#2 On A Scale from 1-10...

I thought I would start off with a few more "on a scale from 1-10"s...
These are pretty fun and give you an idea of life here in an entertaining way!

On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the worst or least, 10 being the best or most, I give:

Making Friends: 8. The people are pretty friendly here, and really nice. Keith went to the University today to take photos for a Christian book cover that's been translated into Chinese. He met these people there, had a fun time getting to know some of them, exchanged email addresses, and then took a few of them for a little photo shoot. Here is the big group of them. >>>>

Doctor Visit: 7 WOW, it was fast and oh so cheap. I only hope they had time to make the right diagnosis and that I didn’t catch anything else from the 30 people in that tiny waiting room!

November weather: 10. Does it get any better than this? We’re talking NOVEMBER here. Sunny warm days, cool beautiful evenings. December has started off nice, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 60s. But I hear the rain and cold gets worse. It has started to rain... a lot. Here's Jeremiah sporting a shirt & diaper on a warm November day.>>>

Convenience of City Freeways: 2. With too few on and off ramps, finding a way to get on the freeways is hard and then once you’re on it you can’t get off! Driving through the stoplights at least we seem to be going towards where we need to be, where as being on the freeway we’re like…. How far out of the way have we gone now?!

Grocery Stores: 7. Though there is a smaller selection of canned goods and prepared foods, there is a wide selection of fresh foods. However, including a monthly run to Costco, we are able to find most all of what we need. A few things we miss that are just too expensive here: strawberries, turkey lunch meat, roast, chicken fried steak (haven’t found these cuts of meat here yet). But we are thankful for instant oatmeal and scalloped potatoes from Costco. >>>>

Parking Spaces: 2. I guess it could be worse, but not much! Often we have to park the car a good 5 blocks away from our apartment because every space between here and there is packed with cars, mopeds, or buckets saving someone’s parking spot. Move them and risk damage to your car. People get very possessive about parking spaces here… it’s easy to see why! We have managed to park in the alley next to our building a few times. Also, there are MANY places (friend’s houses, stores, doctor’s office, the Rock coffee shop, etc etc etc) where you cannot drive to because there is truly NO WHERE to park. Do YOU see any where to park here? >>>>>>>>>>>>

Send me your ideas for the next "On A Scale from 1-10"!

A Doctor Visit: IN TAIWAN

We had a meeting with our base leaders today, and after being with me for a little bit, they told me that I should really go to the doctor. I have had a yucky cough for a few days, and it has gotten a lot worse today. It kept me up last night a lot. In the States, I would have put off going a bit longer... because the price of a doctor visit is so expensive in the States, PLUS the cost of expensive medicines. But they told me here that I only needed to take $12 (USD) with me (that's 400 NT- new taiwan dollars i think), and it would cover everything.

I walked over there, all 4 blocks away from our house, paid my 400 NT, got a number, and looked at a few shops next door while I waited. After 10 minutes my number was up on the board. I stepped in to the cubicle-like doctor's office. The doctor finished telling the last patient directions about medicines while me and the guy behind me waited on a few chais in front of his desk. After they left, I was motioned into the bigger patient chair. The nice doc spoke english to me, thankfully. He listened to my breathing, looked in my nose with a strange stainless steel instrument that he discarded then into the pile of used ones, looked into my mouth with the typical popsicle stick gagger, and said, "your throat is very infected." He grabbed a swabber, dunked it into some iodine looking stuff and brought it to my mouth. I pulled back, "What is that?" He grinned, "Medicine.. (swab)... you can swallow it." ????

Then he told me I have tonsilitis and a slight broncial infection. I asked if it was the kind I needed my tonsils out and he said no, just an infection. He rolled his chair back 2 feet to his desk, and clicked about 12 times on his computer. I could read it - he clicked the diagnosis, it brought up another screen that had medicine selections, which he chose a few more things from, then through a few more screens, click print... and it was done. "Take medicine 3 times a day, antibiotics. Take cough sypup 6 times a day or as needed." I clarafied it with him, he smiled, and I was out the door... 4 minutes flat. And I was one of the slower patients with my questions and all! I took my piece of paper printed with medicines he prescribed upstairs to the prescription counter. In 30 seconds or less, she handed me back 8 small baggies of pills, each one with 5 1/2 pills in it. ;) I was puzzled, and asked her what they were. One was antibiotic, one aspirin I think, 2 were for the coughing, and I don't know the other one. Maybe vitamins? $12, 10 minutes waiting, 7 minutes with doctor and getting prescriptions... and I was on my way back home. Amazing. The systems they have here to handle mass population are amazing. Our 'one patient at a time in each room for 30 minutes' would never work here. The amount of patients he saw in one hour would have taken all morning in an American doctor's office.

I took the pills when I got home, and I felt measurably better within a few hours. So praise God for that! Not bad for a first visit. I wouldn't be exited about this method of health care for more serious needs. Perhaps it is modified a bit in that case?

On the mend,
Lacy