Finished with the Dentist?

Well, after three visits to the dentist I'm finally finished. OK I'm not actually finished so let me explain. If you have been following this blog the number of required visits has been steadily increasing. Originally it was two visits then three. Wednesday, which used to be my day off but for the last three weeks has been my dentist visit day, I had my third appointment. We waited for about 1 1/2 hours before we got in to see the dentist. Sam, my normal dentist buddy, was busy so Joy came with me instead. It was the first time I had meet her and having her watch me get dental surgery was really a nice way to start a friendship.

After some drilling, scraping, and pushing some king of metal wires into my tooth it was time for the x-ray. I guess everything looked OK because then the filled in around this wire like you do when you plant a flower. They even packed it down. I was a little surprised when I smelled a match so I had to look. She had a small alcohol lamp and was heating up a small metal probe, red hot. It was a weird sensation when she put it in my mouth, no pain but I could feel the heat. She was melting the exposed parts of the wire. They put in some more filling and told me to spit. A few more words to me in Chinese they all turned to the desk and started to talk about something. I just waited. After a few minutes one of them looked over and was surprised to still see me. I guess they had forgot that I didn't speak Chinese. The dentist told me I was finished.

Finished and I didn't have to come back to see her. YIPPIE. Well you don't need to come back to this office, which kinda put the brakes on my celebration. Yes I now have to return next Wednesday to another office on the 7th floor to get my crown/cap. How long will that take I asked hopefully, 3 more visits, at least. Oh well the total for this trip was the same as last week.

The photo is of my view while they do their work. My old dentist in Ottawa had pictures plastered on his ceiling and it was nice to stare at a photo of a beautiful beach during your visit. No such luxury here.
See you all again next week.
Don

Wedding Day

A couple of Sundays ago, we were heading to the school with the intention to watch some of the female students participating in some activities to celebrate International Women’s Day. We got distracted. On our way there, we stopped to pick up breakfast and stumbled across a crowd of people waiting for something. Down an alley, we saw a group of dancers and noticed that it was a wedding celebration. We decided to wait along with them on the sides of the street.

While we stood there chatting with Jerry, who happened by as we were waiting, some of the neighbours were going about their business. A couple of kids were doing homework on the sidewalk while their parents set up shop for the day. They are the ones hanging belts up. The elderly people stood around and gossiped and some even set up their folding chairs to be more comfortable. It was a nice warm afternoon so we enjoyed our time out in the sun.

After an hour and a half, this was the most exciting thing to happen. We only got a very quick glance at the bride who

was quickly whisked away in the awaiting car. Then the firecrackers were lit. The kids stopped doing their homework to prepare for the impending noise.

p.s. At the end of the movie, I ran away from the edge of the street cause bits of the firecrackers were starting to rain down on us.

What can you buy in China for $50 PART 2

I know that everyone out there is following my dental adventure with great interest. Well today was appointment number 2 and because there was still some pain in the tooth they put in more medicine and replaced the temporary filling. I had to wait about 1 hour for this appointment and the Dentist apologized to me. She said next week just to tell her that I'm there and she will see me first. I say part two because this is stretching out to 4-5 appointments. They gave me some medicine to help with the pain and to clean any infection. Darn internet! Now every time I receive medicine I check out the drug and see what it is for and this time was no different. As far as I can tell it has little to do with infections but I guess I'll have to trust my dentist. Now you may notice the photo above with the endless sea of people. And you are probably wondering if there was a sale, a line for train tickets, or some kind of free give away. If that's what you were thinking then you have never been to a Chinese Hospital Pharmacy. There were hundreds of people pushing their way to the front of the lines and it was organized chaos. The chaos part is clear but the organized part well it took only about five minutes to line up and get my medicine.
Total cost for this trip. 7 yuan to register, nothing to see the dentist, 6 yuan for the medicine, and finally 9 yuan for the taxi home.
TOTAL- 22 yuan or $4 This may not be overly pleasant but at least it is not expensive.
See you next week.
Don

What can you buy for $50 in China?

Hi everyone. What can you buy for $50 dollars in Jinan. Well, a lot; dinner for four at Pizza Hut with drinks, dinner at our local little restaurant for 25-30 people, or all you can eat BBQ and Beer for 6-8 people. What did I buy you might be asking. I bought a 2 1/2 hour intercultural dental experience. What's that? Let me back up a little.

We go out for BBQ every Friday night. It has become a tradition for us and in all of that time I have never found a bone in the meat, until last Friday. I was understandably surprised when I bit down and found a bone in my mouth. I spit it out into a napkin and was about to complain when I noticed that it was metal. A filling and a "Chunk" of my tooth. I felt around inside my mouth and there it was a huge hole in my molar. I was very upset because I don't like dentists at the best of times and I wasn't pleased about going to one that I couldn't understand. June was sympathetic but Rob only wanted to know if I wanted more beer. I didn't as I was in no mood for beer and the rest of the night I was a little down.

By Monday I still OK but I didn't want it to get infected so I made plans to go to the dentist on Wednesday. Sam accompanied me to the hospital, because all things medical take place in the hospital, for my 2 1/2 hours of intercultural dental experience. You pay to register and then with your medical booklet you go upstairs to see the dentist. We got upstairs to find a waiting room half full of people but I didn't have to wait. It's good to be a foreigner sometimes but I wasn't in such a big hurry this time.
The dentist looked at me and I was off to get an x-ray, 20 yuan ($3.50) . Again lines didn't slow me down. It was clean, quick and you get to keep your x-rays. Good thing I'm not planning on children because they don't bother with those pesky lead aprons here. Then I was back to the dentist. Now they don't have private rooms here you are in a large area with what could be described as cubicles. As they were drilling my tooth out there was a steady stream of patients asking the dentist questions, "he's busy right now!" I thought. They don't use the rubber dam in you mouth so all of the little pieces of teeth fill your mouth and instead of suction you spit.

My dentist had to consult with his superiors because he couldn't find the root. I didn't care because they gave me so much freezing that the whole side of my face was frozen even my nose. They even had to bring out a special ultra sonic drill. Then the root canal began in earnest. Off for another x-ray (another 20 yuan) , my little guys were really taking a beating, and I was almost done. One temporary filling later and it was time to pay. The total was just under $54. I have to return next week for the permanent filling but that should be much cheaper. I hope Sam can come with me then because he made everything easier. He translated, organized the driver and booked my appointments. Thanks Sam!

My conclusion after trying the Chinese dental system, well it is clean, efficient, safe, and inexpensive. I would recommend it to anyone who needs work done. It was as much fun as a root canal could be. Of course next time I think I spend the money on the all you eat BBQ and Beer.
Don

P.S. Like all good teachers I used that experience with my class today reviewing words like freezing, cavity, x-ray, filling, and toothache.

Still Here

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since the last entry. We went home to Ottawa for 3 weeks over Chinese New Year and then came back to teach one more semester here. I'll share some pictures from our trip in a later entry but updates first.

We enjoyed our trip home very much. Staying at my parents' had the advantage of good food that we were missing here in Jinan. Amazingly, the food here in the North is very different than what I grew up with. Who would have known?

Back in Ottawa, we were brutally reminded of what "winter" felt like. Brrrrr. I knew there was a good reason that we are living abroad! Thank goodness we had my dad's car or else we would have been housebound thanks to the bus strike in Ottawa. We visited with family and friends, did a bit of shopping and just soaked the clean air. It was a nice change to gain our total independence back. We were able to do everything ourselves. Yay!

Making two trips in less than a month was interesting. Jet lag was not as bad as the first time we did it last year. Rob joined us for the return trip and the three of us made the most of our long journey. After experiencing these mega long flights, the Ottawa to Vancouver portion was a snap. While we waited for our connection to Beijing, we took advantage of the last minute shopping opportunities at the airport. Together, we bought Timbits (ahhhh, the last ones for awhile so they were savoured!), Canadiana souvenirs for gifts and we stocked up on English magazines.

Life has fallen back into a rhythm now that we're finishing our fourth week of classes. Since we've been home, Don and I have both had to go to the hospital. No, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Their medical system is different here. Instead of doctors' offices and clinics, your first stop whenever you don't feel well is the hospital. The quality of the hospital you go to depends upon your ability to pay. Even going to the best hospital in town, it was an experience. The hospital is crowded, you have no privacy and you pay as you do everything. You pay to register as a patient. You pay to buy a booklet (since neither of us had one yet) that records your medical visits history. You pay to get a blood test and any other procedures. Luckily, in our terms, it was extremely cheap. The medicines were also very reasonable. Guess that was the trade off for people (other patients and medical students or other employees) standing all around as you discuss your symptoms with the doctor. There was, of course, more pushing and shoving here too.

While that experience was not too bad, I hope not to report on any more doctor's visits. It's never fun to be ill but really no fun when you can't communicate well with the doctor. Thank goodness for friends to interpret! So anyway, it seems that I'm anemic and because I opted for a less invasive treatment I'm going to be taking it easy for a couple of months. I've had to ask the school to reschedule my classes to a building that is closer to the apartment. I get tired more easily now so walking far for all of my classes would have done me in.

As for Don's adventure to the dentist, I'll let him fill you in on that. Ha ha.

J xo