The Dreaded #Physical!

Had my annual #physical for the #Chinese residence permit & #Visa! 😷

Managed it alone without a #translator – quite a feat! Look at my bold self go 😜

For #China 🇨🇳 you need: Blood Analysis, Urinary Analysis, X-Rays, Ultrasound, ECG/EKG, and Blood Pressure.

 The X-Rays 📷 are competely #Topless with other people (men included) waiting in the room 😱 for their turn – no protection. 😓 The ECG requires baring it all in front of a major, street level window with no curtain and a ferris wheel🎡 right outside❗ Goodbye dignity, hello #crosscultural oversharing! 😂
What’s Your International Hospital Story?!?
 

The Struggle is Real

Last time I went through Chinese security, I cycled through about 5 different cities and ran through about 4 languages before I settled on something.  I was like.  .  . the airport I came from in the US? the airport I just came from in Korea? Seoul where I spend most of my holidays? My old hometown in Missouri? My college town where I got my passport? The town I lived in right before I moved? My current US residence? My town in China? I’m so confused!!

Paris v. Tokyo

“In Paris the cashiers sit rather than stand. They run your goods over a scanner, tally up the price, and then ask you for exact change. The story they give is that there aren’t enough euros to go around. “The entire EU is short on coins.”

And I say, “Really?” because there are plenty of them in Germany. I’m never asked for exact change in Spain or Holland or Italy, so I think the real problem lies with the Parisian cashiers, who are, in a word, lazy. Here in Tokyo they’re not just hard working but almost violently cheerful. Down at the Peacock, the change flows like tap water. The women behind the registers bow to you, and I don’t mean that they lower their heads a little, the way you might if passing someone on the street. These cashiers press their hands together and bend from the waist. Then they say what sounds to me like “We, the people of this store, worship you as we might a god.”

**David Sedaris

Travel jacket with 15 built-in gadgets raises $900,000 on Kickstarter

So What’s the verdict fellow Study-Abroadists?  Would you pay out extra money for this jacket or is it just another unnecessary travel accessory?  I’m kind of thinking I’d be too heavy-laden with all that stuff to walk :)**DB

“Travel jacket with 15 built-in gadgets raises $900,000 on Kickstarter”

by Jessica Plautz via “Mashable”

There are many many travel gadgets out there, and most of them aren’t worth the trouble of hauling around: The neck pillow for a not-complete-uncomfortable nap, the eye mask for when the guy next to you insists on using the reading light, a travel blanket for staying warm.

What if you could get all of those features in one Swiss Army knife-like travel jacket? The promise is apparently enough that one apparel company has already attracted about $900,000 in funding on Kickstarter to manufacture it. When the project launched on July 7, its goal was just $20,000.

BauBax’s travel jacket is 15 travel gadgets in one, according to the company. Features include the built in hood and eye mask, a drink pocket, a stylus-slash-pen zipper, and a variety of utility pockets for everything from a smartphone to a tablet. . . .

 

READ MORE

31 Important Things You Learn When You Move Across The World

BY REGA JHA VIA “BUZZFEED”

1. You learn how much unnecessary stuff you own when you attempt to pack it into a reasonable, movable state.

 

3. You learn that somehow, every country in the world gathers to play football for a month, but we can’t all agree on one type of electrical plug.

5. You realize that while you thought you possessed a general understanding of money, you actually only understand value in your currency.

 

READ MORE

“19 Things You’ll Appreciate Only If You Studied Abroad”

by Suzy Strutner via “Huffington Post“

“Because as someone famous once said, “the best things you learn aren’t learned in a classroom.”

1. Contrary to every mother’s belief, you won’t even feel sick if you eat gelato for every meal.
Or pizza. Or crepes. Or empanadas. Or anything in the top, bad-for-you section of the food pyramid. We’re on a budget here, people. . . . .”

 

“A Beginner’s Guide to Franglais”

For students studying in France (the most visited place in the world)

“A Beginner’s Guide to Franglais”

by Jessica Phalen via “Global Post“

“PARIS, France — Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

The good news, at least for people who don’t speak French: You’ll hear lots of English in France. The bad news: You won’t understand it.

It looks like English. It sounds like English. Some of it really is English. But it doesn’t mean what you’d expect it to mean.

If Anglophones love to pilfer from other languages (pilfer: from the Old Frenchpelfrer), the French like to add their ownje ne sais quoi. No, really: without some help, you wouldn’t savoir quoi they’re on about.

In the spirit of mutual mistranslation, here’s a brief glossary of the weirdest “English” words you need a French dictionary to understand — not to mention a few bons mots we’ve adopted in English that just won’t fly in France.

 Un after-work (n). An event that takes place after work. Simple, effective, yet irremediably ugly.

Le baby-foot (n). Table football. I just… I don’t even know. . . . . .”