July 22, 2006

• Bye Bye to Beijing-and some Remembering

  Finally left china the other day and i am once again bumming myself in japan at andy’s place. With the trip over, it is strange how i feel, like an eggroll of emotion with a lot of happy cabbage, a few disappointed carrot, some wistful pork, but a delicious crispy wrapper of new experiences that will stay with me for much longer than 30 minutes after i have eaten

  I know i got pretty lax about updating toward the end there, but that is how vacations go, is it not? you will all know soon what i have been up to, those of you who still check the site and care anyway.

  So on my last day o clinic in china, i was the only one of our group of four who showed p, so dr. tan let me do pretty much everything! I got to cup several patients, both placing and removing the cups, and i did moxa for dry eyes and joint pain, and i even was finally allowed to needle some patients (extremity and stomach points only, natch…no needles in the face, i dont trust myself that much) and even manipulate needles that the doctor put in. I feel like i learned a lot during my month here, even if not all of it was about acupuncture and tcm

  however with what i did learn about acupuncture, i would like to perhaps find a way to work it into my future practice one day because it really does seem to treat a lot of things that western medicine simply has no way to handle

  so the full trip of updates and china photos is forthcoming, but in summary here are some of the things i will most remember…

  -The first day of class and realizing that we were going to be treating patients with less than a week of training in tcm

  -the endless haggling for the price you want in the silk market, only to realize that you are fighting over about 12 cents us for something you may actually really want

  -the multiple rounds of playing asshole, never have i ever, and other drinking games in the hotel room with the rest of the group, and the things we learned about each other while doing so

  -the train trips to xian and yellow mountain, and the multiple defacing of various chinese monuments by taking degrading photos with people in sexual positions, or climbing on the statues or the like

  -the random spontaneous bursts of karaoke our group had while just walking down the street

  -Phil’s invisible booty slapping dance move that can be done to any song

  -Meat on stick for ridcurous prices

  -Being the best dancers in the club

  -filtering all our questions through our 4 mandarin speakers, or trying to get our point across to people when we couldn’t

  -bike riding through the streets of beijing, sometimes as much as 7 to 8 miles a day eitheir in the company of a pretty girl, or with her riding on the back of my bike (that’s right, i know what it’s like to be a rickshaw driver)

  and while last mentioned, the most important thing i will remember on this trip is the fantastic girl i met out there…part of our acupuncture group, she and i managed to get our flirting and the chase accomplished in about a week and a half, and the remainder of the trip we spent dating/as a couple

  it was definetly nice to be in a relationship again, and perhaps even a little more meaninful because we knew we had limited time together, which wemade the most of. For the moment, we are still dating and continue to do so, but not exclusively for reasons which i wont go into online (although i know jenn, mari, and mary will all want to grill me later, and you will have your chance to do so )

  that’s okay, i love a challenge

  now for the next week i am back in tokyo, and much as i love the city, i defiently intend on taking this week to just relax and recuperate…i have seen most of the sites before, i have no need or desire to go clubbing in roppongi or shibuya by myself, and think i could be content just sitting in a park, eating some quality street food, and thinking about hot content i am with my life and the decisons i made to get here

  but enough waxing melodramatic…i am off to enjoy myself, and you will all hear about it later

  i’ve waxed on, now it’s time to WAX OFF!

  -J

  • 9:01 pm
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