It was a city, a crowded city. Busses coughed, people coughed and so did I when I walked into my hotel room. I fell asleep that night to the lullaby of puttering trucks, distant horn blowing and the chatter of sleepless locals. The next morning I woke up early, to a cold shower, the perfume of exhaust and melodies of Nanjing traffic. I was excited and restless to discover Nanjing Chinese Medical University so I jumped into a cab and slipped through the front entrance and wondered around the campus. I found the International Students department and within in a few minutes I herd a voice, it was the the voice of a blessing named Markov. Markov and I talked on the rooftop looking over the Nanjing skyline until he had to go to class, before he left he paused... "Where are you staying" he asked. I replied with the undertones of displeasure in legato and next thing I knew I was holding a key to his apartment. Markov was so kind a hospitable, generous and inclusive in every way. He had a dinner party at his apartment so I could meet people, took me to the University to see the right administrators and set up clinic shifts for me at Jiangsu Provincial Hospital. He took me out to meet his friends, listen to music in bars, eat at great restaurants and have tea with new-bright-fresh faces.
My time spent at Jiangsu Provincial Hospital was shocking at first. I was standing in the full light of a TCM hospital for the first time. It's mere presence shattered the concept of a TCM clinics when compared to the US. I took a minute to take in the sheer scale of it all. Markov and I made our way through the hospital to the "Insomnia Department". I spent 2 days treating and observing 60 patients every 4 hours. There were 8 beds in a room and somehow the flow was manageable. Coming from the US where my intern shifts scheduled 3 people in a 4 hours this was a blast! Both environments have pros and cons but I was so ready for something more intensive like this and i had found it. My hands dashed across the pages of my notepad with baby chicks on the cover shaking as I scribbled. My supervisor spoke blurbs of broken english to me like "sleep- no good" or "emotion- problem". Given the complexity of our medicine "sleep- no good" can only get you so far, therefore it was up to me to truly figure it out. Later that day the head of the department turned to me and thrust her arm forward handing me a single acupuncture needle and sternly said "Hegu!" (Li-4). The hotseat brought lack of forethought, brazen action and then silent approval. From there on out she let me needle most patients with her, and that my friends was amazing!
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