Conversation #2

Tristan and I met again last week in Market Square of the BLUU. Our conversation started off very general, asking each other how our days were going and how classes were going. Then I found out that Tristan actually lives in Irving and he has to commute to campus every day, which makes things difficult for him. I was intrigued as to why he lived so far from campus and turns out he is living for free in an apartment that someone is loaning to him. That person just happens to be a producer of “Prison Break”. How on earth did Tristan know him? While Tristan was performing in Hong Kong, the producer was at the performance and they were introduced to each other after the show. When Tristan came to the United States, the two reconnected and the producer offered up an apartment he owned while Tristan was studying at TCU. To me, it seemed as though Tristan had a really nice life in Beijing. He was playing shows in Hong Kong, which were apparently pretty prestigious if he had the producer of “Prison Break” attending them, he had worked the Olympics, and was in the best school in Beijing for piano performance. So why come here? I had to ask him this because it was hard for me to comprehend what he found so great about this place compared to his homeland. What he said was that the TCU piano performance professor had known him when he lived in Beijing and they were in contact regularly and became good friends. Tristan said that this professor is the reason he came to TCU to study. He says that TCU is very nice to international students and he loved the American culture, so it was an easy decision for him to make. After talking about his decision to come to the United States, I started to ask Tristan questions about health care in Beijing. I was learning about it in my Survey of Nursing class and couldn’t pass up to opportunity to actually ask someone who had experienced it. He said that he believes the medicine system in China is totally misusing Western Medicine. I asked him what he meant and he said that all of the doctors will give people antibiotics for anything they come in with, even if it is a slight cold or fever. He said that over here, doctors have very strict rules with what they can do. Over there, the doctors use the medicine with little restriction. This was odd to me because from what he’s told me in the past, the country is extremely strict and it is odd to me that the medicine is so lenient. I then started asking him about traditional medicine practices and whether he thinks that they work or not. Things like cupping, coining and acupuncture. For those that don’t know what these are, cupping is a traditional practice in which different sized glass cups are heated up and placed on the skin, forcing the skin to be suctioned into the cup due to the difference in pressure. Coining is a traditional practice where the edges of a coin are rubbed, hard, along the back and front of the body, pushing out the evil spirits. I assume most of you know what acupuncture is, but for those that don’t: acupuncture is the practice of inserting extremely fine needles into one’s skin at various pressure points throughout the body. Tristan believes that cupping and acupuncture work, but that in the hospitals over there, you will find Western Medicine. Some people in China believe that Western Medicine has adverse side effects to their bodies and refuse to take any medications or see health care professionals that are not traditional spiritual healers. He also believes that some aspects of the Eastern Medicine where he lives are completely ridiculous, like the belief that animals influence your health. He went on to explain to me that people believe that turtles have the power to cure cancer. This is the belief for other animals as well, I just can’t remember the specific examples he gave me. I thought that it was extremely insightful and quite culturally relative of him to look at his own culture through that lens. I am impressed with his ability to analyze and discuss his own culture, especially the things that he doesn’t agree with. I understand how hard it is to analyze and discuss something you have been immersed in all of your life. I told him that I was extremely impressed with his ability to do so and also with his wide knowledge of topics. He was shocked. He said that it was very nice of me to think that, but it was not true. We ended our conversation there, for he had to get to class. I look forward to meeting with him again.