Day 7

We started the day by visiting China Medical University. They have a Chinese Medicine museum where we learned about some traditional Chinese Medicine. One thing we saw was a huge compass. They use a compass to do things like position their furniture so that they have good feng shui. We also learned a little about acupuncture practices and herbs that are used.

Learning about the compass

 Example of an old pharmacy

Acupuncture Needles

Next, Dr. Seal gave another lecture, this time about violence prevention. He talked about some of the strategies that are being developed to prevent violence in New Orleans. Violence is a huge problem in New Orleans, which ranks number one in the country for homicides. New Orleans is unique in the sense that there are pockets of murders in a few specific neighborhoods. The average person, such as myself, is not at risk of an object of this violence. There is a specific population, black males between the ages of 14-30, that is at risk. Dr. Seal is working within the community to reverse this pattern and make neighborhoods safer. He does face great challenges, such as many people in these neighborhoods have become numb to the violence. To overcome these obstacles, he is building relationships with community members to find out what they need in order to reverse these patterns of violence. I think this lecture was interesting to the Taiwanese students because New Orleans is so different from Taiwan when it comes to violence. Most of the Taiwanese students have never seen a gun or drugs. 

Dr. Seal Lecturing

Next, we learned about acupuncture. A few people from our group were able to try it out.

Nicole tried out acupuncture on a pressure point on her hand which is supposed to affect her oral cavity. 

Theresa had a heat lamp shined on her knees. 

Danielle had suction cups on her arms which is supposed to relax her upper back. 

We concluded our school day with a Tai Chi lesson, which is a type of martial arts. It's much harder than it looks. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this since I was busy learning. 

Tonight for dinner, a small group of us enjoyed a Japanese Hotpot restaurant. It was delicious. They brought us a pot with soy sauce that you put on a burner. Then they bring you vegetables and raw meats and you cook your food yourself and then eat it. This was one of the best meals that I've had since I arrived here. 

So good!

Ping, Carrie, Doris, Nicole, and I