Being Joy - My Adventures in China with Dr. Zhao

Mongolian Treats

2010-05-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!!!

My time in Inner Mongolia has been so rich and fulfilling as well. Have some of you been here? (I know my dear friend Robert Xie has – as he’s from here – we actually came here on a trip together in 1999 – but not to Chifeng – we were in a different city). As I mentioned in my last update, being in fresh air, seeing blue skies and the sunshine has been such a wonderful pleasure!! And I just love being with Claire and Jergetu – Even though I’ve just met Jergetu, I feel like we’ve been friends for many years – seeing him and Claire together also seems so natural. Those of you who know Claire, know she is a master qigong teacher and healer, a wonderful cook, a great dancer and beloved friend to many. Well Jergetu is also an awesome cook, fun dancer, beloved friend to MANY, and a natural healer. Growing up he was only exposed to Mengyi – Mongolian medicine – herbs and acupressure and various other techniques. – Jergetu’s teacher whom I met explained to me that Chinese medicine is really a combination of 4 medicines – Mongolian, Tibetan, Han, and …oh dear…I choose to remember the 4^th!! Anyway, Jergetu has had a keen interest in medicine and herbs since a young boy, and has been studying with this Mongolian teacher for over a year – and he is so talented!! I received a treatment from him as well and he and Claire often treat each other for various small ailments that come up in daily life. (And one day, I remember coming into Jergetu’s study room to see he had just given himself acupuncture in his head – 2 points – feng chi – for a headache he had! :) It’s so neat to see them daily using this medicine – whereas to many Americans it’s only something someone uses if they go see a licensed Chinese doctor, or have studied many years at a school themselves.

Mongolian Treats!

Jergetu has a big family – several older brothers and a younger brother and may have sisters – I don’t remember at the moment – and he grew up in the Mongolian grasslands. Many of his family members still live there (about 300 km away from the city of Chifeng where he and Claire currently live) and when they come to visit, they often bring Jergetu and Claire many wonderful homemade treats (foods many Mongolians grow up and strong with) such as….'nai doufu' --milk tofu – oh this is sooooo yummy!!! I actually bought 2 long slices and hope it makes it through customs. It’s Mongolian milk that’s then dried into large ‘bricks’ – one small piece of this ‘nai doufu’ – milk tofu is the equivalent to drinking 6-7 cups of milk – so ‘yingyang hen da’ – it’s full of nutrition! – Each morning I had some nai dofu with Claire and Jergedu – along with their ‘chao mi’ – fresh roasted millet kernels, ‘zhengke’- oh this is sooooooo delicious too!! It’s some sort of white creamy substance – kind of like whipped butter that we mix with the roasted millet, and also put in our delicious milk tea – which by the way, is a breakfast staple. And then we’d also eat ‘nai pi’ milk skin. For those of you who eat a lot of Chinese food, it’s a bit like ‘dou pi’ – tofu skin….but different :). It’s also a little sweet, but naturally so – no sugar is added. I just love how simple, natural, delicious and healthy the food is!!!

We also ate a lot of meat as the Mongolian diet is rich in milk and its various products, as well as rich in lamb and beef. Yet again, as Jergetu also told me, which Claire said he had told her many times when she first came to Inner Mongolia, “Chi. Chi ba. Chi zhege bu hui pang, zhi hui zhuang.’ “Eat, eat. By eating this you won’t get fat, just strong!” :) Claire and Jergetu both laughed as I obviously took so much delight in each new food I was trying. They also explained how these foods are one of the reasons Mongolians are so strong and were such great, fierce and victorious warriors (such as Ganggus Kang) Many of these foods were, and are still, easy and light to pack in ones sack and provide such great amounts of energy for long foot journeys. I wish they were available in the States for my backpacking and hiking trips!!

Mongolian Yogurt!!! YUM!

And….l must remember to tell you about one of my favorite items (of which I mentioned enjoying several times in my other updates) – that’s ‘suan nai’ – yogurt!!! Yet, this yogurt here is sooooooo natural and delicious – it’s really a fresh kefir and I LOVE IT! It’s strong in its natural flavor, and is even a bit fizzy. Oh yum yum! This is also something Jergetu’s family brings to him in little clay bottles when they visit. If Claire and Jergetu are about to run out before another family visit, Claire just buys some milk, puts it in a clay bottle, adds a spoonful of this kefir, waits a day and….voila! They have another bottle of yummy fizzy deliciousness! (I included a pic of one of the bottles below) I got to recognize these bottles as ‘yogurt bottles’ and one day when we were at a restaurant with Jergetu and his MANY great friends, a server brought one of these small clay bottles to the table. I immediately joyfully exclaimed, “Oh suan nai!” “Oh yogurt!” only to have several people laugh and Claire explain that these are bottles of hard liquor. Jergetu’s family saves these clay bottles and puts yogurt in them….but the bottles themselves are originally for ‘baijiu’ – whiskey and vodka and such :)

Another great thing about ‘suan nai’ – yogurt that came in handy many times in my visit, is that drinking yogurt ‘hui bangzhu xiaohua’ – helps with digestion. :) And since it seemed in my visit that we did a lot of…eating, practicing qigong, eating, taking a nap, meeting friends and eating some more, practice a bit more qigong, ‘guang jie’ – walk the streets and shop and then eat, go to the market to buy some foods….and eat, and sleep, and then ….yes, have some more food….the fact that suan nai helps digest food came in handy many times :) For example, one day (this was the day after we went dancing) I woke up earlier , had breakfast and went to the internet café to email you all while Claire and Jergetu slept in a bit more. Well I was hungry when I got back and ate a yummy, rather big lunch. Then, as the 3 of us were about to practice YiJinJing – a form of gongfu—together, Jergetu announced we’d have a shorter session as we were about to leave to meet his friends to….yes, you guessed it….eat! :) Oh dear!!! I exclaimed, “Aiyo! Wo gan chi bao le! Ni weishenme mei you gaosu wo women hen kuai jiu yao qu chi fan ne?” “Oh dear! I’m already full as I just ate so much food! Why didn’t you tell me we were about to eat?” I felt disappointed because I love the food and do my best to make sure I have an appetite whenever I know we’ll be eating as there is just such an abundance of new and yummy foods to enjoy! Both Jergetu and Claire smiled and laughed and said, “Meiguanxi! Lian lian gong, he yidian suan ni, jiu hao le. Ni hen kuai jiu hui hen e!” “No worries! Practice some qigong, drink some yogurt and you’ll be hungry again in no time!” And…guess what?! It’s true! I did just that and I was actually hungry…..and as another surprise to me, I was hungry again when we came home from the restaurant and proceeded to eat a bowl of rice (oh yes and this rice is also grown by Jergetu’s family!! I usually don’t eat white rice in the States, but this rice is sooo delicious! You can taste the freshness of the open grassland air….and the love and care with which his family grows and harvests this rice with) and a plate of sheep ‘innerds’ – lung, liver, stomach, intestines – I know to some of you it may not sound delicious….BUT (if you eat meat) if you tasted the way Jergetu sautees it up with some vinegar, garlic, salt, oil and onions…oh it is great! That day, even Jergetu, who is almost always hungry, was surprised to see me eating again so soon! :)

And I just love the simple lifestyle Claire and Jergetu have together. They have a very modest Chinese apartment made with concrete (as trees are sparse in the grasslands) -- no refrigerator, 3 simple rooms, a small kitchen with an electric hot plate stove (amazing the delicious food that can be cooked with this!!!) with a sink that Jergetu hung up with some wire on the faucet pipe, a simple toilet that we use water from the kitchen sink to flush with (the water drains from the sink directly into a bucket that then we transfer to the ‘flush bucket’ in the bathroom – this is so environmentally friendly! Great way to re-use our ‘gray water’)….and it all works delightfully!!! I love being with them and living in their home. Simplicity with Great Love is Beautiful. They also have a wonderful little balcony off their room that gets a lot of sunlight and has some lines for drying clothes.

Mongolian Music, Singing, Dancing, Eating - A Most Merry Outing with Friends

One outing I have to share with you all is when we went out to eat with Jergetu’s friends (this is the time I drank some more ‘suan nai’ to help me digest the big lunch I had just eaten). Jergetu is also a great musician…this is another thing that Claire and Jergetu share in common – Claire, before she left the States, had started singing again and also started writing music, writing her own songs. Jergetu is a great singer and very talented musician. He and many of his friends are professional musicians, often performing for groups of tourists who come to the grasslands. (One evening after a delicious homemade dinner, both Claire and Jergetu shared with me the first songs they wrote for and sang for each other – the beginnings of their beautiful romance! – oh it was so touching to hear!! And also funny – as Claire’s second song to Jergetu was no longer ‘momo huhu de’ -- ‘indirect, fuzzy or ‘beating around the bush’ – the first line is….”Ni ai wo ma?” “Do you love me?” – And it’s said with long, extended words! :)) Well, to welcome me to Inner Mongolia, one of Jergetu’s good friends invited a big group of their friends to a restaurant, reserved a separate room for all of us, ordered much good food, and also brought an electric piano, microphone and ma tou qin – the Mongolian string instrument – the instrument that once the Europeans saw and heard it, inspired the birth of violins, fiddles, bangos, etc…. This way they could all perform songs, and share their music and dancing with me – they could give me my own personal taste of authentic, truly amazing and beautiful Mongolian music!!!! WOW!!! Again, I felt and still feel so deeply blessed and so deeply delighted in all the gifts and surprises I’m being presented with!!!

So we had a very ‘renao’ afternoon of eating, drinking (I drank tea but for the ‘fellows’ in the room it’s pretty much a necessity to drink beer or some hard liquor – as this is used in the many ‘ganbei’ – toasts that we make to each other throughout the meal and merriment. Actually, as many of them practiced their English that afternoon, one young man (he’s 22 and is already a Master at the Ma Tou Qin – Mongolian String instrument with many students studying under him and he is truly magnificent!) lifted his glass and with a big smile exclaimed, “Chairs!” Claire and I laughed and explained that, while his pronunciation was oh so close….he actually just said ‘yizi’ (chairs) instead of ‘cheers’ (which is ‘ganbei’ in Chinese) – We all laughed and it became an ongoing joke in our time together.

They are all so funny and so fun to be with!! Another funny thing that happened is that one of their friends arrived late…..so the fellow that organized this event (Oh dear, I haven’t remembered his name yet….I’ll refer to him as Tian right now…) decided to play a little joke on him. We were on the 2^nd floor of a restaurant and could see the roof top of the building across the street through our many windows. Well, Tian called his friend and told him we were meeting on the roof of this other building that was across the street. Because we had such a good view, when his friend arrived, we could all see him going in the building and then, pop – come out on the roof top! Ha!! And then saw him looking, looking, looking around. We all had a good laugh!! Tian then called him on his cell phone (which of course we could see him answering) and we were all still laughing while he explained we were actually all looking at him from the restaurant across the street!! :)

As you can tell, we all had a most fabulous time – I recorded several of Jergetu’s friends performing with my camera’s video function – it gives some of the flavor of it but the sound unfortunately skips and does not anywhere near adequately represent the music. Once I test a program for mailing large media files I can send some of these to you. Tian’s friend (whom he played the trick on) also performed and Tian just loves it when he sings. When I filmed Tian’s friend singing, ½ the time I was filming his friend and ½ the time I was filming Tian’s enthusiastic response to his music!! :)

Public Showers - Another Experience for 'Waiguoren'

Another thing Claire and I did, which is common in many cities, is go take a shower at one of the public shower facilities. A good portion of the older buildings/apartments don’t have hot water or showers, so many people shower at these facilities. Well, it’s one thing to be an object of people’s attention (being a ‘waiguoren’ –foreigner) on the streets, but it’s quite another to be an object of attention in a public shower! I’ve gotten used to the former but certainly not the latter! Claire just advised me to create my own bubble and go about my normal washing business….:)

Well another neat thing about these public showers is that you can pay a bit extra and have someone scrub you down with these special brushes (that take off all the dead skin) and then get this wonderful mixture of clay and grapeseed oil rubbed all over while getting a massage at the same time. This oil cream treatment is so nourishing for one’s skin, makes it extra silky soft and helps keep the moisture in. Claire and I both got this done and came back home shining and squeaky (almost literally!!) clean! :)

A Most Marvelous Dancing Proposal

In my last update I mentioned the fabulous evening of dancing Claire, I, Jergetu and his friends had. One thing I didn’t mention, however, as I found out a bit later, is that while Claire and I were dancing on the stage (after being invited up there), the owner of the dance club came up to Jergetu and asked if Claire and I would be interested in working there. – Basically if we could please come each night, dance, boogie and rock out like we love to on the stage in the early hours to get people going, and then once others started dancing too we could stay or go. WOW! What a fun proposal! :) It was fun to watch as Claire and I so freely danced, how others slowly opened up and started dancing too :)

Back to Beijing

So this trip to China is about to come to a close. I left Inner Mongolia, took the overnight train to Beijing and arrived for one more brilliant sunshine day in the country’s capital. Gosh, Beijing is quite beautiful. – the flowers are blooming now and the vibrant spring leaves are coming out on the trees….and of course the food is still delicious! I found a delightful little hotel for my last night in one of the old ‘hutongs’ – alleyways in the center part of the city. I rented a bicycle, biked down one of the famous alleyways with lots of little shops, many ‘waiguoren’ – foreigners from all over the world, yogurt stands, and delightful little restaurants and cafes (below is a picture of one – it’s taken from the table I sat at while eating my lunch and you can see my bicycle through the door :), went by Kundawell Institute once more to say hi to Mingtang, and….went shopping! :) Claire had told me of 2 long blocks with lots of little shops of clothes and great prices, so I found many wonderful treasurers – including an extra bag to hold them in.

One shop I went into had a very friendly, ‘sturdily built’ man working there. After we chatted a brief bit he asked me, “Zai Meiguo, wo suan pang ma?” “Would I be considered fat in the U.S.?” Well how am I supposed to answer that question politely?!!! Yes – but I didn’t want to say that. Anyway, luckily he went on to explain that he has met several American men who seem rather lean except for the fact that they have very big pot bellies. He, on the other hand, had his ‘extra padding’ well distributed around his whole body with a very round and rosy-cheeked happy face :).

I enjoyed his store as he had some really beautiful clothes in his shop – flowy, whimsical shirts and dresses that I like. There was also a pair of cacky (how do you spell this color anyway? My spell check just comes up with ‘tacky’! but they’re actually cute, not tacky :)) pants that I liked and tried on. Oh they fit! Wow they were long enough! Actually this store manager I think was even more excited than me when I walked out of the dressing room to look in the mirror! He said NOBODY has fit into this pants and he practically gave up on them (that explains why they were hung way up in the corner in the back of the store!) They were too small- fitting and too long-legged for most people. He explained that most people in China who are really thin are rather short and those that are taller are rather ‘pang’ – or a bit fatter. These pants, however, were both slim and very tall which is not a phenomena that happens that often I guess. Well, anyway, because he was soooo excited to find someone who actually fit in these pants, he gave them to me for only ½ price! Oh what fun to shop in China :)

Up in the Air

So I’ve been writing this email over several days and through several places. And now I’m on the plane heading for San Francisco (I’ll be there for a few days before heading back to Seattle), and I’ve had quite another and unexpected adventure! :) Flying on this big plane from Beijing with hundreds of passengers, most of whom are Chinese, we have the most odd situation of having only one flight attendant who speaks Chinese!!! Oh dear! This is a most unfortunate situation for many of my flight-mates and…I must say for all of the flight attendants! The one who does speak Chinese is rather overwhelmed, and those who don’t speak Chinese are overwhelmed in a different way and have fallen into the trap of thinking if they speak just a bit slower and louder, maybe those who only speak Chinese will understand?! Anyway, when the flight attendants handed out the immigration sheets….and um…only had them in …um ….English….....well…as you can imagine we had quite a commotion on board! I, on the other hand, have actually been having fun acting as an interpreter for the flight attendants and my flight-mates. Everyone really all means well….and speaking a common language is really such a big help!

So after most people’s forms were filled out on this flight, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my two seat mates (we’re seated in rows of 3). They are an older couple from Hunan Province (though with their local accent, they say ‘Funan’ :)) and they’re going to Dallas to see their daughter for 6 months! Oh they are so excited and bubbly! The husband, Shuqing, has been to the States once before (he was a Geology professor and went on a trip to some of the great natural geological sites—such as the Grand Canyon-- in the U.S. years ago). For his wife, Jinhui, this is her first trip! We chatted quite a bit and when our meals came, I’d ask them if they wanted beef or chicken and then promptly tell the flight attendant their choices. They were so excited to have me sitting with them and said I was like their personal ‘angel’ sent to help them! (Well I felt very blessed too!!)

It was funny with Jinhui to see her inspect this first taste of ‘western food.’ In our first meal, among other items they each got a dinner roll wrapped in plastic, along with the plastic ware and a little plastic-sealed serving of butter. Well both Jinhui and her husband chuckled that we have 3 ‘utensils’ with which to eat our food (a fork, knife and spoon) versus the one utensil they use – chopsticks (3 just seemed a bit ‘tai guo fen le' 'over the top/excessive' to them! :)). And Shuqing was also explaining the use of each utensil to his wife.

After the utensil review, Jinhui then picked up the butter package, turned it over several times, and didn’t quite know what to make of it, let alone how this little container was supposed to be opened! I explained that this was ‘nai you’ (butter) and that it was to be eaten with the dinner roll (while the Chinese also have many delicious breads, they don’t usually eat butter with it! So this was all a new experience for Jinhui!!) Oh she was so surprised! And then I showed her how to open, what seemed to be a tamper-proof little plastic container :). It was fun to be able to help Jinhui experience her first such meal – and I just remember and am so grateful to my Taiwanese friends who similarly helped me (when I first went to Taiwan to study abroad in college) get introduced to Chinese food….not to mention learn how to skillfully use chopsticks!!! If you’d like to guess how long a foreigner has been in an Asian country, just see how well they can eat with chopsticks! If they’re only getting a few grains of rice with each bite, you can bet they have just newly arrived! :)

Attached are some pictures – a few more from Inner Mongolia – Claire and Jergetu cooking in their kitchen, a picture of the 'zhengke' and ‘suannai’ –yogurt- bottle, and some pictures of Jergetu’s friends singing. In the picture of Claire and Jergetu sitting down to the delicious dinner they just made you'll see a little note written in Mongolian taped to the locked cabinet. Jergetu wrote that note as a joke -- it says, "Don't Open! There's Gold in here!" It's a joke b/c if there really was a treasure, who would write such a note and put such a puny lock on the door? :) Ha!)

Oh my! I have oh soooooo enjoyed sharing this most magical, fulfilling and blessed journey with you all!!! Thank you so much for enjoying it with me and for all your emails. Thank you Thank you! If you know of others who would enjoy reading of my journeys, please direct them to my blog (thanks to my friend, Rick!!!) at www.qidancer.blogspot.com.

I’m already dreaming up plans to go back….(oh and I just heard from Nicole (Dr. Zhao’s daughter) that the TV report on my studies in Henan aired this week!! Dr. Zhao, Ayi, Nicole and her family, JunLing and her family, LiZhun and her family all gathered to watch the 1/2 our report together! They said it is just great and the head of the reporting crew is finding a way to send it over the internet to me. I'll forward it on when I figure out how....or have a public viewing in Seattle :))

Thank you! And so much LOVE to you all!! Dr. Zhao, his family and my friends all know of you too – what a most beautiful exchange this has all been indeed.

I am Grateful. I am Blessed. And I thank you for ‘traveling’ with me and for you, your love, support and JOY.

Much Great LOVE,

KarenJOY

Power of Language, Pineapple Hearts, Boiled Water Rooms & LOTS o' LOVE

2010-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Oh so much to say! My last few days in Zhengzhou have been filled with so much richness, so much love, love, LOVE, laughs and more LOVE. I feel deeply blessed to have such a profoundly beautiful and loving 'Chinese family' :)!! 2 days ago when Ayi came back from a weekend at her son's home, she entered the clinic with a big smile. She exclaimed she was organizing a special 'farewell' lunch for me and that Zhao Fang (Nicole) and her husband, JunLin and her family, Li Zhun and of course, Dr. Zhao would all be there. Oh YAY!!! We've all been counting down the days we have together – savoring and enjoying each moment. Each day I come to the clinic, Dr. Zhao re-counts again – 'hai you 5 tian' –'still 5days'– 'hai you 3 tian'–'still have 3 days'–'hai you 1 tian'–'still have 1 day,' etc. Each moment is precious – each time I get to fill another prescription with my Sisters, eat another most delicious lunch with Ayi and Dr. Zhao, see my fuyuyuan (hotel worker) friends at the hotel, hug my little Chinese 'nieces' who come to greet me is so precious. Also, I savor each moment of teaching and sharing and experiencing with Dr. Zhao. My time and all I receive from him is such a big gift – even putting all of this into words doesn't do justice to express what I'm receiving. One example of such a moment is two days ago when he read from an old book on acupuncture techniques – again written as a 'gejue'– a poem. It was so beautiful and this time, as he read (and I recorded it on my nifty IPod :)) I actually understood some of it!! WoW! I understood some of the acupuncture points they referred to and their uses. And I'm so glad to have these recordings to continue learning and of course to hear Dr. Zhao's voice again when I'm home.

I also like it when Dr. Zhao calls me over to feel another patient's pulse (now he's having me feel their pulses and then describe what I feel. Gosh, this is soooo great!! I love (sometimes my ego doesn't love it so much in the moment though!) how Dr. Zhao is ALWAYS stretching what I think is possible for me. He's always testing my 'consciousness' and expanding my self-imposed – often unconsciously self-imposed limitations. My training and 'remembering' of Conscious Language has been/is so valuable and I can see how all my experiences up to this point has prepared me to meet and work with Dr. Zhao. In my training with Robert Tennyson Stevens (founder of Conscious Language™ and Mastery Systems), I came to see how a simple thought-form such as “I can't” or “I don't know” really held back a lot of power in my life – and I had several experiences while on tour with Bob of how once I became conscious I was telling myself ‘I can't’ or ‘I don't know’ and consciously made another choice, then doors opened in my own consciousness and experience! Well, I have discovered so many “I can'ts” or “”I don't knows” in my time here. Yet, these have been even more 'sneaky' because they're in Chinese!! :) Yes, I've become rather astute in detecting sly English ‘I can'ts' and “I don't knows” – BUT now I'm becoming diligent in catching them in Chinese! When I'm thinking thoughts in Chinese, these little..."wo bu hui" (I can't), “Wo ting bu dong" (I don't understand), and “wo buzhidao” (I don't know) have, as I mentioned, continued to pop up in their sneaky way, especially when Dr. Zhao is teaching me, or quizzing me, or asking me to recite one of the short gejues he's shared with me! (one time in front of the reporters! Aiya!!) Well, as I've learned/remembered in my studies with Bob Stevens, my language, my words, thoughts and feelings are powerful and are constantly shaping my world and my experience of it around me.

So to give you an example in the Chinese language, I'm going to take a close look at the Chinese version of ‘I don't know' --- which, just as in English, is a phrase that often unconsciously closes a door in consciousness -- As soon as one says “I don't” – it's like closing a gate, and in this case, closing a gate to 'knowing.’ So, in Chinese, the 2 characters for knowing are both beautiful and powerful words – they are ‘zhi’知and ‘dao’道 put together to form ‘zhidao’ 知道–(look, Dr. Zhao's nephew, Zhao Kuan, helped me download a program to type in Chinese now so I can actually show you some characters :)) – ‘zhi’ is the character for wisdom and ‘dao’ is the character for the way, the path – it's also the character for Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism in English). To say “I know” is simply ‘wo zhidao’ 我知道 – or one could translate it as “I know as I Am Wisdom and the Way” – or—“I know the wisdom of the Way". To say “I don't know” is “wo bu zhidao” 我不知道 – or one could say ‘I don't know wisdom or the Way’ or ‘I don't know the wise Way'. The character “bu” 不, like our 'not'–resulting in words like can't, don't, won't, etc --, is a powerful barrier and can put up a strong wall/gate in one's consciousness (often unconsciously). It's also said in the 4^th tone in Chinese (Mandarin Chinese has 4 main tones and 1 neutral tone) which starts high and ends low and is the 'sharpest' tone of them all.

So all of this to say, I'm now 'remembering' my Conscious Language in Chinese too :) And as I had started explaining, when Dr. Zhao has me feel pulses of his patients, and then asks me to explain what I'm feeling, sometimes these sneaky “I don't know how to say this" thoughts making their way into my head. Well also....being a 'waiguoren' -a foreigner, I have a big excuse to have these thoughts, right? Since Chinese isn't my native language, I can often get away with just being a bit 'shaniu'–'silly girl' that doesn't quite understand. Yet, this ‘doesn't fly' with Dr. Zhao :) (and Thankfully so as this keeps stretching my own limits!!). So with the pulses, even though I've often thought –'oh I don't know how to put words to what I'm feeling – and especially in Chinese!" I ....do it anyway :) – and miraculously Dr. Zhao understands! (even though I'm often using other-than-Chinese-Medical terminology to convey my feelings!)

This highlights another special blessing in my relationship with Dr. Zhao – that is we often understand each other – (of course there's many times we've had some miscommunications resulting in me 'you fan cuowu' – making yet another mistake!! – which often by the way, after we communicate clearly, results in another bundle of shared laughter and me reminding Dr. Zhao how to say "I made a mistake" in English again :)- as he likes to practice his English in preparation for his next trip to the U.S.)

Even though we have our language differences, he often seems to understand what I'm conveying. For example, one patient's pulse was very thin, wiry and a bit floating, while another patient's was ‘thick’, sinking and 'hua' slippery like flowing ‘zhou’ or rice porridge (different than the ‘hua’ feeling of the 2 women who are pregnant). I'll often say a few simple descriptive words and then Dr. Zhao's eyes light up –"oh yes, right – you mean"....and he'll say the very poetic Chinese medical terminology for what I'm feeling :). Even though I'm just starting to feel some basics and feeling the difference between different patients, I still have MUCH to learn as to what all the different pulses mean, several patients still insist (if I haven't done it already) to come over and feel their pulse. They're often smiling looking at me with expectant eyes after I feel, like they're waiting for me to diagnosis their condition! Well, I just tell them to 'dengyixia' wait a moment and ask Dr. Zhao :)

Another example of Dr.Zhao not heeding my “I can't" or “I don't understand” thoughts is with some of the case studies he's written up for me to translate. Again, he likes to write by hand (as he doesn't use the modern pinyin method needed for typing Chinese characters in the computer)—so this means I need to decipher his handwriting. Well, neatly (and I mean school-text-book-neat) written characters are much easier to read than the more beautiful flowing, calligraphy-like handwriting of Dr. Zhao – because, when reading neatly written or typed characters, if there's a character I don't know, I can again use my nifty ipod, draw the character, press ‘done’ and voila! Out comes the pinyin and an English definition of the word. :) –duo fangbian! – So convenient!! Well, not so easy with Dr. Zhao's written papers... .When he hands me yet another case study, he often says, ‘na, ni man man kan ba.' "here, you can read and review this slowly." And then starts working on something else. My “well, what? Wait – what if I don't understand? Wait can you just explain...?...." none of these thoughts are given any space in his consciousness – which then seems to somehow decrease their power in my consciousness – and my response miraculously turns into a no-drama “Hao ba. Wo na hui qu manman de kan ba.” –“okay sure, I'll take this and review it tonight." (Yet, sometimes I'm still thinking, “how will I ever understand all of this?”) So far, though, I've also ‘miraculously’ been given all the extra help (often from either Nicole or Zhao Kuan) I require to read these cases studies and learn a bunch of new words in the process. :)

So I had a most most wonderful ‘farewell’ lunch with Dr. Zhao, Ayi, JunLin, her mother-in-law, Nicole and her husband, and one of Dr. Zhao's sisters. Again these were more moments I treasured. Two of the TV reporters also joined us so they could film our toasts and this special time with 'my Chinese family' :). Below are just a few of the many great pictures we took at lunch and right after with my family :).

Pineapple Hearts

Also, below I've included some pictures of me and my friends at the hotel. Oh they are all so wonderful. As I've mentioned, most of my dinners I would eat at the hotel with the other hotel workers. I befriended several of them (especially Da Jie who I mentioned in an earlier update – she's the older women in the pics below) and exchanged warm smiles, hellos and laughter with most of the others. Well I had bought some pineapple, watermelon and apples earlier in the day and wrote a thank you note to the staff and asked if the chef could cut up the fruit nicely and put it out with that night's dinner, as I often arrive a bit after they've started eating. Well...when I arrived that night, the main server had just read my note to everyone and then on the two back tables I saw the platters of fruit! Oh wow! They were so beautifully prepared! I included a picture of one of them below – the chef took so much care in his preparation, he even cut the pineapple into little heart shapes!!! I felt so happy and everyone there was also so happy to see me! I felt such joy to finally be able to thank them all at once and in person and it just opened up such a warmth of sharing and gratitude and of course smiles and more laughs! We took pictures of us eating together and then the main server came in with a gift of 2 red stuffed animal tigers he said was a gift from the hotel! Oh they are so sweet!! And you can just see and feel their sweetness and genuine kindness in these pictures :)

Packing

So all this goodness just keeps on flowing and flowing – on my last night in Zhengzhou, after my last dinner with the hotel staff, I was upstairs beginning my slightly dreaded task of fitting all my accumulated belongings in my 1 big bag – when I heard a knock, knock on the door :) – Oh it was my wonderful ‘sisters’ JunLin and LiZhun!! :) JunLin also brought her husband Zhao Miao and they all had big smiles on their faces, came in and my two sisters immediately started organizing my things, asking “kailun, what are you wearing tomorrow? Here hand me your things…What goes in this bag?...” And while I felt I wasn't ‘prepared’ for help (I often feel as though I need have everything organized first before having people come help me...BUT this thinking I'm realizing doesn't make much sense as often people are coming to help with just this – organizing! :) – so I really could relax more and just enjoy my help!), my sisters just came in and pretty much took over, while Zhao Miao added his skype contact info to my skype account and also made sure he and JunLin were in my new QQ account (QQ is like the Chinese equivalent to Facebook and pretty much EVERYONE who is on the internet here has a QQ address – instead of email :)). Well within 45 minutes, all my belongings again miraculously (I realized I've used that word a lot in this update!) fit in my bag! How did they do this?!! In any case, we said our goodnights as we were all going to see each other again very soon early, early in the morning, as Dr. Zhao, Ayi and my sisters had all concluded (along with 3 TV reporters) that they would take me to the airport! Gosh, I feel so loved!

And really our trip to the airport and our last hugs and continued waves and blowing of kisses and smiles and tears as I was making my way through security all just added to the immense Love and Gratitude I have for Dr. Zhao, Ayi, Jun Lin, Li Zhun, Nicole, their whole family, and all, all the many people I've met and become friends with on this trip. I am so grateful and I am grateful to all of you for sharing my powerful, loving and Joy-filled journey. THANK YOU!!!

'Boiled Water Rooms" :)

I've written some of this letter while flying from Zhengzhou to Inner Mongolia (to see Claire and Jergedu) with a stop-over in Beijing. Below are a couple of interesting pics from my airport experience that I thought you'd enjoy too :) – one is of a sign for a “Boiled Water Room”!! HA! I love drinking HOT water and this is something we certainly do NOT see in the U.S. :)! Also, while at the airport I again had the delightful task of .....having lunch! :) – so I went to a Chinese version of ‘fast food’ (they even call it ‘kuai can’ which literally means fast food) BUT I took a picture of their menu because it is actually real food and absolutely nothing like we have at our ‘fast food’ restaurants! It's a little hard to see but the picture shows their ‘picture menu’ of things like seaweed noodles, steamed eggs with mushrooms, mu-er and cilantro (mu-er is a fungus that directly translates to ‘wood ears’ :)), red bean pudding, curried veggies and rice, dumplings, sautéed greens, black sticky rice and coconut yummy dessert (which is one item I ordered :)), and more... Also while these prices were much more than what you'd pay out in the city, my meal still cost me a whooping $2.30!

Clear Blue Skies in Inner Mongolia

So while I'm missing, thinking of, and sending much love to my Zhengzhou family now, I'm also so happy to be in Inner Mongolia with my dear friend Claire and her wonderful finance, Jergedu! It is beautiful here and so refreshing to see the deep and bright blue skies and the bright, brilliant sun and to breathe fresh air!!! I have missed all of these in Zhengzhou. And Claire – I am sooo happy for her! Many of you know her – she founded the first ZY Qigong organization in the U.S. and brought Mingtang here -- she's an amazing practitioner, healer, writer, teacher, colleague and friend. She moved back to China 2 years ago (and that's when a group of us then formed the first non-profit ZY Qigong organization to continue the good work and service she had started), and met her finance when she took a bus to Inner Mongolia, and got off at the very last bus stop with only the desire to find a good, expansive, quiet place to write. Well she found that and much more – she found her true love and they are to be married in August! :) And Jergedu is just fabulous! A native Mongolian, a talented musician and skilled healer and brilliant, warm and at times hilarious being! We all are laughing a lot and enjoying much delicious Mongolian food – I will write more about it in my next update. (there's a picture of Claire and Jergedu enjoying our first meal together here :))

My learnings and experiences with Chinese medicine are continuing too as I've met Jergedu's teacher yesterday who also practices Chinese acupressure, massage and acupuncture and is from a lineage of Mongolian teachers. Wow! His method is powerful! He treated Claire, then we all talked and before I knew it I was on the table getting a treatment myself!

He immediately knew my 'weak spots' and I felt a strong sense that one of my missions is to use my own qigong practice, my gifts of knowledge and experience with Chinese medicine, herbs and foods to bring strength and vitality to my whole being. A lot of inner 'ah-has' are being revealed.

Last night we all also went...DANCING!!! Oh I was fabulously FUN!! Claire is an awesome dancer too and we had a blast! We just rocked out and while the dance-stage floor was closed until the later hours, the managers came over to us and asked if we'd please step on the dance stage and continue our ecstatic funk and hip hop grooves!

I won't be on email much the next few days. Thank you again for all your letters! I really love hearing from you and I send you all Much LOVE!!!!

Love and JOY,

KarenJoy

Newspaper Article Published and Henan TV Crew Comes to Our Clinic!!

2010-04-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!!!

WOW!!! I have sooooo much to say!!! I haven't been writing much in the last week as so much is happening in the remaining days (for this trip) in Zhengzhou. Remember when I mentioned that the reporters came to interview me - and they came to the clinic the day I 'ganmao le' - caught a cold, and how the reporter came later to take pictures of me practicing qigong, dancing and writing to you all? Well, this morning when I woke up, I had a text message from the reporter saying that the story was going in the 2nd and 3rd pages of today's paper!! On the front page there is also a picture of me - saying 'Ta jiao Kailun...' "Her name is Karen - she's a blond haired, blue eyed 'meinu' woman from the U.S. here studying Chinese medicine - Are you curious what she says in her journal?" ...and then it tells people to go to pp. 2-3 to find out more :) - Oh how exciting! I have several copies and will show you when I get home. The second page has a picture of my typing my one of my updates to you :) Each link below will take you to the different pages.

Page 1
Page 2

This reporter did an excellent job. Several people in the neighborhood were so excited to see me in the paper today too. When I went out with Junlin to buy some veggies and tofu for the dinner I made for everyone tonight, one woman ran out from her store front and said "Oh wo kan dao ni le - zai baozhi shang. Hen bang!" - Oh I saw you in the newspaper today -- that's so great!!"

Also, before I got to work today, Dr. Zhao called me and said 'Gankuai lai shang ban. Henan dianshitai yao lai fangwen ni.' "Come to work soon - the Henan TV station is coming to interview you" as they too had just read the article in the paper. OMG!! Wow!

At lunchtime today with Ayi and Dr. Zhao (before the TV reporters came in the afternoon), Dr. Zhao said that although many Americans come to China, very few are in the papers, let alone interviewed on TV. "Yibeizi tamen ganbushang" - in a lifetime most don't get on the media" -- Also, sometimes, Dr. Zhao explained, some people must pay a good sum of money to get in the paper or on TV and this just came to us - the newspaper reporter heard 'through the grapevine' about me coming to study Chinese medicine with Dr. Zhao and today the TV station read the paper and called Dr. Zhao immediately to come do a story too -- This is another Beautiful Gift that just....'plop' .. is here in our lap!! Dr. Zhao is a very humble and thankful man too - and today before we ate lunch, he showed me his alter and the 2 'pusa's' (for many Americans, the equivalent is 'angels') -one being Guanyin watching over him and those he loves. We both bowed and felt great gratitude for our Blessings!

The atmosphere in the clinic was truly one of excitement the whole day and as soon as I arrived in the morning, Junlin and LiZhun already had my 'white doctor's coat' ready to wear for the reporters :). JunLin said to 'lai zhao ta' call her after my lunch with Ayi and Dr. Zhao and we'd 1) do our veggie shopping for our dinner (I made a 'thank you' dinner for everyone tonight and practiced my Chinese cooking skills :) and 2) she'd brush my hair and put it in a pretty hairdo for the reporters :). Oh I love JunLin!! She is so great!! Sometimes I feel like a young girl running over to her friend's house 'to play' after lunch :). At times we ride bikes, or practice dancing, or I help her with English, or we play ping pong, or she helps me with MANY things, or we talk and laugh and eat pineapple or drink yummy hot water and honey drinks (note: this is good for 'meirong' for beautifying our skin :)) before going back to work :).

And I just love both of my sisters -- LiZhun is back working at the clinic now too and the 3 of us are quite the team! We call each other 'Sister' - as I'm teaching them English - and for all the little kids who come to the clinic, we are quite a sight -- the 3 smiling 'Ayi's' "Aunties" :). Also, sometimes if there aren't any patients in the clinic, both 'sisters', Junlin and LiZhun, go to the back room to work with the herbs. As they leave, they practice their English and we all smile and say, "see you later" promptly followed by several giggles :). When practicing our English, if Dr. Zhao isn't busy with a patient, his eyes light up and he comes over with a smile and great curiosity and eagerness to learn -- he loves studying English too and will come practice the phrases I'm teaching my 'sisters' :)

Cooking my First Big Chinese Family Meal (with GREAT help from my 'Sisters' :))
So the TV reporters came in the afternoon and again, the clinic was quite 'renao' -very lively! They also came to my hotel room to film me typing my letter to you:) and to ....Dance!! YAY! This time maybe the dancing part will make the news. And...then the reporters came with me to JunLin's home to film me making my first formal Chinese meal for JunLin's family, LiZhun and Dr. Zhao and Ayi! This was quite an out-of-the-ordinary experience for all of us! First, it's already rare to have a 'wai guo ren' come to one's home, but then to have one come that is bringing a TV crew of 5 people is even more rare!! Everything happened so fast that I realized I hadn't even asked JunLin about the reporters coming into her and her family's home.....but her and her family were just Thrilled! These reporters were a lot of fun too -- all in their 20s and everywhere we went there was a lot of laughing and good cheer.

So I and the TV crew arrived at JunLin's about 6:30 p.m. and I was aware I had much to do -- I had bought LOTS of veggies for several dishes, tofu, and a small fish. Cooking Chinese food is very fast....BUT the chopping and preparation is what takes the longest. Well.....my 'sisters' (Bless them!) had prepared all the veggies - washed and chopped them, put them in neat separate bowls, cleaned the fish and stuffed it with ginger, my other Ayi (JunLin's mother-in-law) made a big pot of millet and sweet potato zhou (porridge)-- YUM!!, had the coal stove piping hot (really - they are super efficient and HOT HOT HOT!), and had smiling faces and an apron ready for me to wear. They are so wonderful!!

So when I arrived, JunLin and LiZhun guided me into the kitchen, put on my apron, had me do a 'spin' for the reporters, fixed my hair, put the spatula in my hand and said, "Lai, Kailun, ni chao cai ba" - "Come, Karen, you can stir-fry all the veggies now" :) Again, this was all while the 5 reporters also followed me in with their cameras!

After the cooking, the reporters left saying they'll come back tomorrow and they're also coming to the airport (along with Dr. Zhao, Ayi, JunLin and LiZhun) the day I leave for Inner Mongolia to see me off! I just keep thinking, "This is so amazing!!!" All of my experiences are so much more than I imagined!!! Each day I make it my practice to 'see, feel and be the Perfection and Love I desire" - as one of my teachers, St. Germain instructs. I feel so much awe and gratitude.

Family DANCE
And, another thing to share from this evening....after dinner and chatting and cleaning up, Dr. Zhao and Ayi left -- with Ayi pausing with a twinkle in her eye, saying to 'hao hao wanr yihuir' -- to stay and 'play'/enjoy my time with my 'sisters' for awhile - as both she and Dr. Zhao know how close we've all become. So....after they went home, JunLin's 12-year old son (he is GREAT!!) put on some of the dance music I gave to JunLin and we had a most Awesome, Spontaneous family dance!!! WoooHOOO! Included one dancing picture below of me and her niece. JunLin, her son and her mother-in-law also danced with us! JunLin's husband, Zhao Miao video taped us so JunLin can 'study ecstatic dance' while I'm away! It was so fun to dance with them!!!

Oh I have so much more to say!! I'll be writing more in the next few days. I have much to share on what I'm learning with the medicine, feeling pulses, 'writing' another prescription -- really it's Dr. Zhao telling me the herbs and this time I actually knew how to write them (as I've been practicing!! :)), and more.

Thank you again so much for sharing my journey with me!! And THANK YOU for your emails!!! Also, thanks to my friend, Rick, for creating and updating my travel blog where all these emails are posted. (see BTW, he does great web work if you're looking for someone to help in this area :))

Much GREAT LOVE and BLESSINGS to you ALL!!!!

LOVE,
KarenJOY

Dr. Zhao's Gege (older brother) and his Gift, 'Sitting for a Month' & Twins!

2010-04-14T21:48:00.001-07:00

Greetings Friends!

I am so moved and deeply touched. yesterday Dr. Zhao's 'Gege' - his older brother whom I call Da Bai -- came by the clinic again. What I didn't tell you in our last exchange is that he said he was going to write a poem for me and write it out in beautiful calligraphy on special scroll paper as a gift. Well yesterday he came by the clinic with his most precious self and heart and his beautiful gift. I actually have tears in my eyes. I just read his words again (to make sure I understand them all in preparation for my translation for you :)) and feel an ache in my heart -- it's a 'gratitude ache' -- Do you feel those sometimes? It's not a painful ache, it's a depth of feeling, an awe and thankfulness ache :). It's an ache that often spontaneously allows me to let go of any 'xiao shiqing' -- small thing thoughts -- and surrender to the beauty and magic and grace life can bring. Sometimes so unexpectedly, without feeling I've done something to earn it...it just ...plop...is here in my lap and presenting it's beauty to me.

So Da Bai (Dr. Zhao's older brother) came with a scroll wrapped with a red bow. He proceeded to tilt his little navy blue cap back and pull out another rather large piece of rice paper, unwrap it and explain that on this paper he wrote me a note to explain his feelings, his poem, why he wrote it, and also to write the poem out in more 'readable' characters so I would know exactly what it said. Wow! Well this 'note' is quite a piece of art in and of itself!!! His calligraphy is outstanding - most beautiful and what he said brings tears to my eyes and my depth of thanks ache to my heart. He writes with such elegance and grace and truly honors the Chinese language with the beauty he creates through his choice of words. One special thing about the Chinese language is that much, much can be said in just a few characters. Each character has a depth of meaning and can have multiple, varied meanings depending on the context. Putting them together in a way that uses few words, and yet paints a deep picture and creates a beautiful cadence is a true art. I'll explain the letter and then translate the poem.

In his letter he says:

Kailun Laoshi (Karen teacher): "Ni xingku le! Neng zai wo de jia xiang yu ni xiang shi, bei gan rong xing. Nin zhi shen yi ren, yuan bu zhong yang lai Zhongguo yanxiu zhong yi, qi xing wei, qi jing shen kan jing kan pei, ling ren dongrong xinzhe. Wei biaoshi dui nin de jingzhong zhi qing, wo wei nin xie le si ju shi. Shi shi zheyang xie de:

"I acknowledge your hardships! Having you here and the opportunity to be your acquaintance, I feel very fortunate. You, on your own, came across the great oceans to China specifically to study Chinese medicine -- your manner, your spirit, evoke respect and admiration and cause people to feel enchanted. As a way to express my feelings of great respect, I wrote this 4-lined poem. The poem goes like this:"

And here's his poem:

Da Yang bi an mei Kailun,
Qiuzhi cong bu wei jianxin.
Gong cheng ming jiu zhi ri dai,
Chun feng hua yu cao mu xin.

From across the ocean shores beautiful Karen came (note: this has 2 meanings "mei" means beautiful and it is also short for 'Mei Guo' which means America :) - or Beautiful Country! How did we get so lucky to have the Chinese name our country - beautiful country?! :))
Eager to learn she has no fear of hardship.
Her success is soon to come - as close as the next rising sun,
Life-giving spring breezes and rain, fallen petals creates new life (this last sentence - so elegant in Chinese alludes to the life-giving essence of spring to the life-giving essence of education - and learning from older knowledge, wisdom then is born again in new life through us.--- See English takes many many more words to express than Chinese :))

In his letter, he also mentioned that he wrote 2 poems for me -- one -- the one I just translated above, and the other (so there's actually 2 scrolls) is a poem written by a famous poet, Guo Moruo - he wrote it while in Hangzhou (one of the most beautiful cities in China) as he was so moved by the beauty he experienced there.

I wish I could convey the essence of the beauty of this all written in Chinese -- below are some pictures 1) of the 'letter' he wrote me, 2) - though it's blurry - of me and him holding up the scroll with his poem, and 3) one of him and Dr. Zhao looking at the poem rolled out on one of the treatment tables.

I was so moved by his kindness and generosity, that it seemed most of my Chinese left my brain for a few moments and all I could say is -- Wo ganxie nin, wo hao gandong!!" Thank you - I am so grateful and deeply moved!" I desired so much to express more how touched I was and how honored I am to know him and what a marvelous poet and person his is ....and well...I am hoping all I desired to express in words, he was able to receive from my spirit. I also had a great desire to give him a BIG hug!!! And as I mentioned in one of my last updates, that hugs are not the norm here, I managed to restrain myself long enough to ask him if he'd be okay with me giving him a hug. I guess Dr. Zhao has told his family about our American hugging 'customs' because he laughed and said 'yes, yes' and I gave him a big hug! Yay!

The 3 of us (Da Bai, Dr. Zhao and I) sat at Dr. Zhao's desk for a while while Dr. Zhao was talking about some of his research. Da Bai listened and also began to scribble something on a piece of paper in front of him. He then handed it to me while returning to look up at his younger brother and listen to what he was saying. I looked down and it said, "Kailun hen liaobuqi!!" "Karen is amazing!" Wow! He is amazing! This is so amazing that he is saying this!! And how fun to pass notes too!! :) So I scribbled something down and passed it back, while I then returned to looking up at Dr. Zhao and listening to what he was saying. :) I had written, "Nimen hen liaobuqi!!!" "You both (meaning him and Dr. Zhao) are AMAZING!!!" Da Bai looked down to see what I wrote and began to laugh! :) Gosh, remember when I said coming to China is a great way to 1) get a self-confidence booster and 2) become younger? Well here's another example of the gifts of so many compliments that are given so generously and genuinely. (Have any of you booked your tickets to come yet? :) --I'm planning to come back so maybe you can come too! :))

Heart Patient
Also included below is a picture of me with one of Dr. Zhao's patients.

She came in because of feeling dizzy. Dr. Zhao felt her pulses and then called me over to feel. They weren't regular or even -- almost like a hesitation in her beating. He told her to get a cardiogram and in 1 hour she came back with the results. It was amazing to see what we had felt with our hands on paper!! Last week, Dr. Zhao had explained the very basics of how to read one of these cardiograms to me so I could tell by looking at it where the irregularity in her heart cycle was. Dr. Zhao then had me do a basic neck massage treatment and afterward she exclaimed, "Oh qing le!" "Oh I feel much lighter!" Oh excellent! I was very happy and so was Dr. Zhao -- he told me to get my camera and he would take a picture of us both -- it's the one of us both sitting down -- I'm wearing one of the 'herbal dispensary' aprons :).

"Man Yue" - "Full Month Celebration" - Twins!
Also included are some pictures from an event I went to with Ayi on Sunday -- it was a 'manyue' (full month) event. When women in China and Taiwan give birth, the month afterward is a special time of rest, recuperation and regeneration for the mother and an important growth time for the baby. During this month (called 'zuo yue zi' -- meaning literally 'sit for a month' -- I did my college Anthropology senior thesis on this topic from my field research in Taiwan -- if any of you are interested, I can tell you a lot more about it -- there are many riches in this one practice :)), woman and their baby are to stay inside, not to shower (to prevent any chance of catching cold), and must eat many very 'bu shenti, bu xue de dongxi' -- nourishing food for their body, blood and bones. Usually it's the mother-in-law's duty to cook and provide the up to 5-6 meals a day and take care of her daughter-in-law and new baby. These days it's often whomever is closer -- the mother's own mother or her mother-in-law -- and in some cases they can both help a new mother go through this month. Well, at the end of the month, there's a big celebration -- and it's called 'man yue' -full month -- and....as the Chinese love 'renao' (lively atmospheres), this event is again very 'renao'! There are lots of kids, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends of all ages who come to celebrate, share a meal and bring gifts.

This 'manyue' party was celebrating a the birth of Ayi's older sister's daughter's daughter's babies (I think I got that right! :)) And guess what? They're twins!! A boy and a girl! And they're adorable!! I also took a picture of Ayi's older sister's grandson and her daughter-in-law. As I've said, the kids here are sooooo cute!!! I could make a photo album just of all the kids I've met :)

Huang He
Also included are a couple of pictures of my outing to Huang He (Yellow River) with Dr. Zhao, Ayi, and their grandson, Gaogao :). Huang He is a HUGE and powerful river and much history (most recent during WWII in the late 1930s when the Chinese decided to open the levees to prevent the Japanese soldiers from advancing - which it did -- but it also killed 100s of thousands of Chinese civilians and caused great environmental damage) surrounds the ebbs and flows and floods of the enormous amount of water flowing in this river. Included is a good picture of Dr. Zhao and Gaogao in front of a big memorial for those who died in the flood mentioned above. While the river doesn't look so big in the picture, now is its dry season -- it can span the length of the LONG bridge we saw (it's so long I didn't even see the other end of the bridge!)

And I included a picture of Ayi and Gaogao. We had to take Gaogao home to finish his homework. As it was his English homework that he had left to do, I thought, "oh good! I can help him!" But as I sat next to him, he said in his mischievous way, "Bu. Bu neng. Ni bu hui!" "No you can't -- you don't know how!" -- Ha! "ta hen tiao pi" :) "He's a mischievous little boy" -- he was quizzing me on my English when we were in the car together when we went to Kaifeng and I must not have 'passed' his test :)

Oh, my time here is so precious. I just also got back from another evening session with Dr. Zhao. We're going through some of the herbal remedies in the book he gave me. Each herbal 'soup' has a beautiful 'gejue' or poem that explains what it's for and what herbs are in it. Dr. Zhao has memorized this whole book!! He's been reciting many of them by memory for me today! Quite amazing!!

He said he started studying Chinese medicine just bit by bit. In starting he didn't think, 'oh I'll be a doctor someday' -- he just desired to learn and grew up around herbs and his grandfather who was a brilliant doctor. So he slowly learned. But he said, I'm lucky. At least I have a teacher who is willing to teach so patiently!! His words are so true. I feel deeply blessed. I have another week here and will then go to Inner Mongolia to see my friend Claire Johnson before coming back to the States.

Thank you again for all of your emails!!! Even if I haven't responded yet, I am so grateful for your sharings and love receiving your letters.

Much Great Love to you!

Love,

KarenJoy

My First Prescription, Joys of Being a Woman & Dancing in the Clinic!

2010-04-13T03:59:00.001-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Oh my two dear new friends, Su Mengwei and Tai Mengyu are sooooo sweet!! Today they came by the clinic today when I was about to leave to see if I had developed the pictures we had taken together last week (I had told them I was going to have them later this week for them). As soon as I walked out the door, both Su Mengwei and Tai Mengyu said, "Ayi!" with Big Smiles on their faces and came up and gave me big hugs!! Oh Wow! They are soo adorable! And again I feel blessed with their hugs! As I mentioned hugging is not a custom most Chinese people have (whereas I'm a big fan of hugs -- my family has always been big on hugs and I love to hug my friends -- it's just a natural response for me when I'm excited to see someone :)) -- sometimes I forget this as I did when Li Zhun came back to start working again at the clinic yesterday (I met her when I went to Kaifeng for the day with her, Dr. Zhao and his grandson, Gaogao :)). Well I was so happy to see her again that I just went up to give her a big hug! But quickly remembered that's not the custom here when I realized she didn't know quite what to do or what to make of me coming up to her with an expression of glee, big smile and open arms! Jun Lin was there too and started to giggle. She again graciously reminded me, "uh..Kailun, women chang chang zheyang wo shou" -- ah..Karen..we usually just shake hands in this situation" :) Oh yes! And we all laughed together.

So below are a few more pictures of these two beautiful young girls and Su Mengwei's little brother!

Oh what a cutie! He's 2 years old. Su Mengwei was excited for me to meet him and she also brought her mom. I love meeting almost the whole family!! Su Mengwei had to leave soon so Tai Mengyu again walked with me back to the hotel while asking me many more questions about the U.S.: what it's like where I live; how many days left do I have here; when am I coming back; do the phone lines really reach all the way to the U.S.; how do I like our new president; what are my favorite Chinese foods; what do I eat in the States; does everyone in the U.S. have blonde hair, and more! :) Actually the blonde hair question was when I was still back at the clinic with all the other kids and when I replied that we have people with all different kinds of hair of all different colors, black like theirs, blonde like mine, red (well at red there were bunches of squeals and giggles and big open eyes! :)) I also said we had all different kinds of ethnicities, nose sizes (more giggles), heights, weights, and so on. Oh they are so curious! Next time I come back, I'm going to bring a photo album or slide show to show them all about our life in the states :).

Today I had another surprise in the clinic...or well actually more than one. First, I had another acupressure exchange session with Dr. Zhao where I give him a treatment and then get feedback and then he treats me so I can learn through experiencing it in my own body (plus I get the benefit of feeling soooo much better afterward! :)) Well, then he said, 'okay, let's treat your knee once more.' So I rolled up my left pant leg and he started to do the 'wamping' treatment again -- yes it hurts! But wow! My knee is again much better! It got red and hot again and then I felt my knee get warm and hot from the inside out. YAY! Wow - how great. I have had years of off and on and sometimes very debilitating knee pain and now I know how to help myself and others!

Writing My First Prescription
The other surprise was....well I was sitting with Dr. Zhao at his desk observing him diagnosing patients and also feeling the basics of their pulses. Dr. Zhao, after doing his regular diagnosis of pulse-taking, asking several questions, looking at the patient's tongue, etc, reached for his herbal prescription pad of paper and pen to write a prescription. All is fine and normal up to this point.....except, then Dr. Zhao said, "Kailun, lai lai" – “Karen, here, here" and he gave me the pad of paper and pen to write the patient's prescription! What?! Oh wait, what's happening here? - I thought :)! He had me write out the patient's name, gender, and then he started to name the herbs and their amounts for me to write down. Well, for those of you who have studied Chinese -- reading and recognizing characters is one thing, but having to remember how to write characters from memory (especially ones one has just recently learned) can be quite challenging and takes practice! Oh dear! Again I felt I hadn't adequately prepared for this 'pop quiz'! "Sha niu" (one of my nicknames when I do something silly! Or make a mistake!) Some of the characters, (THANKFULLY) I actually knew and wrote down, and many I could see an image of them in my head....but not all the details :) and a vague, fuzzy image of a character doesn't do much good. Especially when I'm trying to write out an herb with both Dr. Zhao waiting patiently so he can continue to list the rest of the herbs, the patient and his family peering over my shoulder to see if I know what I'm doing and if I can really write in Chinese (and probably to make sure their prescription comes out right!!), and Jun Lin and Li Zhun waiting in the back for me to finish up so they can fill the prescription! Aiyo! :) And then with some herbs, when even a vague image didn't appear in my mind, Dr. Zhao would begin scribbling the character on his note pad in front of him, saying "It's like this..." -- But it was 1) upside down (from my view), and 2) in his fast handwriting that I find challenging to read already! Sometimes after a couple sighs, he would turn the character around so it was at least right side up, but I still found it challenging to decipher.

Well by this point both Dr. Zhao and the patients were trying to help me in any way they could. And if you speak and write Chinese you know this - because many characters have the same sound, when writing, for example if someone is saying their name and it has the character "yu" for rain, people will say -- oh it's "xia yu de yu" -- it's the same character as in the phrase for "rain". Most Chinese words are made up of 2 characters put together. This way when people are clarifying which character they’re referring to to write down, they will often say a common 2-character word that contains that character needing to be clarified. This way the person can ‘spell' -- or really 'draw/write' the correct character. Well this is a great help, again for those who are native spellers/character-writers, BUT several times yesterday, while I know the words they were saying to let me know which character to write, I didn't know how to write it by memory. And other times I didn't even know the words they used as an example! Oh dear! What Dr. Zhao may have meant to be a confidence-building experience of ‘writing my first prescription’ actually just highlighted in blaring red lights another area I require to “xia da gongfu” – “put in much more study time and effort!” (Note: I have a picture of 'my first prescription' below :))

JunLin and Li Zhun are both so sweet – they are really amazing – in a situation like this where they (or anyone) could easily pass a judgment on me – they don’t! Instead, they just love me! And they do what they can to help me improve! This morning when I got to the clinic, Li Zhun handed me some scrap paper stapled together make a little notebook and proceeded to start naming off herbs for me to write – so I could practice for my next ‘pop quiz’ with Dr. Zhao! And of course, Jun Lin jumped in too when she arrived :).

Seeing Perfection (even in my Chinese Character Writing!)
So I kept practicing with all my scribbles and first attempts, cross-outs, rewrites and repeats of several characters for different types of herbs. Well,…the love and patience and practice of “seeing Perfection” just gets better! Dr. Zhao’s younger sister and her friend came back to ‘the herbal dispensary’ area to see what I was up to as I was eagerly scribbling away at something. They saw my ‘new little notebook', picked it up and said, “Oh hen piao liang! Ni hui xie zi! Zhen hao!” “oh how beautiful!! Wow you know how to write Chinese characters! That is so great!” Gosh, that is just so sweet of them –really b/c if you look at my characters they are actually rather “nan kan” -- …um…not so attractive. Part of the art of writing Chinese characters is in having them all the same size – height, width, length…Well mine are often all over the board – some are too tall, some too fat, some too short, some spaced out in an awkward, non-native way :) But as I’ve mentioned before, they are always giving me the ‘benefit of the doubt” (what does that phrase really mean anyway? Kind of a strange figure of speech!)

My First Qigong Class!
So then another surprise, after admiring my Chinese character-writing, Dr. Zhao’s younger sister’s eyes lit up as she asked, “Ni hui lian qigong, shi bu shi? Ni keyi jiao wo ma?” – “You practice qigong, right? Can you teach me some?” – Oh how great!! One of my favorite things! (in addition to dancing that is…and eating Chinese food!) So She came back behind the counter and I showed her how to shake and do some wamping. Well this was just too much fun. She then took me by the arm and said, “Let’s go out to the back room.” Dr. Zhao was busy with a client and she whispered “meiguanxi – ni lai ba” – “it’s okay, come! :)) So we went outside and she quickly called over another 2 friends of hers and we went in back and I taught my first mini qigong class in China! :) What fun!! We did the 8 Brocades and they loved it. They invited me to teach another class tomorrow morning for their friends and asked me to please bring a DVD next time I come to China so they can continue to practice! :)

So I’ve just had surprise after surprise the last few days. Another funny one was later this morning in clinic. Dr. Zhao was finishing working with a patient. At the end of a treatment, he usually has his patients roll over on their back and then pulls and shakes their legs (called ‘dou’ in Chinese). Well usually he calls me over to do this last part. Today he called me over as his patient was turning over on her back…and I naturally thought “oh he’s going to ask me to “ba ta de tui dou yi dou” – shake her legs. But! That’s not what he said at all. Instead he did the shaking and said, “mo yi mo ta de tui” “feel her leg”. So I did – wondering what I was supposed to be feeling for. Well, then he said, “See these are special women’s style pants; they’re soft and they might be long enough for you.” Oh he was trying to help me on my ‘other mission' of finding pants long enough for my rather long legs! Ha! That was unexpected and nice of him to even think of that! Just as the quest for me finding a pair of shoes that actually fits my – what I found out are very Big feet in China – has been taken on by Dr. Zhao and his family, so apparently is my finding pants that are long enough!

Dancing in the Clinic!
Today (Saturday my time) has really had such a “weekend” feel to it. I always enjoy my time there and this afternoon just seemed particularly relaxed. Before our lunch break was over, I met JunLin at the clinic – we were going to meet Li Zhun there to bike to the post office together to mail a package of herbs we bundled up in the morning for a patient in Inner Mongolia. As it was just her and I in the clinic, I asked her if she wanted to dance! Oh boy! Her eyes lit up and we giggled and then locked the door. I took out my music and….we began to dance! Jun Lin is GREAT! She was smiling and said “shi bu shi zheyang?” “It’s like this, right?” – as she shimmied her shoulders and swung her hips. Wow! She’s got it! She said she’s been practicing! :) Li Zhun arrived and knocked on the door and a bit later Dr. Zhao’s sister came in too. They were curious, so I put on some more music – Li Zhun and Dr. Zhao’s sister were more shy and just watched but were smiling big – more DANCING JOY seeds are being planted! :)….

Also, for some, being at work may feel like more of a serious task, and indeed diagnosing and treating patients (and filling prescriptions) are all important and require much care and focus. I also, though, LOVE how fun each day, hour, minute, moment is here. I so enjoy being here and I’m in a surrounding where everyone is truly right here right now and loving what they are doing. Many of Dr. Zhao’s patients have become good friends and daily there are numerous joyous greetings of old-time patients coming back for some treatment. Sometimes for a new condition, sometimes they’re bringing a friend or relative – and also bring some sort of fruit or special treat for Dr. Zhao and his family. Also, right now when I’m working in the ‘herbal dispensary’ it’s the 3 of us ‘girls’ – Jun Lin, me and Li Zhun and we all love each other and love being together – it’s just so much fun! They’re often helping me with my herbal studies and I’m helping them study some English, and Jun Lin comes over to fix my hair or fluff up my sweater – and we whisper, joke and laugh about all sorts of things. One thing I love about being a woman is it is so easy and natural for us to share loving affection with one another. While (as I mentioned) hugs aren’t the norm here, girlfriends often hold hands or link arms when walking down the street together. They lovingly play with each other’s hair, pick the ‘nubbies’ of each other’s sweaters, and do lots of little loving things that show how much they care for one another.

One other thing I’m so aware of here is Harmony. We have and live in a great sense and atmosphere of harmony, order, and Love. From my studies with one of my dear teachers, Robert Tennyson Stevens, I have learned the value and difference of creating and maintaining an atmosphere of immaculate beauty and harmony. Well, this is what Dr. Zhao, Ayi, Jun Lin, Li Zhun create and maintain at their clinic. And it’s all done with such ease, grace and joy. Life can really be lived from our greatest state of Enjoyment. We are here to enjoy our life, to enjoy and love one another and living this way just creates more and more and more Joy and Love to give and share.

Flying Kites
I have another beautiful story to share. Today as I was walking to clinic in the morning, two young boys were flying kites on the sidewalk next to me. One said “Hello!” with a big smile and I said an exuberant “Hello!” back. I continued walking around the corner and then saw something in the corner of my eye and heard a young voice. I turned and it was the boy who had been flying his kite. I didn’t understand what he said so I said, “shenme?” and he repeated. I still didn’t quite get it so I asked him to please repeat again. Then he smiled sheepishly and said in Chinese, “Zao shang hao” – “Good morning!” Oh, he had been practicing his English and came to say “Good Morning” to me in English. My brain kept trying to figure out what Chinese phrase he was saying instead of listening for English! Oh I was so touched by this little boy! I said, “Oh, yes!!! Good morning!!” And told him his English was great…as he smiled and was running back around the corner to rejoin his friend. :) The kids here are truly adorable. And each day I’m meeting more and becoming the “Meiguo Ayi” “American Auntie” to more and more kids :)

Introducing Da Jie
Gosh, this is already such a long update....But before I end, there’s one more person I’d like to introduce you to. I call her Da Jie (Older Sister). She is just great! She’s in her fifties and while I’d normally call her ‘Ayi’ – Auntie, she likes to be called Sister :). We’ve become friends as she was one of the more 'brave' ones who started talking to me when I first arrived at the hotel (she works at the hotel I'm living in) and we quickly came to feel a mutual sense of joy whenever we happened to bump into each other. Indeed, i started to look for her each morning while eating breakfast as she's usually just starting work (if she has the morning shift). Her work closet with the brooms and mops for cleaning the front lobby are right in front of the glass doors leading to the dining room - I always pick a table with a view of the closet just in case she comes by while I'm eating -- and she often comes by her closet at about 7:30 just in case I may be enjoying breakfast...and then we both exchange smiles and excited 'nihao' waves to one another through the dining room door windows :).

She has 3 kids and one of her daughters married a German and is now living in Germany. Her husband who she loved dearly has passed on. She said they had a most wonderful loving relationship and she doesn’t desire to remarry. She loves the memories she has with her husband and is now also enjoying her freedom. She is a delight – she has such a shiny smile and twinkling eyes. She is most curious about my days and sometimes, if she has the evening off we go walk to the park together. Other times, if she’s working the evening shift, we eat our dinners together (as I eat with the other hotel workers. They don't normally serve dinner for the guests, but because being a 'foreigner' in China can at times opens all kinds of doors and exceptions to bend the rules and offer favors, they've graciously agreed and indeed most welcomed me to eat with their staff :)). Also, as I make my almost daily evening trip to the neighboring grocery store to buy…yes, ‘suan nai’ –yogurt :), I, being in China with LOTS of yummy things available to eat, often come back with some other treat to explore as well. Da Jie works in the front lobby sweeping so each time I come back, she comes over and I share with her the goodies I’ve collected to enjoy for the evening :). She is really truly wonderful and a delightful person. She’s told me a lot about her home town in Xinyang – the countryside with tall, tall mountains that she loved to climb as a little girl….

Oh and one more thing to share, I had the great delight of Dr. Zhao’s daughter (Nicole), her husband and daughter taking me ‘out on the town’ last night. They are sooo wonderful! I had a great talk with Nicole and her husband and really, I feel so so much like I am exactly where I am meant to be, meeting and talking with just who I am ‘meant’ to talk to. I feel so blessed to be blessed with such rich, fulfilling conversations, friendships here. Nicole took me to see a BIG shopping center last night that again had pretty much anything you’d like – including of course, lots of yummy Chinese foods! Well, Nicole bought me several treats and…..then we went upstairs and I noticed they had shoes! Well even though I’ve been to Numerous shoe stores and have encountered the same situation of seeing numerous ‘hen piao liang de xiezi” “beautiful shoes” – all of which are just too tight,--- today….I found a pair that fit! WOW!!!! They actually had a size 41 and they’re cute…and they’re woman’s shoes :). Some stores I’ve gone to did have what they call “te da xie” – “especially big shoes” but they’re usually not very attractive – at least for my tastes. These, though are perfect. I was excited and said ‘oh I’ll buy these!” Well, before I could get a word in edgewise, Nicole swept them up and said ‘Great! I’ll get these. They’re my gift to you!” Oh that is so sweet of her!!

So many gifts and smiles and blessings each and everyday.

Below are pictures of: my 2 young girl friends; the 'prescription' I wrote - well this is the 2nd one that Dr. Zhao then took mid-way through to finish as I was taking a weee bit longer than he does!; a picture Dr. Zhao took of me, Li Zhun and Jun Lin filling and herbal prescription together and obviously having LOTS of fun; a picture Jun Lin took of me while feeling a patient's pulse; Ayi cooking us a most delicious lunch; and one Jun Lin took of me while we were dancing in the clinic! :-D

Thank you soooooo much for sharing my journey with me. And if you’ve made it down to the end of this long update, thank you!!! :) And thank you thank you thank you for your emails. I sooooo soooo love to hear from you!!!

Much Much Much LOVE, Harmony, and Great JOY,

KarenJOY

Newspaper Report, Exploring 'Green Squares', Joys of Lunchtime & Nighttime

2010-04-09T02:15:00.001-07:00

Greetings Friends!

YAY! The reporter and I have been playing phone tag and yesterday it finally worked out for both of us for him to come by and take pictures of me writing to you (he was actually taking the pictures right as I was typing this paragraph :)) And he took pics of me dancing! YES!! Oh I so love to dance and my desire is these pictures inspire others to put on some music and dance their JOY!! Even with my little ipod without speakers, as soon as I hear the music, I’m bouncing and boogie-ing (how do you spell that anyway?!) I then shared with him lots of funny stories from my letters to you which he’s going to put in the article – it will be fun to see it written in Chinese :) I’ll send you all the link to the article when it’s published (most likely later this week).

A Day of Exploration - Ren Min Gong Yuan – People’s Park

On Monday I thought Richard and I would be joining Dr. Zhao and Ayi on the national holiday of "Qin Ming Jie" to pay their respects to their ancestors but it turns out Dr. Zhao felt it was best he and Ayi just go themselves….which meant we had the morning to play and explore on our own! :) We looked at a map and decided to head for a big green square – which was Ren Min Gong Yuan – People’s Park. I realized in this freedom to go out with Richard, that although I’ve been here for almost 1 month, I really haven’t explored Zhengzhou very much – it’s a HUGE city!!

I loved going to the park as it was again so green! Lots of flowers are now in blossom (spring is finally here) and I love seeing so many people all gather together – there were several groups of elders gathered in pods of 3-4 people with one or two playing a Chinese traditional string instrument and others singing the traditional ‘xi’ – Chinese opera songs. Richard noticed that although there were MANY of these small singing groups in a relatively small area (each one gathered by some wooden or stone stools/benches under trees (as it was actually quite warm! – not so today-BUT I’m happy that spring is showing it’s face more frequently now :)), somehow, miraculously the various songs, instruments, tunes, pitches, melodies, keys, tempos didn’t clash! Each group seemed to have just enough space to fill their area with sound without overwhelming the other groups – which is a great thing, otherwise the trip to the park could quickly turn into quite a noisy, high pitched, squeaky experience – and instead it was quite delightful – hen hao ting – beautiful to listen to :).

And of course there were the older people with their huge calligraphy brushes painting poems on the walkways with water (this is a great way to save paper! :) – and I remember my last time in Beijing in Dec. 2005, I saw people painting Chinese characters in this way – except then b/c it was FREEZING COLD, all the characters froze – so you had the delightful scene of frozen calligraphy poems and songs written on the park walkways :)). There are also the dance groups – modern dance, some form of traditional Chinese dances, tango or salsa, and more. People also gather to play cards, and at this park there were even people bungie jumping in the background off a platform (every now and then Richard and I would look up – and poke the other if one of us didn’t see it yet- to see yet another person boinging up and down :)).

There were also sooooo many kids! The kids here are sooooooo CUTE! And I just love how kids are such a big part of the society here and kids are welcome everywhere! Sometimes it seems in the States that there are relatively few places where kids/families are really warmly welcomed. In China, (at least where I’ve been) most places seem to be kid places, family places, elder places – places open and welcome to all ages. And I love how integrated their society is – kids, grandparents, parents, cousins, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles (and of course all the appropriate Chinese terms that go along with all these relations – I’ll save that ‘lesson’ for another time – see Update 5 for more info on what I’m referring to ;)) are often seen together.

Before we left the park, Richard and I heard what sounded something like a marching band and singing (yet quite different from any of our ‘American’ marching bands) and promptly went over to investigate. There was a group of probably about 60 people gathered with BIG smiles and open mouths, singing songs they obviously all knew – and it wasn’t a generational thing either as elders, parents and – well I guess most of the kids were watching their parents sing with great curiosity but not singing themselves. Because it was a holiday, more people of all ages were singing, but usually it’s mainly retired folks who come once a week to sing. What a great activity! The woman leading it had a strong booming voice and at the end of one song, exclaimed, “Nimen kaixin bu kaixin?” “Are you happy?” And the crowd roared, “Kaixin!!” “HAPPY!!” Although I thought Richard might get bored since it was all in a different language, we stayed for many, many songs. Afterward Richard commented that he just loved being in that energy and could have stayed even longer. He felt several chills and energy running through his body while listening to and observing the joy in the crowd. It was a full, enriching, nourishing and uplifting energy to be in – as was apparent by the many loud, Bright, smiling and singing faces. As we were walking away and Richard said this, it just reminded me how sensitive we are to the energy around us. Just walking through a busy and noisy crowd, I noticed my body energy felt a bit more chaotic – yet amongst the singing I felt a strength, harmony and uplifting energy….

The Joys of…Lunchtime!

So soon after our park experience, Richard had a plane to catch so we exchanged BIG hugs (it was soooo great to see him and have him here even if it was a short visit) and hopped in a taxi to fly back to Zhong Shan. So I was then left on my own to enjoy the fun adventure of....eating! YAY! I love meal time in China! (I guess I love it in the States too b/c I love to eat…but in China it’s even more exciting b/c there are soooo many delicious, nutritious options and they’re sooooo cheap!!) So I walked around looking at the Chinese characters on the store fronts – and found one mentioning ‘chao cai’ – ooooh stir-fried veggies – Yum! So I popped inside and seeing that it was full of locals, I sat down. Another young man sat down with me as there were no other open tables. He quietly ordered his lunch and I then ordered mine. His came before mine and it looked so delicious that I had to ask what he was eating. He was surprised! He didn’t expect me to speak Chinese. He smiled big and asked me where I was from. When I said from the U.S. he delightedly proclaimed I was the very first American he ever spoke to! He said he had seen some Americans before but never dared talking with them. He was afraid either they wouldn’t understand his English phrases or he wouldn’t understand their Chinese :). We were both thankful to have a meal companion and enjoyed our yummy food together (I got stir-fried Chinese white cabbage with tofu over rice) and our mutual good company.

After lunch I still had a ways to walk back to the hotel (as Richard and I had taken a taxi to the park which was a fair jaunt from my hotel) and I decided to take this opportunity to explore my greater neighborhood :). So I began my stroll and at the same time started to desire having some fresh fruit. Right at that moment, as I was walking down the sidewalk, an older woman peddling a cart of fresh plump mangos bumbled by…”Ooooh mangos!” I thought. Well it was as if my thought was so loud that she heard me because she then promptly stopped to ask if I wanted some mangos – oh yes!! Yum!! We started chatting and then another older woman walked up to ask for the price. And then we all started talking. But what is funny is after a couple sentences with me, this other older women appeared startled and said, “Oh!! Ni hui jiang Zhongwen!!” “Oh! You can speak Chinese!” Even though we had already been talking, it just hit her that I was speaking her language despite the fact that I’m a ‘wai guo ren!” :)

A Morning Surprise from Ayi

Yesterday I was back in the clinic again – We had 2 days off – with Sunday being our ‘rest day’ (when we went hiking – see pictures below :)) and Monday being a holiday. So that meant I had 2 days where I didn’t see Ayi (as she didn’t go hiking with us on Sunday). Well yesterday when I arrived at the clinic, Ayi was there and as soon as she saw me walk in the door, she said with a big smile – “Wo hao jiu bu jian ni ah!” “I haven’t seen you in so long!!” And then gave me a BIG hug!! Wow!! I was so touched and I too felt so happy to see her again!! The Chinese don’t often give hugs so to receive a BIG hug from Ayi was such a wonderful surprise and gift!!!

Evening Class #2

Last night I had another evening class with Dr. Zhao. I arrived as he and Ayi were finishing dinner and also watching some ‘wushu’ – Chinese martial arts boxing :) As Dr. Zhao washed the dishes, Ayi looked over and asked if I’d like to hear her sing a song. “Oh Yes!,” I replied. She said this was a song she used to sing in school…and then she began…Wow – it was beautiful – sounded somewhat like some of the Chinese opera songs – so many different tones and levels even within singing one word. Half way through she hesitated and started to laugh …she forgot the words…yet I said she could just continue, make them up – I would never know the difference :)! Anyways, as Dr. Zhao and I left to go into the clinic to study, she said she’ll review (as she took out an old song book) and sing for me later this week. I love Ayi! She is so wonderful and she continues to make me so much wonderful food each day at lunch – often times she comes up to me at clinic saying what she’s planning for today’s lunch – I think she probably enjoys how much delight and excitement I express in my anticipation of enjoying her food! :)

So in last night’s class, first….before we got started I told Dr. Zhao that my knee was hurting again – from the inside. This has happened to me before – and can sometimes be quite debilitating. His eyes lit up and he said, “Oh lai…wo jiao ni zenme zhi!” –“oh, yes – come here – I’ll teach you how to treat this!” – He had me sit on the treatment table, roll up my left pant leg and then said that this would probably hurt…but not to worry. I would feel much better. He said this was the same method he used with my mom (I remember how painful it was for mom as I was interpreting for their session by phone as my mom lives in San Francisco and Dr. Zhao was there for a few weeks last summer). Anyways, he proceeded to slap my knee all over until it got very red (and yes it hurt!!) and water started to come out from my skin. He said my knee pain was caused by cold stuck inside and the slapping technique (which Mingtang uses too) gets the cold energy to come out. Wow! I feel so much better! My knee got warm and hot and now is much much better. Dr. Zhao rolled up his pant leg too and then had me practice on him! What a teacher! :)

We then had a class on different types of neck and back conditions and treatment. I love how he teaches and he teaches with such patience. I, again, am recording with my little ipod touch and scribbling my mix of Chinese, pinyin and English while Dr. Zhao is writing in calligraphy with his paint brush every word he says. This way we both benefit as 1) he gets to practice calligraphy while teaching, 2) I get to see and review how to write all the characters – as some of the terms are new to me, and 3) this slows down the pace of his talking so it’s easier for me to understand and absorb/digest his teachings :).

Ayi came in with some fresh hot water for us towards the end of our session and said, “Kailun, ta nenme xinxi de jiao ni. Ta meiyou zheyang jiaoguo beiren. Jun Lin, Zhao Fang, Zhao Peng – ta dou meiyou zheyang jiao tamen. Zhi you ni. Ni zhidao ma?” “Karen, he teaches you from his heart and with much much care. He’s never taught anyone else like this before – not even Jun Lin or his children, Zhao Fang and Zhao Peng. Just with you. You know?” I am so grateful to both Dr. Zhao and Ayi and am so grateful for my time here.

Oh and a quick update on my young friends, Su Mengwei and Tai Mengyu. They often come by at the end of the day to see if they can squeeze in a quick hello, give me a hug and maybe if they're lucky, get to ask me some more questions about America. :) My time is pretty full right now with clinic hours, evening study, my own study, my writing work, dancing, eating and of course my sharing with you all :) -- and Dr. Zhao is very aware of and protective of my short time left -- sometimes tells them that they must go if I'm still working or am studying. Even so I can tell he too is touched by how precious they are and their strong desire to see me :). Yesterday as I left and was getting a ride back to my hotel with Dr. Zhao, they both came up to the car with big smiles. Tai Mengyu gave me a picture of her and they both gave me another journal. Then they said, "Ayi, Ni kan!! Women dai ni gei women de dongxi" Look Auntie! We're both wearing the beautiful hair pieces you gave us!" Oh how cute!! Last week when they walked back to my hotel room with me, I showed them my room and they LOVED seeing and exploring all of my "American" things. I had just bought 3 sparkly hair pieces when I went shopping with Junlin and decided to have them each choose one for themselves. This way we could all sparkle together and think of one another :) They loved these hair pieces and had me show them how to tie their hair up in it. Well, as I was just learning myself, I didn't do it so successfully for them but told them to show their moms and that they would help them put the sparkly hair pieces in their pretty hair. I was as delighted as they to both see them and see these sparkles in their hair yesterday :)

Also, attached below are pictures from my hike with Richard, Dr. Zhao and Jun Lin on Sunday. We went to a beautiful canyon out in Luoyang called "Long Tan Da Xia Gu" Some of the pictures are a bit sideways as for some reason Dr. Zhao likes to take them like this :) (I will make a note to ask why :))

There's also one of Richard and I by a waterfall and notice the Chinese woman making the 'peace' or 'victory' symbol -- the little girls did this in my picture with them too -- it's a popular thing to do in photos here.

The plant is of 'lian qiao' -- this is an herb we use in clinic -- we use the seed pods (you can see a few of them) -- Lian qiao is good for fevers and sore throats. I also included a couple pics from our lunch (it was funny -- as we started eating, a mother and 2 little kids came up to me -- the mom asked if her kids could have their picture taken with me -- Oh yes!! I love taking pictures with kids :) So we took pictures....and then the mom asked if she could take her picture with me.. and oh yes! of course - that's great!...and then in a few moments she came with her younger brother -- oh yes! yes, that's great - let's take a picture. And then... her older brother and their cousin came....and by this time another family and their kids has also lined up to have their pictures taken! It got to be quite humorous and after awhile the excitement (especially with 2 'wai guo ren' present!!) settled down and we all got back to eating our lunch :)) The last picture is of one of the many village stone home we saw in the mountains :)

Well, gosh it’s already my bed time yet again! I just get to writing and keep on going :)

Thank you again for your emails!!! YAY! I feel sooo happy hearing from you, and again, even if don’t respond right away by email, I AM sending my Love!!

Much LOVE,

KarenJoy

More Park Stunts, Chinese Lesson for Beginners, & My Joint Project with Jun Lin

2010-04-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends,

My friend, Richard (many of you in the qigong community know him :)) is here - he just got here yesterday and last night the 2 of us went on another outing to the park with Dr. Zhao! :) This time I remembered my camera and took some pictures (and several videos) of his park stunts (see pics below)! :) Once again we had a growing crowd to see this short, white-haired man perform physical stunts that most 15-20 year olds can't do! (this, combined with the fact that now 2 foreigners were present made coming over to watch this show simply irresistible to most people nearby :))

I'm so happy to have Richard here! He arrived at the same hotel I'm staying at about 4:30 yesterday and gave me a call. I went to go meet him at the hotel to then walk him back to the clinic and half way back I kept hearing someone saying my English name -- But! being in China, no one knows my English name - so what was happening? I thought it was just in my head until....... - oh yes! Richard! - I realized it was him walking towards me on the other side of the street and calling my name. :) As soon as I saw him, he began to cross the street -- my instincts were to go to the other side and escort him (as he is a 'wai guo ren' - 'foreigner' and therefore not used to the no-rules-anything-goes traffic game here -- or so I thought!! I forgot that he's already been living in China for the past 10 months and is WAY more comfortable and "Chinese-like" in crossing the street than me. He actually just seemed to float across so naturally, easily and quickly -- kind of like watching a leaf in a relaxed manner just float down a stream - there may be other big rocks or logs and twigs, but the leaf just easily, and swiftly moves along in a relaxed, efficient flow -- and that was Richard floating over with a big smile and hug to greet me!

Faces in Chinese Characters?
It's also fun to see the Chinese language through his eyes (he hasn't studied Chinese in school and therefore has a different, fresh perspective on the language and characters). For example, we went into the little grocery store last night next to our hotel to buy some...yogurt, of course! (I love drinking their 'suan nai' here! :) I mentioned this in my very first update and have faithfully continued sipping away at these delicious drinks several times a week :)) -- we also looked at some of their snacks, all of which are packaged in bags and wrapping with Chinese characters. Well, Richard surprised me in saying, "Oh here are some sunflower seeds." How did he know?! It's all in Chinese! Well he said he recognized the face on the package - "What?! What face?" I asked as there were no pictures -- only characters. Well the the character on the package for "xiang" (meaning "flavored"), when looking at it from a 'non-reader' perspective, he said, really does look like a face!! And it does! See the pic below - it's the top bold character for 'xiang gua zi' :)

Nighttime Studies #1 at the Clinic
Friday night I had my first evening lesson with Dr. Zhao. Again I am feeling such a sense of awe for how and why I've been somehow placed here in Zhengzhou, China, sitting on one of Dr. Zhao's little wooden stools next to his modest wooden desk, in his most humble clinic (except, as I've described, for the quietly hanging 50+ 'jinqi' tapestries all given by patients who were once seriously ill and had a most miraculous recovery through their care with Dr. Zhao. Only in such a circumstance will people give one of these tapestries of gratitude and honor). As I've mentioned, I feel I am just starting to get a 'glimpse' of who he really is and the magnitude of what he has to offer. That night he told me that sometimes he feels as though he has this great, great treasure - a treasure which within it holds so much knowledge, skill, wisdom, ability to benefit many, many people -- that is buried and no one knows about. He dutifully does his service day in and day out at his clinic, with patients young and old, rich and poor, near and far all coming to receive the same quality, dedicated, loving and masterful care. And yet, how can he share with the world what he has to offer?

He takes all kinds of patients -- from common colds and back aches to the most rare skin diseases, neuro-muscular disorders, severe coronary heart disease, eye damage due to electric lights, stomach cancer, severe depression, epilepsy, lupus, the list goes on and on....Many patients I've talked with have also gone to the hospital, used Western medicine --sometimes over many, many years. Then after hearing about and coming to see Dr. Zhao, they finally regain health, often in a relatively in a short amount of time. He lives the wisdom of his craft. He is a true self-made Master in his profession. As I've asked before, how is it that the world has yet to know about him?

He shook his head and said this is a weakness in China -- sometimes so much talent is 'wasted', is lived in a short life and then gone before it is noticed, recognized, and shared for the benefit of many. Some doctors put more attention on publicity and advertisements, yet Dr. Zhao prefers to focus on his task, on his purpose and mission to serve and be the very best Doctor he can be.

A Gift
During our evening session Dr. Zhao also gave me a very special book. We were just about to start our lesson and he took out an old tattered paperback and began writing on the back (the cover had long ago fallen off - along with the first few pages :)). He then handed it to me and had me read: "Zhe shi wo du le 38 nian de shu. Jintian wo ba ta songgei Meiguo pengyou, Kailun nushi. Xiwang ta neng guo xue hao ZhongYi. -- Zhongguo, Zhongyi, Zhao Fuxue, 4/2/2010, Zhengzhou, Wulibao Zhongyi zhensuo." -- "This is a book I have studied for over 38 years. Today I give it to my American friend, Karen. May she study Chinese Medicine well. -- China, Dr. Zhao Fuxue, 4.2.2010, Zhengzhou Wulibao Chinese Medicine Clinic." The front he wrote a poem that he said I'll understand once I've studied well.

This book, he said, is a book all of Chinese herbal remedies. "If you learn, study and really know the contents of this book, you will be a master at Chinese herbalism," said Dr. Zhao. While he has a newer copy of this book, he said this one is more precious, as it contains his "xinxi" - his love, his sincere and dedicated love to his craft. Again I feel so touched and honored. Dr. Zhao leafed through it some and showed me the many notes it contains that he wrote to himself many years back -- these notes give me yet another glimpse into knowing/understanding my dear friend and teacher. He then, as Ayi came in to join us for a bit, also began to recite by memory, some of the formulas. Just as I have told you about the 'gejue' -- the poems/songs for the different acupuncture points along the meridians, there are also such poems for many, many formulas. He has dedicated much of his pure love and energy to reciting and making these words an integral part of his being. Ayi mentioned that he had already memorized most of this book before they were married!

Dr. Zhao's desire to teach and share what he has invested a lifetime in mastering (not to mention the generations of doctors before him for which he is carrying the 'torch') is soooooo GREAT! It's a big responsibility he is carrying. And sometimes I feel his frustration in 1) his desire to share with the world, and 2) feeling held back by obstacles of his own and other countries' governments, not to mention visas/green cards, etc. He said he could easily invest his lifetime here in China, continuing in his quiet service, helping those fortunate to hear of and know about him - yet what will happen when he passes on? Will anyone be able to carry on and keep this wisdom, knowledge, mastery alive?

Also, while he says his heart tells him to teach me and he feels a natural willingness and desire to do so -- sometimes we both laugh and mutually wonder why? As -- while I am very receptive to learn -- and being that this material is mainly new, I am a very clear slate -- I am also one who, sitting at his desk next to him on his little wooded stool, is just starting to comprehend the very basics of the basic of even just the subject topic headings of what he has to share!!! Yet he continues to share with patience and persistence.

Another Pop Quiz
For example, yesterday during clinic hours, I had 2 other 10 minute lesson periods (in between clients) during which he would write out with his calligraphy brush some of the 'gejues' for specific point categories. While writing them out he would also explain the meaning of the poem. (I'm using my nifty ipod touch and can actually record him on my voice memo to listen to later in my room! :)) Well I guess I hadn't listened to the previous day's lesson enough b/c, in the midst of our lesson....I got quizzed! Yikes!! I guess I shouldn't be surprised given that that occasionally happens in the 'herbal department' with Jun Lin and Ayi, BUT I hadn't prepared....and when Dr. Zhao mentioned some "Luo points" he has told me about the other day -- he quickly said - 'What meridian is this on?" Oh dear! I froze....and felt somewhat like Eddie Izzard (he's a hilarious British transvestite comedian for those of you who don't know him) -- saying "Uh duh, I...I have no idea" And then another time, I did - honestly remember the right meridian - Bladder channel -- but I blurted out the Chinese word for "gall bladder" instead....oh dear! And then a big sigh from Dr. Zhao. Sometimes he says a nickname for me under his breath that he and Ayi use at times if I make a small or-- sometimes rather not-so-small mistake (of which there have been quite a few lately!!) It's-- "Sha niu" -- Well to explain -- "niu" means cow -- but often parents call their daughters "niu niu" -- which is used as an endearing term....BUT "sha" is not so endearing as it means "foolish" -- so "sha niu" is kind of like saying, "oh you silly!!" Even so, he says it with a twinkle in his eyes and sometimes follows it with a 'bu sha.' -- basically meaning 'not foolish' -- or those of you who have participated in Conscious Language - it's like saying 'cancel clear' :)

GeJue Lesson - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Points
On the subject of "gejues", I'm excited because I actually completely understand one whole gejue that Dr. Zhao shared with me yesterday and it is soooo cool!! So he sat down with his 'maobi' - his calligraphy brush and started writing out the ge jue while explaining each phrase in language I could understand while I scribbled my jumbled mixture of pinyin, English and Chinese characters in my little notebook and had my ipod mic recording next to his brush (which ended up being a little noisy!). Today, while in the car on our way back from the LongTan Canyon (which Dr. Zhao took Jun Lin, Richard and me too -- so beautiful!! -- I may need to include more pics from today's trip in a different email :)) -- I looked up each character I didn't know with some help from Jun Lin and located all the points mentioned in the ge jue....and then re-listened to Dr. Zhao's lecture, read the ge jue and....I Understand!!! YAY! So I'd like to share it with you b/c it's both 'neat' and useful. This ge jue was written by Ma Dan Yang, who was a famous doctor during the Ming Dynasty. It's a simple and short ge jue highlighting 10 acupuncture points. As the story goes, Ma Dan Yang was able to cure any kind of sickness with just these points!!! So here it goes...my translation:

Zu San Li and Nei Ting (2 points on the stomach meridian) can heal any stomach or belly illness.
Qu Chi and He Gu can be used for any head or face sickness. (these are both on the large intestine meridian)
For great pain in one's waist/hips or back, the points Wei Zhong and Kun Lun (both on the bladder channel) can be used.
For neck/shoulder pain, use Hou Xi on the small intestine meridian and Lie Que on the lung meridian.
For knee and other leg joint pain, use the points Huan Tiao and Yang Ying Quan - both of which are on the gall bladder channel.

Then it says, that of the over 360 points, none can match the usefulness of these 10! :o) (again in Chinese, it rhymes and has a beautiful cadence)
If you look up some acupuncture charts online, you'll be able to find these easily and can start poking yourself or each other if you have an ache or ailment and help yourself naturally feel better quickly :)

Herbal Log - a Joint Project with Jun Lin
I have included a picture of one of the herbs I've photographed for my herbal study log. This is a joint effort between Jun Lin and me :) -- She's so great! Often in her kind way, if sees me going about doing something in a less than graceful or efficient way, she quickly offers another way to go about whatever I'm doing. For example, in my notebook (of which I also included a picture to show a snapshot of my scribbled part Chinese characters --(and scribbled re-writes of some characters!), pinyin and English), I started sketching little not-so-accurate looking pictures of the herbs to help me remember them. Well upon seeing this, Jun Lin astutely suggested -- "Kailun, why don't you just take some photographs of these herbs?" Oh, what a great idea! So I started photographing them, peering my camera into the little drawers of herbs....and again after watching me for a bit Junlin said..."um...Kailun, ni yinggai zheyang..." --"um Karen, you should do it like this..." And she took out a clean square sheet of paper (that we use for wrapping up our herbal prescriptions) and put a neat pile of the bi xie herbs I was photographing on the paper. She looked pleased and said "There. Now take a picture like this." I did and we both examined it and yes, it came out much better -- we both laughed and then I continued in this way -- writing on a separate piece of paper the order of the herbs I was photographing so I could look at it later while looking at my pictures. Well, then Jun Lin, continuing to observe me, had another brilliant idea and again said, "Um...Kailun, ni yinggai zheyang zuo" -- "Karen, you should do it like this"-- and she then wrote out the name of the next herb I was photographing and put it in front of the neat little pile. Oh "hao congming!" - how smart! Yes, of course, now the name of the herb is in my photo! :) So we're now taking this on as a joint project where she cuts the little pieces of paper and writes the Chinese characters out, and I write the pinyin and gather the herbs for my photo :).

As a side note, I really love learning about the Chinese herbs in this way. I love starting to recognize them by name and 'face' and even am able to decipher some of Dr. Zhao's scribbled hand-written prescriptions. There are sooo many herbs and a good 300-400 used regularly in the clinic. I've probably learned about 60 so far and I so enjoy my task of "zhua yao" -- filling prescriptions with Jun Lin and Ayi and each time I remember an herb, I feel I'm getting to know my 'friends' better. Also, today in our hike, Jun Lin pointed out several plants whose seeds we use as medicine in the clinic. This was so exciting to see too - to see natural medicine all around us in the blooming plant life and to be able to recognize and greet it by name! :)

So another long update! I just get writing and seem to keep going!
Tomorrow is QinMing Jie - a holiday for paying respects to one's ancestors. Richard and I will be visiting some temples with Dr. Zhao.

Much great love to you all. Thank you again for your emails!!! I love hearing from you!! Sometimes I take awhile to respond as my computer time is little here -- and know that I thank you for your sharings so much and send much love!!

Happy Easter, for those of you who celebrate it today! And Happy Day to all!

Much LOVE,
KarenJoy

Smiles & Treasure Chests, Jun Lin's 1st Dance Lesson, & Pulses & Pregnancy

2010-03-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Wow! Yesterday I had the joy of meeting 2 beautiful grade school girls - who then walked with me all the way back to my hotel! I walk by a school ground everyday on my way to clinic and on my way home. So far I've been the 'yang wa wa' - 'western barbie doll' that no one thought could speak Chinese. I've exchanged several big smiles and warm "hellos!" with several people (many Chinese are excited to interact with a foreigner and are often shy too -- both to use their English and to use their Chinese in case I or another foreigner doesn't understand -- but one word they are rather bold with, especially if they have a group of friends around them is..."Hello!" usually followed by several giggles :)). But no one has really talked to me in this daily 10-minute walk stretch. And since I'm usually on a 'schedule' to get to clinic or get back to the hotel before dinner is over, I haven't engaged in conversations.

Power of Smiles
Yet, even though I haven't engaged in many conversations on this walk, I just Love the power of Smiles! And I enjoy making eye contact with people and truly connecting with them -- even if it be for just a brief moment. Eyes can convey sooo much information, so much energy -- just one glance can convey fear, anger, shyness, joy, and/or Great Love. Often I look at people I pass in the eye and if they meet me, I often smile. And smiles, as I mentioned, are so powerful. Several times, when I've made eye-to-eye contact with people on my daily walk and then add a smile, what has started as a distant, hesitant and quizzical look from them can, in a brief moment, turn into a most warm, delighted, loving gaze/eye twinkle and beautiful smile! Oh, I love this!! It's as if all of a sudden their inner Light and pure Love bursts forth and floods the space between and around us. What can be such an ordinary moment can also turn so quickly into a most sacred one.

So on this daily walk of mine, I've passed many, many children who often look up at me with wide curious eyes as I'm one of, if not the first 'live' foreigner they've seen. Many times as I pass little girls, who are often walking usually in pairs, if one of them sees me before the other, that one often pokes their friend and points discreetly and sometimes not-so-discreetly at me saying "Ni kan! Wai guo ren!" --"Look! There's a foreigner!" (One time I even received the big compliment of a 2 year old who saw me at a big veggie market and yelled out in a loud voice, "Da meinu!" and everyone around including me began to laugh. ("da mei nu" means 'big or tall beautiful woman")

Well yesterday on my way back from clinic, there happened to be a couple of teenage boys who were a bit more daring than the rest of the folks and they drove up in their cart (they were hauling some sort of supplies) and said "hello!" :) I said hello back and then they asked in English what my English name is. After I told them, they got more bold and asked in Chinese if I spoke Chinese. In replying yes they got excited and many people watching our conversation were also surprised and started to gather around. These boys then proceeded to ask the common questions (what's my age, am I married, etc. -- This aside brings up one other benefit of being in China-- I've found that b/c many people don't see a lot of foreigners, for some reason that has the effect of making me appear younger than I am! --Gosh, people are soooo friendly here - they give me the benefit of the doubt with my language - always complimenting me on my Chinese even if I've just said hello, telling me I'm smart even when a package of herbs I'm wrapping for them unravels yet again as they and Jun Lin-- patiently wait and "vote my victory" saying "meiguanxi, man man lai" - "that's okay-no worries - just take it slow" :), and now with my age they say "oh you look like you're in your twenties - I thought you were in college!" One woman today said she thought I was in my late teens!! Now that's stretching it a wee bit! - Gosh, coming to China can easily be a great self-image booster!!! The next 'staying young' promo in the States can just be a trip to China!! :))

Anyways, after a few questions from these teenage boys, this gave other people around me the chance to hear and realize that 'oh she does speak Mandarin'....and hence come forth to have a conversation. Well these 2 beautiful little girls, Su Mengwei and Tai Mengyu, came up beside me at precisely this time and said "Aiyi nihao! Ni shi cong nage guojia?" "Hello Auntie, what country are you from?" Oh I was sooo touched by these girls - they are precious. I proceeded to tell them I'm from the U.S, and found out I'm the first American they've met. They were so excited and so was I! :)

Su Mengwei also quickly exclaimed as we started talking, "Wow! Look-- her eyes are Blue!!" This was also a first for both of them to see 'in person' as most Chinese have various beautiful shades and hues of brown. We proceeded to walk together the 3 of us as we were headed in the same direction, and they asked me many questions. "What is America like? Do you have as many fun things to do there as here? Do you have old historic sites too? Are you very rich? What kind of work do you do? Are you married? Will you marry a Chinese man?" I told them about our wilderness parks and about my love of dancing and the ecstatic dances and family dance we have -- they both got excited and asked if I could teach them to dance! :) One girl already dances a special type of Chinese dancing. They then asked if I could please stay in China longer and if I come back, can I please stay here for many more months? Our conversation also drew lots of attention from passersby, some of who also stopped and talked with us (see pictures above and below-- one is of me with these 2 girls and the other is with the baby of another mother and her grandmother).

Gosh, I love talking with little kids! Just to be able to understand them and feel their curiosity and get a glimpse into their world and be able to offer my love through my sharing and laughing and communicating with them. Language is so powerful and in being in another culture, I particularly feel and am acutely aware of the doorways speaking a common language opens. For example, Gaogao, (I've been reminded now is Dr. Zhao's grandson :)) was shy when he first met me, but now we like to joke around and play together. In the car ride back from Kaifeng the other week, he was testing my English :) -- by saying the Chinese word for something and seeing if I could name the correct thing in English! :)

Jun Lin's First Dance Lesson
Coming back to the subject of dancing, yesterday I gave Jun Lin her first dance lesson as well. :) Dr. Zhao and I had lunch again with Jun Lin and her family and afterward, Jun Lin and I went to their upstairs room which is on the roof of their family's home to play pingpong :) (and we found we're actually most compatible pingpong players - we played and giggled as she, her son, and her dad also badgered back and forth in a playful way about certain topics I didn't understand as they were speaking in 'henan hua' - their local dialect) -- This room is a most comfortable bright space with windows all around and many plants that her mother is growing (she loves to garden and since there is no open soil around, she has many potted plants here -- and it is so refreshing to be amongst green plants! :)) After playing we ate some pineapple and I brought out my little ipod touch. I don't have speakers to project the sound better but I've been using this anyways to dance with. I've told Jun Lin about my love for dancing and how I do it in my room at night and how we all dance together in Seattle and the ecstatic dance communities around the country. (BTW the reporters are coming tomorrow again to do some final filming at my hotel room to take pics of me writing to You :) and of me dancing --as they'd like to capture all of my daily events.) She is curious and asked me to show her. So I took out my ipod and started dancing. Her mom came up too and Jun Lin was so delighted. She started moving too and then her mom joined in as well :). Jun Lin felt a bit awkward so I did some simple steps and encouraged her to feel the beat and first relax and let the beat come into her body and move her. She still felt self conscious and is planning to video tape me dancing to 2 songs that I'll give to here so she can watch and practice :) YAY! I'm excited to see the love of dancing spread! The joy dance brings is contagious!

Opening the Gates
Gosh, I feel so much is just starting to open up now and am acutely aware of the short time I have remaining. Today in one of our clinic lull's, Dr. Zhao started teaching me about something I remember him mentioning last summer in Seattle (the 6 different types/characteristics that each of the 14 meridians have), and again I really had no idea of what he was talking about! I felt frustrated at the time b/c I knew he had so much to share and I wasn't understanding at the time what it was! Well, today he began talking about the same subject and I'm understanding!! Oh this is so exciting!! I feel a sense of doors opening to understand easily (or at least with more ease!) Dr. Zhao is such a good and patient teacher and I am seeing the value of learning in this experiential environment. For example, in working with Jun Lin with the herbs, she'll often tell me about some of the herbs I'm gathering for the prescriptions, saying - "oh this one is good for women - just like dang gui," or "this is good for colds," etc. I find this way of learning easier for me - as I'm more of a kinesthetic learner. So he taught me of the 6 characteristics of each meridian "Jing, xing, shu, jing, he, yuan" -- basically, the first "jing" (it's a different character than the 2nd one listed) is the 'well' where the energy of a meridian starts; its beginning movement is 'xing'; it flows into and fills points which is 'shu'; it continues to flow like water which is 'jing'; the energy flows and gathers together which is 'he'; and the energy then reaches it's source point -- the end of the meridian channel which is 'yuan'.

He also spoke of the "luo xue" - which I'm now again understanding what it is! YAY! These are points that connect certain meridians/organs that directly influence each other. If any of you have seen a meridian circle chart you'll notice that of the 12 meridians listed (with Ren Mai and Du Mai - the Central and Governing Vessels listed in the middle), 6 are yang in character and 6 are yin. The organs are ordered as to what is their 'strong' time of the day and alternate between yin and yang organs. The "luo xue" - or luo points - are points connecting subsidiary channels that run between paired organs that are listed next to each other on the chart. For example, our stomach and spleen meridians have a channel where energy runs directly between the 2 organs from these meridians -- on the stomach meridian, this point is "feng long" or ST40. On the spleen meridian, this point is "gong sun" or SP4. Another cool thing is that this whole system makes more sense as it's coming more alive for me in the Chinese language. These "luo points" -- "luo", as I understand it, is short for "lian luo" which is a commonly used phrase for 'connecting' -- you can say, for example, "wo chang change gen ta lian luo." "I often connect (or am in touch) with her." In this way, the names of these point categories make sense as, through these points, our organs communicate with and support one another :). Dr. Zhao also mentioned that while these points help share and balance energies of the paired organs when we are well, they also help "tiao li" or bring another organ back into health if it's out of harmony. (A disclaimer note-- those of you who are already practicing Chinese medicine, please let me know if my understandings anywhere along the line here are misinformed, as I'm relaying what I've learned through my other-than- perfect Mandarin comprehension :).)

Pulses and Pregnancy
Another neat thing I've experienced in the past couple days is....feeling the pulse of a woman who is pregnant! Wow! It truly is different and has the sense of being a bit slippery or 'hua' and feels almost like water flowing over slippery beads or pearls. :) Pulse-taking is something Dr. Zhao is just starting to introduce me to. Sometimes he has me sit with him and feel the patients' pulses after he does. He's introducing me to this technique by telling me the very basics of the most simplified differentiation of 4 pulses and then having me feel this with clients. These 4 kinds of pulses are: Fu - meaning a floating pulse which is very much on the surface of the skin - you can feel it right away and often represents a sickness caused from an external force/agent; Chen - meaning a sinking pulse which is felt only by pressing into the patient's wrist more -- and it often represents disharmony coming from inside the body; Chi - meaning slow; and Shuo- meaning fast. In the one-page paper on pulse diagnosis that Dr, Zhao gave to me to read, the author described how various schools have taught doctors to discriminate a wide range of pulses - many averaging 26-28 different kinds! This doctor/writer, however, favored not teaching so many as he felt that too many different kinds sometimes led people to mistake normal healthy variation in pulses as being a disharmony of some sort. Right now, I am grateful to start simple!! :)

So much to learn in a short time! If I could just find a pair of ruby slippers like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz, I could easily make weekly trips over here to visit Dr. Zhao and his clients while back in the States :)

Treasure Chest
Another surprise today was a visit from my 2 newest friends-- the little girls, Su Mengwei and Tai Mengyu!! They found Dr. Zhao's clinic and came by right as I was leaving with a surprise "xiao chu xiang"-- "treasure box" for me!!! Oh they are so adorable!! They wrote their names on the box and wrote "Kailun Ayi song gei ni!!!" "Auntie Karen, here's a gift for you!!" And inside....oh my!! All sorts of wonderful treasurers!!! (see picture below) There's 2 little dolls which they told me represent them so I can think of them when I'm back home in the States; a picture of a farm house and birds and a stream they drew on a piece of cloth with their names on it; a picture of Su Mengwei, a journal Su Mengwei wrote in saying I can write down both my happy and sad feelings in; a beautiful shell necklace; fun colored pens/pencils; and bows! Oh my!! They are sooo sweet! One of Dr. Zhao's clients helped us take the picture above and I've also include one of the 'treasure box" which is this blog's title graphic (first pic) :)

Also included are few pics of a wedding I went to today with Dr. Zhao and Jun Lin. That whole experience could easily be another story in and of itself!! What a mixture of Chinese and Western traditions, also decorated with flashing and glittery lights, and, as many Chinese love 'renao' -- lively and loud' - the club/disco-like music in combination with the loud game-show host-like MC for the wedding ceremony and flying film cameras filming the whole thing on big screens was quite a scene! It was also beyond LOUD and while I desired to "be polite", I also desired to plug my ears the whole time! So I compromised by turning my head to the side and 'discretely plugging the ear facing the speaker while pretending to scratch a persistent itch and readjust my hairdo :).

Congrats to all of you who make it to the end of my long updates! :) I love sharing!! And as Dr. Zhao postponed our night study session, I thought I'd write again tonight before those sessions start up. For those of you who know Richard Ward (our dear friend in Z Y Qigong who is currently living in Guangzhou, China), he is flying up to Zhengzhou this Saturday to visit me and Dr. Zhao and his family :) We'll be hiking together on Sunday, and Monday is a national holiday for visiting the burial sites and temples for ones ancestors. We'll be doing this yearly outing with the Zhaos too :)

Much Great Love to you ALL!!! Thank you so much for your emails. Your messages mean a lot to me.

Much, Much Love,
KarenJoy

'Anquan Angels', Chinese Cooking, & Surprise Questions

2010-03-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Yesterday I had my first biking adventure in China - for this visit! :) My last time in China in 2005 some of you may remember I was so excited about biking again when I lived in Beijing for 1 month that I bought the very first bike I found -- without inspecting it! It was only $10 in US currency and I was so eager to hop on a bike (as many of you know I LOVE to bike) that I delightfully handed over the money and off I....teetered and squeaked! Well it had turned out I bought a bike in very bad shape that made a most horrible squeaking raquet every time I peddled -- it sounded like a very cranky cat and my friends who laughed with me when I brought it home that day, helped me name it 'xiao mao' -- little kitten. I had even taken it to a bike repair man (there's people that set up road side shops with their small truck-carts, park them on the side of the big boulevards with their numerous tools and wait for customers to peddle by with some bike repair requests). When I brought mine by, the man proceeded to inspect my bike, sigh, look around some more and sign and then with another rather bewildered sigh (like why in the world did you just buy this bike?!!) said there was nothing he could do -- just ride it until it breaks!

So yesterday, I had my first bike adventure in Zhengzhou with Jun Lin. We both had the day off and Dr. Zhao was busy attending other matters....so we first got together to go to the market, buy lots of fresh yummy veggies, and I had my first cooking lesson with Jun Lin and learned to make several YUMMY dishes that we then enjoyed with her husband, son, and dad

and then....we hopped on 2 of her family's bikes and went ....Shopping! We rode to one of Zhengzhou's shopping districts -- which really in China, can pretty much be anywhere (if you're in a city) as there are people out selling products, noodles, fresh cut pineapples, baozi-- steamed bread with meat and or veggie fillings, yummy red bean and green bean paste shakes, steamed peanuts, shoes (of which are almost ALL too small! - except one friend suggested I try men's sizes -- that may work --but their shoes aren't nearly as pretty! :)), plastic bins to wash clothes, and well the list is infinite...But there are also places in the cities that are specifically for shopping and they are most enormous!! With floor after floor of shops and each floor is a gigantic maze of stands with any type of clothes---well I guess probably about 3/4 is for women with the rest for men and kids. I'm so glad Jun Lin was with me (and she often held onto my arm for fear 'wo diu le' -- I would 'disappear.' (as we also both forgot our cell phones).sooo I've gotten ahead of myself as I have yet to rely our bike adventure to get to this gigantic shopping maze.

'Anquan' Angels
First I must say that the 'anquan angels' -- or 'safety' angels in China are VERY busy!! Especially for cyclists and pedestrians! Also, I've notice that no one else around me seems to notice this fact as most people seem quite calm, relaxed and happy navigating within and weaving through the bustling 'no-rules-anything-goes' traffic -- I seem to be the only one who is nervous -- and not just for me but the people around me - while witnessing several almost but not quite accidents! So we started on our bikes (and most bikes are very old and dusty and have seen a lot of years -- mine was also quite old (but no squeaks!) and very short! -so my peddling was short and fast with my knees coming up to the handle bars BUT luckily Zhengzhou is flat and I was just happy to be biking again :). So we started down the little side alleyways by JunLin's home weaving through the strolling crowds and merchants and tottering toddlers and then...we went onto the highway! Yikes! BUT there is a bike lane with a curb that separated us cyclists from the bigger motorized vehicles (which, however, as I relayed in an earlier message isn't much of a deterrent for motorists). In any case, Jun Lin peddled a little ahead of me and to my left-hand side and I followed and relaxed some seeing how relaxed she was peddling along.

That is until I looked up and saw another bike coming right towards me! Yet, it wasn't just a bike -- this fellow was also carrying a load of bags and bags of rice and other grains piled so high and wide he was as wide as a big truck! (this is actually quite a usual scene in China --it's amazing the massive and odd-sized loads people can carry on their bikes!) Oh dear! So I managed to swerve and miss being side-swiped by a bag of rice...only to look up and see my next obstacle. A woman had found that this bicycle lane (full of cyclists, motor scooters, an occasional horse and cart, and...as I've alluded to some 'sneaky' cars or 'mian bao che's - 'loaf-of-bread' vans :)) to be the perfect spot to set up her street cart stand of fresh steamed dumplings and 'zhongzi' -yummy sticky rice triangles wrapped and steamed in big leaves! Again, in observing those around me, no one else seemed to be surprised by this 'obstacle' - just me.

So we carried on our way, got off the highway, crossed some big boulevards and back onto some side bustling streets. We still encountered plenty of obstacles - some as small as an older man right in front of me suddenly stopping and standing by his bike with no warning. With the bike lanes as crowded as they are, this could easily be a catastrophe...but again miraculously it isn't! YAY for the 'anquan' angels (safety angels!) They certainly work overtime here!! :)

Chinese Cooking with Jun Lin!
I had just skimmed over the cooking lesson part of yesterday, but really I am so impressed with the art of Chinese cooking! If there was a book with 500+ recipes for 'Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking' -- like Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' -- that would be an inspiring project to take on! So much knowledge about what foods to eat in which season, how to cook each item in each dish so that it preserves, magnifies the flavors and the nutrients, and even selecting items/veggies to make the whole color, texture, flavor and smell a delightful, full, savory and satisfying experience! And have everyone feel full and easily digest their food! :) For example, Jun Lin taught me how to make "jia chang dou fu" -- which a tofu dish you can find in almost any Chinese restaurant -- though most don't taste as good as what we had :). In this dish, we had firm tofu

(I also included a pic of Jun Lin and I at the market by one of the tables where they were just selling tofu! -- all different kinds of tofu - tofu 'mian' - noodles, dried smoked tofu, firm tofu blocks, silky tofu for 'dou hua' - makes the most yummy sweet or savor soups! and many more kinds I'm wondering how to translate into English!....this market was sooo fun to visit and there are many, many everywhere every day --where does all this fresh produce come from?! It surprises me as China's land is fast being developed with so many high sky-scrapper buildings -- Dr. Zhao's neighborhood has no trees now - there used to be trees everywhere and places to grow veggies -- now it's all mostly cement). The dish also had 'mu-er' - wood ears -- its a fungus that grows on trees and is soo delicious! Jun Lin said when she was little her sisters and her used to go gather this after it rained. It also had green peppers, tomatoes and garlic. All these items are specially picked to have a full range of color and flavor and nutrition. (I'll save writing the recipes for after I double-check them -- meaning I test them out on myself first to see if I've learned it right! :) -- and include it in my book)

She also taught me how to prepare and steam a fish, stir-fry eggplant, make a most delcious 'zhou' -- rice/millet porridge with red beans, 'lian ou', hong zao - red dates, and many other yummy ingredients that I don't know the English names for yet. Jun Lin had said she would go to the market with me to buy all the ingredients and then have me cook it up so I'd remember and learn the techniques....yet she did most of the work (chopping and preparing) while I took pictures, asked questions and wrote in my notebook...and then she just had me hold the spatula to stir fry the veggies for a few minutes while taking a few pics of me

and then declared to her son, husband and father, that this meal was made by Karen! Well that was a very generous stretch of reality for her to make! -- in any case, we all enjoyed our meal and I am excited to learn more and treat you to some good food when I'm home :). (Note: I also include a pic of Jun Lin and I making 'jiaozi' - steamed dumplings today :) -- Dr. Zhao and I had lunch with Jun Lin and her family as Ayi is out of town helping her son and daughter-in-law for a few days.)

Daily Surprises in Speaking a Foreign Language (when others don't know it!!)
Those of you who speak another language and have traveled to other countries know the fun experience of hearing other people talking about you without knowing you are understanding everything they're saying! :) This happens quite a lot to me here. Sometimes if I'm in more of a hurry (like in the morning to get to clinic), I'll smile to myself and not say much, and other times I start talking -- which creates a big surprise and often a crowd of people then start to gather to speak to a 'wai guo ren' -foreigner. At breakfast in the hotel, often I hear people whispering about me - as I'm the only foreigner here and they often wonder amongst themselves why I'm here, if I'm studying, if I'm married, what country I'm from, etc. If I say 'nihao' or hello to someone, I often hear people say "oh her Chinese is very good!" (The Chinese are sooo generous with their compliments to foreigners! I wish we in the states would learn from them! When I just say one word in their language, they are so pleased!! Whereas I often witness English-speaking people in the states being frustrated and impatient with people who don't speak English fluently. What if we started the same practice with people who are learningEnglish and being delighted by even a 'hello' or 'good morning' and complimenting and encouraging them on their English skills! :))

I've also noticed that many Chinese seem to be shy in talking with me directly at first (maybe for fear I won't understand). This morning, however, one business man did talk with me, yet it was the most odd question I've been asked yet! :) First he explained the types of 'zhou' they were serving. And I responded with how the millet zhou was my favorite. He was surprised in my Chinese and then asked with great curiosity, "so are you here to buy a car?" -- What?!! Wow- I have yet to know what made him think that! :) Anyways, I laughed and said no, I'm here studying.

So yes, lots of surprised everyday! Jun lin surprised me after lunch today with a big smile on her face -- she brought this little device, pressed some buttons, held it to my ear and giggled -- It was a famous dance song from a different province. She laughed and said we could listen to it later as she'd like me to teach her how to dance :)

More about my studies with Dr. Zhao are to come in my upcoming updates...the clinic has been very busy lately and I've been working a lot in the herbal dispensary with Jun Lin as Ayi is away. I'm realizing that 2 months is actually quite a short time and I have soooooooo much to learn. Jun Lin said - 'oh if you come for 1 year, I can teach you all about Chinese cooking too and the different foods for different seasons.' Our world is really so fascinating -- so much to learn and experience! I am often one who loves to see as much as I possibly can! And this trip has been/is more about depth in where I am and who I'm with than in the quantity of things and people I see. I'm learning more about focus too and will continue in the next few weeks as Dr. Zhao is also realizing my time is short. We're going to set up evening study sessions starting later this week (as clinic time has been too busy), so my updates may be a bit shorter in the coming days.

Thank you again for all your emails and love and support! I just love hearing from you and am so grateful to share my experiences with you. And thank you to Rick for creating and updating my blog! YAY! If any of you have connections, ideas, contacts for creating a book - I desire to share my experiences of and with Dr. Zhao with many - please let me know your thoughts.

Much Love and Joy,

KarenJoy

Heat in Zhengzhou!

2010-03-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Well it's not quite the heat I was hoping for BUT I've experienced a lot through it these past 2 days. "Wo gan mao le - you fa shao" -- I caught a cold and had a fever yesterday at the clinic -- which is fortunately something that rarely happens to me - actually I think the last time was when I was in China 5 years ago - I had forgotten what a stressor plucking myself out of one time zone and part of the Earth and then plopping me down in a completely different time zone, climate, food (even though I LOVE it!! :)) can be on my body. Also today, because as I mentioned 2 reporters were coming to the clinic to take pictures and follow me and Dr. Zhao around, I naturally desired to dress "piao liang yidian" -- more beautifully :) So I put on my spring skirt but still had 2 layers of tights and 2 layers of shirts and my new pretty purple jacket -- yet, as I discovered later, I didn't dress quite warm enough. So I came to the clinic and everything was fine until I started to feel aches all over my body and feel cold -- to my bones. Hmmm...I actually felt a bit embarrassed because "ganmao" or, 'catching a cold' is something the Chinese adamantly avoid and they have numerous ways to ensure they stay healthy and are constantly checking in with one another to see if they're warm and if they've dressed warm enough. Well, with me being a foreigner, both Ayi and Jun Lin have taken on the daily task of reminding me to dress warm and inspecting the clothes I'm wearing, how thick they are, and then evaluating how I've done with today's outfit.

Yesterday, while they understood why I desired to wear my pretty skirt, they immediately sensed I was wearing too little - "chuan de tai bao"-- my clothes were too light - they mutually concluded. Again they proceeded to show me just how many layers they were each wearing --a thick pair of long underwear - while raising their pant legs-, a long underwear top, then a long-sleeved shirt over that, then a vest and then a wool jacket. Even so, yesterday I protested saying I was warm and that everything was fine....until, that is, I started feeling ill. So despite my feeling a bit embarrassed, I finally whispered to Jun Lin that I wasn't feeling well -- that I had some aches and was going to ask her if she knew of some herb to take. Well before I finished my sentence, she said in a loud voice, "Aiyo! Ni shibu shi ganmao le?" --"Aiyo -- Did you catch a cold?" And then that caught Dr. Zhao's attention and caused some commotion in the clinic. He quickly came over and had me sit on one of the treatment stools and gave me some of his Chinese acupressure massage...and amazingly I felt better!....for about 1 hour and then the cold and aches came back. Again, I tentatively asked Jun Lin if there were some herbs to take...and again -- "Aiyo! Kailun, ni shibushi fa shaole?" "Oh, Karen, do you have a fever?" -- Well this again caused a 'halt' in the clinic business as now Dr Zhao came over to inspect again and yes, after taking my temp. I had a significant fever. Dr. Zhao wrote up a prescription and Ayi quickly went to go cook up the herbs while Jun Lin went inside to get a big puffy comforter to put on one of the clinic tables.

They had me lay down to rest while the tea cooked -- yet it was probably one of the oddest 'naps' or rests I've taken as the 2 reporters (who had been following us throughout the day taking pictures of me measuring herbs (a side note that I am very glad they came this week instead of my first week when I was just learning how to use these scales!!! Now I actually look like I know what I'm doing :) -- one women came in yesterday morning who had come my first week and she also exclaimed with glee as she watched me successful wrap a package of herbs -- "oh ni hui le" -"oh, you can do this now!!" -- Ayi, Jun Lin and I all laughed), giving some acupressure to clients, attempting to write some Chinese calligraphy again, listening to Dr. Zhao teach me more about pulses, and even cooking my first Chinese style of 'chao ji dan gen xihongshi" stir-fried eggs and tomatoes) continued to take pictures of me while I tried to rest :) They naturally saw this 'ganmao' - 'catching cold' event as another news-worthy experience to capture :)

Also, the patients that continued to arrive as the afternoon went on, were all curious and gathered around to see what this 'foreigner' was doing laying down with a big fluffy blanket on one of the treatment tables. And despite closing my eyes, I couldn't help but listen to all the conversations tidbits of "who's this? From what country? Oh U.S. -- aiyo! she caught a cold?" And then Ayi explaining how I seem to always wear too little and I really should best "chuan hou yidian" -- wear thicker clothes, as she would come over and check my forehead again to test if my fever was going away.

Actually I feel very lucky. For getting sick, it's definitely convenient to do it when there's a doctor around and a very good Chinese medicine doctor at that! :) I was so surprised that after drinking one bowl of Chinese herbal tea (see picture below),

within 10 minutes my body heated up and was warm from the inside out. Also, my aches went away and I felt I could sleep. Ayi made a bed upstairs for me to sleep in while they finished work and had dinner and she also made me a wonderful bowl of 'zhou' - rice porridge and a bowl of steamed eggs with green onion and a sprinkle of sesame oil! Yum! And it all looked so beautiful too!

I know I have mentioned this before, and I am so touched with how well taken care of I feel here! And everyday I have more surprises -- I guess some of this comes with not always understanding all that's being said around me. :) For example, today when I came back to the clinic for our afternoon session, I was waiting outside for Dr. Zhao. When he came, he told his cousin who also works at the clinic to take me inside to first have a treat of watermelon. Well I didn't quite understand what he had said to her as it was in the Henan 'dialect' and thought he was having her take me inside to wash my hands - which seemed strange as they looked quite clean to me and he hadn't ever seemed to make a special note that I wash my hands before! Well, of course I had a pleasant surprise when we walked inside and I saw many pink juicy pieces of watermelon awaiting us to enjoy :).

Below are some pictures of the patient I had mentioned in an earlier update who had severe depression for 8 years and after 6 months of treatment with Dr. Zhao, he is off western meds and his spirit is back behind his eyes and in his body. These are the first 2 pics -- and that's his wife with him. She's so amazing -- after all the struggle they've been through she never gave up either and she eventually found Dr. Zhao who was able to help her husband so much.

Then there's a pic of me and Dr. Zhao -- this was taken the day the reporters came - hence my wearing the white 'doctor' coat :). I also included a pic of one of the reporters getting a sample treatment from Dr. Zhao -- they were great! The news story will come out within a week and I'll email you all the link -- it will be mostly pictures so you'll be able to follow along :) -- As having my mid-day meal with Dr. Zhao and Ayi is part of my daily life here, they too enjoyed lunch with us -- I love how meals are soo easily and openly shared amongst friends and family and newly met guests, such as these reporters, here.

And then I include some pictures of the loving care I received from Jun Lin, Dr. Zhao and Ayi in the clinic.-- one of me bundled up in the puffy quilt, one drinking down the bitter tasting herbs (Dr. Zhao even took a sip first to show me - 'see it's okay to drink - even I drank a little' -- he said he used to do this with his daughter when she was little), and one of me having succeeded drinking it all down. And then the reporters wanted to take another pic of Dr. Zhao checking me for fever to send to my Mom as a way to show just how well I'm being taken care of :)

I also included 1 pic of a most delicious lunch Dr. Zhao made for me today (as I was still recovering some this morning and skipped clinic -- and Ayi was at the hospital with their daughter-in-law who is giving birth today!) -- Millet porridge (not yet in the picture - it was still cooking), eggs, cabbage, sweet potato and a bread made out of black beans that Jun Lin's Mom made special for me - as they ALL know about my allergy to wheat flour. In Henan, noodles, bread, dumplings, steamed bread with yummy veggies, fried 'bing' pastries with eggs or sweet treats are all the area's specialties. Me having a wheat allergy is often unheard of here and seen as almost tragic and even the thought of only being able to eat rice or millet is beyond imaginable for most people. Ayi has made a big adjustment to accommodate my diet by serving rice each lunch time instead of noodles or dumplings or steamed bread. For the first 2 weeks, when people would come into the clinic and start asking about me, Ayi would often mention the tragic fact that I don't eat 'mianshi' - flour products - and each time it produced exclamations of "Oh dear! What?! It can't be - what does she eat? Only rice?"

While to some I may be 'missing out' on so many treats, the variety and yumminess and abundance of the options of Chinese treats, meals, snacks, specialties are really quite astounding so I feel no lack with not eating 'mianshi' products -- I am just sooooooooo happy to be eating this delicious food 3 meals a day! :)

Gosh, time for bed again! I'm going to dance a bit first in my room though -- I miss dancing!! I've been telling my new friends here about our ecstatic dancing in the states and have told the reporters about it. Right now I just have some music on my little ipod with tiny speakers -- but it works and I like to turn up the music and dance around my room! Whee!

Much Great Love to you all!!
Love,
KarenJoy

Park Stunts, Lessons on Diligence, & a Visit from Dr. Zhao's Gege - Older Brother

2010-03-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

I just returned from an evening stroll with Dr. Zhao to the neighboring park....Though our way of strolling and others' way of strolling are a bit different. As I've inherited my Dad's long legs, I tend to walk with a brisk pace and long strides...and Dr. Zhao, who is no ordinary 'stroller' also walks with quick pace - short quick strides, firmly grounded in the earth and a walk with purpose and speed. Together we are good pacers for each other.

Park Stunts
I left my camera in the hotel room and next time will bring it to show you some more "tricks" Dr. Zhao has up his sleeves.:) I'll also video tape it to show you when I get back (we can have a Dr. Zhao movie night!) When we got to the park the first thing he had me do was hold his jacket and then he went for the highest 'chin-up' bar (what are they called?) and shwoosh! He was up and over the bars like a gymnist! Wow! Other younger men stood by in awe and one (who looked like he was in his forties) came up to ask how old Dr. Zhao was, as he was mightily impressed! -- Dr. Zhao is 62 this year and is in top shape with great stamina and skill.

He also went over to the 2 parallel bars, put his forearms on the bars parallel to the ground, picked up his legs and with a swift and graceful kick, he brought his legs and belly almost parallel to the ground and then...voop! he lifted his body up and now supported himself vertically with his 2 hands on the bars. Then he swung back and forth and back and forth kicking his legs and core up high above the bars and after a few swings, ....again...whoosh! - he leaped over the bar on his left and landed on both feet! Yay! -- there was a round of applause by the now gathered small group of spectators :) Things I had learned to do as a 5 and 6 year old in gymnastics class, Dr. Zhao is doing now :)

Lessons on Living Life with Honor and the Power of Love

Gosh, I am feeling so grateful to know this man, to know my dear friend and teacher, Dr. Zhao. The more I learn about him and with him, the more I observe and participate in his way of life, the more conversations we have either sitting in his little car navigating traffic pockets, walking to the park on the busy city streets, sitting at his desk discussing articles he's copied from old library books for me to read, or stretching and doing qigong and stunts (well really him doing stunts and me watching or filming or taking pictures in delight!) in our 'lull' time, the deeper my respect and love grows. In our car ride on the way back from visiting his artist friend on Monday night, he said, "Karen, for some people it's enough to have others like them -- some people like them and some don't. For others, they desire others to love them. For me, I live my life in a way that earns deep respect, the deepest respect." In anything Dr. Zhao does, as I have mentioned, he does with a sense of great care, dignity, thoroughness, steadfastness, honor and love. His word is powerful because he does as he says and says as he does. And he doesn't judge others who live differently. He is quiet and humble in this way. Even his clinic, as you've all seen pictures, at first glance seems/appears very humble and modest. Yet on the wall, quietly hanging are many, many, many "jinqi" (these are the burgundy flag-like tapestries hanging on the walls). Each one of these was given to Dr. Zhao by a patient who has healed from a very serious illness or condition through their care with Dr. Zhao.

He has sooooooo many examples!! (For example, I'm putting together his curriculum vitae in English now and he's shown me some certificates and awards he has for being guest speakers at numerous national and provincial conferences, and for numerous papers he's published (see pic below).

One such paper is a discussion on his herbal treatment for arthritis (inflammation of the joints) with 186 case studies! Another is for high blood pressure with 310 case studies!) Yet how is it that the world doesn't all know of him yet? I feel almost embarrassed for our country that I'm helping Dr. Zhao with the preliminary paperwork requirements for a green card application when, if our government only knew of the valuable, valuable skill and knowledge Dr. Zhao and a handful of other master doctors have, they would be sending numerous green cards to them and their family members inviting them to please come to the U.S. to teach and share their knowledge to our schools and upcoming generation of doctors and health care leaders! I feel so lucky for myself and our country that Dr. Zhao even has the desire to come! He is quite successful here and has a whole large community of patients nationwide and not to mention his large family which I'm still learning how everyone relates to each other! (that in and of itself could be a semester project!!) -- all of these people are definitely voting for him to stay!

Lessons on Diligence and Another Surprise Visit
Also, I often feel in awe as to why Dr. Zhao is so patiently teaching me -- there are so many others who at least have gone through the basics of 3 years of acupuncture school, know all the points and the basic theory, have gone through some clinical practice and know the basics of the herbs, their nature, what they're used for and basic formulas. And while I've had much personal experience with Chinese medicine and have devoted much time and practice and study to qigong. as for the fundamentals of practicing Chinese medicine, I am a beginner! I remember last summer when interpreting for him at the clinic in Seattle -- he soooo LOVES to teach, and as I was the only one who would understand what he was saying (and we were together each day, almost every day of his time there), he would often start telling me about different points and what they're used for and would sometimes recite various meridian "gejues" -- what I mentioned are song/poems for remembering all the points and locations. At that time I really had no idea what he was saying! But he quietly and persistently continued....and now I'm finally understanding!! :) (This is exciting for me and may be more like a "it's about time!!" for him! But he doesn't show that -- he is just quiet and persistent).

Now at his clinic, he is also showing immeasurable patience and persistence with me, as again I've mentioned my other-than-fast and graceful learning curve with measuring and wrapping herbal packages, not to mention my slow reading of the Chinese medical papers he gives me and a basic Chinese medical massage book. (For example, today he gave me a paper on the basics of observation diagnosis for women's health conditions. In seeing how many words I looked up in my handy i-pod dictionary (this is really life-saver for me! Thanks to my friend Matt McNeil for suggesting I get one!! :)) just to read the first 2 paragraphs, he took a deep breath and suggested I first start with the 1-page paper on pulse diagnosis. :))

Earlier this week I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Zhao's 2nd eldest brother ("Er Ge"-- meaning 2nd older brother). He came by the clinic to greet me, and Wow! What an amazing man! Dr. Zhao was doing more calligraphy painting (and mentioned that he also looks forward to the day when he's done with his service of being a doctor and he can live up in the mountains and drink tea and practice his Chinese calligraphy and said I could join him and practice mine too - that's generous of him as I can definitely use a LOT of practice! --As Jun Lin can attest to, though she probably wouldn't :) - as she kindly writes out the herbs I'm learning in big characters -so I can see all the strokes - and then looks over my shoulder as I write them in my notebook to make sure I get it right :)), when his "Er Ge" came. Dr. Zhao's eyes lit up upon seeing his brother and he quickly introduced him to me and me to him and said, "My brother is a master calligrapher. Let him paint for you" as he handed him the brush. He proceeded to paint/write my Chinese name and welcomed me to China as his American friend in his calligraphy words.

We then proceeded to have a long conversation. He held my hands, shaking them fervently while saying, "Ni hen liaobuqi. Ni hen liaobuqi. Hen bu rongyi dao Zhong Guo lai -- yao guo women de da hai cai dao. Ni cong xi fang pao dao zheli lai zhen de bu rongyi!" "What you have done is amazing...This is not easy to come all the way to China from the west, all the way across our big oceans to come here. This is not easy!" Dr. Zhao's brother is a bit slighter in stature than Dr. Zhao, and his eyes have a depth that show volumes of the hardships, joys, struggles, changes, challenges, victories, steadfastness, and persistence he has lived through. He told me of his and his brother's (Dr. Zhao) past - 7 kids growing up in a one room home. Their mother, he said was also "hen liaobuqi" (amazing, extraordinary). She had no one to help her and all her tasks - tasks that were "Mama's tasks" - cooking, sewing clothes, socks, shoes, getting water, making fires, buying, planting, harvesting food -- were left for her to do alone. Yet she did her best and loved her children and they knew that in their bones -- even when they had to run to school amidst high snow banks in bare feet (as they had no socks -- and this way their cloth shoes would at least be dry when they got to school). He said they all learned a lot about persistence and diligence from their mom and love her deeply for all she did -- "even though we were very naughty as little boys," he said with a twinkle in his eyes :).

Dr. Zhao's brother also obviously holds very high respect for his "didi" - younger brother. He said, looking over at Dr. Zhao while he was now helping another patient, "Ta hen qinfen! Ta hen hui xia gongfu!" "He is very hardworking and diligent! And he knows how and is willing to focus and be persist in his determined efforts." "We weren't from a family of money or high educational background," he said, " yet, he created his life, profession, success through his sheer determination and diligence." Dr, Zhao had told me that he and his artist friend used to be "gong ren" together - workmen in their youth. Yet at the early age of 17, he chose to follow in his grandfather's steps (he was a highly respected and recognized Chinese medicine doctor) and study and pursue Chinese medicine. Since then he has studied fervently and persistently. Even in the cultural revolution, when any such studies or practice of medicine was outlawed (and doctors were being jailed or sent to the country side for "education"--meaning basically hard labor), Dr. Zhao would wake up before the rest of the village to study his books. He says his field is a life-long dedication to learning and service.

Gosh, I still have more to say! (I guess that's probably not a surprise any more, huh? as I often say this! :)) It's probably a good thing that I write these updates at night and slowly get sleepy as I'm typing and then am surprised when I realize its already time for bed yet again! -- otherwise these updates may be infinitely long! Thank you for those who have made it to the end of my updates -- I am so honored and grateful to share about my dear friend and teacher. I have this desire in my heart for our world to know and see him -- to have the gift of knowing and loving him as a dear friend and teacher as I do. And through writing, I feel I can share this with you. So thank you -- and thank you to all for your emails and letters. I so enjoy hearing from you!!

Reporters Coming to the Clinic Again Tomorrow

Tomorrow 2 reporters from Henan Province newspaper are coming to follow me around in the clinic :). They came today as somehow they heard an American came to study one-on-one with a Chinese doctor. This is very unusual as most foreign students who do come, study in a hospital through one of the schools. Rarely does a Chinese student (although this is slowly starting to change again), let alone a "wai guo ren" - a foreigner, come to study one-on-one with a doctor. It was fun watching both of the reporters' eyes open increasingly wider and glow with more curiosity as they started to realized who Dr. Zhao is and why I've chosen to come here. They asked themselves out loud --"how did we not hear about you (Dr. Zhao) before?!" Again, Dr. Zhao is humble and persistent -- he has never put out any advertisements for his clinic -- people just come from word of mouth. Both reporters are going to get some treatment tomorrow too. One already had his pulses taken and will start taking herbs :).

Time for bed for me -- and more pictures in my next update -- this one has the pics of some of Dr. Zhao's awards and one of me dressed in one of Dr. Zhao's "doctor" coats :) I don't usually wear this, but when the reporters called to say they were coming, Dr. Zhao had me put it on to look more professional :). As you can see (as I'm wearing a winter coat underneath) warm, spring weather has yet to arrive here in Zhengzhou :)

Much great Love to you all!!

LOVE,

KarenJoy

Pop Quiz, Shoe Sizes, Relatives, and...Giggles!

2010-03-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Well I'm getting more brave with my street crossing tactics. This weekend I even found myself stepping out to cross the street on my own with no 'scurry group' of bikes or motor scooters with me. I guess it was early on a Saturday morning and there were fewer cars...BUT fewer people out on the streets in China is still quite a LOT! :) Also I had the bizarre experience of making it to the other side of the street, thinking "phew. I'm safely on the sidewalk again" only to turn and see a car impatiently tooting its horn at me because it wanted to come drive up onto the sidewalk where I was! Yikes! I guess I still have more to learn about the rules of the non-rule traffic game here!

Also today when a big truck (carrying what looked like cement blocks except there was some gray smoke-like steam rising off all of them--not sure I really desire to know what it was!) was backing up and managing to cut across all lanes of traffic, cars, mini vans (called "mian bao che" -- literally meaning loaf-of-bread car - b/c they actually do look like little loaves of bread! :) Ha! I love the Chinese language) bikes, and mopeds alike all naturally drove up onto the sidewalk along with us pesky pedestrians to drive around the truck. And then, 'bloop' they all (except us pedestrians) went back over the curb onto the street to continue on their busy way... well, I must say nothing is boring here! If ever I were to even entertain the thought of being bored I can just go outside and observe the traffic spectacle -- as it is, as you may now also conclude, very unpredictable!

I even just got back from a visit with Dr. Zhao to his dear friend who is an exquisite Chinese painter and together we braved Chinese rush-hour traffic in his little car. Being in a little car in severe traffic jams has many advantages as we can easily (and sometimes not so easily, sneak, squeak and nudge our way through the little moving pockets of spaces down the packed highway lanes!

Pop Quiz
Today I'm happy to say I successfully passed my 2nd herbal pop quiz, given spontaneously by Ayi and Jun Lin -- my dear and infinitely patient comrades in Dr. Zhao's herbal dispensary. Sometimes when I'm working with them and we've just finished filling orders for several patients, we have a 'lull' in our duties. (These "lull times" are times when Dr. Zhao continues his studies of reading various old Chinese medicine essays and books, takes out his calligraphy brush and starts painting the characters in the various meridian "gejue's" - these again are all the acupuncture points put to rhyme/rhythm like a poem :), has me practice my acupressure techniques on him or he shows me some techniques, or -- as you see in the picture below, sometimes we'll do some exercises, stretches, qigong and...well, Dr. Zhao does this, not me -- does a hand stand upside down on a chair! -- I also have his on video! :))

Well today in one of these lulls both Ayi and Jun Lin started calling out random names of herbs I've helped measure and had me show them where they are. Again, this sounds pretty simple, right? Well it is until, when feeling some pressure, all the many little drawers of herbs with the small Chinese characters written on the outside begin to look the same! But! I have been practicing and reviewing the herbs in my "lull" time and am starting to get to know them and where they are! Each time I remembered one, both Ayi and Jun Li gleefully exclaimed "oh hen hao!" -- Oh great - that's great!" They are really great teachers :).

And Jun Lin is just wonderful. She and I are the same age (though she already has a 12 year old son! - BTW, my being 1) a 'waiguo ren' - a foreigner, 2) 34 and not yet married, and 3) 34 with no kids can sometimes stir up quite a bit of conversation among the female patients at the clinic! I often get the advice to "gan kuai zhao yige lao gong" -- quickly find myself a husband...and preferably, they say, a Chinese husband!!)... I love working with Jun Lin. She shows me infinite patience and good humor too! She often reviews the herbs with me, making sure I write the characters for the herbs correctly in my little notebook (by the way - I think this notebook can only be deciphered by me as it is a mishmash of Chinese characters, pinyin and English scribble! :)), and she then tells me about the herbs, what they're used for, which ones I can nibble on (and we nibble on them together -- some are sweet, and another one I like tastes like roasted rice grains).

She's also lent me a coat of hers and a thick pair of long underwear (as both Ayi and she have concluded I don't dress warm enough for the cold weather -- and I quickly came to the same conclusion after seeing my lips were blue at the end of my first day in the clinic! -- It is slowly getting warmer now but there's no heat in these cement buildings - just a little coal-burning stove that is constantly heating a kettle of hot water for us to sip through out the day and to use to wash our hands when we stop for lunch and at the end of the day). And both she and Ayi often come up to me and button my coat all the way up (if I've left the top buttons undone) or zip up my sweat shirt all the way - saying "ni leng bu leng?" "are you cold?"

Shoe Sizes
Jun Lin is also helping me find a good new pair of shoes - which is turning out to be more of a challenge than either of us thought. My boots I came to China with are quickly falling apart. Dr. Zhao came up to me with a shoe-scuff brush one day when we were closing the clinic for lunch -- as my boots were a bit dusty-- and vigorously brushed them off. That was nice of him...until I heard him exclaim "Aiyo!" I looked down to see there was a hole in my boots! The leather had worn away so much that now it was a well defined hole! Well, Dr. Zhao (he really treats me as his own daughter) that day skipped his nap and took me to a shoe store after lunch to buy a new pair of boots....Well this is where I discovered that I have some of the largest female feet in the country! :) I wear a size 9 -- which is at least a 40 or 41 in Chinese sizes. Most stores don't have size 40 and even the size 40 shoes they do have are often still a bit tight....All this to say, Dr. Zhao and I actually did find some boots that sort of fit (but not really...in hindsight) so I bought them (partly b/c i noticed that basically all the women here wear boots and I like the way they look and, well, I desired to have boots like they do!)...So yes I bought these boots, wore them for 2 days...and then promptly switched back to my old boots with the hole b/c these ones really are not very comfortable as they...alas are too small. So now Jun Lin has taken on the task to help me find some new shoes...we have yet to be successful but she assures me we'll find some before I leave :).

Jun Lin also took me out to enjoy some food at a nearby night market last week with her husband and son and I have some pictures included below.

Relatives
In addition, I included a few pictures from the trip to the neighboring town of Kaifeng I took yesterday with Dr. Zhao, his niece's 7 year old boy GaoGao (that's his nickname :) -- and there's a picture of him below :)),

and another relative of his, Yan Li Zhun. Just mentioning these relatives brings up another point to share...that the Chinese language has a most marvelous way of helping you know how each person is related in a family. For example, an uncle on my mom's side of the family would be called "JiuJiu" whereas an uncle on my dad's side of the family would be called "Bobo". But it gets more complicated, because the names will change depending on whether this uncle is my dad's older brother or younger brother, etc. And then there are specific names for spouses or aunts and whether they're in-laws or out-laws or if aunts are older or younger than their sibling...Anyways, the fact that I did once upon a time learn these various names in college has not helped me much now as I quickly forgot them long ago.

When Dr, Zhao showed up with GaoGao and Yan Li Zhun to all go to Kaifeng together, I promptly and politely asked how they were all related. Dr. Zhao seemed a bit frustrated - like -"well I've already told you" (which he most likely did but seeing that I forgot the Chinese names for the relations, when he told me, the words probably just went in one ear and out the other while I smiled and said "great! I look forward to meeting them" --as I didn't really understand who I would be meeting and how exactly they related to Dr. Zhao -- as he has a very big family!!) So I asked if Dr. Zhao could explain to me again how they were all related, and he quickly said (in Chinese of course) - "Yan Li Zhun is my older brother's youngest son's wife. Or, you can say Jun Lin's husband's younger brother's wife is Li Zhun." And Gao Gao, oh dear, I've already forgotten! :( Well anyway, I think you get the picture how, yes, these terms, if one knows them, can really help make family relations clear. But...if one doesn't know them, like moi, it can get confusing quite fast! (Actually today at clinic, I asked Ayi and Jun Lin if they could help again understand exactly how Gao Gao, Yan Li Zhun and Dr. Zhao and them are all related and our conversation quickly turned into a pile of giggles and guffaws!)

Giggles
Speaking of giggles, I just love playing with the little kids here! They are soooo cute! (Like the picture of the mom and dad with their 2-year old son they brought to the clinic today - see below).

Also, I think they like seeing me too. For example, yesterday on our way back from visiting the old Henan University in Kaifeng, we stopped by a farming village to give some dumplings to some other relatives of Dr. Zhao's (and I have not dared to ask yet how they are all related! :)). Being a farming village, people in general were even more curious to see a "wai guo ren" a foreigner walking in their streets. When we got to their home, the father was just pulling up in his little open-back truck with 3 little smiling boys in the back. As soon as they saw me they started giggling and squirming. I asked if I could take their picture and their giggles then escalated to another octave as they then jumped out of the truck and hid on the other side. I ran up to pretend I was going to catch them and again they squealed and ran around the courtyard door. I tip-toed to the doorway and peaked my head around just as they were peaking to see if I was still there -- and again more giggles and squeals at yet ever escalating octaves! I got a few fun pictures of them and included one below :)

Oh so many stories!! And I didn't even speak about our clients much in this update...nor did I share about my clothes-washing lesson with Ayi, or the type of rain ponchos I've seen here where parents can buy extra big sizes to cover their handle bars (and keep their legs dry)...and cover the heads of their children straddling on the back of the bike behind them! :)

Much Love and Joy and Giggles to you all. Thank you again for sharing in my journeys and thank you so much for your emails!!! (And thank you again to Rick for creating and updating my travel blog!! :) http://www.qidancer.blogspot.com/)

Much LOVE,
KarenJoy

A Surprise Visit, Lessons on Focus & more Street-Crossing Tactics

2010-03-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends!

Wow! I just had a most sweet visit with Dr. Zhao and his wife (I call her Ayi - meaning "Auntie" :))

A Surprise Visit
I was back in my room after dinner in the hotel (and I was again delightfully surprised with another beautifully arranged plate of fruit from the servers in the kitchen! I gobbled it up too quick before I thought of taking another picture to share with you though - this plate was sliced Asian pears with a little peeled "lizi" pear - crunchy and sweet (I learned how to say this in Mandarin -- "cui he tian") and sliced yummy little oranges arranged like butterfly wings on the side)...and I was checking my email to see if I had any letters from you :) when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it only to see two sweet smiling faces - Dr. Zhao and Ayi! After being with them in clinic all day, I didn't expect to see them and was so delighted -- I felt just the same excitement as when seeing a good friend that I haven't seen in a long time. They are both so wonderful to be with. Ayi hadn't seen my room yet and she wanted to make sure it was "anquan he ganjing" - safe and clean. That way she could "fangxin" --or relax and not worry. Gosh, moms seem to share this same characteristic regardless of what country we're in :).

She was happy to see how beautiful my room is and wanted to see where I do my "writing work" (this is the work I do with the California Health Advocates), to make sure my bathroom and shower were suitable for me, to ask how I was sleeping in my bed, and to make sure I had enough snacks (reminding me she had milk. peanuts, fruit and more snacks at home she could give me and also making sure I wasn't eating the pre-packaged, more junk food-like snacks that the hotel has for sale - she also gave me a bag of 6 apples, 6 mangos from Jun Lin, almonds and...chocolate! She is doing her best to keep me well fed! :)). She is sooo sweet!

Really, I feel so pampered with the room Dr. Zhao's friend found for me. It's really like my own apartment and it's been a great place for me to rest and get some well-enjoyed long, deep sleeps after recovering from jetlag. (I included a couple pictures below) For those of you who haven't been to China or are more unfamiliar with Chinese culture, "guanxi", or relations, are very important here and who and how good and strong your relations are with others can get you far -- that's really the way things get done in this culture -- in the U.S. too certainly to a degree, and in China, your "guanxi" means everything. Well Dr. Zhao's "guanxi" with one of the head policeman in town is the reason I am enjoying my room so much. He's a friend of Dr. Zhao's - and one of his family members with a serious illness was successfully treated by Dr. Zhao-- and Dr. Zhao's friend knows the owner oft his hotel and was able to negotiate a good, reasonable rate for me (not to mention I'm feed a most delicious Chinese breakfast and dinner here too!)

More on Food
By the way, on the subject of food and snacks again, I am eating VERY well here :) and am managing to gain some weight -which is a good thing. Today, when Dr. Zhao and I were giving each other treatments as a way for me to learn these techniques, he said "oh, ni bian pang yidian" -- "oh you're fattening up a bit" -- while that doesn't sound very flattering in our culture, it's still meant as a compliment in China :) -- Also, with all the good food Ayi is making for me each day at lunch and then continuously encouraging me to eat more while putting generous additional helpings of each dish into my bowl while Dr. Zhao is smiling and shaking his head at the same time, how could I not start to add a few more pounds of me to my body? :)

Even today, after eating a very delicious and filling lunch, when I was back in the clinic with Dr. Zhao, Ayi came by outside calling my name. It sounded a bit urgent so I rushed out only to find she had bought and cut up big slices of pineapple for me and Jun Lin to eat as a mid afternoon snack :) - later she also came in the clinic with a large bag of sweet potatoes and a big smile on her face (I had mentioned to her the other day that I love sweet potatoes :)). She promptly put 3 in the coal burning stove that keeps our clinic warm for Dr. Zhao and I to enjoy for another mid-afternoon snack! (It was funny - Ayi happened to come in to take the sweet potatoes out of the stove right when I was in the middle of video-taping Dr. Zhao reciting on of the Meridian "Ge Jue" -- Poem/songs -- these are so beautiful -- they recite all the names of the points in a specific meridian and also tell each point's location. He was giving a mini lesson when Ayi came in -- and she has a very full, strong, and loud voice....and didn't realize this was all on video-tape :) - (I tried to attach this as a compressed file but it didn't load -- if any of you reading this know of a way I can post this online (not youtube b/c that's blocked here), let me know :)) Also, in this video, unfortunately I held my camera screen lengthwise so it comes out sideways -- I have another video of it but it doesn't have Ayi in it so I'd rather show you this one -- I may be able to have my friend put it on my blog too -- see below)

More on Chinese Medicine and Health Care with Dr. Zhao
Dr. Zhao, Ayi and I had a good chat tonight and I even showed them the emails I'm writing to all of you - even though they couldn't read the English, they were happy to see pictures of themselves being shared and were surprised that I had so much to say! I just told them how grateful I am to be with them and to witness another powerful, simple, effective, loving, accessible, affordable and enjoyable way of health care and loved sharing about this with all of you! We fantasized about the possibility of them both coming to the States to open a clinic where Americans (all classes, colors, shapes, sizes, ages, backgrounds) could come and receive excellent and loving health care (and Ayi also said she could cook for everyone too :) - maybe start a restaurant). It could be a new model and a doorway for accessing, recognizing and embracing the treasures of what Chinese medicine has to offer.

Each day, Dr. Zhao receives a newspaper all on the research and news of Chinese medicine. Today he was showing me so many articles concerning efforts to preserve, reclaim some of the "lost" elements of Chinese medicine. After the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zi Dong decided to fashion Chinese medicine more after the Western medicine model and much of the treasures and power of Chinese medicine was taken out of the books, schools and universities. While what is taught is still helpful and effective, it is only a basic foundation to the power and depth this ancient and evolving system of medicine, health and life has to offer. In recognizing that some of the last Chinese doctors who were trained before the revolution or the change in training styles are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s and over and that some are beginning to pass on, the government is taking steps to help bring back the missing elements.

Chinese medicine schools are starting to require students to do one-on-one study/apprenticeships with older, experienced doctors after they graduate. It's one step in returning to a way of teaching that has successfully passed down the medicine for 1,000s of years, generation by generation. Some articles in the newspaper also speak to a new idea of having other countries (such as the U.S.) invite and give visas to well-known Chinese doctors for them to come teach students and share this invaluable knowledge, skill and wisdom.

Wisdom
Speaking of wisdom, I am learning a lot just observing, participating (this is where my cultural anthropology training in participant observation techniques come in handy! :)) and being with Dr. Zhao, his family and patients each day. Having been in many spiritual communities, having read LOTS of spiritual teaching books,having gone to seminars, etc., I have so many times heard the wise advice to refrain from judgment -- not to judge things as good or bad, but to instead remain in a state of happy expectation; to live the "middle path"; and to, as St. Germain says, "see, feel, and be the perfection" I desire in my world. Well this is exactly what I see Dr. Zhao living in simple, yet profound ways. For example, if he were one to judge, I probably, for one, would not still be at his clinic (given my slow learning curve with the seemingly simple task of wrapping herbal packages!:)). Also, I remember when he came to the states last summer -- adjusting to being in the States and being so far from his family and community was not easy, yet everyday he greeted me with a big smile and I witnessed him over and over give his very best to each and every client who came to see him. Actually I witnessed him give his very best to each and every task he did -- whether it be writing an herbal prescription, cooking a meal, giving an acupressure treatment, washing and folding his small pieces of cloth he used in treatment, or washing rice bowls and chopsticks from our meal. Each task was done with the same similar steadiness, full presence, love, thoroughness and solidity. I see and witness that here too -- with Dr. Zhao and his whole family. It's really quite amazing and transformative to be in this kind of loving, steady, fully present energy all day.

For example, sometimes while at home I can easily get distracted with getting a snack, checking email, texting messages (which I haven't yet figured out how to do on my Chinese cell phone!! -- probably is a good thing for my studies in "focus" now :)), etc. Dr. Zhao on the other hand, focuses on what's important to him. In the clinic, people are free to just come in - no one ever calls ahead of time to make an appointment - people just come. With this way of seeing patients, sometimes we have a big line, and other times no one is there. In those times, Dr. Zhao will often read various old essays (from before 1980) written on Chinese medicine (he's shown me several books friends have helped him find from libraries with essays on Chinese medicine techniques -- few people ever read these and many of these books have been lost -- but Dr. Zhao says they contain many, many good "secrets" that most doctors if they knew would not openly share with one another in current times). Sometimes he'll start reciting poems that contain the names of all the acupuncture points as a way to review (I love listening to him recite these -- it is beautiful - and you can listen to one too in the attached video clip :)). Other times, like today, he'll take out his 'maobi' - Chinese calligraphy brush and start writing out these poems in beautiful Chinese characters (See pictures). (I took one class in Chinese calligraphy in college so Dr. Zhao had me show him how I write-- with Ayi looking over my shoulder. - Ha! "Buhaoyisi" -- meaning "how embarrassing" :)- well I wrote a few characters but they were obviously written by a foreigner :)) I love how his days are full of what's meaningful and most important to him, and how he gives the same loving kindness, presence and attention to each person he's with or task he is doing. And from this space, "perfection", happiness and the fullness and richness of life blossom forth.

I can easily give similar examples to the attention and love both Ayi and Jun Lin bring to their tasks with working with and filling herbal prescriptions, cooking meals, and keeping our clinic neat, tiddy and beautiful. The anxiety that I often sense is so prevalent in American society (and that I felt stuck in my gut for so many years) is gone here and has no place with Dr. Zhao and his family. I so love and recognize the power, ease and freedom in this way of being.

One small example is when Dr. Zhao had me go out to ask Jun Lin to come back into the clinic to help with filling herbs. I went outside to call for Jun Lin, and Ayi was standing out by the street enjoying our glorious sunshine (it's been pretty cloudy or smoggy or -- sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!) She said smiling, "lai shai taiyang ba" -- "come enjoy the sun with me." Instead of just rushing back into the clinic, we both enjoyed the brightness and warmth of our sun together.

Oh...I have so many stories!! And so many wonderful people/patients coming - above is a also a picture of 2 women in their 70s who both had very, very serious heart disease and were often hospitalized just 2 years ago. Now, after taking Dr. Zhao's heart formula herbs, they are healthy with much energy and vigor, their feet and hands are warm, the "yan dai" - literally meaning 'eye bags" -- puffiness under their eyes is gone and one of the woman's blood pressure, Dr. Zhao measured it with his stethoscope today, is 120/60. So many people come in each day for these herbs -- and they love sharing their stories with me :)

Street-Crossing Tactics

Okay, one last story for today - as I know this is a very long update--- (Mom, you may desire to save reading this paragraph for when I'm home :)) -- on my way home from the clinic today, I had one more accomplishment to make ahead of me....crossing the street. This time, while there was a cadre of bicycles at the cross walk ahead of me (which I would usually choose to cross with because of their sheer numbers), I chose to stay at the cross walk I was at which just had one bicycle for me to tag along beside. I chose this one because in the middle of the street (where one often has to stop to wait to cross the other side of oncoming traffic) actually had a flimsy cone barrier. While this isn't really much of a barrier in reality, I, for some reason, feel a bit safer just standing next to something if I get stuck in the middle of the street. So I started to cross with the bike on my right...and all went well until the bike made a bolt and went for it to the other side of the street....without me! yikes - now I was in the middle of the road with just the flimsy barrier and I found my feet still wanting to follow the bike and...consequently I found myself now standing in front of 2 buses coming right at me - Aiya!! I quickly came to my senses and went back to wait by the flimsy barrier for a safe passage moment, but what was funny (in hindsight after I finally made another 'crossing-the-road' accomplishment) is that while Chinese drivers seem pretty comfortable and in the flow with predicting the road-crossing behavior of other Chinese, they don't seem very comfortable with predicting such behavior of foreigners! I think the 2 bus drivers may have been more scared than me when I walked in front of them as they both started to swerve in ways I hadn't seen before, and then went back to their usually bumbling down the road when I went back to stand by my flimsy barrier. :)

Below are some pictures of my room, Dr. Zhao's calligraphy, a video of him reciting the poem for the Du Mai (Governing Vessel) acupuncture points (available at a later date), two cute kids who were at the clinic today (Dr. Zhao helped this young women be able to get pregnant - and now she has 2 beautiful little ones :)), and Jun Lin and I at a street market :)

Tomorrow I'll meet with two of Dr. Zhao's colleagues, one being Dr. Fu who went hiking with us and the other being another doctor from Hebei Province. He's coming in to share and discuss some medical techniques with Dr. Zhao and Dr. Fu. They like to meet periodically to share and learn from each other :) I'll include some pics in my next update. (I had thought I sent this one out last night but woke up to discover I only sent it to myself! :))

Travel Blog

Oh yes and my friend, Rick, has helped me start a blog too! (As blogs are blocked here, I'm unable to create one or update it while here) Rick will be posting these updates on the blog and you or others you know, can see my updates there too :) It's still under construction(Thank You Rick!!!).

Much much Love to you all! And Thank You again for your emails!! I soooooo love hearing from you!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Love, KarenJoy

Village Flow and the Art of Chinese Herbal Scales and Package Bows

2010-03-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

Mar 15, 2010 7:11pm

Greetings Friends!

I'm so enjoying observing and participating in a new (yet rather old) rhythm of life. Here at Dr. Zhao's clinic, I love how the flow, rhythm and variety of life flows in and out of Dr. Zhao's clinic throughout the day. We really have a village feel and kids come running in and out (sometimes they're asked to run along out b/c they start getting into trouble), and elders and all people in between come and go throughout the day. (Note: even though I'm in Zhengzhou, which is a big city, we're on the edge of it so our neighborhood does feel more like a village - Dr. Zhao grew up here and his family has lived in this area for over 300 years)

One example with the kids is this morning -- a little boy came running in to show Dr. Zhao a picture he drew -- he calls him 'ye ye' - which means grandfather in Chinese.( I love how in the Chinese language you call each person by a family name - even if they're not family by blood -- for example, I'm the village's American Auntie :) - "Meiguo Ayi.") He also started playing with some of Dr. Zhao's tools, like his stethoscope, and after doing it 3 times upon being told not to, he was sternly told to go on out to play....

Later, this same little boy, while I was filling herbal prescriptions with Jun Lin and Zhao Ayi, and Dr. Zhao was with a client, came back and started writing something on Dr. Zhao's desk. He then started laughing and giggling and again ran over to Dr. Zhao to show him what he did. He had pretended he was Dr. Zhao and wrote himself his own prescription! He used one of Dr. Zhao's intake sheets, wrote his name, age (6) and for illness - wrote "xin zang bing' (or heart disease) - since that's a common one people come to see Dr. Zhao for. And for his herbs he proceeded to write out a prescription for the yummy herb I mentioned before - Shan Zha (it's often made into a candy or little wafer-like snacks -yum!) He was a bag of giggles and we all laughed with him. :)

So as the kids can run in and out, elders come in, young moms, workers, students and people of all ages and classes -- also many local people and people from all over China. Dr. Zhao doesn't do any advertising for his clinic; people come from word of mouth (we have more people from out of town come on Mondays as they can travel here on Sunday and take less time away from work). We also have many women in their 20s, 30s and 40s hoping to become moms come (Dr. Zhao is well known for also helping many women who would like to have children be able to get pregnant.) On Saturday one such young woman came who was so happy because after taking Dr. Zhao's herbs for a short time she found out she is now 3 months pregnant. She, that day I saw her, also brought along another girlfriend of hers who is desiring to conceive too.

I love the variety of people who walk in Dr. Zhao's clinic doors -- people of all types, shapes and sizes and life stories are welcome to come and are treated with the same kindness, dignity and generosity in the clinic. And I love how his health care is soooo accessible and affordable and simple and.....enjoyable! the whole experience is one of being truly cared for and in a happy and loving, family-like yet professional environment. One older woman and her husband came in on Saturday. The older woman, I'll call her "Nai nai" (meaning grandmother in Chinese) was obviously in pain and it was a struggle to walk in and sit down. After about 10-15 minutes of acupressure massage, she was smiling and laughing while still lying on the table. Dr. Zhao had me come over to talk with her about her experience and she said, "I came in with this horrible pain in my chest and throat --('hen nan shou') -- very uncomfortable -- and now," she said smiling while looking up at me, "I feel light and good. The pain is gone!" She was obviously delighted! :)

In addition to observing and sometimes helping with clients, I'm also helping more with "the Chinese herbal dispensary" - preparing, measuring and packaging of Chinese herbal prescriptions. Today, and this may sound quite insignificant but for me feels like a BIG accomplishment, I successfully wrapped up about 5 bags of herbs! Seeing that we (meaning me, Jun Lin and Zhao Ayi) in total probably wrapped 85-100 bags of herbs today, my contribution to the whole production is quite a small percentage - BUT for me it was a big improvement on my other attempts last week! What, when observing Jun Lin and Zhao Ayi, looks quite simple and quick to do, actually takes quite a bit of coordination. First of all, I require mastering how to use one of the Chinese scales for measuring herbs - which is an 'art' in and of itself (there's a picture of me using one below), then it requires being able to decipher Dr. Zhao's scribbled Chinese characters for the herbs (which Jun Lin comforted me in saying that reading a doctor's herbal prescriptions is probably one of the hardest things to read!) Then it requires finding the herbs amongst all the little wooden drawers behind the counter -- and if it's one I've been shown before -- or even several times, I feel more pressure to find it and 'get it right' :). After I find the herbs, then it's time for me to take my scale (I have my own now that they've given to me to use :)) and measure out the amount of herbs multiplied by the number of bags. Seems simple enough, right? Well, it is.....until I have the patients come over to wait for their herbs because ...1) they are intrigued to see a 'foreigner' in the clinic, and 2) they're a bit inquisitive to see if I really know what I'm doing!

So I breathe and focus, focus, focus....and remember to smile....and it all goes well until...in measuring 15 grams for 10 bags, I get to bag 6 and forget what measurement I'm supposed to be on as Dr. Zhao also walks over behind the counter and decides to see 'how I'm doing' -- "ay you!" -- as the Chinese say for "yikes!"

Actually everyone has been/is very kind to me and greatly gives me the benefit of the doubt, saying "ta hen congming! Ta xue de hen kuai!" -- "she's very smart - she's learning very quickly!" despite my clumsiness at times.

So after the measuring is done, then it's time to wrap the herbs up into neat little packages. We measure the herbs onto pieces of square paper, so we use this to wrap them up in. With just a few quick folds, both Jun Lin and Zhao Ayi have their bundles nice and tidy. Then they take a piece of string and swiftly and gracefully wrap it lengthwise around the package, and then with a quick twist, wrap it width-wise and tie a simple knot and "boop" -- they snap the string and their tidy bundle of herbs is ready to go. Well, then there's me...and both Jun Lin and Zhao Ayi have already numerous times patiently and kindly showed me again and again their technique, saying "watch -- just do it this way"....and boom, swoosh, pluck - it's done! Argh! -- again it was too fast and I realize I just require to do it myself many times to actually get the movements and have them be natural.

So I courageously step up to a package and fold over one flap and the other. Then I push the herbs up from the bottom and make a couple folds, and then it's like a burrito with the bottom folded and the top is still open. Then I hold the bottom flap closed and lift up the package to stuff the herbs sticking out at the top in more to make the final fold over on the top...Again, this seems simple enough until you see how many bulky herbs we're trying to fit into these small square pieces of wrapping paper! Several times I've folded my packages proudly only to have Dr. Zhao come over and say "Bu xing - tai chang. Yao duan yidian - zai zuo" -- No good -- it's too long, you need to make it shorter and do it again" -- Of course he says it kindly and with a smile....And then Jun Lin comes to help -- she says to not hold the wrapping too tight when pushing the herbs down from the top -- this way you can fill the middle of the package with more herbs and then when you fold over the top flap, the package will be shorter. Well again, this makes sense, right? Yes, I agree it does...until I do it and then don't hold the package tight enough while I push the herbs from the top....and then the herbs start to come out from the bottom end of the package...and the whole thing starts to slip apart again! Ayoh! (Yikes!)

Once I finally get my bundle together -- the next task is tying it and this has taken me numerous times to do! If only I had paid more attention to how my Mom so neatly and beautiful tied bows on all our Christmas packages when I was little! :) Little did I know that would be of benefit many years later in China! Well anyway, I'll spare you the details but just to say I've experienced many finally successfully wrapped herb packages slip apart again while attempting to wrap it with this string -- and I've also managed to get the rubber glove I'm wearing tied into the knot of the package! "Jia you!" --That's a Chinese expression for cheering someone on -- like in a running race....and in my case in successfully wrapping a package of herbs!

So after this long explanation you may see why I am quite pleased with my success in wrapping 5 bags today :) This morning after filling a large prescription of 30 bags, Dr. Zhao asked Jun Lin and Ayi how I was doing -- they both enthusiastically and cheerfully exclaimed I wrapped two beautiful packages! :) Later today, Jun Lin gave me some packages to practice with and after successfully wrapping them (see the picture below), I was about to unwrap them to put the herbs back and reuse the paper, and Jun Lin instead took them to put them on display as a way to celebrate/congratulate my success!

Another daily success I'm experiencing is crossing the big street on my way to the clinic each day. Again, this doesn't sound like a big deal until you've been in, participated in or witnessed Chinese traffic! There's really absolutely no rules to the 'driving game' -- I guess you can say, if you're still smiling on the other side of the street, you can congratulate yourself and celebrate another daily accomplishment! My tactic is to wait for another person - preferably a group of people with at least 1 or 2 bikes or motor scooters and join their 'scurry group' across the street! I'll save more details on this for when I'm safely home and I know my mom won't worry :)

I have some great pictures of my hike yesterday with Dr. Zhao, Dr. Fu and my two friends, Patrick from Hungary, and David from Brazil. Below are a few pics and I'll put the rest in a photo album to send out with some of the stories from that adventure in the album itself :) The last picture is of Dr. Fu and me in front of a tree that is 4,500 years old. The beauty and peace in the energy this tree generates is profound. If you look up to the right, you'll also see the image of Guanyin sitting in the tree....

Thank you for joining me in my journey here in China. I am so, so happy to share with you. And I am sending Much Love to you all!

Also, thank you soooooo much for your emails. Your words and sharing really mean very much to me.

Much, much Love and Joy,
KarenJoy

Generosity in Zhengzhou

2010-03-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Mar 12 2010 7:22pm

Greetings Friends!

I'm in Zhengzhou, China now and just finished my 2nd day in Dr. Zhao's clinic. I love being in China!!! It's so different from the states and yes, there's things I miss (like the clean air and lots of beautiful parks with big, luscious green trees and birds) but as my sister said today (I had a spontaneous 3 way conference call with my sister, Lynn and Mom this morning -- it was soooo neat to be able to all talk together - me being in China just starting my day, Lynn in Indiana just about to hop into bed, and Mom in California just finishing her dinner :))...as Lynn said on our phone call - she's so glad that the world has such a variety of places. Sometimes when I'm in one place for a long time, it's easy for me to think this is just the way life is. Traveling to new countries is so neat to see how different life can be in other places.

For example, walking the streets in my new neighborhood, I see so many people -- older adults, young kids, babies toddling around with their moms (real little toddlers also wear these interesting pants that have a hole cut right in the crotch -- they don't wear diapers -- they just squat and go to the bathroom when they're outside playing), and neighbors out talking in the streets. People are pretty relaxed here and have a lot of time to smile and chat and watch their day go by.

I also feel so privileged being a foreigner here. People are sooooo welcoming and amazingly friendly and generous with me! For example, for my stay here in Zhengzhou, Dr. Zhao found a hotel room for me to stay in that's just a 10 minute walk from his home and clinic (this way, he said I can take hot showers :) - he lives in an older part of town where the homes don't have hot water or showers) - Because Dr. Zhao knows the owner of the hotel, I'm able to stay here for a very good rate and they gave me a most beautiful room - it's like an apartment!! And they feed me breakfast and dinner. (And it's of course so delicious to me b/c it's all Chinese food :))

Yesterday I arrived at dinner late and there was only a little bit left. The servers asked me what I like to eat and in 5 minutes they came out with a platter of sauted greens and the most delicious tofu and a bowl of 'dan hua tang' - egg flower soup :)!!! Wow it was delicious -- and then they asked me what kind of fruit I like....I didn't know why they asked but I told them. Well, today when I arrived for dinner, all the servers were smiling big. After I went through the buffet and sat down to eat like everyone else, a man walked through the room to the kitchen with a big bag of fruit. There was a scurry and I heard one man mention 'American friend' (they were speaking in their local dialect but some words sound similar). In a few minutes, they came out with a most beautiful platter of fruit just for me! I was soooo amazed and touched! I took a picture of it {above top} (the picture shows what was left of it when I brought the rest up to my room after I ate some :) -- they cut the pink apple beautifully, laid out some sliced oranges, peeled and sliced an Asian pear and also laid out a cute little mango and one of those tiny oranges (it's not really an orange but it looks like one - the size of a grape).

That's just one example of the kind of warmth I'm receiving here. Another is from Dr. Zhao and his family. They are sooo wonderful! His wife (I call her 'Ayi' - meaning 'Auntie') is delightful - happy and talkative and is always trying to get me to eat more. She makes such yummy food and has already figured out how much I love black sesame paste and at lunch (I eat lunch with her and Dr. Zhao each day during our mid-day break) she makes me this yummy soup with 'hei zhi ma tang yuan' -these little rice paste balls filled with sweet black sesame paste - each day my soup has more and more of these 'tang yuan' in them as I'm always exclaiming "Mmmmmmm!" while eating them :)

Dr. Zhao's daughter-in-law, Jun Lin works with us in the clinic and she's teaching me how to 'zhua yao' - measure and bag up the herbs for herbal prescriptions. Have you seen those hand scales that Chinese herbalists use when going to buy Chinese herbal medicine? I've seen them and am just now learning how to use them! I'm starting to help fill the herbal prescriptions but I'm much, much slower than Jun Lin and Dr. Zhao's wife! Yesterday when I finally finished measuring out one of about 15 herbs for 1 prescription, I felt awkward and as if I had about 4 thumbs in working the scale, but Dr. Zhao just exclaimed - "Very good!" - He's so kind :)

Also, the night I arrived, Dr. Zhao, his wife and his daughter, Nicole and Nicole's daughter all made a wonderful dinner for me. At the end of dinner, Dr. Zhao went upstairs and came down to read a poem he wrote for me in coming to study with him. He is a wonderful poet (as some of you know - those of you who were at the ZYQ retreat last year). It is so beautiful and I feel so honored and touched by his kindness and depth of feeling. It starts with famous line from Li Bai (a famous Chinese poet) about a guest coming from a far away land, and the next line welcomes me to China. He ends with an allusion to a famous monk who made a pilgrimage all the way to India to study with his teacher and my making so many changes is my life to come all the way across the oceans to come study with him - and his feelings of gratitude for this opportunity as well. Wow. I too am so grateful. And I so enjoy hearing him recite his poem -- the Chinese language is truly a beautiful language. (I put the poem next to my fruit plate in the picture above top:))

Gosh, this is a long update and I still have so much to say! I am already learning a lot just observing and in some cases helping give some treatments with clients. I'm also interviewing some clients about their experience with Chinese medicine. Today I spoke with a young man who has had severe depression for 8 years. He came to Dr. Zhao 6 months ago and is now so much better. He can sleep again, he's been able to stop taking his western meds (after taking them for 8 years, and at times being hospitalized, and trying unsuccessfully in the past to wean off of them), and his spirit is now showing up again behind his eyes and in his body. He came today with his family and they all eagerly shared with me their story. The young man said with western meds he often felt they were just too strong - a sense of pressure of them controlling part of his being/emotions; with Chinese medicine he doesn't feel that pressure - he feels relief and a sense that it's working together, cooperatively and in harmony with his body and spirit.

Many clients also come each day to pick up one of Dr. Zhao's famous heart pill formulas "Zhao Shi Xin Mai Tong Jiao Nang" -- this is for people with heart disease -- several who were quite ill, now are strong and lively and living healthy, active lives. They are quite excited to talk with me and share their experiences :)....And many, many more examples. Below are a few pictures of his clinic and his wife and Jun Lin filling herbal prescriptions :)

This weekend plans changed a bit as Hua Shan (Mt. Hua) is one of the most dangerous hikes and b/c of the cold, most of the trails are closed. Therefore, my friends Patrick and David, will come here to Zhengzhou and Dr. Zhao and another doctor friend of his (who has the same Chinese last name as me! -- mine is one my first Chinese teacher gave me :)) will hike up a mountain by Shaolin and then go to a most special concert in one of the nearby mountain temples - Dr. Zhao is excited to take us and I'm excited to go -- we'll be quite an international group with me from the U.S., Dr. Zhao and his friends from China, Patrick from Hungary, and David from Brazil! :) Any other takers? If you'd like to come, come on ova'! :)

Much, Much love to you all!! And thank you again for your emails!! I love hearing from you and even though I havent' written back to each email, I am so much sending you my LOVE and more LOVE :)!!!

Much Love and Gratitude,
KarenJoy

Travel Update: Snow in Beijing and Visit with Mingtang at Kundawell Institute!

2010-03-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Mar 9, 2010 at 8:44 PM

Greetings Friends,

Here's my first of several updates I'll be sending while traveling.

What a great day today! And I'm so happy to be able to share with you! (Gosh, it used to just be sharing with 1 postcard at a time -- now I can share so much more easily) I have enjoyed 2 great days at my qigong teacher's, Grandmaster Mingtang Xu's, Kundawell Institute in Beijing. Mingtang offered me a room to stay in for these 2 nights here too which has been such a treat! They are usually for his patients - but since they've just started up again after the Chinese New Year, they have some extra space - it's like a 5-star hotel and is such a generous gift! I'm thankful for the warmth and comfort given the cold outside! :) (It snowed yesterday!!)

Today I attended more classes at Kundawell - anatomy, Image Medicine, and meditation - the class on Image Medicine was taught by a Russian woman I met 5 years ago at Shaolin and now she's a professor here! - we got to practice scanning each other on receiving info on the physical, informational and energetic anatomies of our bodies - way cool! One woman student I've befriended, Arvin, from Latvia, LOVES qigong and this practice of medicine. She's quite talented and says she has big goals, "like really big" - traveling to the moon and such -- Mingtang has told us many stories of such experiences with his own training with his teachers when younger. :)

I also spontaneously met my friend Patrick from Hungary who is now living in Beijing! I met him 5 years ago when traveling with Mingtang in Europe and it was so awesome to see him again. We already planned a trip for him to come to Zhengzhou this Friday to meet Dr. Zhao (whom I'll be studying with and will take the train to be with him tomorrow) and then Patrick, I and Kundawell's anatomy teacher from Brazil, David, will take the train on Saturday to Hua Shan (Mt. Hua - one of the 5 sacred Taoist mountains) for a weekend hiking adventure - maybe we'll make it to Xi'an too). Also of note is that the 3 of us (David, Patrick and I) had lunch together for a total of 33 yuan - $5 for all 3 of us combined -- I love Chinese food and the prices! :)

Gosh, I also just love walked the streets and alley ways ('hutong') in old Beijing! There are soo many good things to eat! I just went to buy some fruit and got some favorite snacks (shan zha pian - which is a form of dried plum made into wafer like treats, hei zhi ma hu - which is this yummy black sesame seed flour that you add hot water to for a most delicious breakfast :), roasted chestnuts - that are still warm when they put them in a bag for you, and a yummy yogurt drink (suan nai) -- they serve them in these clay cups and ask that you come back the next day to return them :))

Tomorrow morning I take the train to Zhengzhou to meet Dr. Zhao and his family. Not sure what internet access I'll have for the first few days...but I'll send updates as I do. Still have to get some pics up too.

Much love to you all!! I'm so happy I can share with you! xoxoxoxo

Much Love,

KarenJoy

P.S. The picture of me below is on the top of Kundawell Institute -- and I also include some of the alley ways in old Beijing :) -- More pics on Facebook :) xoxo

p.p.s. Thank you to all of you for your notes you wrote back on my first email!!! I haven't been online much so haven't written back to each of you AND I soooo appreciate your emails and love. thank you!!

Leaving In 3 Hours for Beijing

2010-03-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

Mar 6, 2010 at 2:26 AM

Greetings Friends!

I'm in SFO now about to get on a plane to China. I'll be in Zhengzhou for about 2 months (about 1 hour away from Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province) to study acuppressure with Dr. Zhao Fuxue in his family clinic.

Some of you know that I was given the opportunity to work with Dr. Zhao last summer in Seattle and it ended up being such a life-enriching, and transformative experience. My qigong teacher, Grandmaster Mingtang Xu, had invited Dr. Zhao to come here from China to teach at our annual retreat and offer private consultations to help support our ZY Qigong non-profit organization. Mingtang asked me to be his interpreter and....voila! I found myself working and being with Dr. Zhao each day for a good portion of the summer - interpreting for him at lectures, meetings, with clients during his treatments, and just helping him adjust to American life, and enjoying so much of his delicious Chinese cooking (he was staying just around the block from me and would often cook such delicious food and call me to come over and join him for lunch or dinner!) We quickly became like family and he has become a dear dear friend and beloved teacher - I learned so much both of Chinese medicine and also so much on how to live my own powerful, loving and fulfilling Life. He is a man of great integrity and love - always giving his very best to his clients and each person he comes in contact with. To have the opportunity to help others communicate with him and facilitate a most transformative encounter, dialogue and friendship with many people was such a great gift.

He has invited me to come to his clinic these next 2 months to continue studying with him, and then he plans to come back to Seattle shortly after I return to offer more consultations.

Last summer I put together a photo album (< link) of our time with him and for some reason only 1/2 of the photos remain.:( In any case, you'll see from the 1st half of the album what a warm, humble, wise and generous man he is. :)

He has told and taught me many things, and one thing I'll like to share is his reminder of "Wu Dao" -- "wu" is the Chinese word for enlightenment. "Dao" is the Chinese character for 'the way,' 'the path'. "These 2 characters, Karen" he said, "are a reminder to always, always follow your own true path. We all have teachers and guides who help us...AND in the end we must always follow our own heart and wisdom, our own Truth."

He is his own example. I'm excited for you all to meet him later this spring when I'm back and our ZY Qigong organization hosts his return.

I LOVE you all very very much and will be sending much Joy to you while I'm in China. Thank you for your love and support!!!

Much Great LOVE and JOY,

KarenJoy