Nic TP-10

I met with AR on Wednesday. He recently got his scores for the Medical Licensing Test back. He scored 70 points lower than passing and 60 points lower than average. We discussed this for awhile, and I said next time we met I’d have some practice ready. I also recommended he locate people who have a stronger medical knowledge than I do. I figured the more he worked on this, the better he’ll do. I really want him to succeed but sometimes I feel unable to help him because I don’t have a medical background. Any suggestions are welcome.

We also talked about medical culture in America vs. China. He sayed in Chinese Medical School he was taught that if certain diagnoses may be psychologically damaging to the patient, such as “you have cancer”, not to tell the patient right away. I said that, in America, it is the Doctor’s duty to tell the patient the diagnosis as soon as possible.

We discussed a concept of time that he was having difficulty with: this weekend versus next weekend. As I prepared to explain it to him, I realized how tricky this can be because which one you use changed depending on what day it is. An example I used with him is that you typically won’t ask “What are you up to this weekend?” on a Sunday afternoon. You might ask, “What are you doing the rest of today?” or “What are your plans for the rest of Sunday?”

Later, we got caught up in some cultural language. He says sometimes his American friends say, “What’s up AR?” and he wants to know how to respond. I suggested a few phrases ranging from the informal “Just chillin’” to the more formal “I’m doing well, how are you?”.

Also, he said there is this phrase that had D, A, and G in it and it means “sheep sh*t”. I was sort of embarrassed talking about this with him, but he insisted on sharing this marvelous word with me. After brainstorming for awhile, I was still flummoxed.

Finally, I combined the three letters and typed in DAG in Google. I found out that it is a friendly condescending term meaning sheep sh*t that Aussies and Kiwis use (similar to some Americans using “What’s up mutha fucka?”, “sup dawg”, or “hey b*tch!”). I told AR that Americans don’t use this word, but he insisted that, in certain parts of America, they do. I’m waiting for the day my friends say, “Baaah hum-dag!”