Needle in my nose!
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2008
1
9
Trip End
Jul 2009
Anshan, Liaoning, China
Sunday, December 14, 2008
On Fridays my "little sister" Li Jia Wen, or Shuang Shuang, as I call her, (all Chinese have their 'real' names, and then family nicknames which only family and close friends call them) is at school. Shuang Shuang is 16, and a junior at the best high school in Anshan. This isn't bragging about the wealth or position of my Chinese family. In China, after 9th grade all students take an exam to determine their placement in high school, so Shuang Shuang's place at the best high school in the city tells you something about her, the girl is really freaking smart. She speaks English almost as well as I do, and better than quite a few Americans, I think. But anyways, her life here is tough. She leaves for school at 630 every morning, and doesn't get home until 10:40, then it's another 1 1/2 to 2 hours of homework before she crashes for bed. This is Monday through Friday. Saturdays she has school in the morning and Sundays are her extra classes, reporting and then singing class with her mother, the police officer/ music teacher. Throughout the weekend she is often doing homework, I think the only time she really stops is when someone comes to visit, that someone usually being me. The poor girl, if I was her, I'd go crazy, I have a lot of respect for her.
Anyway, back on track, on Fridays I head over to the family's house. It's really sweet, a nice big beautiful Chinese apartment. Li yi fu (Uncle Li), usually makes dinner while Liu yi (aunt Liu) gives me Chinese lessons or we have a conversation, with me stuttering in Chinese and her coaching me, or peppering her conversation with random English words. Both Uncle Li and Aunt Liu know a little English, but not a whole lot, so most of the time we speak Chinese, which is great practice, and we've all gotten very good at our dictionary usage. The food is wonderful and it's nice to have a surrogate family. This routine is repeated on Saturdays and Sundays, except I get to be lazy in the morning/afternoon and do whatever I want, then head over for dinner. Plus conversation is a lot easier because Shuang Shuang is there to translate, which is a big help, believe you me. On Saturdays I bring my computer over to their house, and my Chinese family gets to talk to my real family, or whatever part of my family happens to be home at the time. Shuang Shuang loves this part of the week, she adores Jamie and Tracey and gets so excited she stutters when she thinks that she might get to go live with them next year (more on that one later) My Chinese family is wonderful, and they've truly helped to make me feel at home here in China. But it can get a little exhausting sometimes, my darling Chinese "mama" (aunt liu) worries sick about me like I'm her own kid, and I mean kid. She's one of those wonderful, kindhearted women who should have had about 12 kids, but because she lives in China could only have one, and because of the school system, she doesn't get to spend a lot of time with that one, because she's always at school. So having me around is like a new puppy, someone new to spoil and pamper! I'm not complaining its wonderful, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much. For example about 2 weeks ago the weather abruptly changed from about low 40's F to about 6 degrees F overnight. It went from nice and balmy to bone chillingly cold, that's 6 degrees is without factoring in wind chill. I, however, am capable of looking up the weather on my computer. Liu yi was worried i might not have done that though, so she called me at 7 a.m. to tell me to dress warmly and eat a warm breakfast because today was very cold. I didn't have to be up until 7:30....I was slightly less than thrilled to be getting a phone call telling me something I already knew in a language I barely spoke half an hour before my eyes were supposed to be open....but, how can you get upset with someone for not wanting you to freeze your face off? Especially when that person had already bought you long underwear, a hat, leg warmers and given you a coat? Not okay!
And this brings me to my main point of today's lecture class....Yesterday I had a headache. A very uncomfortable sinus headache, wear laying down hurts but standing up or moving around is ten times worse. One of those headaches where medicine doesn't really help and all you can really do is lie around all day and try to move as little as possible. Needless to say I didn't really feel up to dinner with the family. So I called the house and told Shuang Shuang I had a headache and wanted to stay home and rest. As soon as Liu Yi got home from teaching her singing lessons she called me, asked if I was ok, did I want to see a doctor? Did I have the flu? Was it a cold? Had I eaten? Should she bring some food over? I managed to assure her I would survive and that by the next day I would be ok. So tonight around 530 I got a phone call and was summoned to dinner. I arrived at the house and we left to have hot pot. A type of Chinese cooking where food is cooked in boiling water or oil, not really sure which, kind of like Chinese fondue, but with no bread and cheese. Just raw meat and oil....usually very spicy oil, yum! Anyway, at dinner we discussed my headache some more, and I was offered the chance to go see my Chinese uncle for some acupuncture. So I said sure!
So after dinner we dropped Shuang Shuang off at her house to do homework, and then headed over to "Uncle's" house for some doctoring. When we got there I was asked where my head hurt, and pointed to where I was in pain. Then I was taken over to the couch, sat down, and shown the needles. Then my darling "uncle" swabbed my face, and stopped to ask if I was scared. Liu yi asked me about 13805245 times if i was scared too. They couldn't believe that I wasn't terrified of the tiny little needles. But after giving blood I figured it really couldn't be that bad. i was right, when he put the needles in there was a little twinge of pain as he twisted them into place, but as soon as his hands were removed from the needles, I no longer even felt them. I got a needle in each temple, one in the middle of my forehead, one in each side of my nose and one in hand, by the base of my thumb. As each one was inserted he stopped to ask me, 'teng mei teng?" or does it hurt?. Sometimes i said a little, others I just said nope. The whole time he was doing it, Liu yi, Li Yi fu, and Da Yi (auntie) all stared at me with amusement. When he stuck the needle in my right nostril, my eye started to water like crazy. Its not that I was crying or in pain, it just struck a nerve I guess. They thought that was hysterical. They asked if it hurt, why was i crying? I pointed to my left eye to show that it wasn't that I was crying, I didn't know why my eye was tearing. it was apparently very very funny. So then we sat and watched TV and chatted for a while. I was called upon to translate instructions for an antioxidant pill, to explain how many times a day and when to eat it, so on and so on. Then after about an hour, it was time to take out the needles. He popped each one out really quickly, and I just sort of felt a little twitch. But my head felt clear and my nostrils were pretty clear, I could breathe through my nose! We sat and talked for a little while longer, then headed back home. Then we called up my momma and the twins and had our weekly chat. My head feels a lot better, and every once in a while last night I would feel a little twinge but that was it. So now on Tuesdays and Fridays, I'm to go over to Liu Yi's for dinner then head over to uncle's house to get poked with needles some more! Now if only there was a masseuse in their family, I'd be in heaven.....
