A Week in Review

The past week was crazy and I was unable to find the time (or energy) to sit down and write this post.

At CAU, we were able to apply the information we gained from Dr. Liu during the first week and actually insert needles into a demonstration donkey and dog.  Veterinary acupuncture was first developed to solve the illnesses found in horses.  Ancient China, horses were very important because they were used as both work animals on farms and as calvary in war. In recent years however the horse has been replaced by cattle for farm work.  To practice the equine acupuncture points, a donkey was used.  I actually enjoyed having a donkey as a stand-in because it was actually "my size".  I don't think I will be able to treat a horse with needles unless I have a step stool to give me the height I need ;-)  The donkey's skin was so tough to penetrate with the needles that it was frustrating that I wasn't sure if this was for me.  One of the professors traveling with us stated that horse skin isn't that hard.

The next day, we learned the acupuncture points of the dog and were able to practice with a medium sized dog.  It was interesting how the veterinary professors at CAU interacted with this dog.  The culture of caring for dogs in China is very different from the US.  They are just beginning to consider dogs as "part of the family".  Many of the dogs, we saw while walking around the city were "owned" but were free-roaming. Applying the needles to the dog was a lot easier than the donkey and it made me feel accomplished that I can go back home and apply what I have learned.

Last day of class we learned about the use of massage as a preventative medicine.  The presenting professor began massaging her own cat as a kitten and the cat lived to be 24.  Many of the locations of massage are over a region of acupuncture points and she stated that the exact location is not as important as being thorough with each session.  I think this could easily be added to the the discharge protocols for many patients and will help enhance the human animal bond.

Along with class I traveled all over Beijing during my last week.  We visited the Olympic Park from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  It was really cool to visit the site of Michael Phelps amazing medal run and see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube up close.  One of my favorite parts was the wall of Olympians; they had every medal winner's name carved into a wall including those in the Para-Olympics.  I was also able to finally have Beijing Duck.  Everyone in class had talked about the city's iconic food but every time I tried to find a restaurant I was thwarted with poor directions, terrible weather, or lack of time.  I was finally able to enjoy it at the Olympic Village Roast Duck Restaurant and it was worth the wait.


Our last weekend, we traveled to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors.  We traveled as a small group and took the slow overnight train to Xi'an.  The train ride was actually very comfortable.  The four of us had a small cabin and we were able to sleep as we traveled the 12 hours from Beijing to Xi'an.  When we arrived in Xi'an, our tour guide met us at the train station and we were off.  The warriors were amazing to see.  The site was discovered by a local farmer while he was digging a well on his property.  To stand at the front of the first Pit that was excavated was breath taking.  Only a small portion of the warriors have been fully excavated and restored and the rest are waiting to be removed by the archaeologists.  For me this was similar to when I visited Pompeii and the archaeologists were still in the process of finding new artifacts and learning new things about a site that is hundreds of years old.

My last day in Beijing was a day of accomplishment.  Kat and I were able to navigate the subway and bus
system to visit the Harley-Davidson Store and Central Perk.   The coffee was good and the continuous loop of Friends re-runs made me feel like I was back in the US.

With my trip over and safely back in the land where pedestrians have the right of way, I am glad that I was able to participate in this adventure.  My other trips abroad have been "easy" compared to this one.  My first travels were with my family and it was easy to allow them to figure it all out.  My first trip solo was to a country that spoke my first language and it was easy to ask directions and get help.  Traveling to China with a completely different language and alphabet made me expand my horizons and become a global citizen. (wow that sounds cheesy)

(Getting a nifty certificate at the end didn't hurt either)

China Update

I am having so much fun here.  We have been super busy so I haven't been able to update in a while.  Last week, we finished up the theory behind TCVM and over the weekend we had our sight-seeing tour of Beijing.

The first day we traveled through Beijing and learned the history of China's Dynasties.  We visited the World Heritage Site of the Summer Palace outside of Beijing.  This Palace was built as a gift to the emperor's mother and includes a 2.2 square kilometer man-made lake and the Long Corridor that is over 700 meters long.  We also visited the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.  Both of these sites are within the city of Beijing and are continuously being restored.  The amazing bard of the two sites is though Beijing has had earthquakes that have toppled the majority of the city's high-rises at some point, the Temple of Heaven have never been destroyed by an earthquake.  This is because the completely wooden structure "sits" on the surface of the earth and is not cemented in place.  When an earthquake occurs the building shakes like a table on each of its leg instead of breaking apart.  We finished the day at Tienanmen Square which is the location of Mao's speeches and the only public square in the world that can fit 600,000 people.

The second day I was able to check off another Wonder of the World off of my bucket list.  I climbed the Great wall of China.  It was not what I thought it would be.  The section that we traveled was mostly unrestored, so that means we were going up and down inclines without handrails, with the rocks sliding underfoot, crumbling stairs and an outstanding view of the mountain sides.  On top of the already perilous wall, Mother Nature decided to give us the extra challenge of rain.  It rained from beginning to end creating a now slick, surface to walk on.  he scariest part of the entire section was the stair leaving the "Flowers Tower".  This descent had an incline of 78 degrees and no hand railings.  In the end I would not have missed it for anything. 

This week we have been learning the specific acupoints of the horse and got to actually use this knowledge on our demonstration donkey.  The donkey did pretty well until the last couple of minutes when he had enough of us poking him.  

I will try to update a couple more times this week as I am able.

2556-Long Corridor

2758-Temple of Heaven

2813-Great Wall

Day 1 of Class

Day 1 of Class:
Chinese Agricultural University is a few stops down the road from our hotel.  It's a little too far to walk so we have to take the bus. Not an easy thing to do with 19 Americans during rush hour in Beijing.  From exploring the city I have found it is very inconsistent with whether the directional and stop names are given in both Chinese characters and English characters or just Chinese. The hardest part of moving us from point A to point B is making sure we get off at the right stop.

Our first day of class focused on the theory and history behind Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine.  The history goes back so far that is is incredible to think that it has continued till today with very little change. Dr. Liu gave us a tour of his teaching hospital and showed us over 2,000 different herbs that are used in common remedies. Herbal medicine in China can include plant, animal, or mineral; so along with ginseng root and lotus flower, there was also cicada shells, garter snake, stink bugs and gypsum stone.  This definitely gives a new perspective to the herbal remedies at the clinic.

Day 2:
Today we learned about Yin, Yang and the Five Elements that are the basis of Chinese Traditional Medicine.  The Chinese believe that everything belongs to either the yin (female, dark, static, cool) or the yang (male, light, dynamic, hot). By classifying the world this way, they would describe disease as either an excess or deficiency causing the body to shift out of balance.  So to treat a disease you would need to correct the imbalance and to do that they use the theory of the five elements.  They believe that the everything in the world is made of the native elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.  The elements are normally arranged in a circle where the preceding element supports the following in a mother-son relationship.  For example, water supports wood (plants growing) while wood supports fire.  Along those lines there is also a grandparent-child relationship that controls an element and decreases. For example, water controls fire (by putting it out) and fire controls metal (by melting it down). By supporting an element, the Chinese were able to treat diseases.

After class, my roommate, Kat, and I decided to wander through the Houhai district of Beijing.  This area was originally a hung but has now been turned into a tourist area filled with coffee shops and restaurants.  There were a ton of outdoor venders that I did some (bad) bartering with but had a blast.  The Ada surrounds a lake and has a few bridges that span the water making it a beautiful place to visit. 

Day 3:
This morning we had class and began to learn the meridians and acupuncture points used in veterinary medicine.  It is great learning from Dr. Liu because we are not only learning the points but the history and the stories behind the points (and sometimes the funny stories of his classmates or fellow practitioners).  We also learned about the different types of acupuncture, some which I had never heard of before.  The main form of acupuncture in the United States is filliform acupuncture.  This forms uses is very thin needles to stimulate the points along the animal and can be left in for 10-30 minutes.  In China, this method is used along with, round-sharp needles, three-edged needles and wide needles for blood-letting, fire needles and hollow needles.  Each of the needle types have an indication of when to use them.  We also learned about the different methods of inserting needles.
After class, Kat, Kristen, Phillip and I traveled to the Qianmen Cultural District to explore the area.  We kinda played it by ear, so I have no idea what I actually saw there.  It seemed to be an older street that was recently renovated to look new-old.  Many of the shops there were western shops like H&M or Lacoste.  We found a small candy shop (or at least that is what we were assuming) and browsed through the many different candies.  Halfway through our browsing, one of the shop girls started to help us pick out the candies that she thought were good since we seemed be completely lost.  We started taste-testing each of the candies as we walked through the district and we realized, what we consider candy, is not what everyone in the world considers candy.  It was definitely an interesting trip trying to determine how to eat each of the candies and what they were supposed to taste like.  I tried all of the different types that were bought but I think I'm going to stick with my Snickers.

Day 1

My feet hurt is the understatement of the century.

We walked around Beijing today to sight see and help to get over jet lag.  We braved the subway system with our amazing host student Hu.  Each subway ticket is read by a RF reader on the way in and on the way out you place it into a slot to take it back.  This system is really cool since it recycles the card as you leave and it can then be used again by another patron.

Our first adventure was through Tanggong Hutong. A hutong is a narrow street or alleyway between homes.  They were initially spacious residences of officials that decorated the doors and roof tiles according to their rank but now they have become more run down due to years and the availability of modern living spaces.  Many have been torn down but many are now protected by the government to save the cultural heritage.  While we explored our guide explained how to tell the gender of the stone lions that littered throughout Beijing: Male lions have their paw crushing a ball, while Females have their paw on a cub and a ball in their mouth.  The ball has to be carved inside and shows the talent of the carver.

Our next stop was the drum and bell towers.  The towers were used to signal time throughout the city.  We were able to catch the end of a drum show and get a view of the Beijing skyline from the balcony (albeit there was a bit a smog).  The Bell Tower sits just North and houses an enormous bell that used to be rung throughout the day marking time, but is now only rung once a year during their Spring Festival.  The steps up to the bell and drums were STEEP.  The stairs were also uneven and this was to deter enemies from storming the top levels.  

We visited the Yong He Gong Lama Temple.  This temple was built within the a palace complex and each building had different Buddhas.  The statues were huge and gorgeous.  Each temple building had altars for gifts and there were practitioners offering incense at each altar.

Our last stop during our tour was Bei Hai Park, a large Chinese garden.  It was built to imitate multiple regions of China and has a large lake and yet more steep uneven stairs to the White Temple pagoda.  Each temple we visited was gorgeously made.  This is also the location of the Nine Dragon Wall.   Which is the only wall ever found with 9 dragons on each side and smaller dragons linking around the outside totaling over 600 dragons on this single wall.  

The food here is AMAZING!!  Our host students have been fantastic about helping us order food and all of our meals have been family style with a lazy susan in the center to share.  It has been a great trying new food and learning to become competent with chop sticks. 

Best part of the day: I spent about 200 Yuan or $32.58

~Katie

♫My bags are over-packed, I'm ready to go...♫

Oh, the Places You'll Go! Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

Every time I head off on a new journey, this book quote always pops into my head.  My mom, in her great wisdom, gave me the Dr. Suess book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" as a graduation gift after high school and it has never led me wrong.  I was able to study abroad 3 years ago in Boston (I swear it is a culture and country unto itself) and Ireland and I will add to my passport the People's Republic of China.

I will be arriving at 1:45pm in Beijing Airport (1:45am OhioTime) and hope to get over the jet lag by Monday morning for the opening ceremonies at the Chinese Agriculture University for my Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Course.  We will also get to sight see around the Beijing area along with visiting Temple of Heaven, Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and The Great Wall of China

I will try to update as much as I can and share photos.
And with the lyrics of John Denver: "♫My bags are over-packed, I'm ready to go...♫"

13.1 Miles in 2013

My top New Year's Resolution was to run a Half Marathon in 2013. (I thought 13.1 miles in 2013 was quite poetic).  Due to finals, I did not have the time to "train" during the last two weeks leading up the race and was worried about my ability to finish. I was in the last starting corral of the morning with all the other slow pokes (passing people gives me the needed ego boost to continue on), and was able to get into a good rhythm in the first mile or so.  I was chugging along pretty well when I realized I was halfway done and still feeling good.  Then mile 10 rolled around and the foot pain I had been dealing with for the past few weeks flared up as my tape started to slip and cause a blister.  This is also was also at the last uphill before the finish line was in view.  My cheering section appeared (with the lovely quip from my dad: "Keep Going! You can see the finish line from here! or well you would if you were taller").  That finish line was a God Send I was so happy to get over the line and finish the race.  All in All I finished, without walking in 2 hours and 33 minutes and was smiling until the very end.  The people who came out to cheer on their friends and family along with complete strangers was extremely touching for me and each sign made me laugh harder than the last.  However, the most inspiring sign I saw throughout the race was a poster carried by a group of soldiers in full uniform and packs marching to complete the race in under 3 hours and 15 minutes to honor their fallen brothers.

I had been training on and off throughout the school year and with the old proverb of "It takes a village to raise a child", it took a huge support group to get me in shape to run.

Tucker and I at the Vets 4 Pets

I want to thank my best buddy Tucker for always pulling me forward whenever I wanted to give up;Kate S. for running with me at an extremely slow pace and not complaining when I asked to walk;  Pam S-G for first coming up with a training schedule, running a 10k dressed as green idiots and biking with me on my long runs after you hurt your knee; and lastly my parents for showing up to cheer me on at Mile 3, 8, 10, and 13.
I could not have finished without all of your help and cheering.

Pam and I at the St. Patty's Day 10k

Mom & Dad-My best cheering section

The Tart with the Cart

Sorry for the late update. It has been a crazy few weeks but I will try to get up to date with everything I am doing.



Galway

Galway was amazing, Simply amazing. I arrived Friday night and booked into my very first hostel. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and actually was a great chance to meet people. While I was waiting around in the lobby I ran into the Dan, the guy I sat next to on the plane ride over the Atlantic with. He was staying at the same hostel as me with his brother, his friend, and a girl they met in Dublin. They invited to go out with them that n

ight and I had a fantastic time.

For the next two days I became a diehard tourist. I took a bus tour up in the Burren and along the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is one of the national parks of Ireland and is home to very rare flora and fauna. It also contains dolmens which are ancient burial tombs.

The Cliffs of Moher were by far the most beautiful place I visited. The cliffs rise from 400 to 700 feet straight out of the Atlantic Ocean. The

y have been used in many popular movies including “The Princess Bride” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. At this point of the tour I also got my first taste of Irish weather. As we arrived I was able to get a few photos of the cliffs before it started to pour rain. The other tourists and I quickly went to the tourist center for shelter to wait out the storm. While waiting for the bus we wandered around the center which was built into a hill like a hobbit hole. As we left the fog had fully set in and I could no longer see the cliffs from the center. It amazed me how quickly the weather changes on this Island.

The final stop of the tour was at Aillwee caves, which means yellow cliff in Gaelic. The caves were any different from caves in the US and there wasn’t any “wow” factor that I hadn’t seen in other caves. The one interesting nugget that was in the caves were complete skeletons of European Brown Bears that have been extinct in the UK for ce

nturies.

The next bus tour I took showed me Connemara. This area of western Ireland is home to the Twelve Pins, Maumturks Mountains and Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only Fjord. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey, which was built as a honeymoon estate by Mitchell Henry for his new bride. The abbey was fairytale like set into the mountain side and had an elaborate walled garden.

Connemara is also home to the Connemara pony. These little ponies are known for being extremely hardy and good tempered. We were able to spot a few while we were traveling up to the coast.

Dublin

Living in Enfield has been great because I am so close to my work, but man, its in the middle of nowhere. So I hopped on a bus and fled to Dublin for the weekend. I booked a hostel in Temple Bar area of the city which was the perfect location. I just down the alley from The Temple which although it was loud, I got to listen to music till I fell asleep.

I did not have a plan of attach to see all of Dublin so I jumped on a tour bus and saw it all. My first stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was built near a holy well where St. Patrick himself might have baptized early Christians. Jonathan Swift was a Dean of St. Patrick’s and this is the location of his grave.

The next stop on the bus tour was the Guinness Storehouse. This place was absolutely amazing. I myself do not like Guinness but drinking that stout at the top of Dublin was the best drink I have ever had. The storehouse is the original site of Sir Arthur Guinness’s brewery. He rented the land in 1759for 9,000 years with an annual rent of £45. The brewery has been producing their well known stout ever since. The museum now sits on the original location of the brewery and has a 7 story “pint glass” that you wind around as you go step by step through the brewing process.

After leaving the Guinness store house I wandered over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a medieval manuscript created by Celtic monks around 800 A.D. I wasn’t able to go in and see it but I was told that it has magnificent illustrations.

I went to Marrion Square which is home to a famous Oscar Wilde statue. The houses that line this park have the famous Georgian style townhouses which have many famous residents.

I wandered through the National Museums of Ireland. The Natural History museum is also called the “Dead Zoo”. It is very similar to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. except the animals are not placed into “scenarios. It was also interesting to walk around the natural wildlife of Ireland and finally be able to name the annoying birds nesting outside my window.

For my last night in Dublin I hung out with two Kiwis I met at the Guinness Storehouse. We began our night at Putry’s Kitchen and listened to an Irish band perform covers of American Music. I never thought “Sweet Home Alabama” could be sung in anything other than a Souther drawl, but an Irish lilt gave it an interesting twist. The guitarist was by far the best musician I had heard in Ireland. After the band finished their set, we moved on to Oliver St. James Grogarty which is known for its traditional Irish music. We stayed there until 2 AM listening to these guys play. They were absolutely astounding and the atmosphere was perfect.

My last day included epic wandering around Dublin and finding a little piece of home in a cup of Tim Hortons Coffee. I walked around St. Stephan’s Park. Dublin Parks are very different from city parks in the US because they have these elaborate ponds with bird islands in the center. I joined a free tour of Dublin and learned some history of the uprising and of the Vikings that called Dublin home.