Clearly the natural guilt reflex kicks in after about four weeks as the feeling of compulsion to update my blog has been occurring, almost religiously, at four-week intervals.
It has been an interesting month. I have been horribly under the weather. I very rarely succumb to disease of any sort as I find the time spent being ill is utterly fruitless and dull. On this occasion, however, I managed to pick up something that no amount of brandy would shift and hence I was introduced to the wonderful world of Chinese hospitals.
I had been ill for a while and carried on regardless but, after a couple of weeks, a colleague got fed up with my insistence that "it would pass" and, given that the sight of the 'laoshi' coughing up lumps of lung butter in the classroom isn't really what the parents are paying for their children to come and see, I decided that I would take their advice and seek some assistance.
And so it came to pass that I found myself in a hospital in Rizhao, with a thermometer stuck, rather unceremoniously, under my armpit, surrounded by a small crowd of inquisitive medical staff holding a staring contest with yours truly as the focal point.
After about the fourth of fifth attempt I managed to convince them that I wasn't lying when I said that I knew only a little Mandarin and one of the happy (irritatingly so when you are feeling really ill), smiling doctors examined me.
I was wondering at this point if hacking up a green ball of sputum would assist the doctor with her diagnosis but, before I could decide and probably for the best, she reached a conclusion almost instantly.
Doctor (at least I'm guessing this is what she said): "OK, I think I know what's wrong."
Patient (I know this bit because this is what I was thinking): "And so now I get a prescription, go to a chemist and get a course of antibiotics... right?"
Doctor (I don't need to guess this bit because this is what happened): "Erm, nope. You come and lie down on this bed and we hook you up to a drip."
And there it is. The Chinese doctors seem to have a drip for everything. They just lie you down, plug you in and away you go. I was in a room with several other patients all wired up to different bottles and figured that I had no choice but to lie there and wait until I had been dosed-up.
The bottle did not take too long to filter down into my vein. I stopped the episode of Top Gear that I was watching on my iPod and indicated to the nurse that I was all done and could she please unplug me. She did so without futher ado, removing the bottle that had been hanging there for 20 minutes or so, smiling at me all the while, as she replaced it with a second one. I turned Top Gear on again and lay back down.
After a third bottle of who knows what and an iPod nearing the end of its battery life I was finally unplugged and sent on my way with half a pharmacy's worth of pills and potions which I was to take over the course of the next eight days. And I now understand why one of the patients had three drips going at once when I went in. He was in a hurry. If there is ever cause for a return visit I will remember that trick.
Anyway, I am happy to report that the assorted medicines, whatever they were, seem to have done the trick, although I do not know if it was the tablets, the drips or the illness that was responsible for my feeling a lot worse for the next few days before I felt better.
So, apart from furthering my knowledge of the local hospitals, what else has been happening this month? If the truth be told, not a great deal.
School is much the same and still no indication as to when I will get my first round of training through the parent company. Teachers working at English First franchises are supposed to receive training at certain times during the year but, after four months, I have not heard of anything in the pipeline and will not be surprised if the next two-thirds of my contract pass without any such obligation being fulfilled. I do not mind there being no training as, whilst it is always beneficial to share ideas on teaching methods, I am learning rapidly on my own, through colleagues, the Internet and, mostly, from the children. But what I was looking forward to was the opportunity to see some other places in China, as the training camps are held in bigger cities such as Shanghai or Beijing, when the travelling costs are being paid for by the school. Still, I will just have to pencil in some travel time when I take my holiday.
Any other news?
I don't think so, other than to report that it is still beautiful and sunny most days, albeit getting slightly chillier. I am beginning to wonder if there is sun all year round in Rizhao, because of its location on the east coast of China, and that the weather just gets hotter and colder depending on the time of year. It certainly doesn't seem to be showing any signs of disappearing at the moment and I suppose that I should really go and make the most of it whilst it's here instead of updating this blog.
So that's exactly what I am going to go and do...
Zai jian !!
