Following a second one of these blackout episodes, the school has decided that I "need to be with my family" and is sending me home. This does not make me happy as I like it here more and more. The students really rallied around again and there has been a steady stream of people through here. I keep trying to point out that I am alone much more in the states than I ever am here -- but to no avail.
The really awful part of the whole thing is that I feel so great between /after these things, it's just about 15 minutes that are (even I must admit) a bit scary. Both times now I have been sitting down and surrounded by solicitous students but what if I was crossing a busy street. I guess I really do need some looking at.
To that end, I am leaving China on Tuesday, May 6 and after a really arduous trip, I will be in Florida for 10 days hugging small boys. Then I am going up to DC -- I never changed my health care plan, and seeing what they have to say. I can't make many plans. My house in AZ is coming vacant at the end of June so I can settle into that over the summer. I really do need to get the stuff out of storage and make sure it is okay, so that will be the next part of the new "Life Plan". (The old one kind of went out the window!)
So I will be around shortly and will see you all then.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Xiamen - (Sha' men)
It is only 6:15 AM and I had a hard time accessing this -- are they on to me?
Last weekend was the Chinese holiday of Tomb Sweeping, an annual reconnection with the ancestors. This gave us a Friday holiday and with Thursdays always free, I decided to get out of town.
The nearest big city is 2 hours by bus (5 by train!) due east on the coast. Whenever I mentioned some western product that I couldn't find, I would be told that I could find it in Xiamen so off I went armed with a shopping list. My friend from New Zealand, one of the other American teachers from here and my friend Sandy Hogan, who teaches on a nearby Taiwan island, came also.
Kinmen (also known as Quemoy) was one of the Taiwan islands under contention for many years. It lies much closer to the mainland than to Taiwan and there are regular ferries. This year, since she has a visa, Sandy can travel back and forth with ease. It was really good to see her.
Xiamen is an island itself, with a natural port which has been in use by foreigners since the 1700's. It's a really lovely place, very modern looking and very colorful what with the Chinese new penchant for outlining their buildings with colored neon lights. Nighttime is a real extravaganza.
The best part of Xiamen is the even smaller island of Gulang which is about a 10 minute ferry ride away. This is a lovely place, quite hilly so there are lots of sea views everywhere, plus beautiful trees and flowers. The rich merchants of the 1800s built their mansions there and they are quite the sight. You expect Rhett Butler to walk down the crumbling front stairs any minute. Most are in bad disrepair, some actually ruins but several are being rehabbed. Most, rehabbed or not, are used as backdrops for wedding pictures. Saturday, the day we went, had absolutely gorgeous weather for the first time in a couple of weeks and the brides were out in force!
It also has wonderful shopping and we all managed to spend a lot of money but now my apartment looks more like "me". All in all, a great day.
The trip also delivered a jar of mustard, 2 cans of tuna, 2 cans of soup, a can opener, some new books and a very nice cheeseburger! All in all a good trip. There are rumors of antique stores but I was only able to find one this trip and it wasn't great. Better luck next time. There definitely will be a next time, the place is beautiful, fairly accessible, and an easy change of scenery.
Last weekend was the Chinese holiday of Tomb Sweeping, an annual reconnection with the ancestors. This gave us a Friday holiday and with Thursdays always free, I decided to get out of town.
The nearest big city is 2 hours by bus (5 by train!) due east on the coast. Whenever I mentioned some western product that I couldn't find, I would be told that I could find it in Xiamen so off I went armed with a shopping list. My friend from New Zealand, one of the other American teachers from here and my friend Sandy Hogan, who teaches on a nearby Taiwan island, came also.
Kinmen (also known as Quemoy) was one of the Taiwan islands under contention for many years. It lies much closer to the mainland than to Taiwan and there are regular ferries. This year, since she has a visa, Sandy can travel back and forth with ease. It was really good to see her.
Xiamen is an island itself, with a natural port which has been in use by foreigners since the 1700's. It's a really lovely place, very modern looking and very colorful what with the Chinese new penchant for outlining their buildings with colored neon lights. Nighttime is a real extravaganza.
The best part of Xiamen is the even smaller island of Gulang which is about a 10 minute ferry ride away. This is a lovely place, quite hilly so there are lots of sea views everywhere, plus beautiful trees and flowers. The rich merchants of the 1800s built their mansions there and they are quite the sight. You expect Rhett Butler to walk down the crumbling front stairs any minute. Most are in bad disrepair, some actually ruins but several are being rehabbed. Most, rehabbed or not, are used as backdrops for wedding pictures. Saturday, the day we went, had absolutely gorgeous weather for the first time in a couple of weeks and the brides were out in force!
It also has wonderful shopping and we all managed to spend a lot of money but now my apartment looks more like "me". All in all, a great day.
The trip also delivered a jar of mustard, 2 cans of tuna, 2 cans of soup, a can opener, some new books and a very nice cheeseburger! All in all a good trip. There are rumors of antique stores but I was only able to find one this trip and it wasn't great. Better luck next time. There definitely will be a next time, the place is beautiful, fairly accessible, and an easy change of scenery.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Hospital
On the subject of stairs, I have to tell you my tale of landing in the hospital already! (Bear with me, I will make the connection.)
A couple of weeks ago, one of my classes invited me to go on an outing to Dong Xiao Forest Park, a scenic park area not too far away, where they were planning to hike around and have a BBQ. Sounded like fun so I went. We took a bus for about an hour and came to this place in the mountains (think something like Great Falls) and unloaded and started to climb. We hadn't gone far when I took a big step, the rock was unsteady and rolled back. I hyperextended my knee and heard a nasty "ping"sound. The next step was excruciating. The kids helped me to a bench where I sat while the climbed and after they carried me to the BBQ place. The knee didn't hurt at all when I wasn't standing so I was having a great time eating and talking etc, when the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with about 20 kids hovering around! They called an ambulance (over my protests) and it came and people carried me down the mountain in a stretcher. I was feeling fine by this time so I was mostly embarrassed.
Get to the "People's Hospital", not the best one in town but the only one where there is a doctor who spoke English, and they did a CAT scan and it seems I had a mini-stroke! Everyone was focusing on my head problem and no one would pay attention to my knee which was very frustrating! They said I had to stay and they loaded me into the last available bed in the place -- the center bed in a 3 person room --with great apologies. My poor roommates then had to deal with the veritable parade of people who came to "be with me". Students came in pairs and were with me constantly, even through the night! All the other teachers, reps from the university came with flowers, etc., I was quite the Queen.
Meanwhile, I was tested for everything known to man, given incredible amounts of medicines: pills, injections, and two drip bottles a day, all while trying to get people to pay attention to my knee! Finally, the next morning I was apparently the "main draw" for Rounds as 8 doctors surrounded my bed, including the head doctor for the whole hospital (who, they tell me no longer sees patients). She started poking around my knee and DEFINITELY found the sore spot! It was the ACL, it wasn't torn only sprained which I had figured out myself since by the next morning, it was definitely getting better on its own. This was followed by many more tests, including x-rays, a brain scan and a sonogram to locate the errant blood vessel in my neck which had caused the problem. It is small so no lasting effects but I will probably have to add an anticoagulant to my daily handful of pills forever.
Comments on a Chinese hospital: the best part is the level of care I got, although I don't know how much of that was related to my "foreignness". The oddest part is that they don't provide food. If you don't have someone to bring you stuff from outside, you will starve in there! You even have to provide the water you take the pills with! Not just pay for, someone must leave the hospital and go buy you a bottle! That was a little odd.
The flip side, though, was the cost. There was some consternation since my local health insurance hasn't kicked in yet and I was wondering how Kaiser was going to deal with THIS! Turns out that for 2 days and 2 nights, all those tests, all that medicine (including 3 weeks worth to take home), all the doctors AND the ambulance, the total cost was $217!
I decided to rack it up to experience and not even bother Kaiser!
Oh, I almost forgot the connection to the stairs. All is well now, a week and a half later. The only problems I had for awhile were with the stairs on campus -- my knee REALLY didn't like those!
A couple of weeks ago, one of my classes invited me to go on an outing to Dong Xiao Forest Park, a scenic park area not too far away, where they were planning to hike around and have a BBQ. Sounded like fun so I went. We took a bus for about an hour and came to this place in the mountains (think something like Great Falls) and unloaded and started to climb. We hadn't gone far when I took a big step, the rock was unsteady and rolled back. I hyperextended my knee and heard a nasty "ping"sound. The next step was excruciating. The kids helped me to a bench where I sat while the climbed and after they carried me to the BBQ place. The knee didn't hurt at all when I wasn't standing so I was having a great time eating and talking etc, when the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with about 20 kids hovering around! They called an ambulance (over my protests) and it came and people carried me down the mountain in a stretcher. I was feeling fine by this time so I was mostly embarrassed.
Get to the "People's Hospital", not the best one in town but the only one where there is a doctor who spoke English, and they did a CAT scan and it seems I had a mini-stroke! Everyone was focusing on my head problem and no one would pay attention to my knee which was very frustrating! They said I had to stay and they loaded me into the last available bed in the place -- the center bed in a 3 person room --with great apologies. My poor roommates then had to deal with the veritable parade of people who came to "be with me". Students came in pairs and were with me constantly, even through the night! All the other teachers, reps from the university came with flowers, etc., I was quite the Queen.
Meanwhile, I was tested for everything known to man, given incredible amounts of medicines: pills, injections, and two drip bottles a day, all while trying to get people to pay attention to my knee! Finally, the next morning I was apparently the "main draw" for Rounds as 8 doctors surrounded my bed, including the head doctor for the whole hospital (who, they tell me no longer sees patients). She started poking around my knee and DEFINITELY found the sore spot! It was the ACL, it wasn't torn only sprained which I had figured out myself since by the next morning, it was definitely getting better on its own. This was followed by many more tests, including x-rays, a brain scan and a sonogram to locate the errant blood vessel in my neck which had caused the problem. It is small so no lasting effects but I will probably have to add an anticoagulant to my daily handful of pills forever.
Comments on a Chinese hospital: the best part is the level of care I got, although I don't know how much of that was related to my "foreignness". The oddest part is that they don't provide food. If you don't have someone to bring you stuff from outside, you will starve in there! You even have to provide the water you take the pills with! Not just pay for, someone must leave the hospital and go buy you a bottle! That was a little odd.
The flip side, though, was the cost. There was some consternation since my local health insurance hasn't kicked in yet and I was wondering how Kaiser was going to deal with THIS! Turns out that for 2 days and 2 nights, all those tests, all that medicine (including 3 weeks worth to take home), all the doctors AND the ambulance, the total cost was $217!
I decided to rack it up to experience and not even bother Kaiser!
Oh, I almost forgot the connection to the stairs. All is well now, a week and a half later. The only problems I had for awhile were with the stairs on campus -- my knee REALLY didn't like those!
April Fool!
I thought April 1 might be a good time to reappear on your radar screen -- a la a bad penny. Thanks to the numerous, somewhat nasty I might add, emails I have received, it appears you all think I am dead. Here is the real problem. I keep complaining about my internet situation but I have finally decided to adjust to it instead of fighting it or waiting for it to change. The adjustment means that it is 5 AM as I write this! I only have a good reliable "bandwidth" in the early morning. With the aid of a "workaround" provided by my computer savvy son, I have returned to the original site as the new one proved to be worse. Anyway, to catch you up...
I am now here at Longyan University in Fujian, Province. It's quite a nice place, a small city 2 hours inland from the coast in a hilly part of town. The air is good, the people friendly and my apartment comfortable. This is not Harvard but a small provincial university which most of the students would not have chosen if they could have done better but it is at least a university which gives them some status. The kids are really nice, I love teaching this age group. The work load is light so it will be a "pleasant" if not financially lucrative year.
The university has built a new campus on the complete other side of town. Students, with their teachers have been moving over there for the last two years on a department-by-department basis. Left here on the old campus we only have English and Chemistry and we are due to move in August. The new campus is much more modern, spacious and attractive and apparently, so will our apartments be. The downside is that it is WAY out of town. From here we can walk to almost everything, there it will be a bus to go anywhere, even food shopping.
In the meanwhile we have this nice old campus pretty much to ourselves. Nothing is ever crowded, the walkways are beautifully shaded, flowers are starting to bloom, it's quite pretty.
It is, however, built into the side of a hill so that wherever you go, it seems you must walk both up and down a lot of stairs.
I am going to "publish" this, just to make sure I can, then I will do another quickly.
I am now here at Longyan University in Fujian, Province. It's quite a nice place, a small city 2 hours inland from the coast in a hilly part of town. The air is good, the people friendly and my apartment comfortable. This is not Harvard but a small provincial university which most of the students would not have chosen if they could have done better but it is at least a university which gives them some status. The kids are really nice, I love teaching this age group. The work load is light so it will be a "pleasant" if not financially lucrative year.
The university has built a new campus on the complete other side of town. Students, with their teachers have been moving over there for the last two years on a department-by-department basis. Left here on the old campus we only have English and Chemistry and we are due to move in August. The new campus is much more modern, spacious and attractive and apparently, so will our apartments be. The downside is that it is WAY out of town. From here we can walk to almost everything, there it will be a bus to go anywhere, even food shopping.
In the meanwhile we have this nice old campus pretty much to ourselves. Nothing is ever crowded, the walkways are beautifully shaded, flowers are starting to bloom, it's quite pretty.
It is, however, built into the side of a hill so that wherever you go, it seems you must walk both up and down a lot of stairs.
I am going to "publish" this, just to make sure I can, then I will do another quickly.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Onward--I hope
For reasons unknown, I have not been able to access my blog for 2 days. I still cannot read it myself, so I can't add pictures like I am (finally!) ready to do. At least I can tell you that it appears that at long last, I should be leaving for the south in the next couple of days.
The New Year's holiday continues, firework-wise, but much diminished, especially at night. Businesses, banks etc. are reopening, and my contact teacher is coming back to the college tomorrow. I will fly to Xiamen as soon as I can get a ticket after that and he will pick me up there. I can't wait, this whole period has been such a waste. I'm trying not to dwell on it, though, I don't want it be an omen.
The New Year's holiday continues, firework-wise, but much diminished, especially at night. Businesses, banks etc. are reopening, and my contact teacher is coming back to the college tomorrow. I will fly to Xiamen as soon as I can get a ticket after that and he will pick me up there. I can't wait, this whole period has been such a waste. I'm trying not to dwell on it, though, I don't want it be an omen.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Chinese New Year - II
Fireworks. When we lived here in the 70s, fireworks were illegal (totalitarian governments are uncomfortable with easy accessibility to explosives), but they are back now and with a vengeance. Today is Day 5 of the New Year's celebration and if anything there were more last night and so far today than there were New Year's Eve.
It is impossible to get a good night's sleep and people are getting a little frayed -- even my Chinese hosts are complaining. Fireworks come in two categories, aerial and loud. The "loud" seem to be preferred and go off constantly with enough concussive effect to set off car alarms, further adding to the din.
I have been a firworks junkie all my life and I never thought I would say this but "Enough Already!".
It is impossible to get a good night's sleep and people are getting a little frayed -- even my Chinese hosts are complaining. Fireworks come in two categories, aerial and loud. The "loud" seem to be preferred and go off constantly with enough concussive effect to set off car alarms, further adding to the din.
I have been a firworks junkie all my life and I never thought I would say this but "Enough Already!".
Chinese New Year --I
I did so much over this holiday and I have promised to venture into the world of high tech and attempt to illustrate this blog, that I will do this in segments.
Today is Sunday Feb. 10, here and Steve and I have just come back from a 5-day junket to Jinan and Beijing to celebrate the New Year. (Also maybe just to get out of here!). The one thing that would have to be said as true for the whole time was that it was bitter cold and that China has rediscovered fireworks with a vengeance!
We left for Jinan last Tuesday on a minibus (big mistake, learn from experience), to visit our friend JD. JD was here in the apartment when I arrived but left 3 days later allowing Steve to move in. He was able to get into his apartment at his university. JD is an amazing guy, probably 6'5" and 300 lbs if an ounce. He had spent some time in China before with his former employer and liked it so came back to teach for a year. He comes from Louisville, KY and between the size and the drawl, Chinese find him fascinating. He'll have a good year even though he knows nothing about teaching English. Turns out that standards are pretty low herein terms of education and experience.
Anyway, Shandong University where he will be teaching, is located with about 7 other universities in a cluster outside of the city in an area called "education city". It's 45 minutes on 2 buses from the downtown area of Jinan. Once you get used to that part, though, it's pretty nice. His apartment is very nice -- 2 BRs, modern kitchen, all things provided including a washing machine. If my apartment is half as nice I will be happy.
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