Tag Archives: China

Travel – Stuck away from home in a foreign country – A Quick Update

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So a quick update… I was told Friday afternoon that after my all day marketing event at MY hospital, I was traveling 3 hours by train to Taizhou to do all day training and marketing event about their new water birth center.

I’m totally OK with traveling to new places to do marketing for this company, but hey, more than 24 hours notice would be fine. And because we were RUNING LATE for the train, there was no time to go to my flat to get my overnight bag!

So, here I am, far away from my flat with only a change of underwear (smart midwives ALWAYS carry a clean pair in their purse!) and 2 outfits. The jeans and top I wore to work YESTERDAY and the dress I changed into for the marketing event YESTERDAY… And guess what, I’m here for ANOTHER night because they have a lady in early labor.

That said… I just delivered the first ever water birth baby in Taizhou. The media were here, it was a great birth, very fast birth, baby boy who arrived just 12 minutes after I walked in. He came so fast I didn’t even have enough time to put gloves on! Here the cutie patootie gives the camera a smooch pose…

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The food has been sketchy. Last night I walked to the grocery and got some greens and a roasted chicken and made a chicken salad. This was after eating nuts and seeds on the train because Kitty (who really is the best personal assistant ever) said we may not be able to get dinner so late. Nuts and seeds are not on my diet, but what to do? Up to that point (we got on train at 515 pm) I had eaten 4 tea eggs for the day and that’s it.

This morning I had tea eggs and beef bacon with the shittiest cup of coffee ever!

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Lots of green tea before the ceremonies began in the CEO’s office and I was offered this piece of fruit… I had to take a bite because I’d never seen anything like it… I only took 2 bites and it tastes like a combination of a pear and apple… Not sweet at all and nice texture.

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Then time for the news conference and education…

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Then we went to lunch. I love the way the Chinese eat, it’s very social. I brought my leftover greens from last night with me and picked at the food. I had some fish and some green veggies, and then I had some cooked beef COATED… GASP… With rice flour. I have to admit it was yummy. The ONLY reason I ate it was that they ordered it especially for me. They had snails, which I usually eat when I’m not dieting, but passed on today…

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And everyone but me drank this crap… CORN SMOOTHIE, I KID YOU NOT!!!!

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Then back to the hospital to catch the cute little baby. Here’s a pic of the new family…

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And despite not having clean panties to put on tomorrow morning, I really am enjoying this unexpected trip…

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And let me tell you the nicest thing I’ve heard this week… The nurse in this picture told me she was at Hangzhou last April for the water birth training “with Kasaleen and the other Sandi”. I said the other Sandi? “yes, she says, the big one” I said that was me! And she says, “no, no, I will show you picture” and pulls up a pic of me and her from last year. She was shocked… LOL. How awesome is that?

Dinner tonight was fish broiled in light soy and ginger… I passed on all the gravy laden veggies everyone else was eating and I passed on the duck tongue…

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I’m trying not to stress that I have 2 patients due this week 3 hours away… Hold on girls, I’ll be back in Hangzhou tomorrow!

Ciao!

p.s. I guess that wasn’t so quick, 😀
p.p.s. I’m dreading getting on the scale 😦

You Deserve Love

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So, I’ve had a crap day at work… LOL. I know, not my usual optimism, but I really have had a crap day at work. It has to do with yesterday’s post in regard to being “someone else’s world”. The good news is tomorrow I see if I can get an extension on my visa, so it’s not an issue of going out of town.

So, what am I doing this evening? I’ve had a lovely dinner, a cup of tea and I have all of the lights out and the candles burning all over my flat. I have love songs on… the last, one of my favorites; Joe Cocker singing just to me, “You Are So Beautiful”. And I’m loving it. And loving MYSELF and remembering that I deserve My love and attention 🙂 I’ll do this until 8:00 p.m., then I’m going to love myself even more by going out and running!

Dukan – Day 189 – Shanghai with Kitty

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Friday was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: +0.9 lb/+0.40 kg… a gain 😦
Total Weight Loss: 71.3 lb/32.41 kg

So here I was up early on my day off to go to Shanghai. My friend Lucy shipped some boxes here and I needed to go clear them with Customs. I know, I know, I’m a glutton for punishment!

Driver here right on time at 730 a.m…. grabbed a couple tea eggs and then off to pick up Kitty. Kitty is my personal assistant (at work) and accompanies me to deal with paperwork because I have little patience to deal with stupid people (read: people who don’t want to do their job) and she keeps me out of jail 🙂 So here we are in the taxi, bright and early…

Hangzhou Taxi

It took us 45 minutes to get to the train station across twon here in Hangzhou (I might add that this is 3 minutes longer that it takes to get to Shanghai on the train 190 kms away!). Purchased tickets, got coffee and jumped on the train, as it was boarding when we purchased the tickets! Here we are in our 1st class seats. First class costs $5.71 more than 2nd class… worth every penny!

Kitty and Sandi

It took 42 minutes at 304 kph to get to Shanghai… I read my novel “The Wire In the Blood” by Val McDermid while Kitty napped… the girl can nap anywhere, at any time, it’s amazing!

Subway to our first destination and because Kitty is so amazingly efficient we got there without getting lost and she had all the paperwork ready, it was forthwith stamped (the Chinese stamp everything 457 times!!!) and money was exchanged and then we were cleared to go to customs.

But it was lunch time, so on to the subway to go to my favorite hamburger joint, The Blue Frog … woo hoo 2 times in 1 week! What a lucky girl I am. The server actually asked if I wanted what I had on Sunday and repeated it verbatim… am I really in China?!? I was pretty darn impressed, and yes, I wanted exactly what I had on Sunday 🙂

Lunch at the Blue Frog

Kitty had a HUGE burger, which she deconstructed and ate with a fork and knife. She also tried ketchup for the first time… and liked it… poor girl is getting Americanized by me.

After lunch a quick stop off at the City Shop grocery to pick up fat free yogurt (can’t get it in Hangzhou anywhere, and the City Shop online delivery warehouse didn’t have any last week. I got 10!

Then off to the customs office where the lady didn’t want to do her job (no big surprise) and as I wound up to start running my mouth, my sweet, naive, soft-spoken Kitty says, “I’ve got this” and lays into the lady, with a sweet smile on her face, but an angry voice and the lady did her job. We were in and out of the Customs office in under 30 minutes.

Back to the train station by way of 3 different Lines and train headed back by 436 p.m… The sad part, it took 1 hour and 17 minutes to get to my flat from the train station.

Dinner was stir-fried steak chunks with onions, squash and garlic stems.

I’ll tell you where the 0.9 lbs came from… I had NO WATER, at all. I had 1 cup of coffee in the morning, 1 latte in the train station in the morning, 2 diet cokes with lunch (something I rarely drink anymore, and don’t miss to be honest), a latte at the Shanghai train station, and 2 cups of yellow label tea at home. NO WATER… it makes a huge difference. And I noticed my urine was concentrated last night… hmmm, do you think that could be from drinking no water!?!? 😀 I also didn’t get in my yogurt and bran. I had no appetite for it last night.

Exercise… Kitty and I walked up and down every single stair there was in the subway system. We didn’t take the escalators, even with my back pack full of yogurt and a few other groceries, I climbed the stairs. It felt great and accomplished… Kitty, ever the trooper, went along with it, but told me on the train that her legs were tired. Bless.

All in all a good day. Here’s one last pic… a family sculpture in Shanghai that we passed, and as my driver Jerry reminds me FAMILY = Father And Mother, I Love You… pretty cool, huh?

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Ciao!

Quote of the day: “You don’t always get what you wish for, you always get what you work for”

Dukan – Day 188 – You’re Giving Two Speeches

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Today was a PP day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg (4th day in a row that I’ve had 0.4 lb loss, strange!)
Total Weight Loss: 72.2 lb/32.81 kg

So off to work I go this morning… no confrontation at the tea egg line, this is a good thing for me and you can see the relief on the lovely, smiling faces of the tea egg ladies 😀

After morning rounds I am told that I’m going to help with bathing babies as they are short of staff (for new comers, I’m the Quality Manager for a maternity hospital in China, helping them improve to international standards and I’m a midwife by trade, not practicing here (or at least that’s what it’s suppose to be… LOL). Anyway, bathed a lovely baby boy while the marketing department snatched dozens and dozens of pictures of him for the parents. He also had a swim in the tank, settled when I sang him The Rose (my go to song to make babies stop crying) and then I gave him a lovely massage. Taking my time so I’d only have to care for one bambino!

After that, Kitty (my personal assistant) and I went back to our office and she comes into my inner office with a 4 page document to show me which events next month I have to attend and which ones I’m speaking at. Speaking at?? “Yes, she says, You’re giving two speeches”… “What do they have to be about”, I ask. And she replies, “Oh, don’t worry, they will make for you”… Lovely. So someone will write my speeches in Mandarin and then Kitty with translate them into English for me, then I will read them out loud in English and Kitty will translate verbally to the audience in Mandarin. I love this place. I am their marketing doll and I really do enjoy it! I have to do very little, but show up, look pretty, speak and smile. I imagine this is kind of like being a beauty queen 🙂 Kitty has informed me that this is all in honor of our hospital being open for 1 year and we will be celebrating from March 3 – April 4th… The Chinese know how to party it up!

Lunch at my desk, 2 tea eggs and 3 slices of ham.
Dinner… funny thing, I forgot to take meat out of the freezer, something I rarely do, and ended up stopping at the street vendor on the way into my apartment complex. She sells what looks like chickens and I thought I’d get one, sans the head (they serve it with the head here), and have that for dinner. She explains that they are free range ducks, this is why they are smaller than what I’d be used to from the U.S.. Well, ducks and Dukan don’t go together because of the fat content, but I need to eat so I buy one. She expertly shaved the meat off the bone and presented it to me in 2 little containers. It.Was.Yummy!!! Really yummy! But my tummy felt heavy for about an hour after I ate.

I went for a run, did 35 minutes and 17 seconds in the pouring rain, but I’m really starting to enjoy it. Kept up my 7 mins. run/2 mins. walk ratio and it seemed easier this time around.

Yogurt with bran and splenda for snack and off to bed… trip to Shanghai on Friday!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness” -Edward Stanley

Dukan – Day 182 – 70 POUNDS GONE!

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Well, it took me 7 extra days to get to the goal, but I DID IT! Not too bad given that I spent 3 weeks home on a super fun vacation 😀

Friday was a PP day.

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 70.2 lb/31.91 kg …. 5 STONE!

I’m doing the happy dance! Seriously… the happy dance burns even more calories 🙂

I was off today and slept until 7! That is the first morning I’ve slept so late in over a month! Got some blogging done and threw in laundry. Then off to catch a taxi to Kira’s house for breakfast. On the way, the sun peeked through the ever present haze/smog and I snapped a shot…

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This picture was taken at 927 a.m…. the weather is still crappy and cold, but I did get to see the sun and that’s all I needed to cheer me up!

Breakfast was a crustless quiche, made especially Dukan friendly just for me… THANKS, KIRA! And I was so busy playing with the amazingly adorable Soren that I didn’t get any other pictures besides this one, which I thought was particularly artsy…

I present… Soren’s Spoon Art

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It’s a little blurry, but you get the point… It’s skippy peanut butter on a demi-spoon. He stuck it there because I didn’t want to “taste” it… LOL

Anyway… long walk to the bank to open an account with an American company (CitiBank)… treated like a VIP and it was the least painful banking experience I’ve had thus far in China… WOOT!

Then home to have a very accomplished afternoon of laundry, boxing unpacking and repacking, setting out candles all over my flat to raise and lift my mood, burned nag incense to make the house smell good, organized my office room as an art studio and cooked myself a yummy Curry Stir-Fried beef with onions.

All in all a good day, capped off by a wonderful, happy inducing weigh in this morning!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Remember, that being a success without happiness is meaningless.
~ Richard Denny

Dukan – Day 181

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Thursday was a PV Day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.44 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 69.1 lb/31.41 kg

This one is going to be short. Normal day here in China, still grey, cold and rainy, but my mood is lifting. I’ve taken to “sunning” in my guest bathroom under the UV lights for an hour a night.

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It’s toasty warm and makes me feel good 🙂

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: Beef slices w/cilantro, garlic stems and sautéed mushrooms
Dinner: Stir-fried pork with onions and mushrooms

Had my groceries delivered from Shanghai today, got some fresh organic veggies that I’m going to use in some recipes.

I hope everyone is having a fun Thursday… The weekend is almost here!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page
– Mark Houlahan –

Dukan – Day 180 – Lovin’ the Whoosh

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Wednesday was a PV (Protein/Vegetable) Day.

Daily Weight Loss: 1.5 lb/0.70 kg
Total Weight Loss: 68.7 lb/31.21 kg

NICE 🙂 My first post-vacation whoosh (not counting the one from last weekend, since I was flying for 2 days on a plane and that truly was water loss). I knew the morning weight in was going to be good, because I snuck a peek on the scale last night and I weight 0.10 kg less than the morning, and that was after a fantastic dinner 🙂

Early in the mornin’: 4 oz cup of yogurt with splenda and bran
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices of ham + 2 tea eggs
Dinner: Beef sirloin burger with bacon and a small amount of mozzarella cheese (without the bun) + a salad with tomatoes and cukes with a splash of olive oil and sea salt… yum.

Had dinner at The Vineyard with Kitty, Chiara and Joe. Feels “normal” there because it’s an American restaurant, and I feel a bit at home. I looked at their appetizer of fried onion rings, fried calamari, fried mozzarella and chicken wings and thought how awful that food would make me feel. I did pick up one onion ring and smell it… LOL

In regard to my blog… I am reaching between 150 – 200 readers per day, which is awesome! I am humbled that people would spend time reading my words and commenting. My blog has reached nearly 16,000 views. Makes me happy. 😀

Well… off to get ready for work. I hope you all are having a fabulous week… mine is looking up!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Dukan – Day 178 – At least it’s warming up!

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Today was a PP day (Pure Protein).

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 67.1 lb/30.51 kg

Woke up in a bit of a funk, but happy to see that the temp was actually over 40 degrees!!! Yay!           After the walk to work and handover, I had 2 tea eggs for breakfast. I also drank nearly 1000mL of water with grapefruit Crystal Light in it. I’m really enjoying having the flavored water. I find I can drink down half the 1.5 Liter bottle and refill with water and it’s still tasty!

Meeting with the CEO mid-morning and then a walk to the halal restaurant for lunch. Beef slices with cilantro and garlic stems with chili pepper… phew they were hot!

Afternoon filled with writing policies and PowerPoints and then on my walk home I decided to walk to the mall to pick up a few items at the grocery store. I was in the elevator, having an OVERWHELMING urge to pop into the PIZZA HUT for a pizza… seriously, this is the FIRST time I’ve craved carbs in nearly 6 months!!!! when my iPhone rings and it’s Velina and she’s inviting me to dinner at the Mexican restaurant… divine intervention, for sure! So I walked the further 1.3 miles down to the restaurant to meet them… I had Beef fajitas with extra onions and without the fajitas… crisis diverted. I know it’s about wanting comfort food, and DAMMIT I will not fall into that trap! I’ve been gluten free since August 20th and plan on staying that way  😀

Power walk back jamming to lots of different tunes, mood lifted, feeling a bit better, shower and facebook and bed… Things are looking up 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the Day: A photo quote…

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Starting off 2012 with memory loss! Dukan – Day 134

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Well, this will be a short blog! I typed up a whole blog this afternoon on the work computer (during lunch) and forgot to email it to myself, so you’ll get two tomorrow 🙂

Short version… Lost .2 lbs, had pork chops for lunch in Hong Kong, flew back to Hangzhou in the evening.

Bucket List resolutions kept and/or worked on today: #6, #7, #13, #14… not bad!

Ciao!

2nd quote of the day: Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean ~ Maya Angelo … Lucy said I needed to add working on my anger to my bucket list… Maybe I don’t, I prefer to be clean 😀

Pic of the day: Sadie, Aleisha & Sydnie… Paris 2009

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