Medical Exam

Last weekend I went with another teacher from XYNU and Ju Hai Ying (Julia) to Zhengzhou in order to take the standardized medical exam. This was at the place I took my first exam, and Zeneta took both of her exams, at.

Julia was a bit tired form having just finished her second stage Graduate exam in Shanghai. It seems that the procedure is to first take a national exam to see if one can even advance to the graduate level in their chosen field. Then, they go to the individual school, that they intend to study at, and take a battery of tests there. The first test is an all day test. The second stage, at the chosen school, takes about a week.

The other teacher was just being himself. By nature he is very short tempered and was upset from the start. He was not happy about going to Zhengzhou for the physical. Last year the end of year physical was done in Xinyang and he refused to understand why the physical, this year, could not also be done in Xinyang; this, relieving him of the need to travel.

The reason was simple. The school was fined quite heavily for doing that last year. The physicals are required to be done at the entry/exit medical examination facilities. Before a Chinese national is permitted to travel abroad they are required to undergo a medical exam and receive a battery of vaccinations. Then when they return they are also required to take an exam, primarily to be tested for AIDS.

It is at these facilities that foreign experts are also required to be tested. It is that simple, and that inflexible.

The next issue, one that I will expand on in my trip to Xian with He Zhi Qing, is that Ju Hai Ying did not get the tickets we asked her to. We asked for "D" Train, or "soft seat," tickets. She got is hard seat tickets on a "K" train. Yes, the seats are padded, which is an improvement; but, they are not "soft seat" which is the first class carriage. To someone who does not travel in China this sounds like a small issue; but, remember that the "hard" carriages are also the standing room carriages with all the chaos and crowding I have described in the past.

We arrived in Zhengzhou late, upsetting the other teacher further, and got a snack; which, due to issues with stomach problems, the other teacher could not eat. We than got to the hotel and discovered that Ju Hai Ying had gotten a single room for the other teacher and I. She had never given this a second thought, or mentioned it to us previously. To many Chinese, sharing rooms is common and normal.

The other teacher again got upset and demanded to be returned to Xinyang. I think this was the third time he made that demand on this trip; and, we were still on the first evening.

After getting the room issue straightened out (the other teacher and I did not share a room; but, Ju Hai Ying spent several hours walking aground Zhengzhou looking for a room that night) Ju Hai Ying wanted us to go to dinner with her and a friend of hers (a man, which was why she was not able to stay at the friends place); however, the other teacher said, "no." (really, he said a lot more than "no;" but, it distilled to, "no.").

I let Ju Hai Ying pick the place for dinner. It was Chinese, very Chinese, but good.

The next morning went fine, other than having trouble getting a cab. It was rush hour and we had a lot of trouble finding a cab that did not already have a passenger.

The medical went as expected. They had a few words about someones blood pressure, not mine, and that was about all. I did tell Ju Hai Ying to make sure that they were aware of my problem with blood draws. She really did not understand; but they did. She started trying to explain what I had told her and they almost immediately interrupted her (which was good, she really did not understand the problem; but they did) and asked if I needed to lie down as the blood was being drawn or after. I told them after and they put me in a draw chair that was right next to a cot that was set low to the ground. I almost didn't make it to the cot.

Ju Hai Ying tried to get me to get my feet off the cot and lie properly and the staff there stopped her and told her that I knew what I needed to do. As I have said, it is simply a case of lying with my knees high, or legs elevated for about five minutes and I am fine; but, if I don't do this after a blood draw, I wont make it those five minutes. I have lost more blood, than is taken in those draws, in accidents and been just fine. Like the doctor in America said, its just needle effect.

We left there and got a snack then wet to the hotel room where the three of us discussed the plan for next year. As you can guess, I said that the other teacher's favored workbook was not suitable as the sole text.

After that it was time for lunch, the need to move fast in the morning through the three-meal-a-day Chinese time schedule off. As a result the other teacher did not eat with us (us being Ju Hai Ying, her friend, and myself). We had western food, steak, for lunch and I tried to coach Ju Hai Ying a bit on western utensil usage.

After this we went to the western food store in Zhengzhou. The purpose was to get some breakfast cereal and cheese. I was not impressed with the cheese selection. Zeneta, later, told me that they had been cutting back on the cheese selection, even, while she had been shopping there.

We left Ju Hai Ying at that point and went back to the train station where we waited for the D-train to Xinyang. I did notice that the train was more crowded than it had been in the past. I think that the D-train has been a big hit here. Along with the improvement in speed, the cleanliness and standard of service is something that is not normal for China; and, the D-trains success shows that there is a demand for it.