Boomers and the future
Lantian
December 10, 2007, 10:07 PM posted in General DiscussionHi Everyone,
Lately I haven't been able to participate or use Chinesepod much because I am back home helping with my dad. He married late, so he's old now, 83 and early stage Alzheimers has started to more significantly affect his life. I bring this up just to hint that I'm not so old yet, I'm not some 50 yo son!!! :)
Anyway, as I help to do things to help him manage his life, and his 70 y.o. wife who is now also acting a bit "old", I realize some of the really great things about China. China in many ways is better set up for older folks. There are subways, walking distance stores and facilities, majong, dancing nearby, etc., and also available affordable-cost assistants. These things are tough in the U.S.
Here I am battling, truely battling, the innudation of junk mail to their home, marketers selling them stuff they don't need, an overabundance of material items that is making things dangerous (hip falls, spoiled food). For example, they bought a pac of 200 cough drops. Geez who would ever have to go thru that?!!
Well, time is short, but I wanted to let some other Cpoders know why I've been away. Just a note, my Chinese is working great here, I can order food, read signs in the local Chinese markets, chat with others in Chinese. :D
Welcome others to chat about this. We'll try to work in some "chinese learning" or "china vs. the U.S" culture things! That's me, always looking to learn...the easy way!!
wei1xiao4
December 10, 2007, 10:35 PMIn China, the US, and around the world, caring sons are a treasure. Your parents are lucky to have you looking out for them. Bless you!
Lantian
December 12, 2007, 05:26 AMYah, Cali is sure nice. Everything seems so CLEAN, was it this clean when I left??? In China when you want to go to a specialist, you just go, here there are approvals, waiting, scheduling, life is complicated!! But there are big tubs of ice cream and whip cream. What a world.
jamestheron
December 12, 2007, 05:53 AMWell, actually, it was this clean when you left. ;) In July/August during my first trip to China, I didn't notice this too much when I arrived in Beijing. In fact, I was partly expecting to see a dump when I arrived and was pleasantly surprised at how clean the Beijing airport was. Even other parts of the city and Shanghai seemed more or less normal and much better than expected. However, on the way back when transferring planes in Japan, WOW, it was spotless. Even San Francisco seemed very clean by comparison. I had only been gone for a couple weeks, so they could not have cleaned up California just for me while I was gone. Now, I'm back to saying that I wish this state would clean up after itself. I guess it's all a matter of what you come accustomed to.
henning
December 12, 2007, 06:13 AMLantian, there are some duties in life more important than all others - more important than work or even CPod. But we indeeed already got worried: http://chinesepod.com/connections/viewpost/henning/connect/Where+is+Lantian%3F And were about to put together some kind of search and rescue team. Welcome back!
daizi
December 12, 2007, 05:16 PMLantian, Sorry to hear about your travails. I can understand the elderly parent experience. As for the junk mail, there's a great little non-profit in the U.S. designed to get those pestiferous junk mailers outta yer mail box. It's practically free. Check out http://www.greendimes.com/. And good luck. dai
TaiPan
December 10, 2007, 10:12 PMLantian, I hope things go well for you back here with your parents. Drop me a note if you want to grab a drink sometime. I'm in Glendale. -jonathan