The Good Doctor

Upon my return from China, I have picked up tutoring a Japanese Doctor in English. He is young, around 29 years old, and would like to move to America for a Medical Fellowship. Previously, he had been studying with a friend of mine up north, but he has been relocated to my area so she passed him on to me.

The good Doctor has pretty decent English, but most of his English study has been medical. So, occasionally he says things like, "It looks like your smoothie has coagulated," or, "I have a feeling today of malaise." It is strange to hear such large words coming out of his mouth, and yet have to define words like unite, barn, unveil, ladder, and desolation.

Recently, at one of our weekly meetings, the doctor and I were starting our conversation with the general, "How was your week, blah, blah, blah," and we began talking about Japanese vs. American medicine. It started with his trip to a medical conference about Tuberculosis. In Japan, it is customary for every child to get the test where they stick a bunch of needles in your arm in a small patch that looks like you could play dots on your arm. The problem with this is that having this test means that you will henceforth have a positive result for TB with the much simpler skin test, and therefore always need a chest x-ray or another needle test to see if they actually have Tuberculosis (forgive me if any of this is incorrect).

I commented that I had to have a chest x-ray in order to obtain a work visa in Japan, but that Japan had actually requested a needle test. The good doctor was very surprised at this and we got into talking about other issues such as AIDS, HIV, and then sexually transmitted diseases.

Now, I am only going on his word for these things, but he said that just two or three years ago Japan's Ministry of Health (not the actual department name) found an uprise in the number of STDs, and abortions, and thought it was becoming increasingly necessary to educate the youth of Japan. So, they developed a pamphlet discussing the importance of condoms, and how STDs are transmitted, and basically how babies are made. Halfway through production, however, the Ministry of Education laid the smack down and said it would not allow the Ministry of Health to distribute these pamphlets at schools. ONLY 2 YEARS AGO!

The thing that kills me is that it wasn't even the grand step of actually talking to students. This was just a pamphlet that they may or may not read. I actually once overheard a teacher (in her 60's) telling a 16 year-old student that you can't get chlamydia from sex! Another girl I was talking to, around the same age, did not know what a condom was. This wasn't a language barrier, she sincerely had never heard of a condom in any language, nor what it was used for.

All I can do is sigh. I know that my role in Japan is not to make waves, or I would be on the next boat back to America, but at least the doctor agreed with me. I think the lack of sex education in Japan is very sad, and I wish there was something I could do about it.

Sushi, Not Just for Eating

Only a week back in the land of the rising sun and already I was immersing myself back into Japanese culture. Friday night I ent to a sushi making class. The class cost around $15 and was mixed with Japanese and non-Japanese persons. I didn't know what I was getting into, but I figured I would be learning to make sushi rice, and how to pick fish. This didn't begin to cover the skills I learned.

The two class instructors were sushi chefs at the number two sushi restaurant in Japan. They didn't speak any English, but their instructions were translated. The class started with their demonstration of first killing then cutting up a fish that I think may still have been alive but had been packed on ice since its catching. First they descaled the fish, then chopped off the head, gutted it, sliced in half and removed the bones, skinned it, removed the tail, leaving the beautiful flesh that is sushi. They moved their sharp knives in a seemingly effortless manner, which convinced me that anyone could perform the same task.

So I merrily went back to my table where I pulled my fish out of the ice bucket and began winding my way through the steps I had just witnessed. Okay, so I am not Wolfganag Puck or Emeril, but I have always thought myself to be handy in the kitchen. Apparently it is a regional skill. While the chefs had prepared 6 amazingly identical well carved pieces of sashimi, placed on the sushi rice to become nigiri, mine were...well..less than elegant. I had what could only be called five and a half misshapen, rough-edged, wobbly looking pieces of torn fish flesh on top of six poorly-sized pieces of rice. Some of my rice balls were too big, some too small, some fell apart, it was a disaster.

Onto course two. The chefs showed us how to make tempura, which I don't think anyone could mess up. Although you could make tempura anything, we made tempura shrimp, peppers, and lotus filled with shrimp. Even though I was fearful that these too would end poorly as well, it turns out that no matter how long you fry them, how much you batter them, or how much you raise your eyebrows at the measurements of ingredients, tempura nearly always turns out the same.

Finally, we made a duck stew-like concoction which I don't think I will ever replicate. The ingredients were rare and I don't think I will ever have enough Japanese to buy them, and in all honesty, I didn't really care for the combination of flavors. The broth was thick like gravy, but lacked flavor, and the various contents didn't seem to compliment each other. This isn't because I made the stew, either. It just wasn't spectacular.

The feast we sat down to at the conclusion of the class was one that will go down in infamy. I was a little worried about my sketchy looking sushi. Eating raw fish, no matter how much I love it, always seems like a dare devil sport for me and my sushi was looking none too happy. But, it turned out that looks are decieving and that it tasted perfect. The tempura was also quite delightful, and even though I didn't finish it, I was proud that my duck soup tasted just like the chef's.

I still haven't convinced myself to buy fish and cut it up at home. I know that this would greatly cut down my sushi costs, but I am terrified of buying a non-sushi worthy fish. I just don't know how to tell how fresh it is. Someday I suppose...

An American Girl in China - For the Love of God, Don't Drink the Water

After a thrilling couple of days in Beijing, Red and I headed to Macau for a day and then on to Hong Kong for the remainder of our trip.

Macau was an interesting place, combing the cultures of Chinese and Portuguese. English was completely worthless as a language, but my Spanish abilities proved helpful. The strange architecture--the pink capital building for example-- exotic foods, and cultural mix was somewhat overwhelming. Red and I landed there on May 1st, which was one of the most celebrated days on the peninsula, as they honor their founder and namesake, Ama.

The festival was a page out of National Geographic. A large temple, filled with people lighting handfuls of incense, homeless people setting off firecrackers in the street with little regard to bystanders, and roasted (whole) pigs, steamed (again whole) ducks, sweets, and other offerings presented to Ama. It was a flurry of color and smoke (the incense was quite powerful).

We ended the day with a meal at a five star restaurant. It was an incredible feast or giant shrimp, fish right off the bone, sausage made at the table, pitchers of sangria, and odd-flavored sorbets. It would have been the perfect end to the day had I not been eaten alive by mosquito's. Apparently our romantic lakeside dining was the perfect environment to feast for both us and the bugs.

Then...On to Hong Kong. After spending time in both Beijing and Macau, going to Hong Kong was like going to Tokyo...A lot of fun, but in general just a large nondescript city where half the people speak varying levels of English and everyone else speaks something else. That is not to say we didn't have a good time, it was just not the cultural haven we had come to enjoy.

Our first day there took us to Lantau Island to see the giant (34 meter) Buddha statue. It is said to weigh 250 tons and to be the biggest Buddha statue in Asia. The drive up there is on a bus and was similar to that of a rollercoaster. Imagine the most narrow road you have ever been on, then put that on the side of a mountain, with one side being shear rock, the other being a cliff, then go 50 mph, the add another bus going the opposite direction. There is just no regard for safety or human life in China.

Still, we made it in one piece, and climbed the stairs to the top where we could see a whole hell of a lot of fog. The statue itself was grand. We walked around the island a bit, then headed to lunch. Lunch was good. We each order plates the size of our torso and dug in. I ordered an iced tea to compliment the meal, and made the mistake of my life. All trip long I had done very well at avoiding the water in China. I never drank from the tap, I always boiled the water I used for brushing my teeth, and drank bottled water all day. I just hadn't accounted for the ice in the iced tea.

The last four days in Hong Kong were a blur of lost fluids. We did a lot of shopping, sight-seeing, and walking about, but the mere smell of food was enough to toss cookies. I had a great time and a terrible time, all at the same time. So, if ever in China, really, really, really avoid the water...And ice is made of water so avoid that too!