Got home last Saturday afternoon. Finally beginning to feel like the jet lag is going away somewhat. It was really brutal. Every afternoon this week I have felt like a total zombie. Naps are totally wasted on children. It was really an amazing trip. Lots of food for thought. China is a vibrant fascinating country. Wish we had gotten to see some more rural areas or small towns. Though to them, a small town is about the size of where I live now in the Twin Cities. Tried to explain to our translators that here a small town is like 10,000 or 20,000 people.

Will have to go back again sometime and maybe see some other places. It is such a huge country.

But for now, I think I can retire this goal as accomplished.

Here’s the link to my photos on flickr again. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahweaver/sets/72157616667124150/ Still have 2 more days of pics to upload. And am gradually trying to label everything. Enjoy! 4 years ago

overload. Today was the last day in the hospital. Had a great lecture today on treating gynecological diseases. Had a little closing ceremony and met the president of the university briefly. They really rolled out the red carpet for us here on this trip because our teachers who organized the trip are so well respected here and were students of the man who is now president of the university. Not all international students get this treatment. There are students here from Russia, Latin America, Africa. This place is a big deal especially for stroke treatment. 4 years ago

Today we spent the morning in an outpatient pediatric clinic and then some time in the inpatient pediatric ward. The pediatric department here at the first hospital of TJU is famous for treating pediatric viral myocarditis which doesn’t show up in external signs very clearly so they use western diagnostic methods to determine if it is present but then do TCM pattern dx anyway and prescribe Chinese herbs because western medicine doesn’t have very good treatments for viral infections.

We saw some kids with colds (wind heat and wind cold. The weather just changed here and got colder and very windy) and we saw a little girl with no appetite (anorexia) treated with points on the hand called si feng which are pricked with a needle and squeezed till fluid comes out. A traditional treatment for childhood malnutrition. I have pictures of that up on flickr. Then in the afternoon we had a lecture and demonstration on fire needling by a man who was a classmate of two of our professors and is the only expert in fire needling in the whole university. He is also a calligrapher. Fire needling uses these special needles designed to be heated up to very high temperatures and then they are inserted into the area to be treated very quickly and withdrawn. Too complicated to explain all the conditions for why it might be used but it was pretty cool. I will upload pictures of that to flickr later. Fire needling is illegal in the US. Too bad. Then we had 90 minute tai chi class that made me very hungry. Dinner in 10 minutes. Not sure what the plan is for the evening. The youngsters in the group seem into cards and beer. Tomorrow we will watch a big morning campus event that is a sort of athletic games day with the different classes competing against each other, then after lunch we are going out to visit local sites with some student “buddies”/translators we have been grouped with. Then a whole bunch of us are all going to a karaoke place in the evening. Busy Busy. 4 years ago

morning. My group spent the morning with a doctor who has been practicing for 40 yeas seeing 100 patients per day. Mostly stroke and facial paralysis treatments again today with the occasional cervical spondylosis or herniated lumbar disc. We saw an infant treated for bell’s palsy. It was wild. Same protocol as with adults. I took some pictures and a couple 15 second videos of the treatment. I will post those on flickr later. The kid was crying before and during the treatment but then settled down nicely and sat in his mother’s lap in the hall with a face full of needles. All of my group mates got to needle a patient but me. Oh well. Lots of pressure. I am slightly relieved and slightly disappointed I didn’t get to try. Learned a lot. Gotta go to lunch. 4 years ago

after sumptuous lunch. I just lost this whole long post I was writing somehow. Perhaps a break in my connection? Damn. I was describing all this stuff we saw in the hospital today and now I don’t have much time to reconstitute the post.

spent the morning with this lovely warm little female doctor who was maybe 60 years old. Outpatient clinic. She was treating mostly folks with either Bell’s palsy or sequelea of stroke like paralysis or aphasia, or weakness and numbness. One or two patients with neck or back pain. One patient with severe depression who had been very withdrawn for several months. Tiny little narrow rectangular room with little bed cubicles along the walls with curtains. 6 in all. Not much privacy. Some patients even consented to let us take pictures.

People are mostly very warm and friendly. Lots of warm smiles with crinkly sparkling eyes.

Gotta go 4 years ago

I am in China! Busy day today. Gotta go to dinner but will upload photos soon. I’m a bit jet lagged. Just had 2 hour tai chi class. 4 years ago

Here’s the promised link. Right now there is only a lovely place holder photo of dear departed Zeke. Start looking for things to show up on April 21st or so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahweaver/sets/72157616667124150/ 4 years ago

and oh so much to do. But we took the plunge tonight and bought an Acer Aspire One Netbook. 2.9 lbs. Really pretty darn light. Have downloaded Skype and my camera downloads onto the computer easily without having to dink around with more software. Need to set up the flikr account I will upload photos to. But this will be a great help. I’m frightened I won’t have completed enough work on this teaching thing before I leave but this computer has enough memory I should be able to easily bring a bunch of work files and read them there or on the way to or from China. I will post where folks can follow the trip. If I end up with reliable wireless access and a tiny bit of time or energy I will check in here too.

Starting to get pretty excited. 4 years ago

Suddenly it seems like I will be leaving tomorrow or close to it. I have gotten some crucial things I need for the trip but still have a couple more to get. We were looking at netbooks so I can have internet access, upload photos, use scype etc. Still haven’t picked one. Wanted to try the acer aspire one in person but our local best buy only had one left in a box and wouldn’t open it for us to try. Why then did they not have the floor model? Kinda silly. Tried a 10” eeepc. I have been advised that the celeron processors in the smaller ones are inadequate/slow. If I end up getting one I will post the link to where I will be posting photos so peeps can follow along with my trip.

Got a new more durable suitcase which I really needed. Some clothes since some of my best travel things are falling apart. A nifty UV light thing that purifies water. You can’t drink the water from the tap. It was expensive, but better than getting a tummy bug, even if I will have access to some of the best herbal medicine for such things. Really don’t want to become a patient. Got a couple other helpful travel things. Still need to get electric adapter plugs but thought I would see if the netbook’s charger converts 220v to 110v first. My ipod charger does this. Nifty. Smart electronics makers. Need to borrow battery run charger for my ipod from a friend so it doesn’t crap out during the 20 hour flights to and from. I have downloaded some free audio books for the trip home so I don’t have to worry about carrying a book unless I find one in the airport that tickles my fancy. Need to go get something used for the trip over so I can have a good read and then leave it there. I am all about the travel as lightly as I can approach.

Perhaps should load some Chinese language study stuff on my ipod too.

Today I got my camera sorted out. Turned off the timer which I had accidentally turned on months ago and hadn’t figured out how to turn off. Still don’t really know how I turned it off, but it is off now. Got an extra memory card for my camera which was slightly difficult because the camera is 5-6 years old. I have a regular camera that uses 35mm film that works great and I could buy film for it anywhere and it it 30 years old. Apparently I’m supposed to upgrade my digital one more often than that. Ugh.

Gotta get all my ps and qs taken care of at work in the next two weeks. Gotta do my taxes. I am avoiding both tasks right now. Should probably go try to be useful or productive or something. 4 years ago

Got my passport back today with my visa and bought my plane ticket earlier in the week. Had a meeting at school and heard some basic stuff about our itinerary. We will be very busy. 4 years ago

some conversational Mandarin on Saturday. 5 weeks of 1 hour classes on Saturdays. I may be able to count a little in Chinese before I go and say thank you and hello. Should probably practice some more. I am out of the habit of studying right now. 4 years ago

I get to start some basic Mandarin language lessons on Saturday so I can have a few polite things to say on my trip in the spring. Cool! 4 years ago

were sent off last week to service that gets the visas. 4 years ago

about this week is that all of my bosses at work think that going to China next spring is a once in a lifetime sort of opportunity and that I should definitely go so I think I will get to go barring any unforseen problems. Yay!

Now to learn more about Tianjin and its region!
Also really need to work on some conversational mandarin this winter. 4 years ago