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Published: August 21st 2008
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Shanghai architectureMonday was a good day. Didn't start out that way but it definitely ended with stories to tell.
First off, this was the morning where we were supposed to have our "medical exam". Everyone coming to China has to undergo one, as they are extremely cautious about anybody entering the country with an infectious disease. Back when we filled out our visa application forms at the Chinese consulate in Toronto I remember having to fill out a questionnaire that asked whether I had or ever have had HIV, tuberculosis, STDs, mental illness (?), and so on. I don't think we have those kinds of restrictions for Canada, but I can understand why a country would want to block the spread of infectious disease. The mental illness one is still a bit interesting though, but I remember when I was a sales rep promoting for a depression medication in Chinatown I always was told that "Chinese people don't get depression". I later found out that there was a severe cultural stigma around mental and transmissible illnesses. Anyway I was pretty apprehensive about this exam before coming, because neither Jen nor I knew exactly how "intimate" this exam was, what exactly they
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Shanghai architecture were going to do and the sanitary standards of the facility and equipment (i.e. clean needles for bloodwork). I spoke to some people here on travelblog.org and they (very kindly!) assured me there's nothing to be worried about, and to chalk it up to a unique cultural experience. Wiser words have never been spoken.
Before I begin describing the exam I should describe the wait for the van that was picking us up to drive us to the facility. They said they'd be here at 7am, and we could have definitely used every minute of sleep since we were still pretty jet-lagged. I think they ended up arriving at about 8:30am, and when the driver tried calling me to explain when he'd be here I couldn't understand a word he was saying (again with the language barrier). When he did pick us up there was another lady in the back seat, who was Asian so I simply nodded, smiled and sat down. She then turned around to me and, with perfect English and an American accent, asked what company I was with. It turns out she was from the same company as me, and was starting a three-year contract.
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Shanghai architecture She was from Boston but originally from Toronto...small world! After chatting some more I found out she was in the R&D area, a PhD chemist and an MD. To top it all off, when Jen mentioned she was a modern dancer, the lady told us that SHE was a modern dancer in Toronto at the beginning of her career, and knew all sorts of the same people! So I guess it goes to show - you don't have to be at home to run into people with shared circumstances and backgrounds. So we've made our first friend.
So then we arrived at the medical facility. The best way to describe this process was that it was a combination of a cattle processing plant and a Soviet-style genetic engineering lab. Socialized medicine at its best, as my colleague from Boston described it to me.
To begin with, your number is called, and the first station you go to is a check-in where you submit a form that asks you all sorts of questions about medical history - mostly asking if you’ve ever had various infectious diseases, mental illness, diabetes, etc. Then they took my photo and I was sent
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Shanghai architecture to a room where I had to take off my shirt and put on a bathrobe (leaving my shorts on), then to put these cloth slippers over my shoes. Then I was sent to a narrow hallway with about 10 rooms on each side and various chairs all the way down the hall. Almost everyone in the chairs were Westerners waiting to be called into the various rooms - I talked to lots of people there and we all had the same sense of bewilderment as to what was going on and amusement at this ridiculous process. It was good talking to them because you get a sense of cameraderie through this shared experience. Each of the rooms were responsible for a different aspect of the “medical” exam (and I use the word medical very loosely). I was provided with a piece of paper that had a photo of me attached to it along with my various vital statistics - height, weight, age, etc. Then as I went from room to room the examiner would fill out a certain part of the paper and tell me to go to the next room. So here’s how the flow went for me
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Shanghai architecture each step of the way:
1. Height and weight check - pretty standard stuff
2. I was then told to go to the room at the end of the hall where they did a blood test. There was a Brit and an American sitting in the chairs having already had their blood taken. I asked them if it was safe and they smirked and told me it’s fine, just kind of silly. The nurse used a clean needle which I watched her unwrap from the packaging and they took two small vials from my arm. My guess is that they’re looking for HIV and other infectious diseases. I was baffled as to why they asked us to be fasting for this - even if I ate a whole pizza before walking in the door, are they going to deport me for thinking I have high cholesterol?
3. So after the blood work I was told to go to the next room where they did a vision test (again, not sure what the consequences would be if they concluded I was blind as a bat...). There was a lineup for this test so I sat in the hall
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Shanghai architecture for a bit and chatted with a German couple (in German - my highschool teacher would have been proud!) from Frankfurt. It was a family of three, and the father was an IT manager accompanied by his wife and young daughter. He refused to let his daughter go through the medical tests because she wasn’t even 2 years old, and they seemed fine with it. When I was called in there was a man who asked me to read a bunch of numbers to him to see if I was colourblind. Then he asked me to read some numbers on a chart to see how good my vision was...he then wrote something on the paper and sent me off to the next room.
4. The next room was an ultrasound. I had to lie on a table and open up my bathrobe - based on the placing of the probe I assume they were looking at my liver. My strategy through this whole process was to get out of there as soon as possible so I was polite and charming to people - I teased the lady saying she’s tickling me, which actually generated a laugh from her. She
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Shanghai architecture said I was fine then sent me to the next room. I spoke to a Brit while waiting for the next room and he said the ultrasound people told him he has a fatty liver....I told him that if his doctor in the UK never picked anything up I wouldn’t give much weight to what they say here.
5. The next room was an X-ray, which is where I was the most uncomfortable. It was a chest X-ray - there were two black cloth-looking things in front of my “boxer short area” and my head so I’m assuming those contained lead and protected me from the radiation. But again, I can’t be sure. Given all the people who go through this process I would assume that the equipment and safety procedures are of international standards but still I wasn’t totally comfortable doing this.
6. Finally I was sent to a room for “general examination”. Jen was about two people behind me in this cattle call, but the general exam rooms were separate for men and women. I guess there were fewer women because Jen was done before I was. I went in and this older guy checked my
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Shanghai architecture blood pressure, which he said was fine. His meter said 134 over 80 which by our standards is high but I’m on the assumption either the equipment was bad or my blood pressure was up from the stress of this bizarre process. He then asked me to lay on a table where he felt around on my torso, presumably looking for lumps and bumps, also feeling my liver to see if it was enlarged. He was actually a relatively nice guy and asked if I feel everything is going ok so far, which I said yes. He told me everything checks out fine and I can now leave.
So that’s pretty much was the process was like. We’ll definitely never forget it, and it was definitely an interesting cultural experience. Be thankful for the medical system we have in Canada.
We went back to the hotel after the medical exam, then back out again to register at the Canadian Consulate. It was about a 15 minute cab ride that costed less than $2. The Consulate was in a beautiful building complex that housed many Western consulates, the Ritz-Carlton, a beautiful French bakery called "Paul" (see the photo), and
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This is the Oriental Pearl Tower, the prime landmark of Shanghai the most amazing grocery store I've ever been to. I have to admit that the Consulate experience was disappointing. I was looking forward to feeling like I was back at home, interacting with other Canadians, finding out where Canadians stayed in Shanghai and any local bars or pubs where I could meet others. It was none of that, really. It had all the typical elements of Canadiana - a coat of arms, flags, pictures of the Queen and Stephen Harper, but everyone there were locals trying to get Canadian visas. Even the consular staff were locals, who didn't even understand what I was asking when I questioned them about Canadian social hangouts around the city. We did what we needed to do, then left.
Tired and hungry we decided we wanted to treat ourselves. Why not? We walked into the Ritz-Carlton bar and sat down, ordering two mango smoothies, a club sandwich for me and nachos for Jen. It was nice taking some time to regroup and plan our day - I've been finding that it's best to handle things here one bite at a time (sorry for the cliche) rather than burning through the day in one go.
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This is the New World mall just south of our hotel It's very easy to feel burned out here. Anyway after a delicious lunch and chat with Jen, we walked next door to the little grocery store, which we realized was the same one that my colleague Vivian had recommended to us the day before.
The store was simply amazing. It was clearly targeted at the huge expat community in this area (Nanjing Road West), selling almost anything you'd expect to find at your neighbourhood grocery store back home. The exhilarating thing about it (you can tell I've been missing eating decent food), was that it had food you'd find in grocery stores in Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Japan, you name it. Food labels were in all sorts of different languages so anyone from anywhere could feel at home here. The world in a grocery store. The customers of course were expats just like us, all shopping for some familiar food. It was expensive, to be sure, but in my view definitely worth it. I'm still leery about buying dairy products here so rather than dairy milk we bought soy milk - again the same brand as we see at Loblaws in Toronto. So thanks to
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Nanjing Road pedestrian street as taken from the cab back from the medical test this discovery we're now able to have coffee and cereal in the morning, just like we're used to. We're all for pushing boundaries and expanding horizons but in a foreign place like this there are bits of home you want to cling to - if anything to know that it's still there. It's a very comforting feeling. Amazingly though, I felt more "at home" in this grocery store than I did at the Canadian consulate. Not that government offices are the most exciting places on Earth but in thinking about it I've realized that the difference between the two experiences was the people. Shared experiences with people in similar circumstances - including the experience at the medical facility this morning - is a far more powerful way to feel connected with others than by simply surrounding yourself with symbols of home.
So with that, I close my blog and will tend to my next cup of delicious coffee!
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Chinesetraveler
non-member comment
Interesting stuff
Your experience with the medical exam is quite interesting. It is actually a very standard process in China, not just for foreigners but also for Chinese ppl. As I remember, when I was in China, either the school(for Chinese kids) or the company would sponsor a free medical exam every year. And they pretty much did the same things you had gone through. Of course they wouldn't deport you if you had high blood pressure. They are mostly looking for STD. For a country of 1.3B, i think it's understandable. For other tests(eyes, chest x-ray etc), I would take that as a courtesy. In case u have some health issues, you would be notified and get necessary treatment.