I have really had a very successful week. First, my mentor here at SCI got all of the masters and PhD students together along with some other key personnel to present about the institute, safety issues (key issue: 911 is not the emergency number here in China!), the ongoing cohorts at the institute and my projects while I’m here. It was great to meet some of the other students and I really hope that I will be able to work more closely with everyone.
Then, a friend of mine from undergrad was in town, so I met up with him and his friend for drinks. The mall that they were at was very far from a metro so I took a cab. I was able to tell the cab driver in my broken, but polite Mandarin, where I wanted to go. She also asked where I wanted to get dropped off and I was able to say, “I don’t know,” in Mandarin with success. While waiting for my friend, I went to the restroom, and to my dismay, all of the toilets were “squatty potties.” At work, they have “squatty potties,” but they also have Western toilets, so I mainly just avoid any non-Western toilet. However, I did extensive research on the topic after discovering these alternate toilets to see how one would use a “squatty potty” if the moment ever presented itself. So, there at the mall was my moment. I assumed the position and… SUCCESS!!!!!! Apparently they aren’t as hard to use as I thought (at least for pee).
Anyways, now that I’ve shared too much information… so I met up with my friend and had a really nice time. It had been 6 years at least since I’d seen him, so it was great to catch up. Afterwards, I had to get a cab back home. This ride I was a little more concerned about. I live on a very short and small street near more major intersections, so I wasn’t sure if I could even explain to the driver where I lived. I got in, said, “Xingeng Lu” and he asked me where it was located. I said the area I lived in and then he asked if it was near some streets he listed. I was able to tell him the nearby streets and… SUCCESS again! I made it home without much trouble.
I found out today that I will be able to take Mandarin lessons at a nearby school. So hopefully my Mandarin will improve dramatically with the more formal lessons. I really am having difficulty with pronunciation, so maybe they will have some ways to help me there.
And finally, as the title of this post suggests, I also got my results back from my health exam for my residency permit. I started going through the results and was SHOCKED to see that I have abnormal eyes because I have myopia!!!!!! I asked Honglan what that meant (she read the Chinese version) because I was scared that I had some kind of disease. Obviously, I don’t know many medical terms, because she explained to me that it just meant I was nearsighted. Well, I knew that! The report concludes that “no disease which is highly dangerous to the public health has been found.” What a relief! It would be quite disturbing to be labeled a public health hazard.
In an effort to remain a non-public health hazard, I also joined the gym in my apartment complex today. Apparently some other Americans also wanted a 10 month membership only and the employee at the gym had gotten them a fairly good discount (at least so it seemed to me, I only knew the yearly price that my roommate had told me before), she let me sign up as though I was an English teacher with them and now I can use the gym for the rest of my time here. The gym is really nice, newish machines, pool, sauna, and steam room. And they have a lot of exercise classes. The woman from the gym told me that the teachers could possibly teach in both languages, or the students could translate for me (apparently most everyone that uses that gym is bilingual?). So now, I won’t be a public health hazard AND I can get more fit. What else do you need?
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