As I write these entries, it’s often either late at night or very early in the morning, and that, combined with the 12 hours time difference makes it hard to know whether to put them in the past or present tense. Anyway, I pick past for this one as it’s 5:00 am on Thursday the 11th here. My roommate, Marlyn (turns out her mother forgot the “i” on her birth certificate,” was up at 3:30 to prepare for a 4:30 am ride to the airport, and though she did her best to move quietly, it’s not really her strong suit. Having Marlyn for a roommate has been a bit of a challenge. She’s a fantastic nurse, and her boss in the UAE allows her 10 days off each month to do Op Smile missions. She doesn’t know how many missions she’s done, but apparently she’s well known by the surgeons and anesthesiologists who do the Asian missions and is universally respected.
That said, she’s a bit like a three year old, no offense to my granddaughter. She needs constant interaction and attention, going so far as to call my name loudly if I’ve been at the computer or concentrating on my kindle for too long. She wants me to “tell her a story” each night about various aspects of life in the US, and needs my opinion on her outfits, makeup, choice of shoes, etc. Finally, she must have the air conditioning on high. Though the weather is hot and muggy here, our room is always arctic. No one thing is that big, (well, maybe the AC,) but when every moment of down time is precious, small intrusions begin to grate. Luckily, Marlyn also has the silly, fun personality of a toddler, so it’s impossible to not like her. She’s a people magnet, doling out hugs and huge smiles to anyone who drifts into her range. I could have done worse in the roommate lottery.
We arrived in Beijing from Nanyang at around noon yesterday. As we flew in I was struck by the sheer number of apartment buildings surrounding the city. I took some photos from the airplane and will post them on Picasa in the next day or two, but it was a reminder of just how many people live here. We were picked up by drivers pre-arranged by Ava, the Asian coordinator. The plan was to settle into our hotels (we are in three different Marriotts,) and then meet back at Elisabeth’s hotel in central Beijing at around 4:00. Ken, the anesthesiologist from Seattle, Michael, Marlyn and I are together at the Courtyard Marriott and were driven by a driver we nicknamed the “Angry Bird” for his aggressive, expletive-laden style of driving. It’s clearly a challenge and learned art form to be a driver in Beijing. As with the people’s lack of queuing skills, drivers here seem unaware of concepts such as right of way, turn signals, turn lanes, one way streets, crosswalks, or even traffic lights. A loud horn and a big chassis help, but generally, drivers just pick their route and push the gas pedal to the floor. One hand guides the steering wheel while the other stays on the horn Angry bird seemed to delight in tailgating smaller cars, scooters and bicyclists, and at one point actually came up behind a man on driving a motorized wheelchair in the bike lane and tailgated him, blasting the horn until the man pulled over. He then whipped around the man and pulled in in front of him, his bumper barely missing the front wheels of the chair. As I don’t know Mandarin, I didn’t get to learn any curse words in a new language, but from Ken’s recurring blush, it was clear Angry Bird had quite a repertoire.
We finally arrived at our hotel, and once checked in, we called for a taxi to take us downtown to meet Elisabeth and the students and Erin. Elisabeth’s hotel is opulent – photos later - in keeping with the overhall done for the Beijing Olympics. Huge buildings line wide boulevards, though most of the vehicles are electric scooters or bicycles. Our first stop was a warren of narrow streets lined with food stalls. In addition to fried dough sticks, fried ice cream balls, noodles, squid, seaweed, buns, and many other traditional snacks, there were skewers of live scorpions for sale. The customer would pick out a choice stick with five or six wiggling creatures, the stall owner would quickly dip it into a pot of boiling oil, and voilà, a crispy treat! Both John and Chris tried one skewer each – a test of manhood duly recorded by Erin for their classmates at home.
After Snack Alley, we took the subway to the Silk Market. The subway was quite similar to subways in Boston and NYC. It’s was little more crowded and there was lots of pushing and shoving that likely would earn you a bash in the nose in the US, but otherwise felt very familiar. There was a stop in the basement of the Silk Market, a six-story building full of discount shops. One can indeed buy silk by the yard here in addition to silk scarves and ties, but there are also shops with clothing, toys, electronic, books, most anything you can think of. There’s a whole floor of Purses and bags, some authentic brand names and some knock offs. The same is true for watches and electronics. Supposedly, if you know what you’re looking for and know how to spot a fake, you can get great deals. I wandered into a few shops and was immediately pounced upon by the salesperson, “Hey lady, do you need a bag?” “Hey lady, see this toy, how old your child, they like this one very much.” It was what I call “assault shopping,” and since I since I wasn’t actually planning to buy anything, I gave up browsing. Ken ended up buy two Rosetta Stone programs, one for Spanish and one for Japanese for $50 Yuan (about $8.00) each. Michael has bought them here in the past and vouched for them being the real deal.
Next, we took the subway again to “the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing” where we had made reservations. The duck is served with pancakes and sauce and condiments and then one is expected to order side dishes. Having experienced several meals with mountains of food going to waste, we ordered just two veggie dishes and some steamed dumplings. Our waiter disappeared and came back with the owner, a woman of formidable size and demeanor. She snatched the menu from Elisabeth’s hands, scanned the table for “the person in authority,” and marched over to Ken. “Chinese people know what they are doing in this restaurant and they always order several more dishes.,” said she. When Ken held his ground, she began flipping through the several page menu, pointing out “signature dishes,” all very expensive. Ken, trying to be conciliatory, told her that we would start with what we had ordered and then, if we were still hungry we would take her advice and order one of the dishes she had recommended. HA! She launched into a tirade of outraged Mandarin, and then stalked off.
I thought we would be gathering our things and leaving, but then Ken translated. She had said, approximately, “Silly Americans, you’ll have it your own way, of course, and then you’ll need to order more at the end and you’ll hold up my restaurant when I need your table!” Her declaration would have carried more weight if there hadn’t been an abundance of empty tables and no waiting customers. In the end, we were quite full and did not require extra dishes. Ken tipped well and the owner seemed content.
We walked from the restaurant to Tiananmen Square but it was closed for the night, so we headed back to our hotels. This morning, Ken and Michael and I had a lavish free breakfast from the hotel buffet.. Traditional Chinese foods plus omelets, dry cereal, toast, fruit and very runny instant oatmeal were available. There was real coffee, my first since arrival – delicious. In our hotel in Nanyang, they served hot water and little packets of “three in one” which contained instant coffee, sugar and dried milk. In restaurants, hot water flavored with lemon passes for tea, and if you ask for plain water instead of bottled, it is served hot to show that it was boiled and is therefore pure. My flight is not until this evening so the driver will pick me up from the hotel at 2:00. I have the luxury of a quiet hotel room to myself for most of a day.
When I compare this trip to my previous China trip, it’s a little bit apples and oranges. That trip was to Inner Mongolia which though technically Chinese is culturally very different. It was also an international trip, the inaugural Op Smile trip to the region, and a political showcase trip. There were more international volunteers than Chinese volunteers on the team, and there was very little mixing outside of the OR. Having the international team members to talk with and interact with was nice, but I didn’t really get to know any of the Chinese team members. Medical students did the interpreting on that mission, and there was one young man who was very earnest and asked lots of questions about the US. I didn’t have the same feeling of friendship with him as I do with Quinna, but I was able to get a sense of life in Inner Mongolia.
On this mission, with so few international members of the team, we all were forced to interact. The Chinese members made an effort to show us their lives and used the interpreters to full advantage. Though there were certainly differences in management styles, in the end we could respect each other and acknowledge that we all had the same goals in mind. I come away from this mission having a better understanding about the people of China, seeing them less as “really different” and more as regular people from another country. Inequality there is huge; only a tiny percentage of the population has the means to shop on the boulevard with the 5th Avenue shops or own a car that justifies the wide roadways. China, however, is moving fast, so if they do distribute their wealth as they make it, maybe they’ll have gridlock some day too. The biggest difference on this trip for me was having Quinna assigned as my interpreter. Usually there is a group of interpreters and everyone is competing for their services. Having one person working with me full time not only gave me the opportunity to get to know her, but allowed us to become comfortable enough to ask each other about our lives beyond the mission. I’d love to have similar opportunities in other countries.
Well, that’s it. I’ll sort and post the photos on Picasa as soon as I can, and I’ll put these pages on my blog. Thank you again for your interest in my adventures.
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