Finding the Dentist in Beijing

(I need help troubleshooting the blog post, ….again.  About a week ago the VPN in China had problems for a few days. VPN is how we get access to Facebook, Google, youtube, etc., that otherwise would be blocked for us. It is in very common use. After the VPN seemingly straightened out, my blog has had almost no views. Most days I get 20-50 views. The past week there has been 0-10 views most days. Please let me know you are receiving the posts, and if you know anything about blogspot and VPN and internet and can help me, please help me troubleshoot.  Thank you.)

Even when you are working in your mother tongue (and are literate and can read the signs), one is often lost when you are trying to register and pay for services during a medical appointment. Try doing that in a foreign language! 

I was told that I needed to get any dental work done before I had hip/knee surgery done in January. (I guess they want to be sure that there is no infection in one’s body close to joint replacements.)  So, I dutifully tried to set up a dental appointment.

We get plenty of support at Peking University. There is a student assigned to all of the foreign experts to help us. She will take us to work on any visa or registration activities. She also helps us with doctors, etc. I cannot even make the appointment myself. Like, really , I’m going to call a switchboard and ask for a dentist appointment….not. So today was the appointment. 

I was to the dentist here a year ago, but it was a little hazy in my mind about where/how to do this, so our assistant, ShenYi, was going to meet me and help. I was very thankful. However….why is there always a “however”?  We arranged to meet at the hospital gate. But what I knew as the hospital gate and what ShenYi knew as the hospital gate were two very different places. 

I biked the mile to my understanding of gate, and waited, and waited. I tried to contact her using my phone, but my phone was saying nasty things to me that I could not really understand because it was mostly in Chinese, but obviously neither my phone nor Wechat (social media) was working.  At the time of the appointment I was still waiting, but decided I should go in and see what I could do.

The dentistry department was labeled in English so I went to the 4^th floor. I assumed I needed to register, but did not know how to do that so just started wandering down the halls until I found a group of nursing types who might help me. In Chinglish, I communicated that I had an appointment, but did not know what to do. They took me out front to the registration desk and I suddenly remembered that ShenYi had sent me the name of the dentist and that although I could not use the phone to contact anyone, I could get history. The nurse found the dentist on the next floor, and I climbed into the chair and had my teeth cleaned ….for $30. I had decided that I would just leave when I was done, find ShenYi and come back with her to pay. (Kind of like a “hit and run” “leaving the scene of the crime” from a payment perspective.) But when I was done, ShenYi had found me and we handled the payment etc. Done for another year! (I also had no cavities.)

P.S. Oh, the government also turned the heat on yesterday!!! It was 36 degrees this morning and is to be 29 degrees by Saturday, so we are so very, very thankful.