Sunday, April 24, 2011

Great Day all around!

Alison and I got all dolled up to go to the 9th Annual Meeting of the National Cervical Cancer Consortium and Symposium of HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Prevention (try saying that three times fast). I wasn't nervous until we arrived at the hotel, and then I was like holy moly, these are the movers and shakers in China! And they think I'm an expert. HA!

Turns out, through the course of this year, I've met a lot of people who are the movers and shakers in China--that, coupled with the fact that all of the post-docs and PhD students at CICAMS were in attendance relaxed me big time. So by the time it was my turn, I was ready to roll:Notice how my new suit fits me perfectly, like it was made just for me? Oh wait, it WAS! Anyways, the weirdest moment of the whole process was after I started, this man with a huge zoom lens got extremely close and took like 100 pictures of me, and I got all flustered, but then figured, what the hell? And stopped mid-sentence to crack a big smile.Everyone cracked up. Having Shangying Hu, my Fogarty Twin, translate for the presentation was also a very special experience as we've worked so effectively and so efficiently this past year. But it was a strange waiting game--first I'd talk and she'd waitthen she'd talk and I'd wait.But all in all, it was a great success. Another highlight for me was getting to be on the panel afterwards with Dr. John Sellors, who has really spearheaded the global movement towards low-cost alternatives to cytology, and Shangying and Eunuch--we actually had fun.
We then had the requisite photoshoots for the Fogarty, with LiRong, Shangying, and me:
(It kinda looks like I have a penis coming out of the top of my head (can I say that?) but, dont' worry, it's just the drawing behind me.) And with Dr. Qiao and Dr. Zhao.
My suit bunches up funny when it's buttoned and my arms are out, but otherwise it looks pretty pimp, right?

Afterwards, we walked to Panjiayuan (for the last time, I think) and purchased beautiful gifts for friends and family (and ourselves obviously, as we count under both categories) and then headed to Lisa at the Pearl Market to pick up the rest of the order.

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