The Cats of the Great Wall

As many of you know I kinda have a thing for cats. I have a sixth sense for them, if there is a cat around I will find it. If there is a cat crying I will find it. Such is the way I am and I am sure that someday I will be a crazy old cat man and if I will the lottery I will bend a giant no-kill cat shelter. So it comes as no surprise that when I discovered cats at the Great Wall of China I started taking pictures of them instead of the Great Wall.

We counted ten of these cats in all and they were obviously feral and obviously living at the Great Wall. They came up to people and begged for food as much as a cat does. They would get close to people and meow at them but they would dart away as soon as someone tried to pet them. People were happy to oblige them. The coolest thing about them was that most of them had the most unusual shade of golden eyes that I have ever seen. Very interesting.

A visit to a Chinese ER

Last Friday I was the proud recipient of food poisoning. I blame the Korean food. Due to this little gift I spent the day in the Emergency Room. Now, no one likes going to the Emergency Room, quite literally, it is just never a good thing. Going to an ER in another country is even worse. Going to the ER when you are spewing liquid out of every part of your body whilst running a fever and a little out of your mind is even more daunting. My memory is pretty spotty for some parts of it and pretty good for other parts, but I can tell you this for sure, it was a quite a bit different from going to the ER in the United States. First things first. The one thing I remember clearly is the Doctor spoke a smattering of English. I expected this, I teach the medical students their English and I know its a requirement. He came up to me and said "Mr. Crisler how are you feeling?" I remember grumbling "Dr. Crisler." because damn it, if optometrists and chiropractors get to call themselves doctor I get to as well. Heck, we actually have more claim to the title of doctor than medical doctors do. I digress, however, that is a debate for another day. Chinese hospitals are far, far more efficient than ones in the United States. Doctors are far less entitled and given far less referential treatment. They are respected but gone is the sense that my time is more valuable than yours. Gone is the sense that you cannot talk to me until you go through my army of nurses. If you want to talk to the doctor you yell at him and if he is not with another patient he will come and talk to you. Most of the time he was sitting in the middle of the room at his desk playing solitaire and listening to his music through ear buds. This part I really liked about going to the ER there. The medical care I got I felt was good. The nurses were skilled at their jobs, in fact, it is the first time I have ever had an IV done on the first try. Normally it takes 2 or 3 people and several sticks, and I was badly dehydrated to boot. I was impressed and I told them so. The doctors treated me in the exact fashion I expected. There was no aspect of the visit that I thought out of place in regards to the care I received. However, there are some things that would seem incredibly out of place to an American. Firstly, people lighting up cigarettes in the emergency room right next to the patients. People did this all the time. Patient being treated and his family is just sitting there smoking. This didn't really bother me, but it did make me laugh. Also, although this is something you just get used to after a very short time here. it was just kind of dirty. There is so much dirt and grime in the streets that everything white in China just sort of has a dingy look to it. Things get stained, nobody cares. Its part of the reason why you never ever were you shoes indoors and the first thing you do at someones house is to take off your shoes. So, because of this everything just looks dirty. Now, nothing medical was dirty at all. Everything was sterilized and the beds and sheets were fresh as could be. In fact, in regards to that type of cleanliness they are more fastidious than we are. They are just not overly concerned if something does NOT look clean. The wall has been cleaned. It does not matter that it is stained, only that it is clean. The bathroom, however, was pretty disgusting. No getting around that. Another odd things was the fact you have to prepay for everything. Getting an IV bag? Pay for it first. Getting another IV bag? Gotta pay for that one now. You need a shot, go pay for it first. It was a bit of a hassle, but I think that if I had not been able (rather had people there to do it for me) it would not have prevented me from getting the treatment. I am quite certain they would have just taken the money from right there at the bed.... Overall though, going to the doctor here was nothing to be afraid of. They know what they are doing and if you just ignore the cultural differences it is just like going to the doctor anywhere.