June 8th: Home Sweet Guangzhou :) Acupuncture, Herbal Pharmacy, Jinan Middle School, and Celebration.. Doesn’t get much better! (Rachel's Reflections)

What an ordeal getting back home (to Guangzhou that is, our new home away from home J)! After a few hours of rest, we were back in action. We had an awesome weekend in Beijing, and we got to follow it up with an awesome morning in the hospital! Our morning was spent visiting patients on the inpatient unit who were receiving acupuncture therapy. Acupuncture treats patients by insertion and manipulation of needles in the body and it can be used to treat a multitude of conditions. Some of the most common reasons for seeking acupuncture therapy that we witnessed were urinary retention, constipation, paralysis from stroke, and weight loss. Hu Jing allowed Anja and me to remove the needles from the patients upon completion of their treatment. It was a fun and exciting experience to have because acupuncture is not widely used in the United States. It was interesting to note the differences between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the Western Medicine that I am so used to. TCM views the human body more holistically and see the spirit and the body as one. TCM focuses on regaining homeostasis where Western medicine focuses more on treating the disease or the symptoms. I am not saying that either approach is better, they are just different.

Differences Between TCM and Western Medicine

Medical View	TCM	Western
Diagnosis/Treatment	Philosophic	Scientific
Medicine	Natural	Chemical
Treatment Goals	“Cure” Oriented	Reduction of symptoms
Treatment Views	Natural	More Invasive

We got the opportunity to learn more about TCM when Changying Zhao took us to the herbal pharmacy before lunch. It was super interesting! Definitely not like anything I have ever seen back home. There were drawers upon drawers of various herbs that sick patients cook and drink to attain homeostasis and health. This pharmacy was full of almost anything you could think of! They had everything from ginger and ginseng to donkey and snake. I saw many things that I would never have thought to have healing capabilities, but they play a large part in TCM.

This doesn't look very appetizing!

Juyan took us out for lunch today at a place called Kung Fu, basically a Chinese style fast food restaurant. The food was actually relatively healthy though. I had a combination of rice, soup, meat and vegetables.

Today was another day for exercise at Jinan Middle school! We wanted to keep things as simple as possible, so we decided to play freeze tag again. Today went much more smoothly as the students already knew the game that they were playing. They needed a few simple reminders such as how to do a correct jumping jack and remembering to save their classmates. But all in all, they did extremely well! Today was a very hot day, but the students were still eager to participate, and many of them got a lot out of the exercise (judging by the post-work out heart rates). It was fun to see how enthusiastic many of the students were about exercise! I wish we could have spent more time with them, but I am very grateful for the time that the teachers allowed for us to work with the students.

The students taking their heart rates

Watching all of the kids interact and enjoy exercise was very rewarding for me! It was apparent to me that they all were becoming more and more motivated to persist with physical activity. I am interested to see how they continue to implement it in their lives.

We ended the night with an eloquent banquet that Peggy and the other staff members from the hospital threw in our honor. It was wonderful to be with all of the people that we had grown so close to over our time in Guangzhou. They took us to the Guangdong Family Restaurant where we had eaten for the welcome dinner, but this time we dined in the VIP section! We were escorted to a building behind the restaurant into our own private room complete with couches and bathroom! It was super fancy. Everyone has treated us so well over here. I feel so fortunate to have met all of these amazing people.