Sunday, November 5, 2017

Apartment Assignment, X-rays, Jinan Zoo

Apartment/Roommate Assignment
The in-class assignment that we gave our students this week was to furnish an apartment for $300.  We gave them a list of possible items along with the cost for each and then put them in groups of four.  They had to pretend that each person who was their roommate could not speak Chinese and that the only common language was English.  As I circulated the room, if I heard any Chinese being spoken, I would say, "Was that Chinese I heard?  Remember, your roommates can't understand you!"  They would titter as they looked at each other, but it really got them into using their English well.

It was also fun as I went around to each group and talked about what they were getting for their "apartment"; what things they saw as important and their reasons.  Probably the top priority on most of their lists was having air conditioning.  It hasn't been until recently that their dorms were equipped with that and the ability to have cool air in the summer and heat before the government allows the nation to turn on the radiators.  I think they like that...

One of the items on the list was curtains.  I listened to a group that had three girls and one boy in it argue about whether the curtains were necessary.  As I came around to listen to their group, the girls had just won the argument and were writing that on their list, so I asked what they had been talking about.  I just had to laugh when the boy insisted that the girls might need curtains, but he, as a boy didn't!

Another item of the list was pajamas.  One group that had one boy and three girls had on their list only three pajamas.  I asked who was going to go without pajamas and the boy spoke up.  He said he sleeps in the buff, so he doesn't need them!  In a different class, a group that had two boys and two girls only had two pajamas listed and the boys said that they didn't need pajamas.  I said I didn't need to know any more than that!  It was a fun activity with a lot of laughing and a lot of English being spoken!  Goal achieved!

X-rays at the Hospital
My left hand and wrist have been giving me a lot of pain, so Dr. Tricia (the doctor who helped me last time when I was here and landed in the hospital for ten days with blood clots) set up an appointment for me to meet with an old retired orthopedic surgeon for a consultation.  They have taken away this doctor's hospital privileges because of his age (he's 80 now), but some doctors will still bring him in on consultations because of his experience and knowledge.  He checked over my hand and did some poking and caused a great deal of pain.  Then he asked (though Dr. Tricia) if I had been injured.  I couldn't remember anything right off, but he considered it a serious situation and said that I needed an X-ray.

David had also been having pain in his ankle ever since we went to Red Leaf Valley.  We bought a brace for it and that helped some, but he was still having pain after almost two weeks, so the doctor also looked at his ankle.  He said that the problem with David's ankle was easy to fix and recommended having some physical therapy (a "shock wave" treatment) and then an anti-inflammatory cream to use.  He ankle has shown a lot of improvement.

They have young men that are pharmaceutical representatives that hang around the hospital and do favors for the doctors so that the doctors will listen to them about new drugs and things that come out.  Dr. Tricia called two of them and one of them took David to his physical therapy and the other took me to the basement where the X-ray machine was.  He got me signed in and it looked like I was to be about third or fourth in line, but when they called the next few people's names, they all insisted that I should be next!  They almost pushed me through the door! They were so kind to me and I thanked them as I came out and shook their hands.

So I got the X-ray, but it was going to be an hour before the X-ray was looked at and the results sent up to Dr. Tricia, so we went back to her office.  We were talking about how she would let us go home and then come back in a few days when a nurse came rushing and to say that there was an emergency with one of her patients, he was having a seizure.  She quickly said "Good-bye," as she ran down the hall and we assured her that we could find our way out.  We did.  I go back on Monday to find the results of the X-ray.  If they can't find something through that, they will order an MRI.

While I was getting ready for bed that night, I remembered that while we were in Guizhou for National Holiday, I had tripped on a rock that was in the pathway.  For some reason, the Chinese think that paving around a rock is beauty, so you have random rocks sticking out in the pathways.  When you are in a mass of people, it is hard to see those hazards.  I had scraped my knee and also had tried to break my fall with my left hand.  Now I understand why it has hurt so much!  I have had pain in that wrist from my arthritis so I had just assumed that it was a really bad flare up.  I actually brought the issue with my wrist up to Dr. Tricia to see if acupuncture would help it.  We'll see what the problem is tomorrow at my appointment.

Hot Pot Restaurant
Thursday evening, we had planned to go with some of the other BYU teachers to a "hot pot" restaurant. It is all the rage here in China and they say it has health benefits.  The Vietnamese man that meets with us on Sunday, Aaron, said he knew of a good restaurant south of the campus that those teachers teach at, so he led us there to enjoy Hot Pot. A hot pot restaurant has a heated basin of water or broth with spices and other things added to it.  You add the very thin sliced meats, tofu, and all sorts of veggies and cook  them as desired.  It was a fun evening.
The entrance to the Hot Pot Restaurant.
  
The heavy pan of water herbs and veggies was just put in front of us.  Below it is the hot plate to keep it hot.
The tiny table we all sat around.  The man to the left of the photo is Muhammed.  He comes from the Sudan and teaches Arabic at Shandong Normal University, where the others from BYU teach at.
A better look of the hot pot from above.


Aaron, our Vietnamese friend, did most of the cooking for us.  He's the expert!
Jinan Zoo
There are two students that we have been spending time with, Bob and Anna.  Bob is the son of Yi Bing, who is a friend of Eva's.  She went on a couple of adventures with us when we were here last time.  Bob and Anna want to improve their English so that they can hopefully go to study at Duke University in the US next year.  Bob's English is pretty good, but Anna's is not as good.  They are boyfriend/girlfriend.  Bob was able to pass the English test a few weeks ago, but Anna was not able to.  So the solution is to hang out with these two "old Americans" and learn better English. They really are a nice couple of kids.  They invited us to dinner on Monday at a nice restaurant.

We told them that we wanted to go visit the Jinan Zoo, so yesterday we met at the bus stop that we needed, and rode to the zoo together.  Our particular interest was to see the pandas.  Jinan Zoo has pandas and we wanted to see them.  The zoo is not particularly big, but it still takes some time to get around.  There is an amusement park near the entrance.  We made our way through the zoo, looking at exhibits that were of interest to us, all the time getting closer to the pandas.

They have two giant pandas in the zoo.  One is a recent addition to the zoo because their old one died.  They keep them apart and the panda on the left seemed to be trying to get the other panda's attention.  It was funny to watch.  No wonder everyone thinks they are so cuddly, that fur was just as fluffy as could be!
The two giant pandas.  I guess I was a little surprised at how big they were.
They also have a ring-tailed or red panda.  I tried to get a picture of that tail, but failed.  I was able to get a good shot of the face.  He walked around his enclosure and when he got to where we were standing watching him and waiting to get a good shot, he stopped and turned to face us!
Such a cute face on the red ring-tailed panda.

I discovered how much Anna likes to eat.  She had some flash frozen yogurt when we met for the bus (after having had lunch), then a bought a container of caramel popcorn when we first got to the zoo.  She wanted to try cotton candy when we were at the zoo (at first they were calling it marshmallows, but when they pointed it out to us, what she wanted to try, we told her the correct name), and then as we were leaving the zoo, they bought some cooked quail eggs on a stick.  They will put six fried quail eggs on a stick and then put some sauce on them after you buy them.  I guess being young and Chinese, she doesn't have to worry about the calories.
This is a Himalayan Black Bear.  They have signs that say don't feed the animals (at least that's what I read from the signs) but people still were doing it anyway.  The bear was just waiting for goodies.

A peacock in full strut mode.  Their feathers don't get very long because they pluck them out and sell them for souvenirs.  

These are Golden monkeys.  Beautiful color, but I would NOT want to tangle with those fangs!

It was a fun afternoon at the zoo.

1 comment:

Libby Clarke said...

You brought back so many memories for me. I had several encounters at the hospital with Dr. Trisha. I saw her retired ortho guy for my shoulder and got to experience the shock waves for several weeks. It worked! She had those pharmaceutical reps going to pay my bills.it is such a blessing to have Dr. Trisha help you.
I loved the pandas at the zoo. I think we spent about 45 minutes just standing by and watching them. So cute!