Wuhan, China

Beep beep! Yes that is the oh so familiar sound of cars and mopeds honking at pedestrians to move even though the pedestrians have right of way. In China, there is no such thing. We must dodge cars and take two buses in order to get to the traditional Chinese medicine clinic, a journey that takes about an hour. When we finally get there, the first thing that we do is get breakfast at this small shop that sells fried bao zi (pronounced "bow dzuh") which are buns with meat inside. They are delicious and only cost us about 30 cents! Most of the food here is very good (and cheap), and you would love it if you like spicy food which seems to be their forte. Unfortunately, I cannot handle spicy foods well but their food is nevertheless extremely scrumptious.

For the past three weeks, we have observed so many great things at the clinic! Acupuncture is the most common treatment with needles that can be placed pretty much ANYWHERE...We have also seen and even done cupping which was a really neat experience. The feeling is so weird! I could literally feel my skin being pulled into the cup! Other treatments include moxibustion which is where herbs are burned in a box and placed on the affected area with the belief that the vapor will carry the medicine through the skin and throughout the body. Steam treatments are very similar except patients lie supine on a bed with holes from which the steam exits. The most common indications for these treatments that we have seen are pain and paralysis or weakness as a result of stroke. It is very hard to communicate with the staff members and the patients, but luckily the other students have been so kind as to help with translating!

In our free time, we have dared to venture off on our own to explore. We have found a movie theater which we have yet to experience and a square plaza where numerous couples dance every night! It's the cutest thing! We have also visited the Hubei Provincial Museum which has a lot of interesting things, but it is so huge that multiple trips are necessary in order to see its entirety. I hope to see other famous sites such as the Yellow Crane Tower and even the Great Wall in Beijing.

In general, people are extremely friendly, welcoming, and honest. They all seem very excited and eager to speak with foreigners as if they want to practice their English. In the shops, they follow us around maybe to make sure that we're not shoplifting or maybe they just want to be at our immediate assistance. Who knows. We also learned how to play mahjong, a game that you may see installed on your computer. However, traditional mahjong is a 4 player game, one that is super fun! We bought our own sets to bring back home! I'm eager for many more adventures to come and for our project to go smoothly. Hopefully the language barrier won't keep us from obtaining the appropriate information, so we will have the students help us as much as we can. Until next time!