Well i took chromi out to meet flower guy ... we were in need of something to put a smile on laopo's face. I hadn't returned to 6mile since moving so it was nice to see him again. I was able to tell him ..."this was my friend from australia who was visiting, had been our here for a week or so... and we wanted to buy some flowers because mama's come back to bj and is not well "... all in chinese. Which i guess is not that hard ... but for me it felt like some kind of achievement. I've learn't a lot of putonghwa from flower guy himself!

Im almost like celebrity status in 6mile, all the sellers recognise me and wave or smile ...and i know a lot of them. Its strange at first being 'famous' for nothing other than being a foriegner ... but im not just any 'weiguoren' (foreigner)... wo shi liuli de laowei! (im 6mile's ol' forry' ;) But you know i can do stuff ... but who cares anyway!

I became quite familiar with the BJ hospital system earlier in the year. I have a month's full of blogging material on that topic alone ... i'll ease into that one slowly! One of the main differences i note about the medical system is that all "GP's" as we know them seem to be located inside the hospitals where as back in aus they are distibuted in their little practices around the suburbs. The result is you get these masses of crowds inside hospitals for people trying to get in to see a gp. Hospitals also tend to be organized into specialties. For example there is a hospital that just treats cancer ... another might treat skin problems ... etc there are also execeptions. We were recently at the 'testing' hospital. They just run tests of all sorts.

I guess it's just the world of balance ... the yin and the yang ... the good and the bad ... the left and the right ... the red sticker and the blue sticker! There are obviously 2 competing companies here selling the same thing ... i believe they are renting out accomodation next to the hospital. This is the footbridge you cross to walk from the nearby bustop. Funnily enough the resulting pattern in my eye is quite pretty in a strange way ... represting so graphically the struggle between 2 companies for market share .... kinda looks like a game of reversi or 'go' as they call it over here :) It is however forbidden ... to stick stickers on the floor!