schtuff

well hell's bells. i am now living in china. always good to start any new life abroad with a visit to the hospital. once, twice, three times a lady. 3 times in 2 days. i don't have the hiv or nothing. in fact, i still don't know exactly what i had, but it was a shits-producing, stomach cramping, brain-bludgeoning thing. what's important is that it's no longer in my possession, whatever "it" was.
worth noting that the "jiaxing first hospital" fell far far short of clean. which begs the question, was it only first in materialization? or is there some other area in which it bests other hospitals. i've gotta go with the former, as this place was a study in irony, fecal coliforms and a general lack of efficiency that i've come to expect from anything large, asian and resembling an office.

let's see...things of note: people smoking in the oncology ward (which also happened to be full of freshly squirted out babies). perhaps the most memorable event of the day (not that i would choose to remember this) was when i had the misfortune of supplying a "stool" sample. there are two words i hope never to encounter first hand again. i'll go ahead and laugh politely at any foul puns that arise out of that.

anyhoo, a nurse accompanied me through the labyrinthine corrider of hospital trailers. this was also shocking--sort of like in elementary school when the school outgrows the main building and teachers are relocated to these lego-type add on trailers. jiaxing first hospital was the exact same way. so the doctors i saw didn't even get to be in the main building. i wonder if that bothers them. "yeah, we MADE space for the real life savers and important people inside."

back to that pesky stool...first i had to get to these elusive doctors in their lego huts and produce a stool sample in a bathroom whose corrider was full of people laying around with "infusions" dangling out of their arms. unfortunately, the lab that needed my shit was actually in the main building. which meant navigating the labyrinth and the corrider of iv laden peeps again, little cup o' stool in hand. i probably would have been embarrassed if i'd had enough energy to concern myself with anything besides not splashing my own shit on myself in full view of a very busy hospital. yes, i said "splash." it's been that kind of month.

got to the lab window, where people were butting and jostling, just like they do everywhere else in china. then i noticed that these other people had brought their own stool samples from home--little, pink plastic bags and bright papers crunched up like christmas packages, then opened to reveal the treat within. christmas packages of smeared human feces. the old timer in front of me had taken a particularly tar-like b.m., which he was altogether too eager to get through the window of the lab. "i produced this for you. i even brought it from my abode. you may now graciously accept my gift."

other than that, not too much to report in the way of hospitals. i got my blood drawn by a woman who didn't change her latex gloves beforehand, although she did give them a healthy dose of what i gathered to be hand sanitizer. isn't that the point of latex gloves? that you can throw them away after use? also got an infusion. not sure what all the hype is about that. waited 4 hours in an unconditioned, smoking-permitted waiting room to have a doctor tap on my knees with the magical reflex wand. that was a mite frustrating.

so that was my hospital experience. i hope i never have to go back.

other things....adjusting to actually working again. it's strange to have technically been "off" for 2 months. it's the longest amount of time i've ever gone without income. so the fact that i'm not totally destitute right now is really sort of a head scratcher for me. how'd that work out? i paid for this expensive course in vietnam. ate 3 meals a day. drank a veritable shitton o' alcohol. traveled around (including gratuitous domestic flights. gratuitous unnecessary, not gratuitous free). wanted for nothing, and now i still have money and didn't put anything on a credit card. it's a little bizarre, and more than slightly out of character for me.

right now it's more than slightly daunting to work at my school. and that piece of paper that i worked so hard for (CELTA) didn't really prepare me at all for lower level kids and issues of classroom management. i can't wait for a month from now or 2 months from now when i've worked out the kinks and feel comfortable in my teaching skin again. i guess i should specify--my child-teaching skin again. still, in korea i had no structure and here i do. also random observations by my peers, my sister and the other bossman. the first month will be stressful, but after that i'm looking forward to otehr people actually holding me accountable for my actions and requiring something of me as both a teacher and a human.

at some point i'll have to write about my last week in vietnam--sapa. that'll have to be an uber-mega long post though, and i'm honestly not sure when i'll actually have the time to type that.

oh yeah, i get a 6 day vacation starting on saturday. isn't that crazy? i'll have worked for 2 weeks and then i get paid vacation. going back up to weihai, where jules and rory first lived in china. midgets, baijo, beaches and whatnot.