Unplanned Adventure

My lower back has been giving me problems lately – that creepy sciatica nerve has been keeping me awake at night and keeping me off the computer during the day because it spasms a lot whenever I sit or lay down. Last night was another sleepless night and also the “tipping point”. This morning I got Candy of the Foreign Affairs Office to take me to the hospital. In China they do not have individual doctors offices – here all doctors work in a hospital so you go there for EVERYTHING (dentists, eye exams, and all the other things that are found in an American hospital along with Chinese Medicine experts). One huge difference is that you pay for everything before it is done. So we paid to get to see a doctor, then we paid for the CT that he recommended, then we paid for the Chinese medicine that was prescribed. The CT scan, which cost less than 20 dollars, showed nothing major wrong. The Chinese Medicine doctor, who spoke perfect English, gave me pills to take and many smelly patches to put on my back. The patch has already stopped the spasms down my leg and I was able to take a HARD long nap when I got home. It Was Heaven. After this experience I would have no qualms about returning to this hospital if I needed it, but I don’t plan on having any more unplanned adventures.

3rd time ? Probably Not.

Age has finally caught up – this time the trip was too much for my pitifully old body. I did fine with the 20 hours of flights, but the 9 hour land part of the trip may have finally tipped the scales as to whether I would ever do this again. Shanghai is ONLY 2 hours from Hangzhou but without speaking the language and no one at the school willing to meet me or find me a driver (that I would have GLADLY paid for), this gig might just be for the young. It is so much cheaper and easier to fly into Shanghai – but unless you have a driver to meet you (as I WAS provided with in 2006) You have to lug your suitcases up 2 flights of stairs to get to the bus station and purchase your ticket for the next available seat. I had to wait 3 and a half hours in the very small crowded station with my 3 bags (one being 62 pounds) to catch the next available downtown Hangzhou bus. Here again, I was hoping to have some help from the school, which I didn’t get, by having a driver pick me up at the Hangzhou drop off point. Sometimes there are taxi drivers that don’t want to drive the 40 minutes to Xiasha. I was lucky and quickly found a taxi driver that was willing to take me. I remembered to charge my Chinese cell phone so I got Aime to give directions to the driver for the last leg of the trip. I arrived in Shanghai at 1:30 and got to my apartment after 10 pm. Definitely too long, too tiring and too painful for a 60 yr old.

I am sorry about writing a “pity me blog” but I had to vent and I wanted someone to hear. Before the trip I sort of threw my back out and after many visits to my favorite chiropractor that “creepy-keep-you-awake” sciatica nerve thing was becoming much better. This harder than necessary trip and the lugging the suitcases up the 2 flights of stairs sort of put me back to square one again. So I am a little cranky and angry for the lack of help. Cynthia and I are going to have a body massage this Monday and if that doesn’t work I am going to have to get the school to help me find an acupuncturist.

Marigold Court Block Party

A lot of people in our neighborhood or friends that we include in our neighbor “HOOD” have birthdays in the month of August. To reduce the number of hangovers and cleanup mess we consolidate and have a neighborhood Birthday party for all the Leos celebrating. This year there were a couple of milestone birthdays: 2 people hit the dreaded number of 50, I hit 60, and Larry hit the big Social Security paycheck number of 62.

Rosie and Larry provided the backyard and the low country boil (shrimp, corn, sausage, potatoes, and lots of spices) and the guests supplied the rest of the delicious dishes. Good music, good food, and good friends – it couldn’t get better than that.

Katie the “Pseudo Aunt”

My longtime across the street neighbors have 2 girls Josie and Lee. Zac and girls grew up together, playing, riding bikes, and later partying together. One the advantages of being a teacher and living in a small community like Saint Simons Island, (or disadvantage depending on whether you are the parent or child) is that it was pretty easy to keep an eye on their coming and goings. Katie the "Nosy Neighbor" wasn’t always Josie & Lee’s favorite person. Well some how both girls have survived their wild teenage years and have become very personable and entertaining young women. And maybe they have forgiven my nosy ways, because Lee and Mike have given me “aunt” status with their new baby Dylan – Pictured above. Getting any ideas Zac?…….

Beijing Olympics

I have been faithfully watching the Today Show on my TV every morning and I kept wondering why there were not thousands of people jamming the outside crowds. I figured maybe the Beijing authorities were limiting who attended the crowd, but after receiving this link from one of my Chinese friends………..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR20080812032...

I loved the part where they taught the Chinese workers how to cheer. Remember China is trying very very hard to put forth a great impression – but it still reminds me a little of the Dean Barone days which some of us more mature Glynn Middle teachers will remember.

China is neat enough with out all the forced advertising. Come and visit – China Spree has a great 12 day one that actually visits Hangzhou and it is cheaper than most round trip air flights http://www.chinaspree.com/ For my Georgia friends – there is a direct flight from Atlanta to Shanghai. I got a round trip ticket for Zac (he is coming Oct 10th!!!!!) for less than 900 dollars

Lock Up Your Wishes

Most of the thousands of padlocks hung on the guard rails have inscriptions carved into them. They generally have a family surname and good fortune wishes displayed on them. I am not sure why one location will have thousands and another similar location will have none. Some are hung near temples and some are hung on mountain walkways.

Zhangjiejia

When you walked on their sidewalks they were full of fossils. The shell fossils were very long and had an unusual shape. But unique only in my mind, because when I wanted to purchase one. I realized the Chinese thought that since they were so common place they didn’t think about selling them. But I did find one at the hotel – expensive but I was happy. Not many Americans have heard of this place – their biggest tourist dollar comes from Chinese tourist and a large number of Korean tour groups. So if you are a Grand Canyon Fan this is a must-see. And make sure you have plenty of charged batteries for your camera.