Today I went to the hospital for yet another check up. I had two tests today.
The Glucose Tolerance test is a bit of pure hell. After fasting for 10 hours, you have to drink a cup of syrupy sweet water, and then wait two hours and get your blood checked to see how your body tolerates consuming nothing but sugar for 12 hours. I can tell you, I don't tolerate it at all. In fact, both times I've been pregnant, I've had a particularly hard time eating anything sweet, and generally avoided fruits and sweets the entire time (even carrots and sometimes tomatoes proved too sweet for me with Kai, although veggies don't seem to bother me much this time). Even a few grapes can make me terribly ill. So imagine how I felt having nothing in my stomach for 12 hours except this horrid sugar water! Ugh.
After hanging out in the hosp for three hours, feeling terribly ill, the lunch trays went by and that really set off my MS alarm. Desperate, I begged the nurses to either discharge me (the blood had been taken and all I was waiting for was my discharge papers, which apparently needed another hour to process for no good reason) or let me wait for my discharge papers in another room that didn't make me wretch. They refused to do either, so I left.
I had a few hours between appointments, so I ate lunch, went home, and took a nap and groggily schlepped myself back to the hosp. for my 4:00 appointment. As you may recall from former Antenatal visits I've blogged about, this usually takes about 3 hours, only 10 minutes of which I am actually receiving care. I was prepared to be there until 7:00 or so.
Joy of joys! I started the process at 4:00 and was finished, waiting for the elevator, and texting my hubby that I was done at 4:21! 20 minutes, start to finish, and that included taking time to pee in a cup and everything (I didn't bother to collect my own pee at home since I was at the hospital all day). AND they even gave me my discharge papers from the other section that I hadn't waited for in the morning AND had set up another appointment (actually two, two weeks apart).
Considering how awful I still felt from the glucose test, I was entirely grateful for this expedient service. I wish it were like this every visit.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
And I'm Back!
I just returned to Hong Kong from nearly a month in Japan. I spent most of that time happily visiting friends and family; and although it's never good to compare countries, because there are so many factors making it more like comparing apples to oranges, I compared to HK all the same.
HK is by far a cheaper place to live. It was hard to justify buying anything because we knew we could get the same thing for a fraction of the price in HK. The only thing about HK more pricey than Japan (at least where we live) is housing. for example, we live in a very cramped apartment for about 1,000 USD per month. By HK standards, this is extremely cheap (most places start at around 2K per month USD, for smaller space than what we have) and actually quite spacious. Most Hk people fit 10 people in the space we three share. However, my friends in Japan rent an entire house for about that price. HK has officially beaten Tokyo for the dubious honor of most expensive housing in the world.
The salary paid to teachers in HK is also far superior to the salary paid to Japanese teachers in equivalent areas. Considering how cheap everything is in HK compared to Japan (except housing), and the lower tax rate, that means teachers in HK enjoy more money in their pocket than in Japan. If money is your thing, HK is a good place to be.
And that's about it for the pro-HK side. EVERYTHING ELSE is better in Japan. You name it, any subject, any concern, any issue, is done better in Japan than HK. Even the sensitive topic of treatment of foreigners, when looked at holistically, Japan noses ahead, by pure virtue that their obnoxious attitudes are a result of thousands of years of global isolation and not because of any intentional malice and contempt.
(To be fair, I think HK people's malice and contempt partly comes from British colonialism and many expats deserve such contempt, as they act in ways that make me disgusted and ashamed of being part of this expat group. On the other hand, their nefarious and vile treatment of non white expats (south east asians in particular) is beyond defence.)
Even my morning sickness was better in Japan. i was sick about 2-3 times for about 45 minutes each time the whole month I was in Japan. However, I have been sick all day every day while in Hong Kong. the day I arrived back to Hong Kong, I went to a local mall to eat dinner because we had no food in our apartment, and puked all the way there and have been sick pretty much all day every day the whole three days I've been back.
Is it psychological? Why would i be sick only in HK? Am I showing my rejection of HK through a physical rejection of food? Yet my son and husband also feel worse having returned, due to the increased heat, humidity, bad smalls everywhere, and pollution. Being pregnant, I'm just more sensitive to the poor environment than they are. HK is no place to grow a strong healthy baby. I grant there may be a case for calling my MS psychosomatic, but I think it is actually a very real attempt by my body to try to warn me about the poisons in the air, food, and water and how it is affecting my baby.
Apples and oranges. Compare and despair (a Stuart Smalley no-no). Yet, weighing the pros of Hk and Japan as honestly as I can (being a third party expat in both), I believe Japan is far superior in every way that is important to me.
But oh how i wish I wish I wish Japan paid it's teachers as well as HK.
And so you may be wondering how the good ol US of A stands in this match up? it's hard to be objective of your native country, where your standards of norms and expectations are derived. I'm not even sure it's possible to make an honest evaluation of your native country. Certainly,there are things about the US that are EASIER for me to navigate and comprehend, but easier does not mean superior. Probably, head to head in the areas I care about (education, health care, society, child welfare, equality) japan does do better than the US, or at least not any worse. There are probably other areas I don't care so much about that the US does better; but in these difficult economic, political, and socially unjust times, there are hardly any bright spots worth boasting of for Americans, whose constitutional rights are being violated, with their consent, on a daily basis.
Like a child of a dysfunctional parent, i love my mother country and would willingly and instantly forgive her if she made any real effort to change her ways. But i also see her for exactly what she is and am not interested in calling her home as long as she continues to act in ways that makes me ashamed to bring my friends and family over.
So while in Japan, Mabo and I made a critical decision: we will move, permanently, to Japan after I complete my obligations in Hong Kong. At least permanently for the foreseeable future. The question is: can this globetrotter ever permanently live anywhere? I don't even know if it's possible for me.....
HK is by far a cheaper place to live. It was hard to justify buying anything because we knew we could get the same thing for a fraction of the price in HK. The only thing about HK more pricey than Japan (at least where we live) is housing. for example, we live in a very cramped apartment for about 1,000 USD per month. By HK standards, this is extremely cheap (most places start at around 2K per month USD, for smaller space than what we have) and actually quite spacious. Most Hk people fit 10 people in the space we three share. However, my friends in Japan rent an entire house for about that price. HK has officially beaten Tokyo for the dubious honor of most expensive housing in the world.
The salary paid to teachers in HK is also far superior to the salary paid to Japanese teachers in equivalent areas. Considering how cheap everything is in HK compared to Japan (except housing), and the lower tax rate, that means teachers in HK enjoy more money in their pocket than in Japan. If money is your thing, HK is a good place to be.
And that's about it for the pro-HK side. EVERYTHING ELSE is better in Japan. You name it, any subject, any concern, any issue, is done better in Japan than HK. Even the sensitive topic of treatment of foreigners, when looked at holistically, Japan noses ahead, by pure virtue that their obnoxious attitudes are a result of thousands of years of global isolation and not because of any intentional malice and contempt.
(To be fair, I think HK people's malice and contempt partly comes from British colonialism and many expats deserve such contempt, as they act in ways that make me disgusted and ashamed of being part of this expat group. On the other hand, their nefarious and vile treatment of non white expats (south east asians in particular) is beyond defence.)
Even my morning sickness was better in Japan. i was sick about 2-3 times for about 45 minutes each time the whole month I was in Japan. However, I have been sick all day every day while in Hong Kong. the day I arrived back to Hong Kong, I went to a local mall to eat dinner because we had no food in our apartment, and puked all the way there and have been sick pretty much all day every day the whole three days I've been back.
Is it psychological? Why would i be sick only in HK? Am I showing my rejection of HK through a physical rejection of food? Yet my son and husband also feel worse having returned, due to the increased heat, humidity, bad smalls everywhere, and pollution. Being pregnant, I'm just more sensitive to the poor environment than they are. HK is no place to grow a strong healthy baby. I grant there may be a case for calling my MS psychosomatic, but I think it is actually a very real attempt by my body to try to warn me about the poisons in the air, food, and water and how it is affecting my baby.
Apples and oranges. Compare and despair (a Stuart Smalley no-no). Yet, weighing the pros of Hk and Japan as honestly as I can (being a third party expat in both), I believe Japan is far superior in every way that is important to me.
But oh how i wish I wish I wish Japan paid it's teachers as well as HK.
And so you may be wondering how the good ol US of A stands in this match up? it's hard to be objective of your native country, where your standards of norms and expectations are derived. I'm not even sure it's possible to make an honest evaluation of your native country. Certainly,there are things about the US that are EASIER for me to navigate and comprehend, but easier does not mean superior. Probably, head to head in the areas I care about (education, health care, society, child welfare, equality) japan does do better than the US, or at least not any worse. There are probably other areas I don't care so much about that the US does better; but in these difficult economic, political, and socially unjust times, there are hardly any bright spots worth boasting of for Americans, whose constitutional rights are being violated, with their consent, on a daily basis.
Like a child of a dysfunctional parent, i love my mother country and would willingly and instantly forgive her if she made any real effort to change her ways. But i also see her for exactly what she is and am not interested in calling her home as long as she continues to act in ways that makes me ashamed to bring my friends and family over.
So while in Japan, Mabo and I made a critical decision: we will move, permanently, to Japan after I complete my obligations in Hong Kong. At least permanently for the foreseeable future. The question is: can this globetrotter ever permanently live anywhere? I don't even know if it's possible for me.....
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