passing time

i'm not in a huge hurry to get back to the traumatology clinic. to tell the truth, i'm a little bored with it right now. there's a lot of down time, waiting for patients preparing under the heat lamps. and dr. gen only massages them for about 5 min each. it's a bit difficult to learn anything when

a) i don't have a lot of experience in how it's supposed to be done
b) i don't know specifically what's wrong with the patient (back pain doesn't say much), and
c) it's all over so fast, i can't even formulate questions to ask about it.

it's all hands-on, literally, which i don't know how to do. practicing the techniques can amuse me for only so long. so i've spent the last few days reading. i've finished half of the basic TCM theory book. at least i'm being productive, but i wish i could make more of my time here. dr. gen also told me that my next rotation's going to be even less informative since it's internal medicine and all they do is write presciptions for chinese herbs. agh! i might actually learn a thing or two if i understood the doctor-patient encounters, but they're ALL conducted in shanghainese. =P oooo frustrated.

on the social side, i found out where i was last thurs night. it took a little consulting with my flatmates. me and chris went to Pho with a bunch of tpa people, then met up with them at park 97 in fu xin park. cute cozy bar. good times.

yesterday catherine and i took the initiative and went to the 88th floor of the jin mao tower at dusk to see shanghai from atop. it's been such a struggle organizing 15 people at a time, so we just WENT. SOOOO amazing. we watched the sunset and the city come to life. the street lights and building signs look wondrous against the huang pu river and canals. i'll upload pictures soon. the jin mao is the 3rd tallest building in the world. 2 down out of the top three! petronas towers in k.p. to go!