UGH
You may have seen on the news that South China has been very rainy these past few weeks. It has rained daily in I don't know how long, which is fine by me. Any rainy day is one day less that I have to wear a lot of sunscreen. Another benefit is that the rainy days generally stay below 30 degrees, which is nice this time of year. Of course, the mudslides all over South China are frightening and tragic, and the gravity outweighs my Pollyanna-ish outlook.
I have suffered only one difficulty associated with the rainy weather. My legs are absolutely covered by insect bites of varying shapes and sizes. I stopped counting at 30 on each leg. Yesterday I not only itched like crazy, but my joints and my muscles actually hurt when I stood and walked. I even got a little nausea from the pain. Yesterday afternoon ended up being a movie afternoon for Myles while I reclined on the couch.
I have gone to 2 different chain drugstores looking for anti-itch cream. At the first one, Nep-Star, the ladies were incredibly helpful. They looked at my leg last week when I only had 10 or 12 bites on each leg, and I pantomined itching with a big grimace. They had an English to Chinese dictionary that allowed me to look up pharmaceuticals in English and give them the Chinese words for it. I could find both brand-names and chemical nomenclature. A few weeks ago at this same drugstore they didn't have in stock something I needed for Randy, so they sent one of their employees to another store to get it for me. While I waited the other ladies offered me a seat, a cup of water, and helped keep Myles entertained. I love this drugstore. Unfortunately, the itch cream they gave me has a very strong odor, which isn't a problem for me. Randy has been battling sinus infections and some asthma related problems these past 2 weeks, and I thought this cream might aggravate that. In addition, since it was so painful to walk yesterday, I needed to go somewhere closer.
Watson's is a Hong Kong-based drugstore chain that is only three or four blocks from our house. Sometimes I prefer Watson's because they carry more Western-style products, like disposable diapers and Maybelline mascara. In that way it is a lot like Rite Aid. However, all of the drugs are in Chinese, so if I need something, I need to ask someone. At Watson's they are not too helpful. When I have showed them boxes of meds Randy has taken here, they just tell me that they don't carry it. At other Chinese drugstores they offer me alternatives even if they don't carry the exact drug. I asked one Watson's employee with the pantomine about itch cream. He pointed me in the general direction of cold medicine. I asked a second, and he directed me at least towards a counter full of topicals. I asked a third employee and she grabbed one of the tubes. I tried it after I bought it and it didn' work. Later Randy looked at the cream and the packaging. The best we could determine is they gave me an anti-fungal. Oh I hate Watson's.
Randy thinks the difference is that Watson's is Hong Kong-based and Nep-Star is Chinese-based. It would be easy to reduce it as such, but I suspect it has more to do with Watson's being in a high-rent area, and maybe there is an arrogance associated with it. Maybe it was because the first two people I talked to at Watson's were men, and "helping" is women's work. I don't know.
But I do know that I am going back to Nepstar this afternoon.
Update: I just got back from Nep-Star. I was helped by a man, with the same level of helpful service as the ladies that work there.
I have suffered only one difficulty associated with the rainy weather. My legs are absolutely covered by insect bites of varying shapes and sizes. I stopped counting at 30 on each leg. Yesterday I not only itched like crazy, but my joints and my muscles actually hurt when I stood and walked. I even got a little nausea from the pain. Yesterday afternoon ended up being a movie afternoon for Myles while I reclined on the couch.
I have gone to 2 different chain drugstores looking for anti-itch cream. At the first one, Nep-Star, the ladies were incredibly helpful. They looked at my leg last week when I only had 10 or 12 bites on each leg, and I pantomined itching with a big grimace. They had an English to Chinese dictionary that allowed me to look up pharmaceuticals in English and give them the Chinese words for it. I could find both brand-names and chemical nomenclature. A few weeks ago at this same drugstore they didn't have in stock something I needed for Randy, so they sent one of their employees to another store to get it for me. While I waited the other ladies offered me a seat, a cup of water, and helped keep Myles entertained. I love this drugstore. Unfortunately, the itch cream they gave me has a very strong odor, which isn't a problem for me. Randy has been battling sinus infections and some asthma related problems these past 2 weeks, and I thought this cream might aggravate that. In addition, since it was so painful to walk yesterday, I needed to go somewhere closer.
Watson's is a Hong Kong-based drugstore chain that is only three or four blocks from our house. Sometimes I prefer Watson's because they carry more Western-style products, like disposable diapers and Maybelline mascara. In that way it is a lot like Rite Aid. However, all of the drugs are in Chinese, so if I need something, I need to ask someone. At Watson's they are not too helpful. When I have showed them boxes of meds Randy has taken here, they just tell me that they don't carry it. At other Chinese drugstores they offer me alternatives even if they don't carry the exact drug. I asked one Watson's employee with the pantomine about itch cream. He pointed me in the general direction of cold medicine. I asked a second, and he directed me at least towards a counter full of topicals. I asked a third employee and she grabbed one of the tubes. I tried it after I bought it and it didn' work. Later Randy looked at the cream and the packaging. The best we could determine is they gave me an anti-fungal. Oh I hate Watson's.
Randy thinks the difference is that Watson's is Hong Kong-based and Nep-Star is Chinese-based. It would be easy to reduce it as such, but I suspect it has more to do with Watson's being in a high-rent area, and maybe there is an arrogance associated with it. Maybe it was because the first two people I talked to at Watson's were men, and "helping" is women's work. I don't know.
But I do know that I am going back to Nepstar this afternoon.
Update: I just got back from Nep-Star. I was helped by a man, with the same level of helpful service as the ladies that work there.
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