Questions from a Children’s Hospital in China

After spending another two weeks in the children’s hospital with Bu Chou, we have compiled a list of perplexing questions we’ve raised to each other.

1. Are we the only people in the hospital that realize the little jingle that plays at the nurse’s station when someone presses the call button is “Oh Susanna?” It’s a good thing they don’t have the words playing along with it … we’d be bombarded by the nurses asking for clarity … “what’s an Alabama and why does some fella have a banjo stuck to his knee?”
2. Does the whole hospital know Scott has no clue how to read a rectal thermometer? When Bu Chou was in the hospital in December (she was in a different wing than she is now), the nurses always had to read it for him. On Sunday, the nurse from our current wing (who had seen him for the first time on Saturday) came in to check her temp. She took one look at Scott and left. Five minutes later she returned with an digital thermometer for the ear.
3. Why was “Hee Haw” ever popular?
4. When people walk down the hallways at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas (or any other children’s hospital in the world) do they see some mother’s panties hanging from a door frame to dry?
5. How much money could we make if we charged admission to our room? We are like animals at the zoo as everyone in the hospital comes for a viewing. It’s exactly like when Americans go to zoo and try to speak “Lion” – you hear every Tom, Dick, and Harry try to say the only “Lion” word they know …“Roar”. It’s just the same for us. People come, look at us curiously and then say the only English word they know … “Hello.”
6. Why can’t Americans pass gas as openly as Chinese? It is really a glorious thing to be able to let one rip without anyone flinching.