Mid Autumn Festival and Chinese Hospitals

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of the big full moon in September and also signals that Fall has arrived. Today we had a celebration during the day, and then at night on the sports field. All the students brought their stools and gathered into 6 circles for their respective class. However, the sky was overcast and unfortunately couldn’t enjoy the beauty of the full moon. After listening to some teacher’s poems and songs about this festival, we had moon cake and soda and all the students were very happy and energetic. At the end, I also performed and read the famous American children’s book, “Good Night Moon,” although I’m not sure how much they understood!

Strangely enough, the weather also changed dramatically. Right before the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was really hot and muggy, and air conditioning was used regularly in my room. The night of Mid-Autumn Festival and subsequently after, it became really cold and brisk. The temperature drop was big and came very suddenly. Because of this and the large amounts of moon cake consumed, a few days afterwards a lot of the students had upset stomachs and fevers. My stomach too was not feeling well and 50 or more students and I all went to the hospital in the closest town of Xiuning. It was my first time in a Chinese hospital and hopefully my last. The difference between Chinese hospitals and American hospitals is like night and day. The beds were dirty, the walls were dirty, the ceiling was full of spider webs, the bathroom had really foul odors and was not at all sanitary. Not only was the environment different, but also the treatment. When I first arrived at the hospital, I thought something was seriously wrong with me because all of the sudden they had me lie on my bed and inserted IV into me! I was scared and a little panicked but the teachers accompanied me and reassured me. It turns out that this is the standard Chinese practice of treating colds/flus, and all the kids had IV inserted into their hands. They even treat babies this way, but they put it through their forehead! After a day and night and going through 4 bottles of IV, I was feeling better and could leave the hospital. But the other 50 plus students were not better yet and the doctors wanted them to stay another couple days/nights. I ended up staying in the hospital the whole day and changed shifts with other teachers taking care of them (not much nursing assistance in China). If their IV was running out, we had to tell the nurse to change a new one. If they had to go to the bathroom, we had to carry their IV and elevate it above them. If they had to take medicine, we had to pour them hot water. If they were bored and restless, we had to comfort them and keep their spirits up. And since Chinese hospitals don’t provide food, we had to bring our own rice porridge and give each student a bowl. All in all, it was very tiring and hopefully my last experience in a Chinese prison, I mean hospital.

But once again the real story are these kids. They come from really poor families in small villages anywhere from 2-5 hours from the school. Some kids have only a mom or a dad, some kid's parents are both working far away in big cities to make money to send back home, and some kids don't have any parents at all. But they are all full of life, strong, and obedient. To give an example, one time I was looking after a 7 year old girl (1st grade) at the hospital. She was there for 3 days and 2 nights with nothing to do but sit on her bed. There was no TV or anything but she never complained and always had a smile on her face. I asked her when she was getting better when her birthday was and to my surprise she had no idea. I then asked her then how she knew she was seven and she said her mom told her. Can you imagine that? This little girl has never celebrated her birthday her whole life, no birthday cake or any gifts, but you would never know that from looking at her big smile. =)