When I signed up for the program, they said that a medical exam was required for a visa, but that something simple from the US would be sufficient. I was told that they mainly want to see that you don’t have AIDS. I had my doctor in the states (who I trust and love) do a full workup including an AIDS test. Well…..apparently that isn’t NEARLY enough. They want X-Rays, EKGs, full blood analysis, physical exam, sonagram, etc., so Ivy took me to the medical center for an examination.

I was most nervous about them drawing blood. Not only do I hate having it done, but I was worried about dirty medical facilities and the possibility of AIDS transmission through the needle. Well…..the facility was fine and they used a new sealed needle to draw the blood. It didn’t even hurt that much and they were able to get the blood on the first try.

The medical facility was very strange. In America, there is usually a doctor who you go see and then a nurse does the tests if you need anything. In China, however, it is more of an assembly line kinda thing, with many different stations and doctors. We started at the chest x-ray room, then went to the blood station, but it was busy so we went to the sonagram. Then over to the physical examination (blood pressure, height, weight, etc.), followed by an EKG, and then finally the blood sampling. The medical standards for cleanliness were definitely different than in America. None of the paper on the exam tables was ever changed. They didn’t clean the machines in between uses. I definitely felt as though this wasn’t what I had been used to, but I didn’t feel like it was bad enough to warrant backing out.

After the exam, Ivy and I came back to my apartment to meet the DSL installer who needed the password for my laptop. After a while of him screwing around with things and clearly indicating that he couldn’t handle setting it up on a non Chinese computer, I had to forcibly pull the equipment away and do it myself. I didn’t want it connected to my laptop anyway. I brought a wireless router / hub that it needed to get plugged into so that I could use my laptop anywhere in the apartment and use my VOIP phone (my San Diego 858 number works here for those of you in the US….if you want the number, send me an email). After a little back and forth with the technician, he finally gave me the password and I got everything working within a few seconds. It is SOOOO nice to finally have Internet / phone again. The speed isn’t that great, but who cares. I am finally connected again!

Next, we went to the bank to change money. The bank here in China is a bit different in that there is no line or general teller stations, but rather a bunch of specialized desks that handle only one type of transaction. There is a business window, a personal window, a VIP window, a transfers window, a foreign exchange window, etc. Each teller also has this little electronic display in front of them with their picture and a number of stars from 1-5 lit up. There are three buttons–satisfactory, average, and unsatisfactory–that you push when you are finished to rate the teller. The display is connected via a network cable to a server that records all the responses. I went to the foreign exchange desk and a cute little girl named Shirley helped me. She spoke surprisingly good English and could understand me when I spoke slowly. Things went smoothly and it was surprisingly easy.

Later in the afternoon we went to pick up my desk. It is exactly what I wanted. One of the locks didn’t work so Michael haggled the price down 50 Yuan. The Delivery charge was 25 Yuan, however, instead of 20 ($3.13 versus $2.50)….but I didn’t care since this wasn’t much for carting the fully assembled thing across town and hauling it up the stairs to my third floor apartment.

Michael loading the desk onto the devilery….ummm….vehicle:

Some Chinglish (says “Wide House beside lake, It’s artstocrat exclusively”…..found in a luxury housing establishment on the east side of Shijiazhuang):