research

so. my purpose in china all along has been to conduct research with older adults, living in the community. i am using a survey tool called the reminiscence functions scale, which was developed in the usa and canada, and tested originally on college students. recently, though, reminiscence has emerged as a possible modality to improve self-esteem and decrease depression in older adults. so, what is reminiscence? in a simple sense, it is recalling past events from one's own life, re-visiting old memories, pleasant and painful, and processing them emotionally. why is this important? because as older adults age, there is sometimes and increase in isolation and depression, and a general decline in quality of life. reminiscence may be a promising way to alleviate these events, without medication, and with human interaction, and perhaps affection.

this was a banner week for me, for data collection. after more than a month of revising ad nauseum the scale, which had been translated from english to chinese while i was still at school this spring, we finalized the survey tool a few weeks ago. while the language may be chinese, the cultural and linguistic appropriateness was not achieved, according to at least 3 focus groups we conducted. so, we made vocabulary changes in an attempt to simplify the scale, we consulted linguistic experts within the university, we consulted psychiatrists at the local hospitals and university departments...all in an effort to make the scale the best possible tool. so, for now, we are using a finalized version of the original scale. my colleagues here have been endlessly supportive and helpful. i think, ultimately, the scale may have to be completely revised to be appropriate for older adults in china, but sadly, this is out of my project's scope, as a master's student and novice researcher here for only a few months.

however, that being said, when things happen, they happen fast. we distributed probably over 200 surveys this week, with the most rewarding (for me) including outings to local parks early in the morning (6:30...this, for me, is early! but it certainly affords the opportunity to avoid the excessive heat in subtropical changsha, and older adults are out en force doing their morning exercises). it is simply blissful for me to observe the flurry of activity. cheerful smiles and greetings in reply to my shy "ni hao?", bustling around the parks and sidewalks...people simply going about their day, living their lives.

i am content.

lotus flowers of shaoshan

shaoshan is famous as the birthplace and former residence of chairman mao zedong. he had his humble beginnings in this modest town, which now serves as an important site for people from all over china who are intent on pledging their dedication to the communist party. i imagine that shaoshan may be akin to a sort of permanent, peaceful political rally in the states, though being somewhat of a recluse when it comes to matters of state, i wouldn't know firsthand.

i generally occupied myself taking photos while in shaoshan, many of which include the gorgeous lotus blossoms i have seen from afar, but hadn't yet had an opportunity to see closer up. they do indeed make wonderful subjects for photography!

the last 2 images are of a stone wall, which i photographed because i like stone walls...

the education of little erin, or how i discovered that i had no idea places like this existed on earth - welcome to zhangjiajie

i have just returned from a whirlwind weekend, which included giving a guest lecture about community health nursing in the u.s.a. at jishou university in hunan (i do not, in fact, suffer from the delusion that i am an expert in the subject, or an effective speaker!), followed by tours of the south great wall and a riverside town, fenghuang. after these outings, i was invited to "go look at some mountains". well. i had *no idea* i would find myself in a Chinese national park, and a world heritage site to boot. so, imagine my surprise to find myself in a place of such natural beauty, i felt as though i was dreaming the entire time. the cloudy weather today contributed to this ethereal feeling, as you'll see in some of the photos. yesterday's weather was dry, but humid, so i looked and felt like a drowned rat for most of the day, soaked in sweat from hiking to and fro amongst these peaks. but it was worth it. so worth it.

did i mention there are monkeys living in this park?! i kept my eyes peeled all day yesterday on the trail, hoping to spot a tailed local within the trees. no one showed, until this morning, when a bold individual joined us on the stairway down from the mountain tram. i was so pleased that i couldn't manage my camera and my excitement simultaneously, and managed to take blurry photos only of the monkey's backside (which did not make the cut here, sorry to say). though he wasn't especially cooperative, either. while i was just gaping in glee at him, he was happy to stay put. as soon as i remembered i had a camera and began pursuing my new friend, the furry one scampered further up the stairs. cheeky little blighter.

i have done my utmost to edit these images first, rather than enthusiastically and hastily post them for your viewing pleasure. hopefully, these images will do a bit of justice to the actual landscape.

 
 
 
 

chinese countryside for the dragon boat festival

this was a busy week. i discovered my inner-karaoke self while belting out 'karma chameleon' at a karaoke salon called partyworld, in celebration of a successfully-defended PhD dissertation. not mine, of course, but i was invited to join in the celebration and did so...for 5 hours...of singing. who knew?! typically, the mention of karaoke would terrify me, and the thought of singing in chinese blew my mind. but, there were some english selections (see above...i do feel bewildered by what fragments of america, or britain, make it overseas...) and so i reluctantly agreed to sing. i also met a chinese college student who attached himself to me a discussed everything under the sun with me in english: presidential nominees and who my preference is, religion and what my preference is, race relations in the USA. he gave me his chinese name, which i can't remember because...his next sentence threw me into a fit of laughter...he told me i could call him by his "english name jackie, just like jackie chan, superstar!" i hadn't anticipated encountering the word
"superstar" this summer, but it has now become everyday lingo for me and my chinese friends.

i also saw the olympic torch trot through changsha. i attended the event with several nursing students (my security detail!) and it was very exciting. there is a lot of nationalism within china from what i can tell, and a tremendous pride to be hosting not only the olympic games, but all of the visitors who will be attending as well.

i received notice that the internal review board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects has approved my research protocol, so i can proceed to the survey portion of my reminiscence research. we had another focus group on friday, which lent itself nicely to criticisms of the wording and content of the survey tool i'm using (reminiscence functions scale), so i may have to think some more about adapting the tool to be compatible with this population, in a linguistic and cultural sense. this is so important when conducting research, and i am not at all discouraged by the feedback we elicited with the focus group. i feel like a real researcher now, encountering real obstacles and problem solving!

and, i have just now returned from the countryside! i am unequivocally a country girl, and returning to a rural setting was fabulous. and the scenery is stunning. i went with a nursing student, he ying, to her family's home north of changsha. this weekend was the annual traditional dragon boat festival, to commemorate well-loved poet chu yuen's death by suicide, as he jumped into a river because of his despair over his country's occupation by foreigners. i believe this took place a few centuries ago... the story goes that, to dissuade fish in the river from devouring the poet's body, local people threw leaf-wrapped sticky rice (zonzi - very good, if you ask me, but i haven't encountered any food yet that i don't like...) into the river to tempt the fish away from chu yuen. and the dragon boats came in to the tradition as a rescue party for the poet. to this day, dragon boat races are held to celebrate the festival. though i did not see any races. i saw one boat, as i was on the bus to he ying's home, but wasn't able to observe with any great detail.

so, i am now going to share my photos from the countryside! i have limited blogging capabilities so unfortunately don't think i can label photos...which may be really annoying...sorry :( but i have become quite fascinated by rice cultivation , and many of the images capture rice. i also managed to make it back to changsha with a large bag full of loose, full-leaf tea, hand-picked and dried at the source. this is the real deal. i gave the family a gift of vermont maple syrup and a picture book of fall foliage in vermont. i hope i explained maple syrup's uses properly (i have gone through similar scenarios in russia and mongolia, Lord only knows how the syrup ended up being eaten, if at all...).

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.

yuelu mountain outing

had a lovely field trip today with 4 nursing students from central south university. we all went to yuelu mountain, in the center of changsha, and hiked to the summit, which is ~300 meters (seemed like more to me!) we left at ~6:30 this morning, to beat the heat, but it was still plenty warm and i was drenched by the time we reached the top. i attribute the haziness of my images to humidity and exhaust, but can't eliminate shoddy camera work, either - while uploading these pictures, i found that i had inadvertently taken some very dull videos, while trying to photograph more scenery. in any case, what photos can't tell you is how absolutely fragrant yuelu mountain is. there are jasmine and magnolia blossoms out, but not an overwhelming number, certainly fewer than what i would expect for such a nice scent. and the trees, bird songs, shade, and breeze were such a treat. i am hoping to learn the bus route between central south university and yuelu mountain so i can scoot over every so often.

back in my air conditioned apartment, full of *fresh* pineapple. i have been pampered with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables! i've had no chocolate cravings in almost a week, which is really saying something :)