October fall leaves, PDX
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
I am so happy and so blessed to be in Portland right now. China was great, Korea will be fantastic, but Portland right now is breathtaking.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
peace out, China
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Back in time to Portland
On the airplane back to Portland….
This trip has been so good for me. I feel so solid in my person, in my feelings and plans. I feel infinitely healthier and happier and more optimistic. I feel more secure about my relationships and their future, and feel all right about leaving the past in the past. I feel ready to reaffirm my friendships in Portland and build new ones elsewhere—abroad and in the states perhaps. I feel open to whatever will happen, and that is a fantastic feeling.
China was a challenge, for sure. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. A mysteriously sprained and then kindly and miraculously healed ankle. Then “travel sickness”, then the flu, then more travel sickness, then gastritis, then deep and incessant phlegm that I am bringing home with me on the plane as I type.
I am changed by this country, I am changed by China. She has made her way into my body for sure, and also my spirit. I am unable to even outline all the ways in which I think I’ve been affected, it is infinite. I feel so deliciously blessed to have been there, to have graduated and then to have contextualized everything I have learned about Chinese medicine with clinical experience IN China. So much of it is so much more clear having seen where it comes from, and also extreme ways in which it can be used. Having talked about a patient with ‘yang type’ jaundice and then needling a patient who is the color of orange juice are completely different things. To have talked about using herbs and acupuncture for cancer and to have seen herbal IV drips for a pulmonary cancer patient and then needling her are worlds apart. My confidence in the medicine and myself have increased exponentially, as has my inspiration. I have thousands of ideas swimming in my head of not only what I might be able to accomplish in my practice, but also how I want to accomplish that. I now know that it IS possible to have a desk, a prescription pad and a pulse pillow and write fifty formulas in a morning—and have patients rave about what a great doctor you are---all using Shan Han Lun modifications. I know that with the right spirit, a smile and genuine concern, patients in the most dire circumstances will not only benefit from acupuncture, but consider you a friend and partner in their healing. I was so impressed by the doctors I met and worked with. Their true compassion, wisdom and joyousness shined through with each interaction. They work hard and long hours, but they love what they do and I can see why---it is so gratifying. The OCOM clinical experience was wonderful, but nothing like what I have seen and done in China and I can’t imagine starting a practice without that reference point.
I am so grateful. And I will read and re-read this post many times throughout the years as I pay off my student loans and grumble about the cost.
Yesterday, we were in Shanghai having our last day in China—which was perfect. I started out with a leisurely breakfast of fruit, tea and toast in the dining room. I think I lounged there for about 1.5 hours. Then I went off myself on an erhu search. An Erhu is a 2 stringed Chinese instrument that is played similarly to the cello, but is much much much smaller. After nearly being pick pocketed for my umbrella and sunglasses by this younger Chinese guy who looked incredibly strung out on something or other, I took the metro three stops to Huangpi road and Huaihui lu, one of the major shopping districts of Shanghai. I had 2 hours before I was supposed to meet some friends for lunch, and I was on a mission. I walked down the major street for quite a while and saw lots of fun stuff, yoga dancing and the fancy shopping mall and lots of amazing Chinese fashion. I decided I probably wasn’t going to find an erhu in times square, so I turned down a side street that looked relatively promising as far as cheaper items go. I found a sock shop where I got some great stuff, and after a great exchange with the shop lady (who told me my very limited Chinese was good!), I asked her where I could find an erhu. She pointed me exactly to it and even wrote down the name of the street in Chinese. I walked just three or so blocks and found a fancy instrument shop with everything from erhus to baby grands. I had limited myself to a rather small erhu budget, so I wasn’t sold on the spendy instruments and after a brief demonstration; I kept walking and told myself I would think about it. After winding around a few corners and seeing a few more things I decided that it would be silly to pass up the instrument over a couple hundred kuai, and made my way back to the street I had been on. Just when I thought I knew where I was, I saw an instrument shop on the other side of the street and crossed to check it out. I thought perhaps I was more turned around than I thought and that it was the same one I had been in. It was not though, and their erhus were a little bit cheaper! Hurray! So I shelled out and bought it and was thrilled with my purchase. I was right on schedule, so after hailing a cab I made my way to “Face” or “la visage” as I would rather say. I think my favorite thing about Face was that it is international and could probably be called the word for “face” in any language. We had a fantastic lunch that was about $40 US, so given that price in CHINA, you can imagine how delicious it was. We got the thing on the menu that said you “have to try this dish!” and I was so glad I did. It was leisurely and breezy and loungealicious as the four of us sat by the open window and chatted casually about medicine and travel and watched the children play on the lawn.
Then three of us went to the yuyuan gardens, which were definitely more structure than garden and perhaps more fish than people if that is possible considering the thousands of people that were there.
It was also the busiest shopping square/open market I have ever seen. I’m still too overwhelmed to even think about it.
Then cab back to the hotel to quickly shower before our last dinner all together for Beijing duck. The meal was all in all pretty good, but I don’t think that duck is my thing.
A few of us walked around the street the restaurant was on to do some last minute shopping and blow the rest of our kuai. I found the best hats ever and got matching ones for Timber and I for 3 kuai each---that’s like .50 cents! I’m wearing mine on the flight home and can’t wait to give her her’s. They’re black and have off black lettering in what I think might be Portuguese, but the best part is the opaque black vinyl rims. I was going to buy one, but when they rang it up and it was 3 kuai and not 9 like the sticker said I ran downstairs and got a second one. Between that and the iced tea I bought today in the airport I successfully spent most of my kuai.
Then home to re-pack, and an excited and light sleep. I was up with the morning call at 6am feeling like it was Christmas, and now here I am flying to Tokyo and then home. I have loved every minute of this trip but would not have wanted it a day longer or a day shorter.
This trip has been so good for me. I feel so solid in my person, in my feelings and plans. I feel infinitely healthier and happier and more optimistic. I feel more secure about my relationships and their future, and feel all right about leaving the past in the past. I feel ready to reaffirm my friendships in Portland and build new ones elsewhere—abroad and in the states perhaps. I feel open to whatever will happen, and that is a fantastic feeling.
China was a challenge, for sure. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. A mysteriously sprained and then kindly and miraculously healed ankle. Then “travel sickness”, then the flu, then more travel sickness, then gastritis, then deep and incessant phlegm that I am bringing home with me on the plane as I type.
I am changed by this country, I am changed by China. She has made her way into my body for sure, and also my spirit. I am unable to even outline all the ways in which I think I’ve been affected, it is infinite. I feel so deliciously blessed to have been there, to have graduated and then to have contextualized everything I have learned about Chinese medicine with clinical experience IN China. So much of it is so much more clear having seen where it comes from, and also extreme ways in which it can be used. Having talked about a patient with ‘yang type’ jaundice and then needling a patient who is the color of orange juice are completely different things. To have talked about using herbs and acupuncture for cancer and to have seen herbal IV drips for a pulmonary cancer patient and then needling her are worlds apart. My confidence in the medicine and myself have increased exponentially, as has my inspiration. I have thousands of ideas swimming in my head of not only what I might be able to accomplish in my practice, but also how I want to accomplish that. I now know that it IS possible to have a desk, a prescription pad and a pulse pillow and write fifty formulas in a morning—and have patients rave about what a great doctor you are---all using Shan Han Lun modifications. I know that with the right spirit, a smile and genuine concern, patients in the most dire circumstances will not only benefit from acupuncture, but consider you a friend and partner in their healing. I was so impressed by the doctors I met and worked with. Their true compassion, wisdom and joyousness shined through with each interaction. They work hard and long hours, but they love what they do and I can see why---it is so gratifying. The OCOM clinical experience was wonderful, but nothing like what I have seen and done in China and I can’t imagine starting a practice without that reference point.
I am so grateful. And I will read and re-read this post many times throughout the years as I pay off my student loans and grumble about the cost.
Yesterday, we were in Shanghai having our last day in China—which was perfect. I started out with a leisurely breakfast of fruit, tea and toast in the dining room. I think I lounged there for about 1.5 hours. Then I went off myself on an erhu search. An Erhu is a 2 stringed Chinese instrument that is played similarly to the cello, but is much much much smaller. After nearly being pick pocketed for my umbrella and sunglasses by this younger Chinese guy who looked incredibly strung out on something or other, I took the metro three stops to Huangpi road and Huaihui lu, one of the major shopping districts of Shanghai. I had 2 hours before I was supposed to meet some friends for lunch, and I was on a mission. I walked down the major street for quite a while and saw lots of fun stuff, yoga dancing and the fancy shopping mall and lots of amazing Chinese fashion. I decided I probably wasn’t going to find an erhu in times square, so I turned down a side street that looked relatively promising as far as cheaper items go. I found a sock shop where I got some great stuff, and after a great exchange with the shop lady (who told me my very limited Chinese was good!), I asked her where I could find an erhu. She pointed me exactly to it and even wrote down the name of the street in Chinese. I walked just three or so blocks and found a fancy instrument shop with everything from erhus to baby grands. I had limited myself to a rather small erhu budget, so I wasn’t sold on the spendy instruments and after a brief demonstration; I kept walking and told myself I would think about it. After winding around a few corners and seeing a few more things I decided that it would be silly to pass up the instrument over a couple hundred kuai, and made my way back to the street I had been on. Just when I thought I knew where I was, I saw an instrument shop on the other side of the street and crossed to check it out. I thought perhaps I was more turned around than I thought and that it was the same one I had been in. It was not though, and their erhus were a little bit cheaper! Hurray! So I shelled out and bought it and was thrilled with my purchase. I was right on schedule, so after hailing a cab I made my way to “Face” or “la visage” as I would rather say. I think my favorite thing about Face was that it is international and could probably be called the word for “face” in any language. We had a fantastic lunch that was about $40 US, so given that price in CHINA, you can imagine how delicious it was. We got the thing on the menu that said you “have to try this dish!” and I was so glad I did. It was leisurely and breezy and loungealicious as the four of us sat by the open window and chatted casually about medicine and travel and watched the children play on the lawn.
Then three of us went to the yuyuan gardens, which were definitely more structure than garden and perhaps more fish than people if that is possible considering the thousands of people that were there.
It was also the busiest shopping square/open market I have ever seen. I’m still too overwhelmed to even think about it.
Then cab back to the hotel to quickly shower before our last dinner all together for Beijing duck. The meal was all in all pretty good, but I don’t think that duck is my thing.
A few of us walked around the street the restaurant was on to do some last minute shopping and blow the rest of our kuai. I found the best hats ever and got matching ones for Timber and I for 3 kuai each---that’s like .50 cents! I’m wearing mine on the flight home and can’t wait to give her her’s. They’re black and have off black lettering in what I think might be Portuguese, but the best part is the opaque black vinyl rims. I was going to buy one, but when they rang it up and it was 3 kuai and not 9 like the sticker said I ran downstairs and got a second one. Between that and the iced tea I bought today in the airport I successfully spent most of my kuai.
Then home to re-pack, and an excited and light sleep. I was up with the morning call at 6am feeling like it was Christmas, and now here I am flying to Tokyo and then home. I have loved every minute of this trip but would not have wanted it a day longer or a day shorter.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Day one in Shanghai
So I am in my hotel room and the power has gone out in the building. This would have been less of a big deal in Nanjing, because I would have known where the staircase is and simply gone down the 4 flights of stairs and outside to see what’s what. But, I’m in Shanghai and it’s a little scary. But, I won’t write about that to validate my fear because I have this strange feeling that situations like this is where Stephen King gets his inspiration and I would like nothing to do with that. I am just thankful that my computer still works and that I have a full battery that should last until I decide it’s time for bed. I don’t think I did justice to the acrobatic show in my last post, so I’ll start with that. It was the perfect end to a hectic feeling sort of day. After trying unsuccessfully to hail a cab for about 20 minutes, we decided to hop on the bus and bus/walk to the theater. It was a largish theater, I’d say Schnitz size.
Whew…ok, the lights are back on. That was fast, thankfully.
The theater was full of westerners, or laowai as they/I like to call us. It was kind of bizarre to see so many white people all in one place. I think going back to Portland is going to be a trip (haha). I’ll be excited to be in Asia again, I’ve gotten pretty used to it. So the first act was these guys jumping through impossibly small hoops. They kept building them higher and higher. Then these amazing women with these yo-yos they have here…the same kind as the one the guy is using in that video I have on my flicker. But, they were all in sync, and throwing them in the air and to each other, it was beautiful. Then some comedic knife throwing, and some jumping up in the air on a see-saw thingy. I think my favorite though, which I have a picture of, is the couple doing flying acrobatics on the pieces of fabric. They were lovely. The most impossible seeming were the women who balanced themselves on precariously stacked chairs about 10 high and then all proceeded to do handstands. I have a picture of that too. I kept saying “don’t do it don’t do it!” “get down get down!”, which is pretty unlike me for acrobatics. All in all it was great. I think cirque de soleil is better, but this didn’t have any of the cirque theatrics or music or costumes, so it is hard to compare.
I took a cab home afterwards with some other ladies and slept alllllll night, which was great as I’d had nothing to eat that day except a croissant I ate after the show and before bed. My stomach is a lot better today and I have feasted in comparison to the last few days.
Today I got up and ate breakfast (yay! Tea and toast!). Then a bunch of us set out on an adventure via metro to the Shanghai erotica museum. It was a display of relics from all through Chinese history, some amusing some lovely and some downright weird. They even had a nice little display about homosexuality and a little statement about how we shouldn't judge people. Go China! I have a bunch of pictures. If you’re not squeamish about things like large and very unsanitary ancient ahem “tools”, go ahead and look. If you’re my parents, well, you can look too, I am 27 after all. (Hi mom! Hi dad!)
Then we went through the Bund’s crazy underwater tunnel, which was this little pod-like ride through this insanely lit tunnel. There was a warning all about how you shouldn’t go through if you were an array of things like: drunk, mentally unstable, shirtless, obnoxious, pregnant, etc…”. Some of them did, and some of them did not make sense. We came out on the other side on the Bund, a collection of very out of place looking European buildings built when Shanghai was being colonized by Europe.
We finally made our way to an awesome vegetarian Buddhist restaurant where I ate more than I have in a while, GI problems or no. Even the white rice was good, and it was cheap for a meal like that! $35 RMB, which is like $5 USD.
Then an adventure with Beth to find the metro to get back to the hotel and shoshi (rest). We wandered for a while and found the Shanghai art museum which we saw the outside of. The Shanghai Bienniale is going on right now and today there was a line that wrapped around the building to get in. I might try to check it out tomorrow, but we’ll see about that line. We saw some great art on the outside of the building though, and eventually made our way back to the hotel. My long awaited shoshi didn’t happen however, as I had made it my mission at some point earlier in the day to see the symphony in Shanghai. I think it might have been when we passed the out of place looking statue of J.S. Bach. So I went down to the front desk and tried to navigate my way through language to some information about the symphony. All this was unsuccessful. Eventually I got my computer with internet back from Robynne who had used it during the day and we found a great performance that four of us went to this evening. It was called “Modern and Classic; The Oriental Angels”. It was a group of six women playing various Chinese instruments. It was beautiful! It was really nice to see because some of the Chinese music I’d seen to this point was pretty terrible. There was this one woman who was definitely “first zither” who had a solo where she played it like a possessed woman. It was great to see something played with that much passion, especially in China where all the women are supposed to be gentile, shy and lovely. The cab ride there was across the river to the Pudong district of Shanghai, all of which has been built within the last 20 years, before which it had been farmland. The cab ride itself was wonderful. Shanghai has some impressive and beautiful buildings with more lights than you would ever expect. Some of the buildings are striped with rainbow colored lights that flash and ripple and bounce off other surrounding buildings. Others have tetris-like lights stacking against their sides, some only have the top few floors lit so that it seems like it floats above the city. It really is beautiful, though it kind of inspires a “what the hell are we doing” sort of feeling.
So now I’m in Shanghai-home, with the room to myself and it is lovely. After posting this and futzing with my pictures on flickr, I might take a shower and head to bed before it’s breakfast time tomorrow and my last day in China—on this trip anyhow.
This is my favorite picture of the day. I love photos with Robynne!
Whew…ok, the lights are back on. That was fast, thankfully.
The theater was full of westerners, or laowai as they/I like to call us. It was kind of bizarre to see so many white people all in one place. I think going back to Portland is going to be a trip (haha). I’ll be excited to be in Asia again, I’ve gotten pretty used to it. So the first act was these guys jumping through impossibly small hoops. They kept building them higher and higher. Then these amazing women with these yo-yos they have here…the same kind as the one the guy is using in that video I have on my flicker. But, they were all in sync, and throwing them in the air and to each other, it was beautiful. Then some comedic knife throwing, and some jumping up in the air on a see-saw thingy. I think my favorite though, which I have a picture of, is the couple doing flying acrobatics on the pieces of fabric. They were lovely. The most impossible seeming were the women who balanced themselves on precariously stacked chairs about 10 high and then all proceeded to do handstands. I have a picture of that too. I kept saying “don’t do it don’t do it!” “get down get down!”, which is pretty unlike me for acrobatics. All in all it was great. I think cirque de soleil is better, but this didn’t have any of the cirque theatrics or music or costumes, so it is hard to compare.
I took a cab home afterwards with some other ladies and slept alllllll night, which was great as I’d had nothing to eat that day except a croissant I ate after the show and before bed. My stomach is a lot better today and I have feasted in comparison to the last few days.
Today I got up and ate breakfast (yay! Tea and toast!). Then a bunch of us set out on an adventure via metro to the Shanghai erotica museum. It was a display of relics from all through Chinese history, some amusing some lovely and some downright weird. They even had a nice little display about homosexuality and a little statement about how we shouldn't judge people. Go China! I have a bunch of pictures. If you’re not squeamish about things like large and very unsanitary ancient ahem “tools”, go ahead and look. If you’re my parents, well, you can look too, I am 27 after all. (Hi mom! Hi dad!)
Then we went through the Bund’s crazy underwater tunnel, which was this little pod-like ride through this insanely lit tunnel. There was a warning all about how you shouldn’t go through if you were an array of things like: drunk, mentally unstable, shirtless, obnoxious, pregnant, etc…”. Some of them did, and some of them did not make sense. We came out on the other side on the Bund, a collection of very out of place looking European buildings built when Shanghai was being colonized by Europe.
We finally made our way to an awesome vegetarian Buddhist restaurant where I ate more than I have in a while, GI problems or no. Even the white rice was good, and it was cheap for a meal like that! $35 RMB, which is like $5 USD.
Then an adventure with Beth to find the metro to get back to the hotel and shoshi (rest). We wandered for a while and found the Shanghai art museum which we saw the outside of. The Shanghai Bienniale is going on right now and today there was a line that wrapped around the building to get in. I might try to check it out tomorrow, but we’ll see about that line. We saw some great art on the outside of the building though, and eventually made our way back to the hotel. My long awaited shoshi didn’t happen however, as I had made it my mission at some point earlier in the day to see the symphony in Shanghai. I think it might have been when we passed the out of place looking statue of J.S. Bach. So I went down to the front desk and tried to navigate my way through language to some information about the symphony. All this was unsuccessful. Eventually I got my computer with internet back from Robynne who had used it during the day and we found a great performance that four of us went to this evening. It was called “Modern and Classic; The Oriental Angels”. It was a group of six women playing various Chinese instruments. It was beautiful! It was really nice to see because some of the Chinese music I’d seen to this point was pretty terrible. There was this one woman who was definitely “first zither” who had a solo where she played it like a possessed woman. It was great to see something played with that much passion, especially in China where all the women are supposed to be gentile, shy and lovely. The cab ride there was across the river to the Pudong district of Shanghai, all of which has been built within the last 20 years, before which it had been farmland. The cab ride itself was wonderful. Shanghai has some impressive and beautiful buildings with more lights than you would ever expect. Some of the buildings are striped with rainbow colored lights that flash and ripple and bounce off other surrounding buildings. Others have tetris-like lights stacking against their sides, some only have the top few floors lit so that it seems like it floats above the city. It really is beautiful, though it kind of inspires a “what the hell are we doing” sort of feeling.
So now I’m in Shanghai-home, with the room to myself and it is lovely. After posting this and futzing with my pictures on flickr, I might take a shower and head to bed before it’s breakfast time tomorrow and my last day in China—on this trip anyhow.
This is my favorite picture of the day. I love photos with Robynne!
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