This Great Work

I have been nursing a pinched nerve in my arm (cubital tunnel) for several years. Then in December I was shaking paint in Christmas ornaments to give to my English Club students and I aggravated the nerve real good ...   In the past I have been able to manage the pain and get it to return to normal.  But that has not been the case this time. Hence the quietness of my blog as of late. After a few months of struggle, I reached out to a physical therapist friend in the US for some suggestions. After a regiment of ibuprofen and rest didn’t provide relief,  he suggested a couple of nerve tests to see if there was damage to the nerve.  There are English speaking medical clinics in Shanghai that we thought we could go to. But as with all things here we needed help so Tom asked Jacky about it.  The company that Tom is here working for is an orthopedic manufacturer and has doctors here in Changzhou. Jacky called them and they said I could get the test done here in Changzhou and they made arrang

 I've been asked on occasion how my Chinese is coming.  Let me show you instead of tell you.  These images are screenshots of my attempts to speak into Google translate to try to get the tones right as well as to have the Romanization to make practice easier on my brain (One of my lessons is only audio and I need visual help too).  I have no idea what I was suppose to be saying, but clearly it wasn't any of these things! The last one is hilarious because Wang Jian is our driver so this makes total sense, but that was NOT what I was practicing to say!  I was trying to say something about some street in Beijing. (The lessons are often as confusing as the language!) But I am trying.  I work on it every day on a couple of different apps, with a teacher and with a book.  I wish I could report more progress, but I can't..... I'm just slow. And old!

We waited for great anticipation for Chinese New Year. We'd heard so many wonderful things. Fireworks. Parades. Dragon dances. Good food. Fun traveling. Red envelopes. It sounded intriguing to us. Here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica says about the origin of the holiday:  " The origins of the Chinese New Year are steeped in legend. One legend is that thousands of years ago a monster named Nian (“Year”) would attack villagers at the beginning of each new year. The monster was afraid of loud noises, bright lights, and the color red, so those things were used to chase the beast away." As it turns out, the holiday was quite uneventful for us.  We don't have family here to celebrate it with and that is the focus--time off work to spend with family.  For a country who works ALL of the time, it is a very welcome break.    The eve of the New Year is the most important to them.  They look forward to this like we do Christmas Eve.  They gather with family and friends and ha