Urgent breaking news! (Courtney)

Well folks, you'll never believe it. I just got back from another solo trip to the canteen..and lo and behold a girl asked me to sit with her! With Marcus being sick the last few days I've been trekking over to the canteen by myself for lunch, and sadly even dinner last night. All times I have been determined to strike up conversation with someone, but every time I have not been able to spot even one person who I recognise. I figured I would start with the English teachers, as I would feel awkward just plonking myself down at a table if I couldn't communicate beyond hello, nice day, good food etc. So my plan of attack was to slowly start "joining" (invited or otherwise) people's tables, and then start dropping in things like "hey, do you guys ever go shopping or out for dinner? Well I'd really like to come along!" Baby steps people.

So I walk to the canteen this morning. Lunch for the teachers who don't have class starts at 11:30, and you ideally want to be there at this time whilst the food is still hot and before you are left with fish guts and cold bok choy. So I get there about 11:35 and there is no one there. I get some food and walk into the dining part, and it's just me and a guard. Where is every one I think. The kids go to lunch between 11:50 and 11:55, and if you have one of those classes then you go to lunch then too. So I sit down and start working on my lunch, which was one of the better meals I've so far had here. A girl about my age walks by, then stops and comes over. She asks me if I speak Chinese. I say I can speak a very very small amount of Chinese. We have a laugh and she starts to wander away. I am about to get up and follow her (yup, if I have to stalk people to become friends damnit I will!!) when she turns back and motions for me to come and sit with her and another girl. Both had limited English but I don't care. I sat there with a stoopid grin on my face, like I was the class nerd being asked to sit with the cool kids. Turns out they are both Chinese teachers, then another teacher came to join them, a Physics teacher, then finally Miss Ying Ming one of the English teachers. So I was stoked! Happily sat there eating and actually being involved in a normal conversation. Who knows how long it will be before this will happen again, but I am determined. I said to Marcus when I got home that perhaps we have to start sitting separately at lunch time so people will talk to us ;-)

Anyhoo, this morning I had made appointments for Marcus and I to go to the doctor. I had seen a post on a Wuxi expat website about a new clinic that had opened and had an American doctor. Perfect! I am more than happy to try to get by with Chinese in any situation...except when it comes to health. Marcus has been really sick this week with a bad flu/cold and I have started picking up his symptoms, which after already having been sick twice since we have been here I am truly over. I should not be sick for a third time in 7 weeks!! So I rang the clinic yesterday, it is run by an international company and they also have clinics in Shanghai and Beijing. I ask to see the American doctor only to be told he is a psychologist. Why oh why would they finally send an English speaking doctor to Wuxi only for it to be a psychologist? Although, with the way things have been going, it wont be long till I'm sure we will be back there using his services!! So I booked to see a Chinese doc who I was told spoke ok English. I figured if we got there and weren't convinced I'd just ask for the American doc anyway. Well, turns out this place was fantastic. It's located in the same building we had our immigration medicals done in, which is very easily located just a couple of streets away from school. I had asked Mr Pan this morning if he could organise for a school driver to take us, and he tried to tell me that we should go to the hospital not this place. Sorry Mr Pan, but we are not going to the hospital!!!! This place was brand new, completely clean and professionally run. They were fabulous. The receptionists and nurses were all eager to practise their English and were so interested when they found out we were Australian. The doctor I had was wonderful, a young guy whose English was fantastic and he was very caring and didn't try to rush you out the door. (This is probably because we were the only patients, and they charged an enormous amount of money for the consultation!) I went through all of my varied symptons and had a full check up. Both Marcus and I left with actual real medication, and I too have some Chinese medicine for my throat. Turns out Marcus has a very severe cold and I have a throat virus (which strangely seems to have spread to a finger which is blistering...odd but true) I also got to meet with the American doctor, who tries to catch up with the patients to see how their experience was. I was telling him we had already experienced a Chinese hospital, and were just so happy to walk into this clinic. There is also a dentist (I was given a tour) who looked like a nice man, and I was told that everything is run to international standards, all dentist tools are disposed of after each patient etc. So it's comforting to know that we have a place to rely on that is very close as well.

Once we left, we weren't sure if thedriver had waited for us or not. We wandered along looking at the cars and found one that looked like the car we had come in. Here is the driver, chair completely back, fast asleep with is little socked feet hanging out the window!! he he...I felt very bad leaning in the window and waking him up!

So my spirits have been buoyed by eating lunch with some of the other teachers, especially since they asked me and not the other way around. Here's hoping things continue!