This week, in Nanjing

Well, today is promised to be "considerably cloudy", as per the weather channel. Since when do they alliterate the weather? So I'm bringing a sweater to my third day in clinic. The first day was a little hectic, as we tried to figure out where we were supposed to be and where the blankityblankblank our interpreter was. Eventually everything worked out. The doctor as well as the interpreter are lovely. We've been seeing a lot of gynecology, some lung stuff, some depression stuff and its all herbs, all the time. Yay! I love it. The doctor is a really sweet person, very compassionate and caring and smart as hell. She is also a considerably competent teacher which makes it all the better.

After Monday though, I went home and went straight to bed for a 2 hour nap, then a brief break from sleeping and back to the pillows for 8 more hours. I think it was part the exhaustion of the first day, but also the food in China and the sugar in particular. No more sweet things! Yesterday though, I got some great shopping done at the 3 hour lunch break and then came home and went to the Opera. It was a cultural experience for sure, and I took some photos. I felt a little rude, but then all the Chinese people were doing it and thats my rule, follow whatever the herds of Chinese do. The best parts were the adventure getting there, since it doesn't seem that even if a building has an address, anyone will know where that address is. We took a cab and asked and asked and asked and eventually were pointed in the right direction. The performance took place in what looked like an old government building or temple. We were late, but no one seemed to mind. After two short stories, one painfully long, the performance was over and we went outside to figure out our next move. As soon as we got out there we saw a crowd of people watching their own street opera performance. Ladies with fans and hanky covered mikes singing and dancing and a big street band. The audience was singing along to all the songs they knew and clapping. Fun! They were really into us being there too, and kept on trying to get us to sing. None of us knew the words.

So today is wednesday, lecture day. We'll see how it is, it is supposed to be on clinical application of the extraordinary vessels, but really could be on anything.