for Millana - Days of Our Lives

[Hamish]

HE HAS THE DVDs!?!?!?!?!?

@#$%^&#@!

He has probably sold them, or traded them for booze.

I haven't seen or heard of 'em.

That RAT BASTARD!!!!!

[Mr Nobody]

Woza, kidneys usually hurt from the back. and the liver from the front. The side? might be a pulled muscle. If it came and went,probably nothing
Kidney stones are supposed to be AMAZINGLY painful, not quite painful. And a sharper pain.

Liver pain is supposed to be real bad as well, duller and makes you feel sick.

I would say don't worry unless happens again, then see a doctor if it is the same place and feeling.

But I ain't a doctor, although a lot of my degree involved human physiology and biochem. So don't risk your life on my word. Especialy since I can't see what the trouble is.

[Jollyjunklass]

Hey Ruth, found this kind of cute, think she is your twin. It came from a China blog.

If business was slow, the proprietor set up a living room on the sidewalk, propped up his feet and made himself at home. If it was too hot for street clothes, people wore pajamas. And I'm not talking about clothing that looks like pajamas, I'm talking about real pajamas. I actually saw one woman walking along in street shoes, shoulder bag and the kind of short pajamas we called baby dolls when I wore them to slumber parties in Jr. High School. Shanghai seemed so free and easy to me after Beijing, such an "if it feels good, do it" sort of city.


www.cbw.com/foreign/039.html

Hope your feeling better Woza.

[woza17]

Thanks Mr. Nobody
You have saved me mega kwai in hospital visits.
Does that mean if Con turns up on my doorstep I can have a quiet beer with him. That's if he does, I think he may think I am a nut case.
I love the pyjama thing, there is a dress code though there is no way you would go out in your floral polyester jim jams unless you are wearing your 6 inch high heels. It's just not done, well not in Wuhan anyway.

[woza17]

PS
Hamish don't you remember during the coup, Papa did mention he was enjoying watching them maybe you were a bit tired and emotional to notice.
If you are really nice to him (you don't have to mean it) he may figure out your postal address and send them
on to you.
Cheers Carol

[Mr Nobody]

Beer is fine. I wish, though, I knew more about what afflicted you. It must have seemed semi serious or you wouldn't have put it on the forum. I would hate to have you keel over because I gave bad advice.

Was it deep pain, or prolonged, or dull, or just a nagging ache sort of thing.

A grumbling appendix can sometimes be like that, but it is usually a dull ache spread over the stomach that is releived by going into a fetal position. Intestines can breifly be folded or knotted and cause pain while they work. Things like that.

But whatever, if it comes back, I would see a doc.

[woza17]

Can I sue you Mr Nobody? Just kidding I do feel much better I am not one to grumble about various aches and pains. I mentioned this one because it was unusual and was causing me a lot of grief but I am resting a lot drinking losts of water and no oily foods and walking a lot.
Thanks for the advice

[Mr Nobody]

Fruit is probablygood too. All our squiggly bits like fruit. ANd soups/jook/stewy things if it is intestinal, but if you feel ok, then you probably are ok.

So Cheers!

Here's to me practicing medicine without a licence!



Cheers.

[Lotus Eater]

And while we are into medical advice - what about severe tendonitis in my shoulder? So far the only real painkiller I have found is a double dose of iboprufen followed by copious amounts of baijiu and red wine. This lasted for about 5 hours before the pain returned. However I don't see it as something I can take every 4-6 hours. Especially as I have to teach occasionally.

It makes writing on and cleaning the board, sleeping, dressing and bathroom processes very difficult

Not too certain about the quality of cortizone injections here, but may have to resort to them in the end. Have a weekly massage on the shoulder as well. Have sprayed the yunnan baiyao stuff on as well, plus the Japanese patches things. All to little avail.

[Mr Nobody]

I am awaiting a magnum opus from a physio friend on shoulder injuries, the bane of my particular art. (not myself though)
He is a specialist in this very field. It should be finished soon. I will read it and advise accordingly.

What part of the shoulder is inflamed? Rotator cuff? The things you are using should be fine.

Ahem, DO NOT MIX PAINKILLERS AND BOOZE. (You shouldn't even for hangovers, actually.)

Now go back and ignore that bit. I do. But I have a strong stomach.

Ibuprofen is a mild anti inflamatory as well as pain killer, but mixing with red wine is unwise for stomach lining. Think maybe about vodka and milk type cocktails maybe.

Ok, first needs rest, maybe ice when irritated. Try using your other hand maybe. Put it in a sling when not using it, maybe. Depends on the injury. Nice hot deep bath eg Spa might help also. Warmth to recover after rest etc.
I assume you know the RICE and when to use heat etc.

Yunnan baiyou (sp?) is good, but try some woodlock if you can find it - "wong to yick" woodlock or some such. It is a better painkiller than Yunnan baiyou and is quite strong for deep injuries. It is oil based. Massage in, then wash hands. Do not overdo it. Do not let get in contact with eyes, nose, mouth, genitals or open wounds etc.

That is all I can do without having a look.

[Lotus Eater]

Xie Xie ni Mr N. Will have a look for the woodlock stuff.

Back to the thread:

Todays activities: Started last night when I tossed a small party for a few friends. The other FT and I like a good social life, so we asked anyone who happened to come across our paths if they would like to come. ended up with 2 apartments full of people - and our apartments are much bigger than the norm in China!

We had invited people for 7:30pm - so the first party goer arrived at 6:00pm (I thought the Chinese were punctual??). People had invited other people so we ended up not knowing a bunch of those who attended, but it all worked out in the end. Plenty of dancing - music going in 3 different rooms. Plenty of talking and laughing. The last people awake left at 6:00am this morning, the others were asleep in various beds or couches.

One of the Chinese guys was busy SMSing his mate to tell him that he had met 9 different nationalities in the one party.

Mysteries: why was there a bottle of beer in my wardrobe? Who the hell broke the bottle in the toilet (who drinks in the toilet?) Why was there a broken bottle of beer in my bedroom (no the bed wasn't disarranged )

The pile of bottles at my door has to be seen to be believed. I still have enough beer left to sink a battleship or two as everyone brought boxes! Sadly all the Oz red wine bottles are empty. As are the vodka and whisky bottles. There was also a bottle of blue wine - weird, but now empty. Who drinks blue wine?

Woke up at 9:20am - decided I could sleep a little longer - re-woke at 10:30am.

Spent the afternoon (after the sleepers finally awoke and I had poured them full of tea and coffee) cleaning because there was no way I could live in the mess until the ayi comes tomorrow. German beer is like glue - when the bottle breaks the little shards of glass become glued to the floor and walls!! What does it do to the insides of our bodies?

Finished cleaning up in time to spend 1.5 hours coaching a student for his Cambridge Business English exam next week.

Will consider going to bed early tonight - unless a better offer happens

Probably not a normal weekend, but it happens reasonably often so can legitimately be added to the 'days of our lives".
Good fun.

[Newbs]

I still have enough beer left to sink a battleship or two as everyone brought boxes!

Quick! Everyone around to Lotus's place.

Sadly all the Oz red wine bottles are empty.

Ahh, on second thoughts maybe not bother.

[woza17]

Gee Lotus you have the social life that any undergraduate would be envious of, what a gal.
Got up 4 am played with the computer took the dog for a good walk. It's really a nice time of day 5 in the morning walking around the town and the campus.
Housework shopping then took the bus downtown to meet the Fts at the train station to go to Gai Zhou 2 and a half hours later arrived and were taken by the local cop in the back of the pick up to the school to meet one of the fts friends who had cooked spaghetti bol for our lunch did a couple of classes for free with these great little kids. Georgeous, rattled around town for a while and back on the train
A good day. Rob the NZ guy was really great, good attitude and lots of fun. By the way these guys post on Daves
Latefordinner and I will get back to you on the others.
I think if I can step up on my social connections in Dalian I will be really happy here.

[Jollyjunklass]

Hey Lotus,

How do you manage to pull all this off. Then wake up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and claim you may be game for another round. You go gurl!! I don't think I could keep up with you, and that's a first. LOL, what do the neighbours think?

[Lotus Eater]

The only neighbour is the other FT - a Japanese girl. She and I party together. We have the entire stairwell of the building to ourselves so we do what we want. Works really well. We have the top floor between us, no-one on the lower 2 floors. Really good set up . On one side of the building is the sports field, the back (right behind me) is gardens, the other side has post-grad and young teacher accommodation, but it faces sideways to us and the walls are really thick, and unless they have their windows wide open it is hard to hear. The 4th side (and 2nd/final stairwell of this building) is the FAO offices and foreign students accommodation - only 2 of them, and they come to the parties. FAO doesn't work at night. So in essence the entire building is empty when we want to do things.

Parties are fun. Social life is good. Went to bed early last night - couldn't sleep!!

[Mr Nobody]

deborann said:

Xie Xie ni Mr N. Will have a look for the woodlock stuff.

Bu xie lotus, but if I happen to ever be in the neighbourhood, please invite me to one of your most excellent sounding parties?

[Lotus Eater]

Can do!

[Jollyjunklass]

Hey guys,

I didn't know where to post this and I didn't want to start a new thread, anywhere here is an awesome photo blog.
www.22catcher.com/

[con's fly is open]

Japanese chick? What Nobby said!

[Ruth]

Those are some great pictures, Millana. It fits with the thread since the photographer chronicles his life in pictures.

My yesterday actually started Thursday afternoon when our vice principal told my husband and me that we had been invited to some sort of meeting about the history of the area. The letter was abysmally translated and even the VP didn't know what it was about - but we should go. Someone would pick us up at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday at the school gates. If she couldn't go with us she would send a teacher. Lunch would be provided.

I cancelled all five of my private classes for Saturday. This is no mean feat. Some of them are children of co-workers, so it's just a matter of telling the parents. Others have been referred from I don't even remember where and I have to get someone to make telephone calls for me. Mission accomplished by Friday evening.

Saturday 8:00 - waiting at the school gate with husband and co-worker (not the VP, she pawned the job off).

8:10 - black car arrives to pick us up. Host is a former student of the VP (so...here's our connection to the meeting). Drive to the local big hotel, which is actually much bigger than we ever imagined. We already knew that it was a swimming pool/bowling alley/restaurant/hotel. There's a whole conference center area behind the hotel on one side of the street and another hotel with restaurant and a sanitorium (sanitarium?) on the other side of the street.

8:20 - settle into assigned seats in the conference room. Others trickle in and 40-50 people eventually show up. Our translator helps us to understand that this is an international (thanks to us and a guy from Vietnam) conference for history scholars. They are focusing on recent Chinese history and expect us to have something to contribute. (I think of talking about Tian'anmen and what I learned about it in the West, or maybe what the author of Wild Swans had to say about her loyal communist parents' experiences during the cultural revolution, but thought I'd better remain friendly.) Scholars have come from 13 provinces all over China. This is a big deal. From the letter we read Thursday we thought we were being invited to the local historical society meeting.

8:30 - introduction and speeches. I didn't understand a word. Well, I caught a few like Mao Zedong and Sun Zhong Shan. No one spoke on Chiang KaiShek, though. The guy from Vietnam spoke on Hou Zhi Min and his relationship with China. Our translator did her best, but most speakers were talking about their area's history or the historical figures I mentioned above. I tried hard to stay awake. On the plus side, the chairs were really comfortable, the windows were open and the breeze was lovely, and a young lady kept coming around adding hot water to my tea cup.

10:05 - long past the scheduled time for morning break, so it was shortened to 10 minutes. I found the restroom and it was clean.

10:15 More speeches.

11:30 Group picture in front of the hotel. Lunch. We had been looking forward to this all morning. Although the schedule indicated an afternoon session (for scholars to present their papers), we hoped to make our escape leave after lunch. No such luck. The host told us, on the way to lunch, that we should stay for the afternoon and make some remarks. Sigh.
Lunch was GREAT. Many, many, many dishes. One bottle of bijiu and several bottles of pijiu per table. Great company. Lots of toasts.

12:30 They gave us a hotel room after lunch so we could rest. Crippler gallantly offered to be the speech maker and decided he would talk about Canada's historical relationship with China. Most Chinese know about Dr. Norman Bethune. They aren't taught about another Canadian doctor who worked in China - Robert McClure. I scoot home to grab the book.

Crippler and our translator friend get their act together.

2:00 back to the conference room. The tables are now arranged in a rectangle with all seats facing the center. We have seats at the head table and name tags proclaiming us as 'American Scholars'. Didn't ask for the title. Didn't earn it(this comment pertains to another thread...), especially in the area of history of China.

Individual people took turns reading their papers. Crippler did a fine job representing the international community, especially given the prep time. It's sad really, because we could have done so much more had we known what the 'meeting' was about and that we would be expected to make comments. The others were happy with what he said, so it's all good.

5:30 - The conference was supposed to end at 5:00. We had one afternoon break (thanks, cause I'd had a lot of tea to drink) and it finally finished at 5:30. We were invited for dinner. Okay. We've spent the whole day here so far. May as well have another good meal. And it was. I counted 14 different dishes. More bijiu and pijiu and good company.

7:30 - Finally got home. Got out of my fancy clothes and into something comfy. Good day overall, but kind of weird for us to be included. Just another China experience.

[Jollyjunklass]

LOL,

I'd a been pooting in my pants if they would have asked me to, spontaneously, spreak a little blurb. YIKES. Well at least it went well. And, in doing so, you got to pass the buck and still come out smelling like roses.

By the way, I am almost done reading Wild Swans, good book. It is banned over there, as far as I know, so I guess it's a good thing you passed that thought real quick.

Thanks for the advice on Pimsleur. I have it up and running, I also got II and III, I tried to send them to you, however, the file was way to large. Let me know if you are interested and I will send in smaller increments.

Thanks for the posting Ruth.

[Lotus Eater]

Dodgy weekend. Friday - Chinese teacher invited me and a stray American here for 3 weeks to go to dancing. OK - dressed up in dancing togs. Teacher and one of my adult students picked us up -went to very flash restaurant for dinner - Beijing Duck plus extras. Told by both teachers (female) that Chinese men find women who drink pijiu "charming" - not quite certain what that means - translation please QI Qi or Babe!!

Dinner finished late - no dancing. Asked them to drop me off at previous work place - BBQ on there - met plenty of friends, continued party , but early home - 1:30am. By motorbike taxi - only went through 2 red lights and up the street the wrong way once.

Saturday - boring mundane things, 3 hours - coached students for speech competition (PS - Friday I had spent 4 hours coaching student for Business English exam).

Student from BE exam rang me - exam over - now wants to pay me - 2 hours of pool was my price!! Had a ball - lost every game - who says I am not the best laowai you ever met - as well as the lousiest pool player?

Sunday - students came over to see movies I had set them to comare - they needed to see them again - so supplied them with drinks and nibblies. Chinese teacher came over to develop some questions for tomorrow night - my career as Question Master continues unabated.

Went to Chinese teachers place for nibblies - went out to dinner with students from previous university. Guy and girl - partners but currently fighting - every time one went to get food the other would tell me the problems. Agony aunt par excellence. Ate dinner, went to proper coffee shop - 2 cappucinos - home - totally wired - drink coffee so rarely now.

Worked on class for tomorrow. FT and F students came over (11:00pm) drank, watched Rocky Horror Show, other DVDs - left at 7:30am - have class in 2 hours --------- smile!!!!

Why am I on the forum instead of in bed - still wired!!

[George61]

still wired!!

Spelling mistake there....should be wierd.

[Ruth]

george61 said:

still wired!!

Spelling mistake there....should be wierd.

Look who's calling the kettle black. Wierd is not in my dictionary. Do you spell words differently in Oz?

Lotus - hope you can catch some sleep today.

[Lotus Eater]

Thanks Ruth - if I can I'll be snoozing over in the Ladies Lounge - but I have students coming at lunch time to practise their speeches, (after my post-grad writing class) and then the teacher coming again to write more questions with me. So far - from 20+ speeches on "The Greatest Invention" we have 8 in hand, 5 talking about the invention of the character i.e. hanzi, 1 pen, 1 book and 1 - wait for it ...... BIRTH! I didn't realise we had invented birth - I thought it was a natural consequence of other activities, but it will interesting to see what the judges think!

Competition is tonight.

George - you teach English?