Turn and Cough

Let's see here, I've got 2 days to catch up on, since I've resolved not to be perpetually behind on these...

So in the interest of brevity, I'll really just hit the highlights.

Yesterday (Wed. Aug. 27)
Woke up early - well, at least for me - around 6:30-7 because my back was aching. What the Chinese refer to as "matresses" are, in fact, probably one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever slept on. I'm not sure what they're made from, but it feels similar to what I'd imagine it's feel like to sleep on a densely-packed hay bale. Comfort-wise, it's just this side of a big, flat rock. Having the bad-ish back I have to begin with, this is NOT a good combination.

Of course, I can't complain too hard... I did know what I was getting myself into.

Anyway, around 8:30, we (meaning myself, Aaron, James, Mr. Mao, and a woman whose English name is Christina) got a cab and headed in to the local medical center to get our physical checkups ("our" meaning mine and Aaron's). This is not your mother's physical. Included in the festivities were:

• blood sample
• urine sample
• chest X-ray
• Electrocardiogram
• Ultrasound of the abdomen
• checking for surgical scars
• "feeling" the abdomen for... something...

All of this while being shuffled around from room to room like we were on an industrial assembly line, and being gawked at by everyone else there. Rather dehumanizing... but at least at the end we got a free breakfast of some bread and milk. The milk here is very good, too. Very sweet and fatty... much in the way American milk is not. It kind of made up for it... sort of. As did the knowledge that, apparently, the Chinese have to undergo such a rigorous exam yearly. Wow.

After our run through the gamut, we went and bought a couple of 100 yuan phone cards for 40 yuan, thank to some Chinese-style bartering from our 中国 colleagues. Following that, we were passed on to our "handler," a named Xiaoxian, though she also has the English name of Jane. She is a very petite, very pretty woman in her early thirties (though she looks like she could be 18) who is extremely kind. She also happens to be the direct assistant to the vice-dean of the English Dept. Suffice it to say, I'm on my best behavior.

Xiaoxian (pronounced "she-ow she-ahn") took us to a place called Danlu Square, which is a sort of Western oasis amid the sea of Chinese stuff. The architecture is very Roman/Greek, and there was a grocery store there that sold many Western food items that would be very difficult to find elsewhere, among them:

• cheese, of many different varieties (many Chinese think of cheese as a bizarre form of rotten milk... it's not very popular here... much the way we think of fermented bean curd, which is a very popular thing here)
• Red Bull (gives you wiiiiiiings!... the Chinese tend to prefer tea, but I say bring on the jitters!)
• lots of imported meats, noodles, beers... I imagine I'll be hitting that place up at some point in the not too distant future.

A jarring bus-ride later, we weer back home. I decided to go to the Century Mart, the closest big shopping center, and buy some food, some beverages... and I just couldn't take it anymore, so a 3rd pillow as well for my poor, poor, aching back.

And with that, I put some Firefly into my DVD player until sleep took me.