Update

Since I got politely called out by a friend for not updating, this will be a super-update! Also, since another friend politely requested some "cool photos," this one will be chock-full of them!

First, I wanted to talk a little bit about my rotation so far. So far, I've spent three days in the general medicine ward. Internal medicine is structured somewhat differently from the way it is in the States. In the US, there are pretty much only general internal medicine wards, and cardiology is the only subspecialty that has its own separate ward. All the other subspecialties are consult services. Additionally, the patients on one particular team might be spread among three different floors, and six different wings of the hospital. However, in China, each subspecialty has its own ward, and all the patients of that ward are located in one wing of the hospital. Rheumatology, infectious disease, gastroenterology, pulmonology, and even dermatology each have their own inpatient wards! As it turns out, most of the patients on the "general" medicine ward I'm on have rheumatologic problems, as that's what the hospital is known for. So it's been interesting (four out of the 34 patients on the ward have Takayasu's arteritis! [pulseless disease]), but difficult for me to follow, as 1) I haven't seen too many rheum patients so far in my training, and 2) even if I knew some of the medical terms, the doctors talk too fast in rounds for me to follow even 30% of the time.

That's probably enough of work-related stuff for now. In subsequent posts, I'll talk more about differences in the schedule/structure of rounds, as well as the EM department, which are pretty interesting. Also, I look pretty cool in a long white coat, haha. It's difficult to sit with one on, though, so I guess it's good to get some practice in before intern year!

On Friday, I got out early, so I went to the Temple of Heaven (I'd gone to the Temple of Earth a few days prior). The last time I was in Beijing, the Temple of Heaven was undergoing renovations, so we didn't get to go. The two temples were interesting, and they were both surrounded by large parks in which people went to exercise, hang out, and enjoy the sunny weather. The Temple of Earth (ToE) is simpler in structure, and is located a few km north of our school. The main altar at which the emperor made sacrifices is a three-tiered altar, square in shape, due to the fact that Chinese belief holds that the Earth was represented as a square.

In contrast, the Temple of Heaven (ToH) complex, which is located a few km south of our school (along the same meridian as the ToE), contains a similar three-tiered altar, but circular in shape, because that's how Heaven was seen.

As a note of cultural interest, the emperor's seal often was in the shape of a circle on top of a square, because the emperor was seen as the link between Heaven and Earth.

In addition to the altar, the ToH complex contains the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a three-tiered pagoda-like structure, which is intricately held together without any nails! I got to speak Cantonese and ask a tourist from Hong Kong to take this picture for me:


On Saturday, all eight of us students from UCSF and Harvard, along with a couple of PUMC students, went to the Jin Shan Ling and Sima Tai parts of the Great Wall. Actually, we hiked the Wall from that first part to the second part, probably around 7 to 9 km. It was really fun, although some parts were pretty scary because of the steepness, or in one case, lack of steps to help get down from one watchtower to the wall. Some parts were really steep:

And here I am with the Great Wall:

There's an old saying in Chinese that goes, "不到长城非好汉," or "Anyone who has not gone to the Great Wall cannot be considered a true man/hero." I'm not sure if the converse is true, but I've been to the Great Wall three times now, so I'd like to think I'm a 好汉. I definitely felt the effects of the hike/being out of shape today, as my quads and feet were rather sore. My neck was sore, too, but I think that's because I slept on my pillow kind of funny.

Today, Sunday, I went again to the Olympic Park. My dad contributed $100 as an overseas Chinese to the Olympic construction fund (or something like that), and we got a certificate saying something about how his name would be displayed somewhere in the Water Cube. I thought it was going to be something like a brick (like at Centennial Plaza in Bakersfield, or the steps to Coit Tower in SF), so I went on a quest to find this brick. Unfortunately, I think I was misled or mistaken, as it doesn't exist. But the Water Cube was really pretty, and I got to see the swimming pool in which Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals, and the diving boards from which Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia dove!
H2O^3:

Water Cube:

The Bird's Nest was also really neat, although I didn't buy a ticket to go in:


As I mentioned in my last entry, today was also International Working Women's Day, and I made the mistake of going to Xidan, which is a major shopping district, to walk around for a little bit. First of all, at one of the transfer stations on the subway, it took me 20 minutes and three subway trains for me to actually get onto a subway car, because there were that many people there. Once I got on the subway, I couldn't move even if I wanted to, because we were packed in there really tightly. It was about as bad as New Year's Eve in Kowloon earlier this year. Once I got to Xidan, it was also really crowded in all the malls, because most of the stores had sales for Women's Day. I also didn't really enjoy the selection of clothes at my normally favorite stores (Bossini, G2000). I also thought the bookstore at Xidan, apparently the biggest in Beijing, was not as good as the Wangfujing bookstore, but that's just me.

That seems like a pretty anticlimactic way to end such an awesome blog, so I'll end with a contest: the first person to write the correct answer in the comments for this post gets 5 points (a la Mr. Cantrell at Stockdale), in addition to some sort of souvenir when I get back, or a postcard! The question is, what is the purpose of this contraption, found in most of the subway platforms in the city?