First Week in China

Week 1- January 17
We arrived on January 9th and have had a very busy week. We are in a temporary apartment and Astri is busy with a realtor looking at new apartments. We have had many wonderful meals both expensive and inexpensive. My first week was very busy and actually saw my first patient on Tuesday and then accompanied him with my nurse, Guang Jun, to Beijing Hospital for his Radiation Therapy appointment and met Dr.Li and we agreed on a treatment plan. Meeting many people and learning a lot about the hospital. Astri and I went to a chamber of commerce event at "7 star" hotel, Pangu, overlooking the Water Cube and Bird's Nest. The week culminated in the hospital New Year's party at a buffet restaurant with 600 staff members. I drew the Lucky 5 lottery and judged the fashion contest.

This weekend we were taken by colleague, James Glucksman, VP of HR, to food market, Sanyuanlu which was great and where Astri will frequent for our food. On Saturday night, Guang Jun and her husband Xiao took us to central Beijing Oriental Mall for a wonderful Sizuan meal at South Beauty restaurant. Today we visited Chaoyang park, reputed to be largest urban park in Asia, had a brunch with new friends and colleagues, went to see some carpets, and were taken to busy Chinese "department" store with many vendors of everything.