The one word on everyone's mind: Olympics

As promised, I’ll start this entry with a description of my first Chinese health exam. The process was smoother than I imagined, but less smooth than it most likely would have been in the United States. The day before the exam the staff here in China explained that the health check process could be a rather frustrating one. Apparently, in previous years the health department did not accept many test reports that volunteers brought from America. The only exception was that if the test was done in 2008 and even then there was still the chance you would be forced to repeat the tests.

And so all 52 of us arrived at the health center around 8:15 am, ready for an exciting morning of x-rays, blood work, ultrasounds and the like. We were jammed into a small office to wait for instructions. After a few minutes of waiting in line, we were told to go to the “Visa Room” where they would check our information. The official in the visa room took a quick look at any documents we brought along from the US. Some people had x-rays or blood work and EKG reports that they had done especially for this day. I just had a few copies from the doctor of reports of test I had for other reasons a few years ago. I didn’t feel like spending a mint to have a multitude of tests done in the US, when I knew they would be much cheaper in China. It turns out I was right. Not only was the cost of the test paid for by the Department of Education, but also all of my tests were accepted. This saved me from having to do a urine test, x-ray, physical exam, EKG, and an ultrasound. (Don’t ask me what they were looking for with the ultrasound. Couldn’t they have just checked the urine test for a pregnancy? Even the men had to get an ultrasound.) I still had to get blood work done, but that was quick and relatively painless. I’m not sure why I wasn’t required to do some of the other tests because I didn’t bring reports on them. For example, I’ve never ever had an ultrasound. So what ever they were looking for on an ultrasound (or a urine test), I was never tested for.

It seemed completely arbitrary whether your tests were accepted or not, whether you were required to do one, two, or all the tests. Some people who had far more thorough and recent test results were required to do far more testing than I was. All I can say is… oh, China.

The other exciting thing going on around here is the Olympics. Olympic fever has swept China by storm. Granted the Chinese people have been preparing for and aticipating this event for years, the excitement reached a climax this week. All around Changsha Olympic stores are selling Olympic paraphernalia. Anything that you use in your everyday life that you might be able to put a Fuwa (pictured above) on, you can buy at an Olympic store. I’m talking bags, hats, shirts, key chains, stuff animals, tea pots, vases, and much more.

The program organized a little Olympic Opening Ceremony party for us to go to. As we walked about a mile from our hotel to the party location, we saw everyone gathering around any TV they could find. We passed a group of men huddled around a small black and white TV in the middle of a construction zone. You could almost feel the excitement in the air – or maybe that was just me. It was fantastic to be able to watch the Opening Ceremony live in China. The broadcast was in Chinese, naturally, so I wasn’t totally sure what was going on all the time. One of the Chinese teachers was sitting next to me for a bit. About 30 minutes into the ceremony a police officer came and said that some people had to leave. Apparently people saw us walking down the street and told the police, who came over to check it out. They were worried that there were too many people in one small room and it was unsafe. So all the non-Americans had to leave the party, which was too bad.

I won’t replay the ceremony for you. I’m sure you all watched it if you wanted to. The whole thing lasted over four hours, which I’m sure they cut down for broadcast in the US. I’m not going to lie. Even though I was really excited to watch the opening ceremony, I got really tired towards the end of it. Over two hours of country presentations was just a bit much. All and all, in my opinion, it was a fantastic opening ceremony.

I’ve been watching different sporting events for the past few days. Understandably, almost every single event shown is China vs. some other country. Hopefully I’ll get to see some US action in there somewhere. In fact, tonight is the US vs. China men’s basketball game. All the volunteers are pretty excited for that one. We’re setting up a projector to watch it together. One girl is able to stream TV from America, so hopefully we’ll be able to hook up some American commentary as well.

I hope you’re all enjoying American Olympic coverage. It would be a real treat to hear some English (or even German) commentary, so I hope you’re all making the most of it. :)

欧雅丽