Ancient Culture Street (古文化街)

Here is the promised post about Ancient Culture Street. This is an entire area, actually a street and several side streets, of market stalls and stands, selling just about every kind of souvenir you can imagine. Paintings. Jade carvings. Jewelry. T-shirts. Bags that say "I China." Mao memorabilia. Papercuts. Chops. You name it, they've got it. In recent years, the whole area has undergone a kind of overhaul, complete with traditional-style building facades and statues commemorating important historical and mythological figures. There are even some vendors who dress in traditional (sort of) Qing-era clothing and hats, with false queues hanging down their backs.

Ben has compared the place to historical Dodge City tourist attractions, and I think that's pretty accurate. It's definitely for tourists, and there were several tourist groups being led through by guides while we were there. But we had a lot of fun seeing what kinds of things were for sale, and thinking about what kind of souvenirs we might want to bring home with us.

Up until the disastrously embarrassing event that brought our day to an end, we had a really great time eating, walking around, taking pictures, and even buying a few little things here and there.

the doctor is . . . in?

Okay, so I was right about that visit to the doctor's office being something to blog about. Sheesh. I just got home about 10 minutes ago. And it turns out the problem is exactly what I thought it was: the ankle isn't broken, I've just injured the ligaments. A moderate sprain.

A lot of the doctor's office experience was exactly what I expected. There were several people already in the examination room when we went in. That's kind of par for the course around here, I've learned. People listen in and look on while you're being examined. More than one patient may be examined in a room at a time, and that was certainly the case today. Anyway, I consulted with a doctor, showed him my ankle, and after looking at my ankle for a bit, he sent me to have an X-ray.

So, we went down the hall, paid an X-ray fee, waited a little while (that part of going to the doctor's office is pretty universal), and then I went in for the X-ray. The X-ray tech was a really nice woman who was impressed with my Chinese ability, which was kind of ridiculous, because I know how poorly I was communicating with her. But, I guess I should take a compliment where I can get it.

After the X-ray was taken, a second doctor, a specialist, took a look at the X-ray film, and determined I didn't have a break, but he could see evidence of previous injuries. Sam was kind of impressed by that, since we didn't tell him I had previously injured the ankle. Then we were sent back to the original doctor, who gave us the whole speech I had expected before we went: rest, elevate. He prescribed some meds: something for pain, and another something for joints, although I'm not entirely "for joints" means.

And then it turned bad. They were going to put this medicated wrap thing on my ankle, but before they did, the doctor and another guy (physical therapist? another doctor? I have no idea.) grabbed hold of my leg and started massaging the injured area. Which hurt. A lot. And I tried to pull away. And the doctor kept telling me, "Relax, relax." Which is really hard to do when you're in pain. And the the doctor grabbed my foot, and the other guy grabbed my calf, and they pulled in opposite directions. At which point I started crying, finally convincing them to give up. Meanwhile, I had a room full of people looking on at me crying, which was embarrassing, which made me cry more. I'm a little ashamed of the amount of crying that's been going on around here in the past couple of days, but sometimes, it's the only way to get your point across.

I'm still not sure what that massaging/pulling thing was all about. I mean, I understand the value of massaging an injury, of making sure the muscles and ligaments don't get too tight. But trying to massage and stretch the ankle less than 24 hours after the injury?! That was not good. As Sam said when we were walking out, "If we'd been in America, we would have sued that guy."

Not that it was an all bad experience. But it also definitely was not an all good experience. On the up-side, the whole thing (examination, X-rays, medication, everything) cost less than 300 yuan, somewhere around $40 USD. That's a co-pay in the U.S.!

That being said, it wasn't really an experience I want to go through again. But, as Sam jokingly suggested after we left, maybe that was the point--they make you so miserable when you go in with an injury, you'll be much more careful in the future so you don't have to go through it all again. If that was the idea they had in mind, I'd say it worked for me.

a little excitement for the weekend

Yesterday afternoon, Ben didn't have to teach, and I didn't have class, so we decided to take a little trip to Tianjin's Ancient Culture Street (古文化街). We both took several photos while we were there, and I will share them and describe the place soon, probably in my next post. However, I first want to write about a kind of ridiculous, traumatic event, which is kind of taking precedence over everything right now.

The whole thing is really kind of embarrassing. After we left Ancient Culture Street, we walked down the street to this shopping center that had a Starbucks in it, to get a cup of coffee, and to chat a bit. While we were there, I had to use the restroom, which was up a floor from the Starbucks.

The thing about most Chinese public restrooms is that the stalls are usually a step or two up from the main floor of the room. You go in, walk up a couple stairs, open the stall door, and do your thing. Which is fine. Except when I walked out of the stall last night, my mind was totally somewhere else; I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and I completely forgot about the two steps down from the stall. I basically just walked straight out as if I were walking on an even floor. Needless to say, I took a pretty hard fall, and when I did, I felt something pop in my left ankle, and then a lot of pain.

And of course, I created quite a spectacle, which is even more embarrassing. I very soon had about 10 Chinese women hovering around me, including one woman who was trying to pull me up to stand up. Except my ankle hurt too badly to hold my weight. And I was crying. And the woman wasn't giving up on the idea of me standing up--she was very insistent, despite the fact that I kept telling her I couldn't stand. And I was having a very difficult time trying to remember how to say anything in Chinese, so they were tugging on me, and I was refusing to stand, and I was sobbing, and they were all talking a million miles a minute, and I wasn't answering, and more women kept walking in, and hovering. I don't know how long this went on before I finally just forced myself to stand up and hobble out of there.

Getting myself home from there was kind of an ordeal. I had to walk a little, just to get back down to the Starbucks where Ben was, and then to get out to the street to get a taxi. And for some reason (probably because we were so near Ancient Culture Street, which draws a lot of tourists) none of the taxi drivers wanted to use the meter to take us home--they all wanted to bargain on a price, and they all wanted us to pay extravagant amounts. And I really wasn't in the mood to bargain.

We did finally find a sympathetic driver, and we made it home. We live in a fourth floor walk-up, so Ben had to carry me up to our apartment. By the time we got home, my ankle had swelled up like a purple puffer-fish, so I've been icing it and popping ibuprofen like tic-tacs ever since. I couldn't put any weight on it at all last night, but I can hobble around on it a little today, as long as I walk a certain way, and I take very small steps. I'm not sure the picture below really does it justice, but you can see the big, swollen lump on the outside of my left ankle there, and the kind of purplish bruising around it, on my foot. Those aren't supposed to be there.

I'm very sure the ankle is not broken. In fact, I think I know what's wrong with it--I've injured this same ankle in pretty much the same way (although never in a Chinese bathroom) several times in the past. But, to be safe, Sam is taking me to see a doctor this afternoon, (which should be another event worth blogging about) possibly to get some X-rays, and hopefully some kind of brace or wrap or crutches or something to make life a bit more bearable.

I don't even want to think about how I'm going to get to and from class on Monday. Sheesh.

communication gap

In general, I really like my classes here at Nankai. My classmates are fun. My teachers are generally very enthusiastic and helpful. And I'm learning quite a lot. But there is one thing that, although kind of funny, really gets on my nerves here. Every once in awhile, we'll come across a new vocabulary word, and in an attempt to get us to practice using it, one of our teachers will ask a question, the answer to which we could not possibly know.

For example, one day, in an attempt to get us to use...um...I don't even remember what vocabulary word, our teacher asked us very earnestly, "What do Chinese elementary school students always say?" The room was absolutely silent. Um, lady--how in the world would we know that? Do any of us look like we were once Chinese elementary school students?

Or one day, one of them asked, "If you're a hostest as a restaurant, what should you say when customers come in?" Now, I've heard them mumble off something that ends with "huanying" (welcome), but honestly, I had no idea what the rest of the phrase was. And neither did anyone else in the room. And anyway, when are we ever going to use that phrase? What is the likelihood that any of us are ever going to be hostesses in a Chinese restaurant?

This is a problem among the young recitation instructors (and actually, it's mostly one teacher in particular, who really drives me crazy, although I won't go into that right now). I chalk it up to lack of experience. But it seems that, if your job is to teach language to students who aren't from your home country/culture, it's probably an important part of your job to recognize when there's absolutely no way your students would (or should need to) be familiar with a particular cultural experience.

work it out!

I've been pretty active since I've been here in Tianjin. Life here necessarily requires a lot of walking and/or bike riding, (no car, you know) so I have some exercise naturally built into my daily schedule. However, thanks to the fact that I don't have to teach or do (much) research during the next year, I have a lot more free time here than I did in the U.S. As a result, I've been feeling like I really should take advantage of that time and do that thing. You know, the first thing I cut out of my schedule when I get busy? That thing that is so easy to talk myself out of doing? You know...that "exercise" thing.

So, tonight I went to the recreation center on campus with my friend and classmate, Juana. She told me about a week ago that, for just 88 yuan a month (about $12 USD), you can use any of the equipment, swim in the pool, and take any of the fitness classes offered every day of the week. I was interested, but a bit reluctant at first, but she finally convinced me to join her and check it out. Tonight we took advantage of the "boxing aerobics" (I'm not sure what it's called, but that's what I'm gonna call it) class that is offered every Wednesday night.

It was an interesting experience, and I regret the fact that I was not able to take any pictures. First of all, the class is, of course, taught in Chinese. I worried that this was going to be a problem. In fact, it wasn't a problem at all, because the music was playing so loudly, even if the class had been taught in English, I probably wouldn't have known what the instructor was saying. It didn't seem to matter much, though. The classroom was packed completely full of people who didn't really seem to know what was going on, but were bouncing around and wildly throwing punches in the air anyway. So, I just jumped right in. You know the saying: when in Rome . . . er, China.

I learned a few things tonight. First of all, I learned that, if any of the Chinese girls in that class got into a fist fight, they wouldn't stand a chance. But I also learned that I shouldn't worry about sticking out like a sore thumb in the gym here. I mean, I do stick out like a sore thumb--there's no way anyone is going to confuse me with a Chinese student--but at least I stick out in the gym the same way I stick out anywhere. Back home, I always worry that my general non-athletic-ness is going to draw a lot of attention in the gym, that people are going to take one look at me and say, "What is that clumsy girl doing stumbling around, jiggling, and sweating all over the place in here?" But here, everyone else is just going for it, no matter how silly they may look in the process, so I may as well go for it, too.

The third thing I learned is that there are also weekly yoga, aerobics, and belly dancing (!) classes at the rec center. I'm planning to go back on Friday night, so I'll let you know how it all turns out.

运动会--sports day!

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've had a cold for the past few days, and it's kept me from wanting to do much besides lay around and watch movies. I'm on the mend, though, so I'll try to post a bit more frequently.


Last Friday, my school had a 运动会 (yun dong hui--a sports competition) for the international students. Each class competed in a variety of events, including (but not limited to) a jump rope competition, a three-legged race, and a tug-of-war.



The whole thing was kind of funny. We all imagined it was going to be a kind of laissez-faire kind of event, but as we are learning, in China, there really is no such thing. There was actually an opening ceremony, where each team had to march around the track while this grand march played over the stadium loudspeakers--like the Olympics, only there were only about 10 people in the stands. Some school leaders gave speeches, none of which we could really hear or understand, and then the events began.


We were mostly reluctant participants when it started, but it turned out to be a lot of fun, thanks largely to my friend Miguel (the guy being kissed in the third picture down) and his overwhelming enthusiasm--he led our entire class in cheers and chants throughout the competition. And then the whole thing turned out to be a little too long (four hours!) to be much fun any more--I was definitely ready for the thing to be over long before it actually was.

On the upside, the event provided a lot of good photo opportunities. I took a lot of pictures, but here are some of my favorites.

random shots of the day

Walk out toward the entrance to our neighborhood, any day during daylight hours, and you're bound to see this group (or others) playing cards, shouting, and engaging in general rabblerousing.

Anyone want a haircut? You could look just like this:

Ben and I found a great new cafe, just down the street. It's called 5.4 coffee bar. The slogan is: "Who says you 5.4 yuan can't buy good coffee?" (that's about $.75)

The electronics superstore down the street from us was having some kind of sale, or extravaganza, or something. These girls were dancing outside the store (somewhat half-heartedly, I might add), trying to drum up sales.