Saturday adventures with the RMB

Today was my first day off that felt like a day off in China. I woke up late, did some grocery shopping and took it easy--but still managed to have some pretty hilarious adventures.

The payment system in China is a little weird, I have no idea how I've bought anything since I've been here. First of all, everywhere except large establishments wants you to haggle for things. I had my first haggling experience today at a calligraphy shop. The guy wanted 30 RMB for something, and I "haggled" him down to 25, which he totally laughed at. I probably should have told him I'd pay him like 10 for it, and see what he said. Since 5 kuai is somewhere around 10 cents, I saved myself some big bucks there. I just wanted to see if I could do it I guess, and I did, so I'll practice. Earlier in the day I went to Auchan, which is like Chinese wal-mart (yes timber, I went to wal-mart), and bought a rice cooker (78 RMB) and a cutting board (9RMB) and the like. I had to buy the rice cooker upstairs, then go through this huge maze to get downstairs to buy everything else (10RMB), where the girl tried to make me pay for the rice cooker again. At the grocery this morning, I tried to buy some dragonfruit, papaya and bananas, and I think I had to pay for those upstairs too because the girl wouldn't ring them up downstairs, but theres no cashier upstairs, so I'm not certain what she wanted. I'm going to have to go back tomorrow a.m. to try to get the dragonfruit though, they're so beautiful! I've had them dried a whole bunch, but never fresh and I'm excited to try it with the instant oatmeal (5RMB) I bought.

This afternoon Robynne and I went out to the foreign language bookstore. I wanted to buy a copy of Journey to the West, and while I was looking at the classic chinese lit section, this man walks over and starts talking to me in really good english about all the places he's been and things he's done, and the U.S. and lord knows what else. I was excited to have someone Chinese to speak to, so we were chatting and all of a sudden he was asking if I could sponsor him to come to the U.S. When I said no, he asked me if my father would, then my father's superior or inferior, and then my mother. Just when I was about to retort with a "no, YOUR mom", I bade him goodbye by grabbing my friend and hiding around a post downstairs from the part of the shop we had been. I then proceeded to make a scene at the cashier at the bookstore by attempting to buy only Vol 1 of Journey to the West when it only came in a six volume set. But, in order to tell me this phone calls were made and a group of Chinese students gathered behind us while we waited for someone who spoke English.
Eventually we made it out of the bookstore, and after getting sufficiently lost trying to find our way across the street through the pedestrian access underneath the intersection, stood in the middle of the bicycle lane to try to hail a cab. After five or so minutes and 15 full cabs went by, this guy peddling a rickshaw waved at us from across the street. After we pantomimed agreement to a ride, he risked life and limb to cross the street to come get us. The poor guy and his squeaky bike dragged us for a miserable and guilt ridden 10-15 minutes back to the hotel, upon which he demanded 60 RMB for the ride. Now, 60 RMB is about $10 USD. I've never even made this much money per hour, but we were feeling so guilty and stupid and tired that we just paid him the money and went home. I used my rice cooker to make us a deliciously bland soup of vermicelli noodles and some sort of chinese vegetable and tofu and am about to tuck myself in for the night with a book and maybe even a cup of tea.
nightnight!

ps

check out the flicker page for photos---the uploading to blogger stinks. The link is to the right of the page.

China no strike lightning double

Ok, so my last post was a little doom and gloom, but there have now been at least two good days in China--maybe three now. Monday and Tuesday were a bit rough, but it got better from there. Wednesday we had our first lecture and welcome banquet, which I think I wrote about. Then thursday we were in the outpatient clinic again with Dr. Xu, and I got to needle and cup a whole bunch. I was totally complimented by the Dr., patients and chinese interns about my technique, which is a really big honor. Then, I got more advice and help about it from the Dr., which was more complimentary than the compliments if that makes any sense. We went to dinner in this crazy huge mall---it's like pionner square fancy but Lloyd center size or bigger. After dinner we found a gelato place, which I think made my stomach hurt more than anything else I've eaten here. The only sad news I have about Thursday is that Happy Bike got stolen!!! A group of us had gone to dinner, and I had locked my bike together with two others and when we got out of the mall, all three had gotten stolen! I was pissed for a minute, but then I realized I spent like $20 on it, and they probably stole it because they saw us lock them and knew I was some weird looking white person--which honestly makes me more OK with it than blind theft. So, today we took a cab to and from clinic which was a really nice break for my bike butt. I will probably go bike and D lock shopping again tomorrow or sunday, but we'll see. I'd really like to figure out the bus system.

Today, friday, was AWESOME!!! This morning we did inpatient rounds, and heard a lecture about herbal injection treatment for cancer with ku shen and tu fu ling. Afterwards, we got to go out with Dr. Xu and another Dr, I think his name is Dr. Wang. They took us to this really close dumpling/noodle place which was delicious and simple and cheap. It was a really nice break from crazy spicy eggplant and peking duck and fried lotus etc etc etc. We got to talk to Dr. Xu a lot, and develop a pretty good rapport. She is going to Germany in a month or so for three months to set up a TCM wing for a hospital there. She speaks a little bit of german, but is nervous about the travel and will miss her family. We talked about all kinds of things from her job to family to structures of the medicine in the US and in China to how to find the bathroom if you don't know the difference between the men's and women's to herbal medicine theory. Then, this afternoon I got to go to the herbal dispensary where they showed us every single herb and their crazy awesome machine that decocts and packages the bulk herbs for the patients. Once I set up my clinic, I totally have to get one of those!

Tonight a bunch of us went out, back to the Jazz club where 4 of us went Tuesday night, and then to this crazy strip of nightclubs called "1912". The clubs are totally weird. There's no dance space, just all huge booths. Some guy gave me a shot of iced tea, and another guy was handing out sparklers. If you think white people have no rhythm, you should totally go to a nightclub in China---whoa. Some of the songs were in chinese, but some of them were weird disco remixed of songs like "stand by me". The second club we went to had bigger booths and each table got their own personal waiter who would hang out and dance with you and order stuff for you if you needed anything. He insisted on taking a bunch of pictures with us, and I totally love him---adorable!!!

But, dancing around a table in a big booth gets kind of ridiculous after a while, and we left after about an hour. So now I am freshly showered and winding down before my marathon night of sleep. It's supposed to rain like crazy here tomorrow, so our trip we planned to purple mountain (the Mt. Tabor of Nanjing) is going to be postponed until Sunday most likely. It's good, because honestly I have some laundry and reading and note transcribing to do. I hope to make it to the night market to get some crazy stuff if it's not raining too hard. Yay! Bring on the weekend!!!

Nanjing, day 3 (only?!)

So, after a complete meltdown last night, and a wonderful massage afterward, I realized that I am going through some pretty intense culture shock. Nothing is simple, everything seems like an ordeal and I always feel lost. I'm not sure how to explain how incredibly different it is here. People are wonderful and friendly, but at the same time unconcerned with you or your personal space. I'm not sure there is a cultural context for personal space. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies. For instance, riding in the bike traffic feels completely safe, but at the same time is a harrowing experience. I'll post a picture of it from this morning's commute for you...

<--so it's like that, for 45 minutes if we don't get lost, longer if we do. The flow of traffic is amazing. It is like a flock of birds or a school of fish--definitely an exercise in qi movement.
So, there is about 3-4 hours of bike riding per day so far, between the commute and getting around after clinic. I think it's good for me, but my legs are sore and getting more muscular by the second. When I was at the massage place the other night, the lady was doing some work on my legs, which was extremely ticklish but good for me. At one point she stopped and measured the circumference of my thigh and compared it with her own, mine was like a full thumb to forefinger larger than hers. We both had a good laugh. I think when she turned me over to work on my back, she did the same thing with my butt, but I couldn't tell for sure.

We had our first wednesday afternoon lecture, on acupuncture for emergency medicine. It was structured exactly like our TCM pathology classes back home, which was pretty funny. We learned about Coma, hiccups, and gallbladder attacks. I was pretty excited to learn about the coma stuff. I really hope that one day hospitals will allow acupuncture in emergency situations like this. There are too many people in comas from accidents or illnesses that could be helped by this simple procedure. And, how can it hurt?

In clinic, before the lecture, we did rounds in the inpatient hospital with our Dr., Dr Xu, who is incredibly nice. For you OCOMers, she is a lot like Hong Jin, plus a little bit of Zhenbo Li thrown in. She speaks english which is really very helpful. Her technique is beautiful, and I am excited to possibly start needling with her soon. So far we have seen a lot of sjogren's disease (sicca--an autoimmune disease that dries out the mucous membranes of the body, especially in the face), menopause, a few severe cancer cases, and a lot of shoulder pain. They do a lot of point injection therapy here, where they use an herb, mostly a lot of Huang Qi and inject it into acupuncture points. They use B12 as well, and then also a lot of herbs via IV. One man we saw with severe progressive liver cancer was on an IV of I believe toad skin venom. I asked for a list of the anti cancer herbs they use, and while I haven't been able to get them fully translated and find info about them yet, it seems like they're pretty toxic substances.

Ok, thats all the update I can do for now, I have to go to breakfast and start day 4. I'll try to get more pictures up soon, in all the overwhemledness, I honestly haven't been taking too many.

Some things I learned in Nanjing on day 3, and a poem

1. Never ask for directions with a map, or perhaps even without a map. Getting the directions takes longer than getting lost and then re-finding your way there.
2. Don't try to eat lunch somewhere without a phrase book, or at least a point and order menu.
3. Steamed buns are my friend, grease laden bok choy is not.
4. Bike bells blend with scooter horns which blend with other bike bells. If you really need someone to move, yell.
5. If you repeat what someone is saying to you, they assume you understand. Be careful what you might be saying yes to.
6. I love the massage house next door to the hotel.
7. Wear sneakers even if they look stupid with your outfit.
8. Chinese bubble tea is better than American bubble tea.
9. Smiling at people who stare makes them smile back and then stop staring.


Shanghai to Nanjing

I am in China and I am awake.
Gardens next to piles of rubbish
and buildings fourty, fifty, sixty
stories high.
like love stories, all cities are the same.
My eyes, heart, mouth hurt and are open, a-gape
with love.
She is my portland and I am her
Shanghai, Tokyo, Busan, Beijing, New York
We are the same woman, the same myth,
fantasies woven around each other like
laundry lines wrapped around buildings,
clothing drying and collecting bits of city in the fog.
My eyes are wet with the monsoon of this morning and
my feet covered with the stuff of city puddles
dried between my toes.
I am alive again and it hurts,
hurts like pacific riverbed covered by city structures
only in the last twenty years
like families separated on a holiday by work, time, and government.
like the glorious powerlessness of the ocean knocking you
down and down and down on the earth,
and then you look up.

Pics from the last post

Giant frosty melon, or cucumber, or something inside the veggie market

I'm pretty sure this one was giant cucumber










a shot of one of the stands in the market












Meat market, they're all alive and seem kind of unconcerned. Aside from looking uncomfortable and being really smelly, the animals seemed pretty much fine.




Everyone standing outside the ironic restaurant


Everyone inside








Dinner, Demolished!!









working in the fields makes me so happy!!




I'm not sure what these guys are doing, but they're happy doing it.

Nanjing, day 2

So, before I get started I think that until I solve the photo problem I am having, I am going to separate my photos from the text I write. I have also posted a link to my flickr page to the right where you can find all the photos I have taken, instead of just the select few to illustrate what I'm talking about in the blog. Ok, so text first and pictures later, so you know what you're looking at.

Today was an unexpected day of rest and orientation, as we arrived at the beginning of the full moon festival, a two day holiday here in China. We didn't put pomelo rinds on our heads, or carry brightly colored lanterns, but I did eat my fair share of moon cake over the last two days. So, you might be thinking of those little debbie things, but they are like nothing I have had in the states. It's sort of akin to a fig newton, but instead of a fig middle there is a sweet bean paste in the middle (or lamb, or chicken, or lord knows what--I had bean), and it's inside a little cake/dumpling/rugala type pastry. So, after breakfast a few of us wandered over to the bank where we exchanged money. This should have been a fairly simple transaction, but it took about 2.5 hours for the 7 of us to exchange our various forms of currency. It may or may not have taken less time were it not pension day. The bank looked like the DMV with about 10 older Chinese men sitting waiting for their number to be called. We ended up going to another bank just down the street where we witnessed an arrest. I was unfortunately still inside the bank, but I heard the man was being accused of stealing a turtle. I ended up signing my travelers checks on the wrong line (of course), and the bank teller came to find me at the hotel at the end of the day. I'm not sure if I should go back there to exchange the rest of them or not, but considering how long the transaction took, I might just use my atm card for cash from now on.
After the bank-stravaganza, then an awesome lunch on "noodle street", was a trip to the herb shop where in a hilarious display of shirades, my friends and I tried to explain what we wanted pills for. Along with our broken chinese pronunciation of the chinese formulas we knew, everyone left with the things we needed. Though the first ingredient in mine is translated to "a little bit of red", I have the utmost confidence that I will be feeling tip-top in a matter of days.
Then it was onto the outdoor/indoor market, where they sold lots of veggies and fruits, as well as other sundries and live fowl. I assume that they kill it for you in the market, but between the fish floating belly-up in the tanks at the stall next door, and the exquisite grief I was feeling for these poor animals, I didn't stick around to check it out.

My friend Diane and I haggled for some shoes and teacups, and then back to the hotel to meet for dinner. We went to this restaurant not far from the hotel by 'happy bike'. I don't know what it was called, but it was ironically themed to make fun of socialism, with pictures of happy workers on the wall and wait staff in uniform. The food was good, and again shared family style with a big lazy susan in the middle of the table and the waiters bringing dish after dish. We had steamed pumpkin, long beans, tofu with egg and chili, mung bean noodles, shrimp, and so much more.

A few of us decided to go out to "Nail jazz bar" where we got some drinks and a hookah and listened to what maybe wasn't jazz, but was certainly familiar renditions of "Girl from Ipanema" and "Strangers in the night". Then the lazy bike ride home, and here I am, waiting for the melatonin to kick in and get me to bed.

Tomorrow is our first day in clinic, and I have an acupuncture shift with Dr. Xu (pronounced choo, I think) who may speak English. After we prove ourselves able to find common acupuncture points and maybe a little bit of technique, we should get to needle. When we first got here, going back to clinic was the last thing on my mind, but now I'm glad to have that little bit of structure to keep me from wandering the streets haggling and eating noodles all day.

Ok, here goes the pictures...enjoy!!

China, day 1

Whew! What a crazy adventure of a trip! After 2 days of traveling, I am finally here in my little hotel room in Nanjing, China--my little home for the next 5 weeks. I will give you the rundown of the travel adventure:
Day 1: leave Portland airport at about 2pm, arrive in Tokyo/Narita approximately 10 hours, 2 and a half movies, one short lived nap and a scrabble game later. The Tokyo airport was amazing. There was an oxygen bar and a massage place, as well as a shower you could pay $5 USD to use for 30 minutes. One of the women I'm traveling with opted for the shower, several for the oxygen bar, a few for bowls of noodles. I went for the shopping and origami museum:

Origami village Origami cranes Origami dinosaurs! (my favorite)

Then, after the 2 hour layover and 2.5 hour flight from Tokyo to Shanghai, we collected our luggage and made our slow and unsteady way in a bus that smelled like smoke and smog to our hotel in Shanghai, about an hour or so from the airport. By this time it's around midnight China time, and about 6am Portland time. Needless to say, we were all exhausted and a little bit slaphappy. Here are some pictures of the Shanghai hotel.


The hotel building front, and two views from our room on the 20th floor.

In the morning was an incredible breakfast with the best congee I have ever had (like a rice porrige), humbao, dumplings, fried rice, sweet potato, boiled eggs and bok choy. YUM! Sorry, I didn't get to take any food pictures, I was too busy eating. Next was the reloading of the bus with all of us and our things, and a bus ride two blocks down until they realized that the bus was having a "problem" and they needed some time to fix it. So, we all got off and wandered about town. First we tried to go to a teashop right across the street, but it wasn't open until noon and it was about 10:30. So, we continued on to the Puhuang river, which we could only sort of see, but it was a nice walk none the less.


The bus that wouldn't, the teashop that wasn't, the bridge and river that were almost.

Some of the grit and some of the beauty of Shanghai. We got caught in the monsoon and bought colorful umbrellas for 8 quai (about $1).

By the time we had walked back to the bus, all was well and working and we got on for our trip to Nanjing, which took about 4 hours and some of my intestional integrity. We stopped for the bathroom and lunch at a truckstop where we tried to eat a cafeteria style. Lunch that was so salty and laced with MSG that most of us politely ate the rice and bites of the vegetable (whatever it was) and moved on. (No food pics here either, be thankful)

We arrived safely in Nanjing, and checked into our hotel. After a small reprieve from the travel and people shuttling, we met to walk to "bike street" and buy bikes for all 24 of us for the next 5 weeks. This took about 2 hours. My little fixie bike ended up costing me $215 quai, about $35USD and says "happy bike" on the side. I am totally in love with it and already scheming about how to get it back to Portland. Riding is an incredible experience, as there are about a million cyclists, mopeds, pedestrians, buses and taxis all competing for the same piece of road among poorly regulated traffic. There is a lot of honking and bell ringing. Here is happy bike
and some pictures of us this evening.


bike trying and buying---Happy Bike!!! Happy me! Happy Christine!

We locked all 23 bikes together outside the restaurant tonight, here we are all waiting to get seated for dinner.

So, that's it for now! Check back for more later--I'm going to try for at least once every evening, or every other. love!