All healthy.

A week of adventures has just come to an end; I feel that a new post would be appropriate. I’m feeling pretty relaxed right now, I’m typing this and listening to some Jack Johnson, and enjoying a full stomach. I ate this good chicken-flaky pita thing. I had that and a bottle of water for 6 RMB. That is about .88 cents in USD. Food is a big deal here and you can find food pretty much everywhere, it is also pretty cheap and normally pretty tasty. I’m getting better at finding my way around and knowing where to get some good food. Also I can order and pay, speaking only a few words of Chinese…small steps.

Today was my first day of class. It was taught in English and Chinese, the teacher is Chinese, but knows some English. Even though I don’t speak Chinese I can normally understand what someone is trying to say, even if they only know a little bit of English. Evan Vereb note: When I get back to America I’m going to be a champ at charades, I get to practice everyday. Hopefully as this semester progresses I will become a little bit more talkative. Anyway here is a nice adventure that happened about a week ago.

Before I got here I had to complete a medical evaluation form that all foreigners planning to go to school in China are required to have filled out. I got a whole battery of tests including EKG, chest X-Ray, blood test, etc. Basically they just want to make sure that the foreigners coming into China aren’t diseased, understandable. Also all of the results from these tests had to be original. I brought them to the SISU verification room last week and apparently none of the tests were valid. Actually none of the foreigners’ test results were valid, the reason was that it was not from a Chinese government approved hospital, whatever I kinda saw that coming when they told us to bring 400RMB “in case of need”. So of course I had to be re-tested there, all of the foreigners did, so I waited in line until it was my turn…lame. The first part of the test was paying money, in fact that was all the lady could say in English was: “Pay money!, pay money!”. Then I got some blood taken (new needle don’t worry I checked) and was handed some papers.

The next part was downstairs. I was looking for a room when someone told me that the next part of the test was on this bus that was parked outside. It was real, this old tour bus had been converted into some mobile test hospital, complete with an extension cord coming out of the door. It was pretty funny, so then I got to go on the fun bus and proceed with a battery of tests. There wasn’t a lot of room on it, I didn’t fit on their examination table, but it didn’t matter. The first test was an ultra-sound, turns out I’m not pregnant. Next a close range eye exam, it was in Chinese though. I was handed this card and the lady said, “left, down, right, up” and pointed to some Chinese characters. Then I had to cover up an eye and read the card, written in Chinese. Looking at the card I said, “I don’t speak much Chinese…Left?” The lady: “Ok good good, normal, next test X-Ray now.” The chest X-ray was pretty standard, no lead vest though, a little radiation isn’t that bad though right? After that I got an official Chinese medical clearance stamp on this piece of paper and smiled as I got off the bus. For those of you wondering Evan Vereb is not diseased, in the USA or China. Bye for now.