May 27th: Field Trip Number 3 and the Hot Pot Merry Go-Round

Today was the field trip I was most looking forward to, the trip to a Chinese hospital! After getting breakfast, we got on the bus and took a nice long trip to the second campus of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University. The whole hospital is devoted to heart related treatments, which is amazing because the place is so big! Dr. Lui gave us an introduction then led my group around the hospital to see. While some things were different, I was surprised by how similar the hospital was to those in the US. Nonetheless, there were some big differences. Most rooms had 3-4 patients in them, with little to no privacy. The ICU was way different from the one I worked in, in terms of both privacy and staff (they weren't even separated inside the unit!). Overall, the hospital wasn't as well lit. However, I felt like there were more nurses or doctors around. The system overall is different in China, in that you don't need to make an appointment. If you want to see the best doctor, you can go there early and stand in line for a few hours and see the best doctor. To be able to this, however, the doctors end up seeing up to 90 patients a day! This is good because more people are seen, but bad because that's less time per patient. Lastly, the hospital was HOT. This could be bad because more bacteria grow in warmer climates... also we were all sweating.

After the hospital, we walked in the blistering heat over to a mall area. I ate my home packed peanut butter sandwich while everyone else munched on subway. My attempts to stay on budget were going well until I saw an arcade. The money was well worth it, however, as I got to play this drum game that is only in Asia that I LOVE. Super fun! We then also explored the area and had a weird run in with a guy trying to sell his magic tricks. .-. Because it was so hot, the bus met us there and we only saw a nearby park by the bus before heading back to DMU.

When we arrived back at DMU, however, we weren't done for the day! Next we learned about the guide dog (for the blind) training program at DMU. It was so cool because it's the only program in China. I also got to pretend I was blind and the dog led me through a little maze and up the stairs to a chair. The dogs were super cute, which I needed because I miss my pup back home. <3 After working with the dogs, we headed back home.

Later that night, we ended up joining some friends and their buddies for dinner. We ended up walking to another campus to a mall like place to have hot pot. Only, this time it was a conveyor belt style hot pot place! We had our own little pot and stove top, and every stick you grabbed for the conveyor belt was 1 yuan. I don't eat a ton, so I just tried some other people's (whatever they said was good) but one of the girls ate 25 sticks! Wish I had her stomach X). After a super cool dinner, we went to a couple of stores and I was some how able to restrain myself from buying more cute things. ^^ Maybe this budget thing will succeed after all!

After shopping, we were in such good spirits that we sang all the way home! Back at the hotel, me and Faria had arts and crafts time as we began making a present for my buddies of origami balloons/lantern looking things that say thank you in all different languages that we plan to hang on a string. We hope it ends up looking cute. :D