A Visit to the Chinese Hospital...

So lately I've been suffering from headaches with blurry vision.  It happened one night while I was on shift, so I decided I should probably tell the nurse at work and ask for her advice.  I climb in and out of vessels a lot, and doing that while you can't really see out of one eye is not the safest thing to do...


The nurse calls our contracted medical service that helps us find decent care in the areas where we are assigned. I go to Central Liaoyang Hospital.  I wait for a translator, because I had a feeling the doctors wouldn't speak english, and then I'm on my way.  You get to the hospital and to see a doctor you have to pay 1 RNB.  You give a paper with a number to a doctor and they ask you preliminary questions.  It's kind of a screening doctor who will eventually tell you where to go.


I sit down, luckily there is no line.  It was too early in the morning I guess.  The doctor asks me if I have any heart problems.  I answer no.  The doctor takes my blood pressure and listens to my heart.  All are ok.  She asks me if I sleep enough.  I tell her I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.  She asks if I have a stomach ache or stomach pain.  I tell her no.  She tells me it might be a brain tumor so I need a CT scan.  I pay cash because they won't take my insurance.  It cost me 330 RNB (~$49).  Cheap huh??


I go to the hallway where the CT scans are.  My translator helps to figure out where I register.  Then I wait in line.  The woman in front of me can barely stand on her own.  She's much older.  The three people behind me are wrapped like mummies and in bed covered with blankets.  I go in, jump onto the table, lay still for a couple of minutes and then jump off.  


Four hours later we come back for my results.  My brain is healthy.  Yay?  So we go back to the first doctor I saw to give her the results.  We have to wait in line for about 20 minutes.  There are people crowding around the desk and shoving their papers in front of the doctor's face hoping that she'll grab theirs next.  Eventually she takes my scans.  At this point everyone in the room becomes silent.  They all want to hear what's wrong with the white girl.  These two or three women make me sit in the chair next to the doctor's desk.  Then they start poking, like I'm not human or something.  It would've been SUPER annoying if I was actually sick.  The doctor looks at the scans and then tells me that my headaches occur because of nervousness and lack of sleep.  Then she pats me on the back and tells me to sleep more.


Thanks for ruling out a brain tumor.  I really appreciate it... :-/

A Quick Trip to Beijing

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog.  I realize that it has been a month since I've updated, but I have been pretty busy with work.  Sadly we are not even half way done with the project, but the pace has picked up some and I'm hoping to make it back for Christmas.  But I won't hold my breath.  I'm thinking more like January...

Last week on my couple days off I went to Beijing for a break from the north.  It was wonderful!  I had a cheeseburger (I miss western food), Starbucks and ice cream!  There were malls every where.  I got to shop for gifts for people.  And best of all I spent all of Thursday doing touristy sight-seeing activities.  I went to Ming Tombs, which is where the emperor's from the Ming Dynasty are buried.  I went to a jade factory and got to watch people make sculptures and jewelry out of jade.  I taught a bunch of foreigners how to use chopsticks at lunch.  That was interesting...  They called me the expert because I knew how to deal with a traditional chinese lunch where you share all of the dishes and take what you want.  The Danish guy sitting next to me was complaining about the quality of the beer... Ha!  I don't know what he expected...

We also went to the Great Wall.  It wasn't the nicest day out - very smoggy and hazy, but I tried to take some pictures.  I'll have to upload those later - my internet connection is not cooperating.

After the Great Wall we stopped at the Olympic Village from the 2008 Olympic games.  And then we made our way to a Tea House where we got to partake in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony.  It was really neat and everything was a really nice break from work.

Chinese Field Trip!

 One of our translators was nice enough to offer to be a guide to us for a morning the other day.  We went to a nearby reservoir to get away from the city.  I had to give up sleep to go.  Normally I come home from work around 8:45am and then get ready for bed.  Not on Thursday!  The reservoir itself was nice.  It was quiet and I’m sure if there had been less haze it would’ve been beautiful.  I don’t understand how one country can pollute the air so much.  It really is insane.  Anyway, Robert and I hiked up a hill while our translator washed her car.  Then we drove to the other side of the reservoir where there was a park type area. 

At one point we made a bathroom break.  From far away the restroom building looked like a little church chapel.  Sadly as you approached it, it did not smell like a church chapel.  You know it’s bad when the Chinese girl rolls up her pant legs to go in.  I decided not to brave it.  I was informed it was just a hole that led to no where, hence the smell.  Gross…

We ended our field trip with lunch.  A rather interesting lunch.  The first part was a bean paste type dumpling that was wrapped in an oak leaf.  Some of you may not believe me – but yes it was an oak leaf.  I was surrounded by oak trees for a good portion of my life, so I know what the leaves look like.  You had to peel the dumpling-like thing out of the leaf and eat it.  It didn’t taste too bad.  There were also fried shrimp – the whole shrimp.  And you don’t pick it apart.  You eat the whole thing.  Same goes for these fried fish we had.  Those actually were really tasty when dipped in soy sauce and garlic.  There was a plate of vegetables, which looked more like a plate of weeds to me.  There was meat gelatin.  I decided to skip out on that one.  I did like the scrambled eggs with onion and cabbage.  I survived the lunch – that’s what my goal was.  Go me!

Up front and to left - Meat Gelatin.  Front right - scrambled eggs with green onion. Center - whole fried fish

Googley Eyed Shrimp

Liaoyang China

Well I made it.  However, if you read my blog regularly you may not know where I am because I've been pretty bad about updating.  I am now in Liaoyang China.  I made it here on Thursday October 7.  It took a few days to get here.  I left from Chicago on October 5th at 8:40am, landed in San Francisco around 10:40 or so - still on October 5th.  Took off for Beijing around 11:50am (San Francisco time) and landed at 3:00pm on October 6th.  Somewhere I skipped a half a day.  Spent the night in Beijing, took another plane the next day to get to Shenyang and then someone from the company we are working with took us to Liaoyang.

China is.... well... interesting.  The first thing you notice is how overcast/smoggy it is.  In Liaoyang you can normally see the sun, which is nice.  But it is smoggy.  You can't see the hills just outside of town.  I didn't even know they were there until we drove by them on the way home from work yesterday.

Liaoyang is a "small" town in China, only a population of 1.7 million.  A lot of the stores close around 6pm and the streets are empty by 11pm.  There are hardly any quiet moments during the day.  There is constant honking.  The driving here is absolutely insane.  Any chance that you have to get ahead of someone else, you take.  I think that pretty much sums up how people drive.  Oh - and lanes mean nothing here.  It is scary.

Going to do a little sight-seeing today.  I'll take lots of pictures.