Yeah, vaccinations

Today the whole family went on a field trip... to the World Bank's health clinic. Simon had a day off from school (it is DC Emancipation Day) and we decided to make the most of the fact that we were all four down town.

It was amazingly efficient. We walked in just before 4pm on a Friday afternoon, and an hour later we were several vaccinations, lollipops, and "I am a super patient" stickers richer. I was the absolute winner, with four vaccinations -- Typhoid, Polio, Hepatitis A&B, and Tetanus/Diphtheria -- and five stickers (thank you Thomas). Most of these vaccinations were kind of "adult booster shots". Paul, Simon and Thomas tied for second place, with just one shot for Typhoid. But Paul also got his blood tested to check for previous exposures or vaccinations, and may have to come back for a round 2.

Simon and Thomas' school also recommends getting vaccinations for Rabies and Japanese Encephalitis. For Rabies, we'll have to visit a travel clinic somewhere else in the city, and the Encephalitis was not so strongly recommended by our doctor yesterday. Paul will probably still get it because he might be traveling in different areas, while his family stays "safe" in Beijing.

After the round of vaccinations, we went to the Brazilian store to get some ingredients for a dinner party tomorrow night with some friends of us (who are all parents of Simon's class mates). While there, we also got over ten bags of Brazilian pao de queijo that we'll make for International night at Simon's school in a couple weeks. I guess we have our foot (or at least our mouth) in a lot of different cultures. I hope the East Asia endemic diseases don't mix in with ours.