My Asian Luck Strikes Again

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Hello all! I must have racked up some bad karma points or something because this getting ridiculous. On Wednesday afternoon I was playing basketball with some friends and some local guys we met. We had been playing hard for an hour when the guy I was guarding decided to drive the ball right when I thought it would be a good idea to go for the steal, setting our heads on a collision course. After our little knock I called a foul on myself and turned around to continue playing, only to see stunned faces from the guys I was playing with. That's when I looked down and noticed blood all over my chest. Turns out I opened a nice gash over my left eye and thanks to the fact that my blood pressure and heart rate were through the roof due to Shanghai's 95 degree weather and an hour of intense basketball, it was bleeding pretty badly. We headed over to the local hospital, where my program director met up with us. I had the funniest doctor, I was talking to him in Chinese and joking around a little bit, he did not crack a smile at all, all business the whole time, which was fine with me. I got 4 stitches, a shot and some antibiotics and made sure everything checked out before heading back to the dorm. It's looking good now, swelling is down and not bad at all, the stitches look good and it seems like there shouldn't be any real reprecussions.

Just so this post isn't all negative news I will share some anecdotes from the past week. I feel like I am really taking off with the language aspect of the program. I am learning a ton and getting good at putting it into daily usage. My roommate and I talk exclusively in Chinese and we are able to have some pretty technical conversations without me getting too lost. Last night we talked about Marxism and Communism and China's place in the international community which was incredibly interesting I think for both of us. He is a recent member of the communist party but his parent's are not. Today I am leaving for Putuoshan (Putuo Mountain) Island with some friends. We are going by overnight ferry and will arrive on the island early tomorrow morning. The island is home to many Buddhist temples that were spared during the Cultural Revolution. There are also some nice beaches and other hiking spots. I plan on taking it pretty easy, but it should be great to get out of the city and experience some non-polluted air. This week in my economics class my laoshi told us stories about growing up during the Cultural Revolution. She is from a rural area of China and when she was 9 years old, her father who was a school teacher was criticized in front of their whole town as part of Mao's policies. It is amazing having the opportunity to get first hand information on these events that I have only read about in textbooks. There are so few reports on the true circumstances of the Great Leap Forward and the resulting famine as well as the Cultural Revolution that her experience and knowledge have been invaluable. I am looking forward to seeing another Chinese city this weekend, and I look forward to posting again when I get back!

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Photos

Done!
XieXie Yisheng!

Ummm
Wait... Having a little trouble seeing here

Hooray for stitches!
A couple of hours after getting the stitches

Close-Up
Don't look at the last two pictures if you are a little squeamish

Action Shot
Oh yeah and we did the stitches with no anaesthetics which was fantastic.

Comments

[Ann Mealey]

matching stitches!!
Hi Kyle, i will be sure to show this to Grandma today since she had the same stitches on her left eye! Of course, hers wasn't from playing basketball...then she fell again and ended up in the ER with open stitches so do be careful, Kyle!! i hope you had a bullet to bite when you got the stitches w/o anaesthia...i had stitches on my chin when i was 5 on the USS Liner crossing the Atlantic and my Dad passed out from the pain! love, mom

[Dad]

I am not squeamish but...
the last two pics entered into the category of "too much information." Glad you are recovering from your latest encounter with Asian luck. My understanding of karma is that it is quite possible you are replenishing rather than diminishing.