Luzhou Xinti

Hey travel journal,
It's been a bit of a weird one today, you can tell it's the last week and everything is starting to wind down. We got up and jumped on a bus and headed to a long term care facility for its grand opening. When we first walked in there was a preschool practising their dance for the opening ceremony, and we just sat and watched. They were pretty cute. The mayor was running late so we say around for an hour or so and then headed over to the side of the room, as all the chairs filled up. Then a lady introduced the event and the preschool did their cute little performance and then we mayor arrived and shook people's hands and took photos as we walked down the centre isle to the stage. It was like he was a celebrity. He then gave a speech and the manager of the building gave a speech and then there was a group photo where the mayor and manager pulled a sticker off a poster as the official opening. Then after the mayor left everyone sort of broke up and headed over to us in swarms. We were manning the food table and were serving the snacks as a community service while we are here. Then after a group photo, we headed up stairs and had a tour of one of the levels. There was a little kitchen, bathroom for people who need extra help, and a big lounge room and tables with activities and a physiotherapy area. Most of the rooms had six people in each, separated by gender. A couple of rooms had two beds and one room was a single, each with their own bathroom. The top level is the high dependency ward. They were then going to give us a tour of level one which is the dementia ward, with single rooms but the nursing staff worried that so many people would upset the patients. Which is totally understandable. So then we jumped back on the bus and headed back to campus and straight up to the classroom. We had preordered lunch because we knew we would be late back to campus and the teacher had brought us all bubble tea. So at least we got to eat our rice rolls and drink tea once we made it to the classroom. Then we had a lesson on mandarin. The teacher was cool, she spoke to us predominantly in mandarin which was confusing at first but we caught on in the end. We went through how to say our names, that we are from Australia and are students and our gender. Then we went through how to say our family members, things we like and our birthday. Then we brushed over money, colours, and basic food items before spending some time on body parts. It was so funny I don't remember anything except that we made the teacher crack up laughing a couple of times and that the arm sounds like Sophie, the thorax sounds like 'these titties', the abdomen sounds like 'food baby' and the thigh sounds like 'this bit'. We had a good laugh if nothing else. We then got a whole bunch of handouts that were meant to be the rest of class but we ran out of time because we were so late getting back from the age care facility. After saying our goodbyes we headed back to the dorm and I started writing and researching for my essay. I'm slightly worried about making the word count but I will see how I go once I finish. Then a bunch of us headed down to a Japanese restaurant where you order on an ipad and little shuttle train that's a tray bring the food to you on a conver belt. It was kinda cool but more expensive then the sushi train and I think the sushi train is just as good. Then some of us headed back to the dorm, some went to the night markets in the city and some went on a little hike up to a look out that overlooks shipai. On the way back I found a bunch of girls in family mart so I stopped and waited for them so we could back together. Sophie and I were standing outside waiting for Sara to finish buying some stuff when I just heard screeching and a bang behind me. I spun around and saw a girl standing in the middle of the road and a motor bike on its side and at first I thought 'oh sweet she is ok managed to jump off in time', and then I saw a guy stuck under the bike and push him self out. I handed my stuff to Sophie and ran over to the guy, he spoke no English but he was up and walking. I helped him pick up his bike and put some of the broken bits in his tray and move it to the curb. The full cap was broken and there was fuel on the road and he had two gas bottles on the back which had rolled up the road a bit which we also went and collected. He had an obviously sore wrist, neck and bleeding food. The girl was standing with a couple of friends on the side of the road and went over and asked if they spoke English which thankfully they did. The girl was ok, just a little in shock. The guy walked past us into the family mart to buy some cigarettes. I asked if they had called 119 and they said no. I said they should because the guy needed to be seen at the hospital. They went and talked to him and he refused because he had to go to work. They told me what they said and that they were all OK. So Sophie and I ran across the road to the fire/ambo station and I told the officer what had happened, that there was fuel on the road and that he was injured but refusing treatment and they sent a car over to check it out. Even if he denied treatment, I'm glad an EMT went to check him out. Then we headed back to the dorm and the three of us sat and watched the Italian job. Then I had a shower and now I'm in bed. It was an interesting day if nothing else. And goes to show how hard things can be sometimes when their is a language barrier, but once you have found an interpreter your sweet. Good deed for the day done I think. Now it's time to sleep. Night xoRead more