The story of two Global Nomads and their time in China.

This morning I awoke bright and early to get some blood drawn. Just the sort of thing I love to wake up to. I've been meaning to get an Hepatitis A vaccine since we arrived, and finally the academy doctor organized a massive vaccination sweep for the whole academy. First, though, we had to have blood drawn to test for anti-bodies to Hep A & B. The blood draw was relatively painless. The technicians, or nurses, or doctors or whoever they were, knew what they were doing. Believe me, I'm a pretty harsh critic having done the job myself. Everything was clean and the needles were brand new, of course, as I expected. I was amused by one thing, though, to clean the skin before the needle stick, the techs dipped a cotton swab into a small glass jar of iodine, cleansed the skin, then used a second cotton swab to dip into another jar of alcohol to remove the iodine. The cotton swabs were hygienic and new, but I am not too sure about the little glass jars. Back in the west, I was used to ripping open a small, individually wrapped cotton square. We should have the results in the morning and get the first dose of our vaccines after that. I hope I don't get deported when they see I have anti-bodies to Hepatitis B! (I've been previously vaccinated!)

Another little note, last night we went shopping for food at the big supermarket in the city. I am happy to report we are now the proud owners of a bottle of Tabasco Jalapeno Sauce. I know, doesn't seem like much, but you find yourself ridiculously happy to find western products you didn't even know you liked all that much.

P.S. Ten points to the non-medical readers who know that phlebotomy means blood draw!