So here I was la-dee-freaking-da talking about how everything was going so smoothly and there were no hitches with the trip so far and today I lose my wallet. That’s just great. It’s my own damn fault—the pants I was wearing have pockets the size of Montana on them, and I’m pretty sure my wallet just jumped out. The person who picked it up wasn’t a nice guy though, and tried to use my credit card at the hospital we visited today. Not too much permanent damage was done—the wallet was old and I needed a new one, I lost my Vandy card, room key, credit & ATM card, and Y300 (~$45 USD). Definitely could have been a lot worse. It sucks being stranded without my ATM card though, once my $100 USD that my dad gave me (yay emergency funds!) runs out, I’m gonna have to start bumming from people. It’s ok, Vandy kids are still lending, I’ve heard.
It was a long, long day because of this. We left early in the morning to go visit a local hospital where our professor has a doctor friend, had lunch with the doctor, went to the doctor’s house, and then went to a migrant worker’s house (by request). The hospital we visited specializes in alternative medicines—apparently it’s what all the Chinese people prefer, and keeps costs way way down. City dwellers have free health care, so the government really supports these alternative hospitals hard since their costs are low. I volunteered to be the guinea pig for the acupuncture, and it was definitely different than I expected—I only got one pin through the soft part between the thumb and forefinger, and left it in there for a bit while the doctor played with it. It didn’t really make me feel any better or worse (other than getting light headed – I’m queasy), but I’m glad I got to experience it. I was much more fortunate than our friend Zach, who was the lab rat for Chinese cupping—check out [sample] before and after pictures.
The house of the doctor and his professor wife was really interesting—they lived in government subsidized housing, since they both work for the government, which wasn’t the nicest of places to live. It was spacey enough inside but the complex was akin to Towers, without an elevator (they were on the 6th floor). We sat around for a while, looking at each other awkwardly, until our hosts suggested an impromptu jam session with Craig on guitar and me on piano. The sustain pedal wasn’t working, and it really cramped my style.
The worst part of the day for sure was the home of the migrant workers. We dove deep in to the shanty town, and poked our heads in the homes of some of Beijing’s less fortunate. We weren’t there to help, or offer support in any way, just to gawk (and for some of us, take pictures!!!) at the residents. Our hosts here were very nice people—apparently the lady of the house used to clean our teacher’s home in Beijing. They said that they were very content with their lifestyle and didn’t have much that they wanted or needed. They live on about $600 USD / year. Brutal.
