Another hot and humid day in Changde. On our way in to the hospital, posing out front from left to right: Alex, me, Charles, Alfred.
Johnny, on rounds on the first floor.
Operating, with a helping hand from Stephanie and Alfred.
Finally, a chance to see the town in the daylight.We were all warned about the traffic in China. Although there are crosswalks, those painted lines on the street just demonstrate a convenient place to be run over. Pedestrians do not have the right of way on these streets.
We learned that when crossing, drivers of scooters will generally slow down when they see you, whereas drivers of cars and trucks will actually accelerate and aim for you.
Scary at first, by the second week in Changde, we were all darting through traffic like locals.
A foray to "RT Mart", which was explained to me as being bigger and better than the local WalMart (which was located in a central city plaza, flanked by the KFC and McDonald's).I always think it's so interesting to see what is being sold in local markets. Here, baskets and baskets of dried seafood - little fishes, shrimps, and other shellfish.
And rice - bushels and bushels of all sorts of different varieties.
The scatterings of English phrases were always stunningly insightful, whether intentional or not.It made me think about the popularity of getting Chinese character tattoos here in the States - which, when shown to a native reader, turned out to be jibberish, or even worse. Does the converse occur in China? Are there thousands of Chinese punks or hipsters with funny English phrases tattooed on their parts?
Dinner that night was another test of our spicy tolerance. Here, we sampled crawfish, crab, and frog bathed in chili peppers. Once we had picked out all the succulent pieces of meat, a waitress poured hot broth into the metal bowls, creating a spicy hot pot - perfect for cooking trays of sliced meat, fresh cut vegetables, spongy tofu, and slippery noodles.
So much work for such a tiny, delicious morsel of meat. Totally worth it.
