Happy Loyalty Day

Today was Labor Day in a significant portion of the world. Yes, I know Labor Day in the US is the first Monday of September. Apparently in the US, as I just learned, May first is “Loyalty Day”. As per Wikipedia: “The holiday was first observed in 1921 as "Americanization Day,” and was intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day on May Day (May 1), an internationally celebrated holiday which was perceived as communist.” Hmmm, Red Scare, anyone? But for us here, Labor Day was yesterday. Xiao Lin, the graduate student from our colleague’s lab who has been assisting us, invited us to her family’s home in Changji which is about 2 hours away just on the other side of Urumqi. So we caught a cab to nearby Fukang where we were met by her uncle who drove us the rest of the way to her parents’ house. I can only describe the visit as one of those never ending meals where your hosts are not satisfied they’ve fed you enough until you’re so full than an emesis is near. We started with a huge spread of two types of chicken, fish, and several dishes of vegetables. I’m a little suspicious of the chicken. If I’m correct, then it was an incredibly sweet gesture. A couple of weeks ago I was missing Darren’s fried chicken and started to wax poetic about the recipe and the texture and flavors of his masterpiece. For anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to try it, you’re missing out. Melt in your mouth juicy goodness in a crispy shell. Mmmm. So after that conversation, I think Xiao Lin may have said something to her mother because what we had was not quite fried chicken but could be seen as an attempt. It was dredged in flour and loads of yummy spices but not quite fried golden. The reason I’m suspicious is that it’s the one dish they kept pushing my way with glee. It was super tasty.

Then for dinner was home made Xinjiang noodles. I got a chance to watch them being made which was fun. Though I was told there wasn’t enough time to properly teach me. I’m sure that’s true. It looked pretty intricate and like one of those things for which there is no recipe. You learn from your mother who learned from her mother and etcetera up the matrilineage. The dough is rolled out into a long snake, then pulled thinner, then stretched to the final noodle thickness. Then they’re boiled quickly and come out soft and slightly chewy. They go perfectly with whatever vegetable or meat dish is served to accompany drizzled with a touch of vinegar. Yum.

The day had a somber tone though. I had one of those conversations that sometimes happens when you’re an American traveling in a developing country. Xiao Lin’s aunt has breast cancer, and her family saw me as a beacon of hope. It broke my heart to tell them that I don’t know that there is anything I can do. They started by asking if I can buy medicine in the States to send back to them. They said it’s not an issue of money, but they think there must be better treatments in the US. I tried to explain that I can’t just go buy cancer drugs and put them in the mail. Someone in the US would have to see her, and she’d have to be under a doctor’s care there for weeks if not months. After talking to them more, it sounds like her cancer is metastatic already, and her doctors are putting her on a regimen of chemo and radiation. She’s seen another doctor in Beijing who told her that her doctor here is doing exactly what they would do there, but she thinks that Harvard must have advanced technologies that I would know about. She’s worried about the treatment making her really sick and about losing all of her hair. I tried to explain that people in the US with advanced stages of breast cancer also go on really nasty drugs that make you sick and lose your hair. I’m not an MD, so I couldn’t advise with any sort of medical knowledge, but I told them I would at least try to see what I could find out about the best doctors in China – perhaps someone trained in the US. The gentle pleading look in her husband’s eyes when she wasn’t there to see is what dug into my heart. If anyone knows anything that could help, please let me know. I feel the need to try to do at least something.