more of Changsha!

Ni Hao!

I hope this post finds you well. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Changsha filled with tons of young "gamers" intensely playing computer games while sucking back pop and cigarettes! What an experience. They have even diagnosed a new issue in the field of mental health called something like "pathological internet use."

Changsha has been interesting to say the least. A typical day begins at 8:30 a.m. with a 30 minute Chinese lesson taught by our country coordinators. I have only learned how to say, "I am an American" and "I eat vegetables." Otherwise I have been an utter failure at learning Chinese. After Chinese lessons we will have a guest lecture come talk to us from the CSU School of Public Health. Lecture topics have ranged from The New Rural Cooperative Medical System, to Traditional Chinese Medicine to Maternal and infant health care. The problem we have faced with the guest lecturers is that many can read and write English well but do not feel comfortable speaking and cannot understand the questions we ask. This has led to all the guest lecturers preparing general power points and reading directly from the slides. Overall there have been some pretty tedious lectures and many students falling asleep in class!

After lecture we have a 10 minute break and then we have a lecture by our faculty members. Our faculty classes are really coming together and we have had some great class discussions lately. After class we have time for lunch. Our new favorite lunch spot is "the noodle lady." She sells delicious noodles from a cart on the side road. The road leading up to the noodle lady is crazy! It is lined with all types of vendors selling blood worms, live chickens (and chickens being slaughtered!), eels, skinned fish, intestines as well as some tamer items like banana chips and other fruits and vegetables.

After lunch we generally have a field trip. The field trips have been extremely wierd. First, every place we go the administration puts on a big show for us. We are generally greeted with bottle waters and candy as well as elaborate power points. We also realized that they have been clearing places out for our arrival. For example, as a class we visited a Maternal and Child hospital and it was basically empty but when I went back on my own the place was bursting with people. Also, every place we have gone has a huge banner welcoming us and then we are required to take millions of pictures in front of the banner with all the important people from the hospital or school. We definitely have a feeling that we are not really getting a full picture when we visit different places. We have also hit some uncomfortable points in asking questions that administrators clearly do not want to answer. Although at times this can be extremely frustrating I have learned a lot from what people aren't saying as well as what they are. Also, one of my friends on the trip who speaks Chinese said that when you talk to people on the street they are willing to talk about any subject (even for example, criticism of the government) but because we are going on official visits we are receiving "official" information (straight from government policies).

I just finished up my case study on Maternal and Child Health. We ended up looking at social support for pregnant woman which was interesting but quite difficult because of the language barrier. The case studies were extremely different this time, we had no structure and were just given two days to develop a reserach question and begin to answer it. Our group had a lot of difficulties like getting kicked out of a hospital by security and getting yelled at in Chinese on the street by a woman! Overall, it was a good learning experience especially about the frustrations of trying to conduct research in a foreign country!

Now, we are about to leave for our "rural" stay. I say "rural" because we are actually going to a small town that may actually be fairly similar to Changsha. Our country coordinator did not think we could handle a "real" rural situation and was appalled to hear that we had slept on the floor during our rural visit in India! I think it is hard because this is the first time IHP has ever been in Changsha so everyone is still trying to work out the kinks.

It is incredible how fast China has flown by. We leave for South Africa on April 3rd right after our rural stay! I don't feel like I ever really settled into China the way I did in India. I am still trying to put together all the pieces of what I have learned. I am looking forward to South Africa though and the last phase of my study abroad. I can't believe I will be home in just six weeks!

Thanks for reading. My next post will not be until I am settled in Cape Town. I hope everyone in Colorado is surviving the blizzard!

Love,
Barbara