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On the Road to China
with George... page 8
I'm sending these faster so I don't
lose them.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 6:42 AM
No one stayed for much longer than
3 or 4 days, so acquaintances were
short. People were always heading off in different directions.
But the hotel was a great source for information. Everyone
was sharing their experiences and giving each other advice.
One person might tell of their time down the gorge and the problems
they had encountered and someone else would be giving hints on
how to get to Tibet, or telling of a good place to stay in Beijing.
So, besides having people that spoke the same language, there
was a support system. The first time I was in Xian, I made
several friends, and the last night we had quite a party.
The second time I was in Xian, I spent more time with my Chinese
hosts, so i didn't make as many contacts. The funny thing
was, meeting people (westerners) on the street, the sense of camaraderie
was not the same. often when passing someone you might get
only a nod, and in busy places sometimes not even an acknowledgement.
When you met a person in the hotel, the conversation might go
like this. Where you from. The states (I found
very few Americans traveling in China) oh where in the states,
FloridaI got an uncle in Fort Myers, I'm from Germany (or where
ever) if they were from Italy or Germany you always mentioned
the world cup.then of course, talk went to where they had beenthen
where they were goingand where you had been and where you were
going. Then the conversation might (or might not) take off from
there. The conversations always seemed to last longer in the afternoon,
(after a day of sightseeing)when most everyone was drinking down
Hans Beer in the lobby or in the restaurant. I have been
told that there are hostels and hotels like this all over China
and the world Just follow the "lonely Planet"
Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:20 AM
Subject: china, medical
While I was teaching in YanAn there
were quite a few people that were sick. Samantha?s
staff all seemed to be sick at one time or another, both colds
and stomach problems. I blame both problems on the dorm
food, the food looked to be sitting around for long lengths of
time and the cafeteria works did not look all that professional.
I ate twice in the cafeteria, as Tony my brother in law would
say, my first and last time. I had good luck with my stomach,
I restricted my eating, as much as I could, to food I could see
being cooked and if I found a good place, I returned often.
I had also brought two jars of peanut butter, I had a large can
of walnuts, and I had a big bag of dried cherries, locally I purchased
dried fruit and ate the fruit from the outside corner markets
as much as I could. I did catch a cold after I ran out of
peanut butter and when I returned to Xian, where there were much
fewer fruits available.
One of the staff broke her ankle. The third day after the
students arrived we had a field trip to see Mao?s cave, Jan the
teacher from Australia slipped of a curb, initially she thought
it was no more than a sprain. As a health teacher, they asked
me what they should do, I said ice it down. Well ice is't
easy to come by in China. She went to her room, and I don't
think she had ice on the leg for more than 10 minutes, predictably,
her foot swelled up like a grapefruit. She spent the
next 5 days in her room, watching Chinese television, which
can be interesting, for about an hour. This is a good case
for bring a few good books to read, one never knows when or where
you might be left in a difficult place. After Jan left I
was fortunate enough to receive a copy of a Garrison Kiellor book
from one of the English instructors I met from the University
of YanAn (I had to promise to mail it back to her). I finished
Lake Wobegone Days on the return flight. Finding a book
written in English is like finding dolphins in Wyoming, so I am
greatly indebted to her. At the entrance of the campus,
I found a news stand that sold the English newspaper,
The China Daily. The paper was
a little bias, but very informative. When
teaching the teenagers, I used it as an instructional aid.
But I never knew when it would arrive, two or three days would
go by before one would arrive, then there would be three days
worth, none of them would be up to date. They would be as
much as a week old, but, quite welcome. To re-paraphrase, ?old
news was good news.? After five days of sitting in her room
watching Chinese TV, (there was an English news program on from
7 to 8 A.M.) and an occasional visit from her students, Samantha
decided that Jan needed to go to the doctor. With the help
of one of the counselors she limped down the six flights and they
arranged to have a cab waiting for her. After
a doctor?s exam and an x-ray, he determined she had indeed broken
the foot. The doctor said he could set it for her, but he
recommended going back to Xian, apparently they do referrals in
China too. Unfortunately Xian is a 5 hour train ride.
After her trip we never saw her again, she returned to Australia.
In the second week we were all rather worn and tired, I claimed
a stomach problem and took a morning off to get recharged, I felt
much better afterwards. Erica, the other American, was also sick.
She had a kidney problem; she missed two days and probably should
have missed more. The toilets at the school were in terrible
condition, not much better than pits and they had a very bad odor
(so bad, I didn't want to teach in the classroom next door). I
found myself waiting until I could get back to the hotel room
to use my clean toilet.
I suspect Erica and the rest of the staff were doing the same,
I don?t know if this contributed to her problem, but she was in
pain. Even after she left, she was still recovering; I haven?t
heard from her, I hope she has recovered. The second week,
Horton, a staff member was assigned to help me, I supposedly had
the more difficult younger hyperactive students, so he was my
aid, and he was a great help. He was 16 years old, going
on 30. Samantha had also given him the responsibility of
organizing the expenses. While we were in class, he was
totaling up the camp's recent medical bills. So
I was curious to know, so he told me the x-ray for Jan cost 95
rmb?s (about $11) and he said the doctor cost 4 rmb?s (about 35
cents),
I couldn't believe it, I had to ask him 4 or 5 times, I
kept saying you mean 400 rmb?s don?t you? but, he assured me,
I finally had to look at the receipt, sure enough, 4 rmb?s.
The total medical expenses for the entire camp was less than 200
rmb?s (less than $25.), that included Jan and three staff members.
But, here?s the thing, they don?t take Blue Cross and Blue Shield. After
I ran out of peanut butter, walnuts and dried fruit, I came down
with a cold. The cold started in YanAn but got worse in
Xian. Janet was concerned, and a couple of times she suggested
I go to the doctor. More than once, she harped on the virtues
of Chinese natural medicines. In the United States when
we go to the doctor, we usually have a serious ailment; after
all it takes an appointment, a long wait in the reception area,
a lot of paperwork and requires clean underwear, so say nothing
of the bill that might require a second mortgage. Let?s face it;
you have to be half dead to go through all that.
So I might have been skeptical and reluctant if I had not
seen the bills for the camp that Horton had been working with.
So, though I did pretended not to be enthusiastic, I was actually
rather curious to see what natural Chinese medicine was like.
Once I consented, Janet who didn?t know the area all that
well, asked around for the best Doctor in neighborhood.
We headed west out of the hotel, after about two blocks on a small
tree lined street, we found the office. It was Wednesday,
he was closed on Wednesday. After a few more questions of
the locals, we reversed our direction past the hotel, and found
the second best natural Chinese doctor in the neighborhood.
He had a storefront office, which apparently doubled as a pharmacy,
because all along the wall were small boxes of medicine.
The doctor had two assistants behind the counter. The doctor wore
a white lab coat, a garment that had seen better days, it was
frayed, and though clean, there were a few stains that the laundry
had had trouble removing. He looked more like a soda jerk
who?d been having a bad day. He was about
5 foot one and couldn't have weighted more than 100 pounds.
I would be very concerned for him in a strong
wind. But, he was pleasant enough,
while Janet explained my symptoms to him in Chinese. He
eye balled me from about 3 feet away and took out his thermometer
and told Janet to put it under may arm. He made a quick
diagnosis, because before he had finished taking my temp, he had
grabbed something off one of the shelves. At
this point I expected him to go into the back room and start grinding
leaves or roots or something, or maybe mix up some exotic potion,
but no, apparently he had everything mixed up in advance.
He handed me a small white pre-packaged box and told me to take
two every 4 hours. As I reached for my glasses, I could
see the box was covered with Chinese characters, but there was
something small in the corner written in English. With my
glasses on I could read the label clearly, which said Johnson
& Johnson and in the other corner there were two small yellow
pills that read Tylenol Cold. I didn't have the heart tell
Janet that this is what I had been taking for the past two days.
The cost for 8 pills was 12 rmb's or about $1, I didn't need them,
but the cost was so cheep, I thought it might be worth stocking
up. Hell, somebody could make money transporting them back
to the States. Once I started taking them, Janet was sure
that I would recover soon. She had great confidence in ancient
Chinese medicine.
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