Adventures in Paris

My parents have always wanted to visit Paris, but were hesitant to go without someone who spoke French.  Paris became a possibility this past summer with the help of my childhood friend and neighbor, Adam.  Adam loves all things French.  For his high school graduation party, he hosted a Parisian brunch complete with croissants, brioche, and macarons.  Fortunately, this obsession led him to work at the Louvre last summer and he volunteered to show us around if we happened to take a vacation.  Adam speaks nearly flawless French, so my parents quickly accepted his offer and we left for Paris in late May.

Usually, I am not the best traveler.  I hate airports, planes, and being away from home.  I also prefer relaxing beach vacations to “let’s go see everything this city has to offer in a week” vacations.   But, I was particularly excited for Paris because I had magically convinced my dad to buy French Open a.k.a. Roland Garros tickets.  As a tennis player and avid sports fan, I’ve always wanted to go to a Grand Slam.  Luckily, the timing of our trip coincided with the men’s semi-finals.

We settled into a lovely hotel and spent four days visiting the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and a variety of tourist sites before the day of the men's semis finally arrived.  The top four ranked men, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray, had made it to the semis.  Nadal and Murray are my favorite players, so I knew it would be an exciting day. I dressed in bright yellow shorts and a white polo, inadvertently making myself look like a tennis ball.  After consuming a breakfast, complete with amazing French bread, I checked my blackberry and realized we had the wrong start time.  For some reason, my dad thought I said the match started at eleven. As the match actually started at one, we had some time to kill.

The park that housed the Monet museum

At Adam’s suggestion, we visited a small museum that housed Monet murals.  Adam, who majors in art history, discussed the paintings.   I thought both were very pretty, but was too distracted by the upcoming tennis matches to be overly interested.   But, the museum became more interesting moments later when I noticed a tall blonde girl wearing a large white sunhat pulled down low over her eyes.  As we passed her, she happened to look up and I realized it was Blake Lively.  Thanks to my dedication to Perez Hilton’s celebrity gossip blog, I knew she was touring Europe with Leonardo DiCaprio.                                                       

As soon as I realized Leo could be in the vicinity, I immediately scanned the area like a pro.  Ten feet behind Blake, I noticed a somewhat scruffy guy wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball cap and sunglasses walking with another man.  Sunglasses inside?  The hat I’d seen him wearing on Perez?  I knew it was Leo.   In person, he was a bit disappointing and definitely not his listed height of six feet.  

Blake & Leo

Once outside the museum, I asked if anyone else had noticed our famous company, which they hadn’t. Thus, I was forced to wait outside like a stalker until Blake and Leo departed so everyone else could catch a glimpse.  It was a completely random sighting, but now, I can tell everyone that I was within a foot of Leonardo DiCaprio.

After the exciting celebrity sighting, we left for the match.  The tournament grounds were flooded with people from around the world, including large groups of Serbians waving flags and cheering for Djokovic.  Many people were decked out in Federer apparel, especially white hats bearing the initials “R.F.”  Because Federer is Swiss and speaks fluent French, he is always a crowd favorite at Roland Garros.

In the first match, Nadal easily beat Murray in straight sets.  The crowd was clearly against Nadal, a Spaniard, but my applause was biased in his favor. My favorite moment in the match was not a great point or shot, but Nadal displaying exceptional sportsmanship.  Murray served, but the linesman called the ball out.  Nadal immediately walked up to investigate the mark made by the ball on the red clay and, deciding it was on the line, gave Murray an ace and thus, a point.  It was also Nadal’s birthday and after his victory a small group of fans happily sang him a combination of “Feliz Cumpleaños” and “Happy Birthday.” 

Next, Federer beat Djokovic in a tighter match.  Djokovic had won forty-three straight matches, so it was exciting to see his streak broken.  This match contained longer lasting rallies, a variety of trick shots and, as a whole, was a better match than the first.  The crowd chanted “Ro-ger!  Ro-ger” throughout the match.  Federer is my least favorite player, but I found myself silently cheering for him because I knew Rafa would beat him in the final.

The only downside was a man in front of me who stood for the majority of both matches, blocking my view.   I was in the last row of my section, so I sat on the top of my seat to see over his head, which irritated another man sitting a few rows below me.  He turned around with a glare and said something about, “zees Ameri-cans!”  Aside from that, it was an amazing day full of amazing tennis and an experience I’ll remember forever.

The excitement of Roland Garros didn’t end until the next day.  While passing through the lobby on my way to a shopping excursion, I noticed a tall, dark haired figure surrounded by large bags and an entourage checking out.  He looked familiar, but I didn’t realize it was Novak Djokovic until I was outside the hotel.  Apparently, he’d been staying in my hotel the entire time!

Novak at my hotel!

I suppose if I learned anything from this trip, it is that I’m an excellent, albeit accidental, celebrity stalker.

 Au revoir!

-Jacqueline

P.S. Rafa did defeat Federer in the final, winning Roland Garros for the sixth time.

Nearing the End (China Part 6)

So the deal was that I was supposed to go on this trip across China to appreciate its academic and cultural aspects. But let’s be real. I basically spent the month partying with bunch of internationals.

Upon arriving in Xi’an, we had the choice to split into different groups and see the places that interested us. Being interested in healthcare, I figured I’d check out one of their hospitals and actually learn something. The next morning we hopped on a “Welcome to take the traveling bus” bus and prepared for a 40-minute ride towards the fringes of the city. As per usual, there were more guides than there were buses, so we sat around for a while waiting for them to come to an agreement. A well dressed woman no older than 25 finally hopped aboard, and from what I understood her name roughly translated to “Slow Birch Tree". It turned out she knew nothing about hospitals, so she spent the entire time regaling us with stories about bike riding.

I’m glad they got us a bus that was travel enabled.

I was told that the hospital in question served several thousand people, so naturally I expected to see something fairly large. I envisioned many people sitting in a waiting room to be seen by a vast number of newly trained medical school graduates. I assumed that the hospital would be a bit old, but full of new technology bought from a growing supply of Chinese money.

Yeah. Right.

Apparently waiting rooms weren’t even part of the floor plan… all two stories of it. I’m not even sure you could say the hospital had two floors since the only thing on the second floor was an excessively large office/shrine. The room had a very long table made to accommodate about 12 people, which was a perfect fit for our small group and our guiding doctor to hold a small Q&A session. It turned out he was the ONLY doctor, that no one actually used the room, and that the large communist flag and Mao portrait on the walls came courtesy with the hospital.

HEALHT SERVICE.

Fortunately, the lone doctor didn’t appear to have much on the books that day. Out in the main hallway (remember, no waiting room) were three adults and two “baby-no-pants”. The latter was our coined term for the established fashion of Xi’an toddlers – the ones who wore a white Hanes t-shirt, some Crocs (usually red), and the breeze between their legs. We saw more toddlers sporting this look than not, so it was only natural that we develop some sort of name for the fashion. Regardless, the five people looked content to wait while us “big potatoes”, as Slow Birch Tree called us, continued our tour through the hospital.

The hospital was so self sufficient as to have its own storage facility for hazardous waste. They just needed to make the warning sign a little larger so people didn’t mistake it for an outhouse.

Does a number 2 count?

But alas, we Americans waste absurd amounts of money paying “specialist” companies to service our hospitals, so who were we to complain? The Chinese had efficiency down to an art. That said, there is a line when it comes to sacrificing luxury for savings, and they definitely crossed it down at the pharmacy (just 5 paces from the surgery room). Apparently having something synthesized from porcupines was far too much trouble; it was simpler just to take a whole dead porcupine home with you. While I’m sure there was nothing wrong with them and they were thoroughly bathed before ending up in the pharmacy, there’s just something about a dead porcupine that makes me not want to put it in my mouth.

Now obviously I’m being a bit harsh on what is still a developing country, but then again I can’t help but reflect on the most startling differences between Chinese and American healthcare. The Chinese definitely lack a lot of refinement in their services, but they also found some solutions to problems we can’t seem to get rid of. For instance, if you want to reduce the ridiculous number of people visiting American hospitals for minor issues, make the hospital so unaccommodating that only three adults and two baby-no-pants decide to rough it out on any given day. You want to cut down on prescription drug costs? Pair up with community animal shelters and offer the cure wholesale.

At least they don’t give you the whole dog when they prescribe a dog bladder.

I’m sure some of you might tell me to visit the coastal cities and marvel in the progress they’ve made, but I’ll turn around and tell you to take a small walk in any direction from your popular tourist traps.  You’ll find yourself back at the Xi’an hospital – just maybe without the dried blood on the floor. That said, I'm not sure why you would want to visit places that look like America anyway. Follow my advice, and bravely wander from all the shiny buildings. My only request is that you take pictures; you wouldn’t want to forget the coolest parts of China.

 

Had to be sure you were getting the real thing.