How Laundry Soap Humbled Me (Update 04/10/26)

 April 8, 2026

My service apartment has a laundry room.  For 30 baht ($0.94) you can do a load of wash but you must provide your own laundry soap.  The laundry room also has dryers, also 30 baht for 30 minutes, which is a luxury.  Rarely have I seen a dryer in Cambodia or Vietnam but rather you hang your clothes on racks on your balcony to dry.  But, I first needed laundry soap. 

I came across this challenge in 2023 in Vietnam where many of the products are labeled exclusively in the country's language. So, when I went to Riplings (the Publix of Thailand), I could find no laundry products with any English and the pictures were not particularly helpful.  I bought a pouch of laundry detergent only to realize upon opening it that it is fabric softener. Luckily, another guest had donated to the laundry room what was left of their detergent so I was able to get a load done in short order. 

I then shopped at Tops, think Winn-Dixie and bought what I was hoping is laundry detergent.  Nope.  It was a bleach product (thank goodness I did not dump that onto my clothes willy-nilly!). Last night, I hit the jackpot at the 7-11.  I found a pouch with the words "wash" on it and so I'm good for a few loads though I am now $12 in on laundry products and can really use just the one. Oh well- I'll make a donation to the laundry room. 

 Not Laundry Detergent but Fabric Softener

So why use the word "humble". I wasn't irritated, maybe a tad frustrated, but moreso humbled. Think of all the limited English language/ non- English speakers we have in North Central Florida and even in our country. I struggled with finding one product. What is it like for them every- single- day, trying to discern if what they are purchasing is the right thing? I am financially secure and the loss of a few dollars purchasing the wrong thing is not catastrophic but what about for those families that must eek out the value of every dollar they have? 

We once had a student from Haiti whose grandmother came to her pinning and graduation. "Grann" could not believe that those colorful laundry soap pods were not some type of candy.  Our former student said that they had to hide the box of laundry pods because they kept finding her grandmother trying to eat one. 

I can see how life quickly becomes overwhelming and even dangerous (Can you imagine if she had eaten a laundry pod?!). It is healthy to be humbled, to have your confidence given a bit of a shake. It provides one with the opportunity to give pause and consider the bigger implications and how I- as a nurse, as an individual, can consider the life challenges of others and even give assistance, when possible.  Quite the lesson from just a pouch of laundry detergent. 

Update:   Each spring when the pollen is heavy, my allergies kick in and some years I have reactive airway asthma.  This spring has been a humbdinger between the pollen and lack of rain.  In the month leading to my departure, I was on an inhaler, two rounds of steroids, nose spray, etc.  But, a week out from departure, all seemed well.  And, since I've never had issues over here, I didn't bring any of the meds. Wrong move.  Chiang Mai is also experiencing a drought and because of its location ringed by mountains, the smog level is extremely high. 

Chiang Mai University issued a work from home order to minimize faculty/ staff exposure to the air and reduce traffic on the roads. Four days into my trip and I am barking like a dog and my head is stopped up. Fortunately, I can purchase what I need over the counter. While it took a bit of hunting (3 pharmacies), I know have what I need including an inhaler and nose spray.  Here is the purpose of this update. Look at the instruction packet for the nose spray.  Thank goodness for the pictures as activating it was actually not as straightforward as one might think. Even the pictures are missing a couple of steps. Again- I am humbled at the thought of all the instructions we give our patients.  Just how confident are we.... and more importantly, are they with the instructions we have provided?  Already feeling better! 

Stepping Off the Sidewalk... Into New Adventures,

 Karen 

Disclaimer: The content of my writing strictly represents my personal views and not those of the University of Florida, the U.S. government, the Department of State, or partner organizations.