So after 6 days in China, i manage to end up in the hospital. Needless to say, i'm the only one who could do that. haha Anyway mike picked me up from school and we made our way across town to a hospital. We tried a local one first because it was cheaper to register etc… but they wouldn't see foreigners. So after spending a good 10 minutes trying to flag down a taxi with Mike, we eventually made our way (slowly) to a bigger hospital up the road. If you think rush hour traffic on the motorway is bad, trying being in the traffic in Beijing. It doesn't even begin to compare. It was amazing to see the buildings and people in Beijing though and I had a good chat with Mike. The taxi driver, however wouldn't drop us off outside the gate to the Hospital, so we had to walk for 5 minutes to get there, but we made it!

So the hospital was HUGE and they have a section purely for internationals. I have to point out that the hospital was much nicer and cleaner that the ones back home! So after navigating our way to reception, we got told that to register me on the system would cost 206 RMB. So after all registering and paying, I wait about 2 minutes before I was seen. I don't think anybody will understand how happy I was that the doctor spoke English!

Like in the UK, the doctor asked what i'd done, when i'd done it, where does it hurt etc.. then he examined it. So as it turns out i had correctly diagnosed myself, and paid 206 RMB for someone to clarify that. I have a sprained ankle and a torn ligament - OUCH! And i'm supposed to stay in bed with it elevated for 7 days. If the pain or swelling doesn't go down its back to the hospital for me. I also paid a further 20 RMB for some pain relief cream, which turned out to be deep heat, but it does seem to be helping. I'm also supposed to keep off the painkillers because i apparently think i'm superman on the stuff.

Anyway, as many of you will know, i have never really listened to medical advice and decided that i would be fine to go to the meeting with the British council. Which actually just meant that i sat down on a chair with my leg elevated for 3 hours and listened to people talk. It was actually really interesting! But the best thing was the food that they had provided for us - PIZZA, COKE, CHOCOLATE CAKE - YES! Totally made the trip on the bus there worth it! Before that Mike had taken me for lunch in a Hong Kong restaurant because we had missed lunch by being at the hospital. The food was amazing, but the cold tea we had was the best! I have never tasted anything so nice before! I've decided that going to hospital was worth it for the tea and company!

After the meeting, we went to 'foreigners land' which is basically a HUGE shopping centre, but it used to be where all the foreigners went when they came to Beijing. It was really nice to walk around the shops, but agony on my ankle. So a few of us decided to go to the music shop and sit down at a piano and play for an hour or so. So thats what we did. It was so much fun and Laura played loads of songs on the piano while we sang to it.

At 7 some of us met Mike who took us back on the bus to the Hotel. We decided that we were hungry and went to a local restaurant to eat. By this time I could feel a cold coming on, so my appetite had gone! It was fun to order six sprites though!

When i got back to the hotel, Harriet and i spoke for a bit. By the time Harriet had come out of the shower i was flat out. The day had exhausted me!

Sixth day in China - Went to the Hospital, had a lovely meal with Mike.