So close, yet, so far.......

Since the last post, about a week ago, we have been doing the things that we do best- surveying and sampling. We have been very busy trying to collect as many samples as we can from the various water sources around town, public and private. Most importantly, we have tested the main water for the village multiple times. This will give us a very good and probably more accurate idea of what plagues this water than only testing it once. At this point we have about three more sets of testing to go, including the main well and tap water for Village 5, a neighboring village to Nong Bua, which has similar problems. We are hoping that they, in fact, have the same water problems as Nong Bua, so that when we to devise a solution we can fix both villages. The idea of a solution is still quite a long time away. We need to analyze all of the data from the surveying, which has been completed with much thanks to Nong Oi, P'Kit, and P'Da, who worked tirelessly to gather info and translate it into English, and get the results from the testing center in Chiang Mai. 

   

As we finish the testing and the data entry, we also begin wrapping up our stay here in this beautiful country. Today is the staff appreciation party, which doubles as our going away party, and tomorrow, is our final day at work. Laith and Jess, along with a few of the UCSD students will take an overnight bus to Bangkok, and Ronn and I will take an early morning bus to Chiang Rai, my final adventure of the trip. Ronn will be traveling for a few weeks after Laith, Jess, and I fly home, but as excited as we are to see everyone at home, we do not want to leave. All of the people working here, Thai and American, have become more than just co-workers. We have become friends with everyone here and we will bad to have to say good-bye. Thankfully, we will need to come back for the next stage of our project. We are so close to coming home, but we are still on the other side of the world. See you in America.