China

So here it is: the first school in China did not work out so well. They did not have an international program prepared for Vinny and I. They wanted us to be the first to start the program, but it’s kinda hard when they do not offer any classes in English! First of all, the director of both the martial arts program and the team told us that they made a special masters program for us in martial arts that lasts 1 year and that we did not have to pay for it because we were his guests. When we arrived of course the story drastically changed. There was no program! If we wanted a master’s degree in martial arts from that school, we had to first learn Chinese to take any classes and the program duration was not 1 year, but 3 years. The government does not allow any masters programs to be finished in one year’s time, so there is not much that could be done with that. And to make matters worse is that the school would not help us with any thing (visa, housing, etc) until we paid the tuition! What a load of crap! Vinny and I found jobs teaching English, which the school promised to give me a job…another lie! They were supposed to give me a job teaching English and provide a free apartment and compensation for the job, but that did not happen either. I was so fed up with this school that I was ready to give up on China! Vinny’s problems were worse than mine. He sent in paperwork to the VA to get the school approved so that he can get the GI Bill to study in China. All the school had to do was send an English paper about the program, which they did not have! They told Vinny that the sent the paper work, so he would get funding. 2 months later he found out that the still did not send it…Another lie! Now he ran out of money and returned to the USA. I gave China another chance. I visited a medical school in Hefei called Anhui Medical University (AMU). It has an international program all in English. I arrived early from a 13 hour train ride to the University. Since I had to wait for the offices to open, I walked around the school. I found the bathrooms which were so scary, I almost wanted to cry. I did not want to live in the conditions that I saw. The hallways of the dorms were literally loaded with garbage piles and the bathrooms were all open. Normally in China you have a whole in the ground where you go to the bathroom, but here it was all open stalls with a stream of water connecting all the stalls where you would go to the bathroom. The stalls were not even stalls, just a 2 foot wall separating them, but the little river connected them. So if someone went to the bathroom in front of you, it would be washed your way underneath you! I wish I had a camera. I have never seen a bathroom like it. How horrific! Come to find out, I was at the wrong University. I was at the Anhui University and not the medical university. THANK GOD!!!! I phoned the foreign affairs lady and she came to pick me up to give me a tour of the medical university. I at once fell in love with it. It was like paradise! New buildings, a lake, court yards, 4 university hospitals, a gymnasium, tennis court, track, large library, you name it they had it! The dorms were all newly tiled and equipped with all the amenities; your own kitchen, bathroom, balcony, furniture, internet, washing machine etc. I was so excited! It looked like the furnishings and the kitchen were from IKEA, which I love!
And to top it all off there were no catches! The school is only $3200 per year + $50/ month for the apartment. My total is less that $4000 per year for everything including internet, electricity, food, school, books and whatever else I need. Now that, I can afford. As I walked around I saw students with their lab coats on returning from the hospital, how exciting! The program duration is 5 years total which includes the first two years of basic science courses and Chinese and the second two years doing rotations at the hospital and taking medical courses. The fifth year I will be doing my internship where ever I like. I will choose to go America to do my internship. To do that, I have to take steps I & II of the USMLE; United States Medical Licensing Examination. Step one I will take after my first 2 years of basic science. I asked if I could take a semester off for the exam and they had no problem with that. They said I can take a year off and still come back to finish the program  YEAH!!! I can visit my family in America  4 years is a long time to be away, so I am so pleased to hear that news. I did not need to stay any longer, as I already made my choice to attend the program. I went on the internet and booked my ticket to Florida for the next day. I went immediately to the bus station and booked a bus to Shanghai and then took another bus to the airport and slept there until my flight the next day. I am so happy about my situation that I did not care that I spent so much money to get home. I just wanted to see my family before I begin the Semester in October. I have such a long summer vacation from now, July 8, until October 20th before I start the program. In the mean time I plan on studying Chinese and martial arts in America. Life is really good! I have such good luck! Its all in the way you view life, and I’m lovin mine!

China is a very difficult country to travel in if you don’t read or speak Chinese. Nothing is written in English and it is rare to find anyone who speaks English. If they speak it, it’s only a few words.
Everywhere I go, people help me (I don’t ask for help, ppl just do it unexpectedly)! It is as if I attract good people into my life 
I had help finding my way to the train station to get to Hefei and with my luggage. Once I was on the train, a train worker moved me to a safer location near a girl (about 14-15 yrs old) whom he asked to look over me. She spoke a few words English. She helped me with my luggage when I arrived in Hefei and helped me get a taxi. I tried to give her some American money as a gift, but she refused. I thanked her and was on my way. When I arrived at the university, the guard helped my carry my things to the international office. I had help from 3 different people getting my bus ticket to shanghai and help with carrying my luggage. A couple on the bus helped me carry my luggage from the bus when we arrived in Shanghai to find the bus to the airport. I would have never been able to find it on my own! We exchanged QQ numbers (facebook of china) and made friends. They lived in Hefei where my school is. I already made friends in my town 
What a city Shanghai is! It is very modern, almost futuristic. They are holding the world expo here at the moment, so things are on tight security in China.

The food here is strange, but good. Right now I am eating a canned product that I bought. I peeled open the top and in it is sweet milk with soft peanuts filled in it. It comes with a spoon to eat it with…it sounds strange, but it tastes delightful! The ice cream here is to die for and cheap (0.12 cents). They have oatmeal ice cream, green bean ice cream, milk ice cream, soy bean ice cream, red bean ice cream, ect. Its all healthy stuff…I love it! Everything I try becomes my new favorite, right now it being this milk and peanut stuff in a can (only 0.20 cents). They also blend bean (soy, red & white beans) together and drink it in the morning time warm. And one of my favs, the cha bing; blended yogurt, ice and sweet red beans. Makes for a nice cold treat on a hot summer day in China. For breakfast time people eat heavily; Large portions of soups, fried rice, noodles, etc. It’s amazing to see how large the portions of oily foods are here and to see how skinny the Chinese are. Some of them look anorexic. They sure don’t starve themselves though. They all have good muscle tone. There is a big difference about the people’s diet here and in America. The diets are both calorie rich, but in China, its healthy fresh food vs. unhealthy processed food in America. It’s also their mentality. If they worry about eating greasy foods loaded with oil, just the worrying alone is more detrimental to your health than actually eating it. Americans worry too much and don’t listen to their bodies when it tells us exactly what we need. Not to mention the fruits and vegetables here are dirt cheap! It’s actually cheaper to eat healthy fresh foods than to buy processed packaged foods. Just a small comparison:
Where we drink sodas, milkshakes and sugar loaded drinks, they drink plain green tea, yogurt and soymilk.
Where we eat hamburgers and fries, they eat fried beef and noodles. Where we eat sugar candies, they eat candies made out of sweet red beans (naturally sweet and healthy) or dried fruits. Where we eat beef jerky, they eat packaged tofu or fresh meat/tofu from the street vendor. It’s all the same, just less processed and less additives. Hmmm but they do have MSG here, so I take that back with the additives…

Overall, I am glowing with happiness and life and hope you are too...you just gotta see it that way! 

I just arrived in Florida last night... I am still on China time and so excited to be back that i did not sleep at all last night and now I am ready to start the day and the summer with my family and friends :)