Health Check and Feet

I'm nervous. The form asks for samples. Scary names in English, and that's IF it's translated correctly. Blood. Urine. Sputnum? Stool?!?! *gulp* How are they going to collect that?!

At the government office, forms to stamp, lines to stand in and fees to pay. All the tedium of beauracracy combined with the discomfort and mild humiliation of the doctors office. And no breakfast before hand. My stomach growls angrily in protest. The little office brims with foreigners of all stripes. I had imagined a large group of mei guo ren, Americans, but in reality we make up the minority. I try to chat up the workers there, who must be bored dealing with confused lao wai all the time, they are uninterested, but pleasant. Chinese DMV? They take x-ray, a sonogram (no response at all when I asked the technician if I was having a boy or a girl), a weak eye test, and blood (and no other fluids) sample later and it's time to take the hour drive back to work.

Now I'm starving. Dinner arrives and here is what I see. No one ever tells you that the nails are still on the chicken feet, strange that's what kept me from eating the rest of it. Tonight, dinner will be a treat. Five. Five Dollar. Five Dollar Foot Lohong...