Once we'd signed our lease with the landlord, Brett went with Wang Nan to register our residence as "alien" with the local PSB office (down some non-descript alleyway) so I've no clue as to what he had to actually do for this. I just know that it took them a long time to do it (as with most things here in China).
Three different students had been assigned to come with us to a local government hospital and translate as appropriate for our health-checks. We had been told not to eat beforehand as we would be having blood taken (the students had brought along some food and beverages for us to eat and drink afterwards which was lovely of them). We had Alex and Sebastien along with us which was interesting too, though the two male students were fascinated by them. First you needed to register at the main desk and pay money for all the different services you would have done - then you went, with your receipt, to the various rooms to have the check done. My observation was that there didn't seem to be much happening as most of the staff seemed to be sitting at desks reading books or magazines or sitting chatting together. Also, it was not uncommon for us to be watched by four or five staff members, particularly as they were amazed by Sebastien and wanted to hold him. He was still just learning to walk so was very unsteady on his feet.
How very telling it was for us to be told by many people (including nurses) not to let Sebastien crawl or fall on the ground as it was dirty - exactly how dirty I came to realise when we had to give a urine sample and used their toilets. My first squat toilet (hadn't seen the pristine one in Hong Kong) and it was filthy. I also wasn't prepared for the open trash basket next to the toilet for all the toilet paper and other items as the pipes can't handle much going down them. Urgh! So having peed into a little cup (very reminiscent of being pregnant!) we placed the open cup onto a tray that already had about 12 other similarly filled cups on it - on a shelf in the open cupboard next to the toilets - nice.
Then we were shuttled in and out of about 8 different rooms, including x-ray (for lungs), an ecg, and an abdominal ultrasound. When it came time to have blood taken, Alex was very interested in the process - though Brett wasn't keen for her to see how he reacts to needles - so I had her sit next to me and explained what the process was to her. This paid off when she went to have her health check later that week.
It felt like I was in the 60s or 70s as all the nurses wore pink uniforms complete with starched caps and all the doctors and technicians were in white coats. Not a single one washed their hands whilst we were there, and there were no hand washing facilities in sight other than outside those toilets. The ecg machine was also something to behold, having seen my dad's at his surgery, I was a little stunned to have basically a pseudo alligator clip attached at my foot and another on my hand. Whatever gets it done I guess.
Then we were told that the results wouldn't be available for a few days so we organized for the students to come and collect them for us.
All of that took half the day.
Although Brett tried to convince the administration staff that he was up for doing his faculty health check that afternoon, they were dubious and told him to do it the next day. But he persisted and did the same tests and exams at the University's hospital. We both wondered why the University couldn't access the results of the government tests (or vice versa) to prevent the duplication.
Later that week we had another two students take us to the Women and Children's Hospital for Alex's healthcheck. We ended up having to do her healthcheck over two days as she hadn't fasted for her blood test (iron check) and they only did that in the mornings. So on the first day we lined up and paid some money in the entryway then made our way up several flights of steps to a few different rooms. It didn't help that they were in the midst of renovating so we had to go to a couple of buildings to get things done. The two students did admirably in their translations as they filled out forms for us - requiring them to ask all kinds of things about Alex's birth and infancy that I'm certain aren't usual vocabulary to know.
Alex went to several different rooms to: have someone look in her mouth; and check that she was, ahem, a girl. Then we were told that we'd need to come back in the morning for the blood test and to ensure that Alex did not eat breakfast. So we headed off to Walmart to buy some items for our apartment (we'd signed the lease that morning and were moving in the next day) and dropped them off. Here is Alex after it's all done with her two new Chinese health books.
What a busy day it was to be. Brett was to organize the moving of our luggage from the hotel to the apartment whilst I took Alex to the hospital for her blood test. There were very many kids at the hospital when we arrived. Must have been the "preschool admission" season. So we joined the queue and listened to the howls and crying coming from the "blood test" room. Alex was a little freaked out by it all and asking lots of questions about why the children were sad and crying. What do you say? Yes it hurts but only for a little while, no it only has to happen once, yes you have to do this to go to school.And then it was our turn. I'd been watching the couple before us and so knew that the technician or nurse doing the stick took a new lancet from a container each time, opened it, used it and dumped it in the rubbish. It was only later that I spoke with someone who said that they'd wondered whether the contents of the bin were thrown away or "repacked". Wish I'd asked. Although the technician/nurse did wipe over her gloved hands with antiseptic, the gloves were the same ones each time. And so we sat down, me on a stool with Alex on my lap, and Alex bravely had her finger stuck and then squeezed for a few drops of blood for this test. She only started to cry when they milked her finger. Then they gave her a swab (small wooden stick that had a piece of cotton wool wrapped around one end) to hold onto her finger to stop the blood. I had brought a bandaid and so applied that which Alex approved of. After all that, Alex was able to finally eat her 'special breakfast' (oh the things we do to make hospital tests more palatable)!
Although Alex wanted to play on the small set of play equipment in the entrance of the hospital, I wanted to get on and finish up some shopping for the apartment. And so it was that Alex and I had our first Chinese adventure - which will have to be in the next post.
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