckily, we just followed Teacher Tom to his clinic.

This visit has to be our test for syphilis. Yes, the Thai Government wants to make sure they do not issue work permits to people with syphilis specifically. Granted, finding a clinic in Thailand is not hard... finding one that you trust enough to stick you with a needle is another story. For our previous document, you just had to stand there and pay 100B. No exam. No nothing.

Brian was not amused. He planned to go boxing with Sam. He was looking forward to it :(

I had the Thai office worker write down exactly what we needed in Thai so we just had to hand the clinics a note. Foolproof.

We set off with directions that Khun May gave us. She also came rushing out just as we were getting on our motorbikes to reiterate the importance of getting the doctor's note. I just wish they would have figured it out a little bit earlier so we didn't have to scurry around right after working.

After driving around trying to find the non existant place that Khun May recommended, we came upon another clinic on the road. We stepped inside and sure enough they said they could do it for 200B each. PERFECT. They just needed our passports. NOT PERFECT... like we carry our passports with us to school daily?!?!!!!

Brian was beyond frustrated. On the brightside, we did find a clinic to do the exam at the right price.

We drove all the way back home. While driving down the street, I noticed the first chicken place we ate at with Teacher Tom. We were on the same road as TukCom too. I already knew my devious plan of return :)

Brian went jogging when we got home. Emily called and said she found a closer clinic to do it for 200B. She told me not to hand them the note because they will charge more. She just got a syphilis test done. I asked about the needle procedure at that clinic... they drew blood out of her arm. UCK! I can't tell you how much I hate needles. I have thrown so many tantrums in hospitals before... granted I was younger... but I still complain and try to avoid it as an 'adult.'

Luckily, Brian didn't mind going all the way back into Pattaya to the clinic we found earlier though he was considering the closer Emily option. Within 2 minutes of walking back into the clinic, we were getting our weight and blood pressure checked. One by one we went into one of the rooms in the back and sat with the doctor. They called me first. I was so excited about eating that I forgot the main point of this trip was getting stuck with a needle. I'm sure the Thai doctor thought I was a big baby. On the plus side they only stuck my finger with one of their contraptions - no full alcohol swab, elastic band around the arm, full on needle in skin, fill up a vile thing. I probably pulled my finger back and forth enough to annoy and amuse the doctor with my 'farang' antics. I don't think it physically hurt to much, but psychologically I felt faint and had a stomach ache. Wimp, I know. Brian was the same way haha.

We both sat in the waiting room holding a cotton ball to our bleeding/non bleeding fingers trying not to feel sick. Very professionally, the doctor called us in one by one again to tell us the results of the test. I literally stepped in the door, sat down, and was out the door again :) A routine we found amusing at the time considering we didn't know why we were being called back by the doctor.

Our paperwork was put into nice little envelopes and we paid the fees.

We got to eat at our delicious chicken place and relive our first few nights in Pattaya. I also convinced him to stroll through TukCom. I had only seen the cell phone floor before and have been wanting to go back ever since. Typical, Brian doesn't like to browse. Thankfully, it is a electronic/computer persons dream. Five floors of everything you can imagine at very good prices. We both bought some little fans for our laptops to sit on. I've never seen anything remotely like it in the states. We should just start an ebay page to sale all the cool things we find overseas :) But... that involves too much work.

We got a call from Eric (Husband of Khun May), later on and he was so excited to hear we had it done and were ready for tomorrow. We had heard from Emily and Tom by then, and he was glad to hear they were able to take care of it too. We always end up as the middleman. Teacher Tom actually went to the same clinic as us. We were quiet proud of ourselves for stumbling into the right clinic.

Unfortunately, for teacher Emily, she did not get the right paperwork and had to leave in the morning again to correct the error. Thankfully, handing them the paper did work in our case and they didn't try to get us to pay more money.

We probably signed a dozen papers in addition to turning in our doctor's note when we arrived at school.

Oh, the work permit process....

I have learned that we will have to make a trip to the Chonburi Office later to get the actual permit and the Immigration Office to extend our Visa in case the Work Permit takes longer than expect. We expire on the 4th of August. We are cutting it a bit close. Eric says if anything goes wrong, he will just say we are 'sick' and that gives us an extra 7 days. I also learned that we will need another document to allow us to come and go from Thailand as we please. If we just go on vacation without the proper documentation even though we have a work permit, its void and we would have to start over from scratch. Immigration... gotta love it!