Great Wall Hike

Last weekend a hike at the Great Wall was organized by the Medical Staff President. My nurse Xing Guang Jun and her husband, Xaio (see picture of him coming down slide at end of trip), joined us and we had a very nice day. It will be much prettier in about a month when everything turns green as we know since we took similar trip on our first visit last April. I especially liked the signage along the way indicating a rest stop (I think). The group pictures were taken with nurses who work in the Internal Medicine/Family Practice outpatient clinic. After climbing up and hiking we ended up at a touristy area where there is a cable car up and slide down. You end up at a very fancy restaurant where they had a glass blowing exhibit and $12 hamburgers (we declined). We then returned to Beijing and the four of us had a great "foot massage."
We hope all is well. Stay in touch.
Philip and Astri

Haircut-Part 2

After a few weeks of getting my courage up I finally managed to visit the salon. With two hours to go before entertaining the Plafker/Lipson family for the first time, I hopped on my bike and rode the 5 minutes to L'Oreal. I was greeted and ushered in by a nice young lady to the back where she wet my hair and gave me a very firm 5 minute head massage. I later realized she was also giving me a choice of shampoos. I was then taken to another room where I was given a shampoo and we "chatted" and exchanged names. I always get laughs when I give my Chinese name. Then back to the front where I now realized Xaio Fang was not the haircutter. Then a long time with my new personal haircutter (he is very cute but he is no Marit). He quickly put me at ease with his apparent expertise and I actually fell asleep for a few minutes. Then "WaLa" it was complete and I was content and relieved. After a few minutes of pictures, handshakes and payment (30 RMB- you do the math at 6.7/$)I was back on my bike heading home feeling like a new and lighter man.
Philip

New Home

Thirty three years ago (Wow!!-that is a very long time), Philip and I started our life together in a small apartment in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. At that time we had to get used to one another, get used to how we reacted to different situations, get used to what the other person liked or disliked- you all know what I am talking about.

Now we are back to apartment living. We pretty much know how the other person behaves and what they like or do not. This time the challenge is the outer environment,living in a big city in a strange land. And so it feels good to be together in a tight place again. And after moving around: from our friends house(thanks Evelyn and Warren-it was great)to Motel6's on our trip to Colorado, a stint in a ski condo and then temporary Beijing quarters- it feels good to have a place that we now call home, after 14 weeks of being vagabonds.

We now live in a complex called Yangguang Shandong or "Upper East Side"! It is a 20 ute walk to the hospital, or about a 5 min. bike ride. There are 26 buildings in this area, each phase has a totally different look and different heights of the buildings, which gives it a more interesting look than many of the other complexes. We will send more outdoor pictures after the trees leaf out in a couple of weeks. There is quite a bit of green space and some playgrounds as well, therefore many families with children live here. And a lot of very cute dogs!! But none as cute as Sadie (or as big) inside the 4th ringroad you are only allowed to have a small dog. We also have underground parking for those with cars, and a basement for those of us with bicycles.

Our apartment has two good size bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. So we have room for visitors, just not too many at a time.

The main room is both living room and kitchen. Philip said he liked this lay-out because then he can talk with me when I am in the kitchen. For some reason he did not seem to realize that I can also talk with him when HE is in the kitchen??

Around the living area we have an indoor porch on two sides, we will try to show this in the photos, and if you can not see it, I guess you will just have to come and see for yourself, which many of you are indeed planning. Presently we do not have any furniture out there, so we may get a few pieces as I think it will be a nice place to sit during HOT summer evenings. (Yes, we do have air conditioning.

We are presently bare bones with interior landscape but last week Philip and I went to Lai Tai, a wonderful flower market not too far away. We came home with 3 good green plants in addition to a thyme and a rosemary. And suddenly what was an apartment became a home. We are together, we have a pillow to sleep on and a tiny garden consisting of 2 herbs. (For the rest there is great produce at all the local markets).

For the time being, this is our "casa".(Or perhaps hutong would have been a better word)
-Astri

Haircut-Part 1

My first major personal crisis in China has arisen. For 28 years I have not let anyone but the beautiful Norwegian, Marit, cut my hair (except for 2 years ago when while in Oslo, I let the beautiful Hilda shear my locks). Marit never let me down. Despite her famously busy schedule she always seemed to find a way to fit me in. I never needed to even discuss how I wanted my hair cut. She always knew without any discussion. We would discuss our families, trips to Norway, the world in general and the time flew by and my haircut was done. I had a habit of leaving the chair screaming "What have you done to me-- I am not going to pay for this one" to the consternation of her waiting customers. I think Marit always enjoyed the game (I hope so).

Here I am in Beijing with my hair getting longer and sticking out in funny ways. Our administrative staff, Mellisa and Iwona, claim it is ok and I should let it grow but I know the time is coming. I have asked around but haven't really had any reassuring
suggestions. The salon at the Lido caters to Westerners but at astronomical prices. I am not going to pay anyone in Beijing more than I paid Marit! A friend suggested cutter #6 at L'Oreal but who knows if I will get #6 or if #6 is always the same #6. I have watched the door at L'Oreal and seen some funny looking people coming out. What am I to do? Marit, can you book me Friday morning at 5:30?

Stay tuned for Haircut-Part 2
Phlip

Shanghai

From Shanghai

This past week has been another interesting and busy one. As you know we have moved into our new apartment and I do think it will be very nice here. Today we went to the flower market and bought some plants and that really makes a difference. We had an interesting time trying to transport two big pots with plants via taxi cab.

My priority lists of things to do at the hospital has continued to grow and my time disappears. I went to a hospital appreciation dinner for the Ob/Gyn staff in honor of some work well done (very interesting and slightly gaudy restaurant where the waiters traveled on roller skates), a meeting attended by about 40 Beijing oncologists with case presentations followed by an amazing dinner, and a Blood Donor appreciation dinner accompanied by Astri and met the physicians for the American and Canadian embassies.

All this after returning from Shanghai on Sunday evening. I spent two days at our Shanghai hospital, meeting the CMO and Department heads and getting the full tour. In addition I was surprised to find that we have a Spanish hematologist who is already seeing patients one day a week and is interested in doing more. Therefore I may well start an oncology program also in Shanghai with her assistance.

Astri linked up with a guide suggested by Sharon Hastings and had a great tour of Shanghai on Thursday and went to the Shanghai Museum on Friday and then joined me and Annelie Qu, the hospital liaison for consultants for a tour of Zhongshan Hospital. The tour was of particular interest because it was given by Dr.Zeng who is a good friend of Bingbing Li and Jay Ye, our good friends. Bingbing's mother who is a physician and immunologist had been his mentor prior to his becoming a Radiation Oncologist and now he is the head of his department. After asking to also see the outpatient chemotherapy area we were taken to the Emergency "room" which houses this area. To our surprise he introduced us to his wife who is the head physician of the ER. What a "power" couple! The ER was amazing with at least 100 patients in small chairs getting IVs of all kinds, and overflowing beds with sick patients. Since the hospital is always full, they often have to take care of the critically ill for days at a time and therefore they run their own ICU. Dr.Zeng and I will plan to meet again socially in the future and perhaps collaborate on some patients.

Astri and I then spent a nice Saturday afternoon touring an area of Shanghai with Tyrone Bristol, our CMO. We had a great time. On Saturday night we went by ourselves to a Sichuan Restaurant and out of 17 million people one of the ER doctors I know was placed at the next table.

See slide show (below): Restaurant overlooked the Bund (Emery,GM of Shanghai United and wife, Chen, Tyrone Bristol, Annalie Qu), Astri overlooking curious scene of bicycle accident where onlookers become jury for policeman judge regarding fault, two back alleys, one with many washbasins just off a very fancy main street.