Visit to "the ward"

What an interesting day...I had to pay a visit to the hospital to get a physical in order to apply for my work visa. I guess China is scared of all the disease that may potentially come from the States. Hmm...anyhow, this facility is located in an area that is way in the suburbs and very hard to find, but I was told that "expats" are the only people who are allowed to go to this hospital. Being a health person myself, last night, I was fretting this visit. I had a dream that they were going to stick me with some dirty needle and subject me to a million x-rays. To my surprise, it was totally clean, a great and efficient process, and I have to admit, it was the least painful blood drawing experience I had. Seriously...I am a chicken when it comes to needles, but these nurses were amazing. The only complaint was the entire process. Basically, when you walk in, the ask that you fill out a bunch of forms, then you wait till your number is called. You then go in to the clinic part where you are asked to change into the infamous robe. Then the chaos begins. You walk out in the hallway and there are three nurses directing you in all different directions to different rooms. One would think that there was order... oh no, there sure isn't. So, the tests performed were: EKG (first I've ever had one!), Ultrasound/sonogram, blood test, eye test, chest x-ray, and blood pressure check. However, these were all done in SEPARATE rooms! Crazy. Therefore, the nurses would stand in the hallway and you had to walk around with this piece of paper to each room. I felt so bad for the other expats who could not speak or understand Chinese so I had to basically help them out. Today was the first day where I felt lucky that I can understand and speak Chinese. To give an example, the nurse would say to me "miss, please sit here, wait for the doctor in the room to call you in." Now, how the heck do the others understand this if they have no clue? It was so funny because it seemed like people were playing musical chairs. People didn't know when to sit, where to sit, if they SHOULD sit or stand. I of course couldn't help but chuckle a bit. After a minute, I thought it was cruel so I started translating. I thought that in a place like this, people would be able to communicate. Not the case...We were asked to go to so many different darn rooms that everyone was confused. I thought that we would just pretty much go from one room to the next adjoining room. NOPE. It was a pretty stupid system. However, I have to admit, the process actually worked. I was able to get out of there in under an hour! That's a first! Most of the time in the States, we are in the waiting room for at least 30 minutes before we're seen by a doc. I had all of this stuff done in under an hour. Exciting. I can always think of a better way for this clinic to be more efficient of course :) Later when I asked my sister why they didn't think to just make it much easier by putting the rooms next to each other and we just followed the line. As an architect, she was able to decipher why: when they built the facility, they probably didn't take into consideration that some rooms needed to be bigger in order to hold the equipment (e.g., a chest x-ray machine needed to be larger than a room to screen your eye sight). HA!
The best thing about today was that I was able to mingle with a bunch of other people who are also in my shoes, new to Shanghai, first timers, and also as lost as I am. I was able to chat with a few people and I think I made some good connections. I don't have a business card to give right now so I offered my sister's instead. My sis came with me today because she feared that I would not be able to understand or be able to complete the forms. She was right...when we showed up, I didn't realize that I had to write the address as to where I would like the results of my test to be sent to. I know I can write it in English, but I didn't even bring that with me either. Augh...I have to remember these things! So I'm pretty much all set now to start work on the 1st of August. Looking forward to moving in to my place in a week. I'll send out an email with my new address and phone! Can't wait... until then...