After finishing my final Chinese test on Friday, I realized how fast this semester has gone by. I turned to my friend, “Woah that’s basically it!” “Yeah it was nice knowing you.” She was kidding and we laughed, but there is a strange sense of okay time to return to normality. All twenty-two of us have shared a wonderful abroad experience yet we all have our own lives waiting for us back at home. It is also interesting how differently we will come away from this experience.
Traveling abroad is a very personal experience. I find it impossible not to question my way of life. I view experiencing a new culture as a way to further enhance my daily life- I can only benefit from understanding different traditions and perspectives. It is thrilling to feel impressed and inspired by a new way of viewing the world. Chinese medicine has been one aspect of Chinese culture that has done that for me. Chinese medicine teaches all lay followers how to take care of themselves. Over lunch the other day, I told a medical graduate student that I was envious of her ability to know what to feed herself depending on the weather, climate, menstrual cycle, emotional state, and any other surrounding factors. I just have no idea! (For example, Sichuan Province is known for spicy foods as a way to combat the climate)
In all honesty, taking on language class and attempting to do my Independent Study Project was extremely ambitious. On the days that I finished Chinese class and then ran off to the hospital or the medical college to conduct some research, I came home exhausted. I needed to study and prepare for Chinese class but I also needed to do more research about TCM. Chinese class was my priority, and I really loved learning more topics, chatting with my teachers about interesting cultural differences, and engaging in political conversations. It never felt like I begrudgingly went to class.
And I did get something out of attempting to do both. I learned that most Chinese people feel an inherent love for TCM. TCM is also extremely useful for treating China's vast rural population- cheap medical care. But the tides in China are changing and have been for a while now. After interviewing medical students about their perspectives on using Western medicine alongside of TCM, most seem to find the task difficult and prefer Western medicine. Though, from a class I attended, teachers try to incorporate both medical perspectives into practice. Doctors in the hospital also prescribe both TCM and Western treatments to help patients cope with the pain. I watched an out-patient clinic- a tumor/cancer doctor, (once solely a Western medicine doc turned ambi!) come back from retirement to hold “office hours” every Monday and Wednesday to help elder patients live out a better quality of life. Patients laid down their personal medical books as a way of forming a line. I was impressed by the doctor/patient interaction- I got the old friends warm vibe. I realized these patients come in weekly to allow the doctor to give long-term treatment. A lot of the success relied on the confidence and trust in the doctor. I even felt comforted by the doctor’s smile.
But if it isn’t obvious enough, I am still in the fascination stage. So now that I am in my final week and have free time, I am finally getting into a medical anthropologist’s book, "Knowing Practice. The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine". I feel like I have missed a big aspect of this research project by not having time to read. But now I have the summer, and I am left with a “fire under my ass” I guess you can say. I want to probe the topic of medicine as a lens to see cultural interactions between China and the US.
Now in the final week, here I begin.
But don't think I am coming home so soon- On June 1st, I begin my own adventure with a special visitor. Eli and I will be off traveling for another three weeks...!!
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