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Connecting Mandarin and English,
Chinese and
American,
people
with people
A Medical Decision A note about a Chinese morning
at JSTU:
(October 22, 2008) (return
to Homepage)
-----
To
date, this has truly been the most difficult day in China. This stems from
the decision we had to make. "To return or not to return" to America
for medical care. An enlarged prostrate is as routine in aging men as wrinkles
are on aging people. A corrective process to a restricted urthea is as benign
as missing a day of work and not even reporting it to friends or neighbors.
However, with the differences in language, medical procedures, types of
medication and policies regarding records and privacy, it seems wisest to
cross the ocean for care.
After the decision and conversations with
staff here on campus, we arranged for a flight on October 28, deaprting
Shanghai at 5:55PM and arriving at 6:05 the same day in Portalnd. I love
the time warp when traveling east. The tickets include a return trip to
China on November 14 which we will use if all goes well, and we have no
reason to believe or expect anything different perfection.
It's
6:00AM and as I look out the window I see a young lady four stories
down reading as she strolls down the street. The dawn gives enough
light for reading but retains a chill requiring a jacket and long
pants. She's alone on the street serving as a token representative
of many typical Chinese students as she reads out loud. Whether
she studyiing English where she wants to train her mouth to enunicate
properly or a Chinese where she wants to reinform her memorization
but using several senses to reinforce the readings, she is a product
of the Chinese educational system and traditions of study.
As she
disappears beneath the cover of trees, two girls come running down
the road, representing another segment of the student body, morning
exercises and running. They call it running. Maybe jogging is an
advanced vocabulary. They uniforms are the same style as they might
wear to clas and are anything but uniform.
Not far
behind another pair, this
time boys, come running and as they pass one can see the thump of
a basketball on the street. They'll find the hoops outside. In this
dawn light they will spot the loops and warm their bodies.
As the
minutes go by these representatives of early life forms are joined
by their collegues, buses, and persons headed to classrooms, outdoor
benches and the library to read and study. In a couple hours, the
streets will be covering with a heavy stream of dark haired students
headed to classes. And then quiet until the change of classes. So
starts another day at JSTU.
As the past three weeks have passed by, I
have been engaged with several additional classes at WOU via the Internet
and email, so my computer time has been devoted to communicating with more
students, and my free time has been absorbed with my attempts to regain
my health. This is my lame excuse for not adding more stories to the blog
on a regular basis. Hopefully this will change again in the future, as I
resolve some of these issues.