AFS - Another Fat Student

 random talk

1.        - "best friends become strangers and strangers become best friends" (not yet, what about you guys?)
2. 2.     Chinese would never ever dare to use bronzer lol. they're terrified of the sun. why? oh yea-vampires. at least aiming to get the same skin tone... every Chinese facial product is 'whitening' and in Summer (35 degrees+) the students walk around the campus with the f* school sweater and an umbrella to protect them selves from the sun. OK. well, my skin tone isn't exactly fitting in there. It's funny because the people in the bus or on the street need to look at me at least twice to realize I'm a foreigner - and then the starring begins. My friends always complain about me not being white or want to the a 'who is whiter' competition (those aren't my friends) but since I'm not that desperate for a defeat I just always decline. And then they shut up and are impressed which i don't get at all but thats OK. Fact is Chinese are racists. (Biggest irony ever!) 
3. 3.     AFS (China) does NOTHING but rules!!! 
4. 4.     Chinese people DO eat with alot of noise and DO smack while eating and they DO spit on the ground in public and they DO make a lot of disgusting noises :D. But luckily only the elder people do that, students in my age don't and my parents generation sometimes does.. ahaha.
5. 5.     The hierarchy in the Chinese AFS is thusly: AFS - School - Family. So if you want to do something the family generally says yes, because they don't want to deny you anything and most of all because they agree to everything the school decides. Maybe because it's the school and therefore it must be a wise decision (or whatever).
6. 6.     In China there are no Playgrounds for children such as we know them. There are only outdoor ‘fitness areas’ with equipment. There are bicycles, cross trainers etc. Those are outside and look like a playground, I only realized after about 1 month that in fact they aren’t playgrounds :’D Sometimes there is also a swing or a seesaw but that’s rather rare..
7. 7.     There isn’t a schedule for the Bus in China. So you just go to the Bus station and wait. If your lucky 1 Minute if you aren’t 1 hour. When I go to school by Bus I usually bank on 15 minutes time for waiting which always is enough. The problem is the way back home. At 4 o’ clock the primary students(and their mothers) go home and at 6 o’clock the middle school students and normal employees. We usually wait for 30 minutes sometimes longer, sometimes less..         Since our homes are in the ‘new development’ area there are only a few busses and it’s always awfully crowded inside. Before we can take a bus at all we always have to let at least 1 past because it’s so replete with people that nobody can enter. If you want to exit it’s extremely difficult too, the people usually try to move towards the entrance 2 stations before they have to get off :’D I haaaate going back home in the evening. There are so many people all starring at us. And it’s not all comparable to the Parisian Metro or the Bus from Rychi at 12:00 or in the morning :’D
8.        Chinese People might no nothing about another country but they know EVERYTHING about it’s food. At least they think they do. My sister doesn’t want to go to England for an exchange year because she read that chinese people wouldn’t like Englands food, now she’s afraid she might starve :D And everytime we talk about another country she asks about the food, or says something like: Newzealand is known for it’s famous milk, isn’t it?! (Is it, i never heard about Newzealands milk... ahaha)

Chinese Doctor

3 weeks ago I was at a Chinese doctor to get some medicine against my cold. Thought I could try the not western alternative and it was a rather interesting experience:

I went to a pharmacy with my host mother. We got a number there, like the ones you get in a bank. We had to wait 20 minutes until our number was yelled, there were about 5/6 other persons in front of us. The doctor was an old women, she asked what about my problem and then took the pulse rate of both of my hands. Based on my pulse rate she determined the ingredients of my medicine. 
My medicine had 27 ingredients, my host mothers only 12 (I forgot why she needed medicine haha). You can choose to take the medicine uncooked a mixture of leaves (and idk what else) or you take the medicine the next day and they’ll cook it for you. Then you take that home and cook it again to drink it warm. 

cooked

whatever?!

doctor

Chinese Hospital

Last Week I visited the hospital too, there are 2 bid hospitals in Chengde. The teacher took me to the better one. I went with my teacher because my host mother didn't have time during the week. I have some problems with my chest/ my respiration which is why I had to go there. 

My teacher told me that in China there is a 'little hospital' for the district where you live. You go there if you have a cold, fever or other 'not very serious things'. If you are seriously ill, don't know what you're problem is or just feel like going to the big hospital you go there. I went because of the 2nd reason. 

The first time you go you have to buy a (chip)card on which you're data of every visit will be saved. Since you will always see another doctor and there are so many people you have you're data saved just on you're card. The hospital doesn't keep the patients data, so better not loose the card. 

First you will find the fitting department ( Respiration, Heart,...). There you have to draw a ticket and wait for your number. If it's a very crowdy day maybe for 3 hours, but we only waited 30 minutes. Then there was a doctor, she took a quick look at me after I explained my problem to her, then she sent me to take an X-Ray and blood, since in China there are different departments for everything. 1 Person only does 1 thing. 

After the X-Ray and the blood test I had to wait approximately 40 minutes for the results. When I received them we took them back to the doctor, she consulted bronchitis because nothing was visible. Then she prescribed me 3 Medicaments which you get in the biiiig pharmacy in the hospital.

In between all these steps you always have to go the 1st floor, the cashiers work there. Because only with a receipt you can do the X-Ray, take blood, or get medicine.