Catch up Continued:
The next morning Celia woke early and said she needed to see a doctor. Her throat was killing and she was achy all over. Dan called the local clinic and they directed us to the hospital downtown. The doctors there put Celia on more antibiotics and sent her home. She went directly to bed.
Three days later, no improvement – possibly worse – so I took her back to the ENT at the hospital. He wanted her to stay at the hospital for three days and get intravenous antibiotics. I suggested we go home at night and return for the treatments. Celia got up to go to the bathroom, then turned around, went pale as a ghost, eyes rolled back and passed out. Luckily the doctor saw it coming and got her to an examination chair to land on. A couple doctors and nurses ran around her speaking in mandarin – a bit scary to watch having no idea what was being said. This gave me more pause about taking Celia home but after a half hour or so Celia’s color came back and we decided to stick to the plan: three days of coming to the hospital for intravenous antibiotics, steroids, and glucose and go home at night and then see where we were.
Again, no real improvement and her throat looked worse. The doctor then wanted to keep her in the hospital for five days giving her some completely different antibiotics through IV. I again pushed for going home at night. The doctor spent a while on the phone with another doctor and a pharmacist and then decided there was a different strong antibiotic that Celia could take at home – five large pills to be taken every six hours. Almost immediately after starting the pills, Celia started feeling better and making tons of plans – making up for lost time.
Two nights later was Friday night and Celia was up for going to Roberta and Ted’s house: American’s who have lived in Beijing for many decades and have become the gathering spot for the Jewish community here. They host Shabbat dinner for anyone who wants to attend every Friday night and made Dan feel very welcome during his solo year here. The community was also very welcoming to us and were so happy for Dan that he was no longer separated from us. It was a lovely gathering.
A few days later, Celia felt up for going to The Great Wall. We went to a section of the wall about an hour’s drive from our home where one can take a gondola up to the wall, walk for an hour or so, and then take a toboggan ride down. It reminded my of going on a similar ride I believe in the Pocconos where my possibly four year old brother, who was riding with my mother, told her not to be scared, to let go of the brake and hold onto him. On the way home we stopped at the local town and got lunch. It was an assortment of inedible (by us), odd, and tasty dishes. One of the dishes was spicier than anything any of us had eaten before.
It was a super fun day!
Other highlights from last couple weeks:
A couple days later Morton and I went to the Temple of Heaven.
On Friday we all went to the kids new school before heading to the visa office to apply for our permanent residence visa. The school facilities are AMAZING! – like nothing we have ever seen before. I have been enjoying the indoor tennis courts. The rock climbing wall looks fantastic. Dan brags about the choices at the cafeteria and all the playgrounds are unbelievable!
Friday night Dan and I went out on our first real date in about a year and a half! We went to Stanliton – a very hip neighborhood – which preCovid was full of weiguaren (foreigners) – but is now mostly full of locals. We went to a lovely restaurant and wandered around. The buildings lit up in crazy lights in alternating patterns and the stores were top notch designers. Dan has his eye on a flying car that was on display – an actual full scale flying car!
Saturday I biked out to a local ”wet market”. Apparently they’re called that due to the live fish splashing around. It was fun to check out all the local foods and other merchandise for sale. Unfortunately I have found that when I speak to local people I can’t keep hitting “Replay” to hear and then decipher each word as I can when I am studying Mandarin. I look forward to bringing the family back there to sample more of the foods.
And Today (yeah! I’m just about caught up!) Dan, Morton, and I biked out to a local neighborhood where I had been told I could do some shopping and there would be no other waiguaren. It made us feel a little sorry we aren’t living – at least for a little while- in this area. The conditions are a lot less posh than where we are living – but it felt like the real cultural experience we came here for. Again, we struggled a bit conversing, but we enjoyed ourselves exploring a bit and tasting a few different snack.
