Day 3 – 27/09/12
Today I took my
first taxi ride to a medical centre specifically for foreigners. I had to get a
medical exam done as it’s a necessary requirement for all foreigners. The taxi ride was scary! For most of the trip all I heard was hooting and ‘holy s*^t’. Hooting from the several cars around us including ours. The censored words from my fellow teacher Tracy who like me is clearly not used to Chinese driving manners. At times there were trucks turning directly toward us and continued moving even thought traffic on our lane remained stagnant. At others times we were driving on the opposite side of the road to avoid traffic. Sometimes there were cars so close to us I could hug the person in the next car. Among all of this were also people on foot, their bikes and their motorcycles trying to transport their large boxes of goods to the closest market in order to earn their daily income. I was just glad that I got to my destination in one piece and with the contents of my tummy still inside.
The big needles and urine test tubes at the medical centre didn’t do much to help my tummy. The needles….well they are needles! The toilets stank and the design catered only for those who are able to squat. There was no toilet paper and neither was there soap to wash our hands afterwards. Thank God for pocket tissues and hand sanitizer. The entire medical exam went by very quickly. At the end Tracy and I were not even sure what happened. The Chinese call it efficient I call it rushed. For example, my ECG which took at least 5minutes in South Africa took five seconds in China. I didn’t even have time to take a breath so I’m quite sure those readings are all wrong. The good thing is that it’s done and I will get my resident permit soon.
Towards the end of the day Tracy and I took to the streets ourselves. We crossed busy roads…actually we ran across busy roads, made some friends with the locals and learned new Chinese words and phrases. We visited the supermarket and found Special K cereal for 40 yuan which is equal to R51.44. On our way home we walked through the night market and bought supper for only 5 yuan = R 6.44. It wasn’t great however I was glad to see familiar food; cauliflower, green beans sprinkled with peanuts.
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| Cauliflower & green beans sprinkled with peanuts and sticky rice |
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| The three wheeled car I mentioned last week |
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