a small success!

just now, i had my first monolingual transaction in chinese! i asked to purchase a water cooler bottle for my room, for 5 RMB (a steal, really), all by myself. after a quick tutorial about how to ask to purchase water from my very conscientious interpreter and cultural broker, guo jia, who goes by her english name, jane, i have procured enough water for the next few weeks.

in other news:

on monday, some faculty from a nursing school in western hunan came to visit, and i was invited to join them at a formal lunch with faculty and directors from the school of nursing here. not knowing how to conduct myself at formal lunch gatherings, i doubtless blundered several times...one of the ones i noticed is that, when a toast is made directly to someone (such as me) that person must finish their entire glass of wine before the toaster drinks theirs. so. and the use of different plates at a meal! apparently, one plate is used exclusively for unwanted food (such as fish bones and animal fat). i was using mine as a device to catch food i wanted, which slipped off my chopsticks, for safe keeping. whoops. in any case, a troupe of us from the changsha nursing school will be traveling to western hunan in june to participate in a conference, at which i will be a guest speaker about care of older adults in community. perhaps i can redeem myself there after learning some table manners...

tuesday, i went shopping with "the girls" in the business district. i needed some cotton socks for my big feet, and managed to find some. i also came across some beautiful wooden handicrafts which may manifest themselves as gifts for some who are reading this so i shall withhold their identity for now :) i also got myself a chocolate-flavored soy bubble tea. yummy! we went in the evening, as evenings are much cooler than the day, and the sun sets early here, so even though it's dark, it's still early enough to enjoy the evening.

wednesday - i visited 2 community health centers with my research adviser here, feng hui. we went to garner support for my project, and ask if we could use the community health sites as places where i could distribute my surveys. both community center directors eagerly said yes (well, i think eagerly, given that i can't speak or understand mandarin and must rely on reading face and body expression!). so that was nice.

and the gem of the week happened on wednesday afternoon...i had my first focus group with 8 older adults, to review my survey tool and see if it was culturally and linguistically approachable for the cohort! feng hui facilitated the entire thing, it was great. the group clapped when she introduced me, they wanted their photos taken with me...it helps that the group were all retired faculty and staff from changsha university, and thus were well-aware of the yale-china relationship, which started in 1901 (www.yalechina.org). in any case, it was very exciting to be interacting with members of my population of interest, and evaluating the survey tool i'll be using in my research.

yesterday, i went to the nursing director's office in the morning, thinking that we might go visit one of the hospitals in changsha where earthquake survivors are being cared for. i have a volunteer t-shirt and everything! yesterday's outing was canceled, i think because all the students are in final exams, and i need someone to go with and translate. so hopefully i will have a chance to see the inside of a chinese hospital and meet some of the people most dearly affected by the earthquake. we've had some rain here in changsha this week, which has been nice, but i can't help thinking about how it must be raining in sichuan province as well, endangering more people and hampering rescue and relief efforts. i am following the news closely.

also, the president of the entire central south university system (3 campuses in changsha) was slated to visit the nursing school yesterday, so i was sequestered in an office for a few hours waiting to meet him, as a grateful american guest studying at his university this summer. well, he wasn't able to come to where i was, but the vice president did, and i met him and there were photographs taken...but the most rewarding part was that i spent the entire waiting time chatting with very intelligent, passionate nursing students. we didn't talk about nursing, but about english, traveling, greek mythology, traditional chinese clothing, silk, animals...it was really fun! english is taught here starting in elementary school, and continues through university-level education. so many of my colleagues are able to communicate quite well in english, which is a blessing for me since i can't return the favor in chinese.

last night i finally got my hair trimmed. the wash and blow-dry took about 40 minutes, and the cut itself took about 5! not bad for 10 RMB (~$1.75).

i am teaching a session about nursing education and roles in the USA tomorrow! should be interesting given that i know very little first-hand information about working, and am still in the throes of the educational piece. i will rely on the students to ask many questions related to their curiosity.