The Finish Line

Well, we are winding down now and only have two weeks left in the program. I have spent the last two weeks doing intensive language study and tomorrow I take my final test.

 

This whole experience has been more than I can imagine. I have learned a lot, seen a lot and done a lot. I am thankful for every moment, but I don't believe I could be more excited to go home. Perhaps the biggest thing I have learned on this trip is an appreciation for home. Many of the other group members want to stay longer or come back and teach or live here, but I am thankful for America and our opportunities.

 

I have had a great time, but in all honesty I don't believe I will come back for any extended period of time. I have grown a lot as an individual and changed a lot in my plans for the future. I feel closer to my roots and closer to home and I believe that is where my heart is.

 

China has been both wonderful and challenging, I do believe I will miss the cheap prices and dumplings. But, it is safe to say that there is a lot I won't miss. I feel like it isn't okay to talk about the bad when I have been so fortunate to see a part of the world when others don't have that chance. But study abroad isn't a fairy tale, it isn't the kind of adventure that leaves you unchanged. I have a lot of pet peeves now that have either made me more or less patient. I have seen some very disturbing things that I will never unsee. But I believe all of our experiences in life happen for a reason and I am so thankful.

 

My advice for those planning to go abroad is to be prepared to be unprepared. There are things people can't explain and things you may see or experience, both good and bad, that no one can prepare you for. Embrace those moments. Strangely enough, for the majority of this trip I have hardly felt like I was in a foreign country aside from not understanding people completely. And I believe that is because we are all people and no matter how different things seem on paper, we are all very alike in more ways than we are different.

 

April

 

 

Fun Chinese Signs

Pictures Weeks 8, 9 and 10

I am a fail of updating...

Sorry I haven't updated much!

So we just finished our field trip where we went to:

Weibaoshan

Shibaoshan

Dali

Lijiang

Shaxi

and Shangrila

 

It was a great time and pictures speak louder than words. At Weibaoshan we learned about Yi people and stayed on a Daoist mountain. At Dali we learned about Bai people, in Shaxi we stayed with a rural Bai family. In Shibaoshan we stayed at a Buddhist temple where there was a monkey preserve. In lijiang we learned about Naxi people, attendended a religious Dongba ceremony and listened to traditional music. In Shangrila we learned about Tibetan people, went to an orphanage, spoke with a Lama, and visited a Monestary.

 

That basically sums up the last few weeks, now I am back in Kunming and will be doing language classes until the 28th.

Field Trip

OK I apologize it has been a long time since I have posted but the Internet is sketchy.

 

So there has been a lot going on the last two weeks on our field trip across Yunnan Province; in the past two weeks I have:

 

-climbed a mountain

-sat with a monkey

-hid food from monkeys

-slept in a temple

-listened to a Bai traditional concert and did a traditional Bai dance

-lived in rural China

-hoed a field in China

-talked to a real Tibetan Lama (not the animal)

-hiked down a mountain

-saw statues dating to 800AD

-turned an Indian restaurant into a dance floor

-went to a traditional Naxi concert

-saw a Dongba shaman ceremony

-attended a traditional Bai festival for the god of wealth

-and went to a tie dye factory

 

and we still have 3 more days!!

 

I will give an in depth report when we return to Kunming. On this trip, in two weeks, we have been to: Weibaoshan, Dali, Shibaoshan, Shaxi (Sideng), Lijiang, and Shangrila.

 

Details soon :)

April

 

 

Week 6&7 - City Homestay

So the past two weeks i have been living with a Han Chinese family in Kunming. The mother is a teacher, the father is a police officer and they have an 8 year old boy. The father's parents are also living with them temporarily.

 

I love the mother and grandmother. The mother teaches English and is a very strong woman. She grew up on a farm and moved to the city to teach. We have had lots of interesting personal conversations about her life and her feelings about Chinese women. And the grandmother is just a very sweet old lady that is a lot of fun.

 

The father is not around very often sometimes working nights, sometimes days, so it has been hard to set an opinion about him or learn that much. The grandfather is also quiet and I think a little more hindered by the language barrier than the grandmother.

 

 The child is a terror to be conservative. The single most misbehaved and undisciplined being I have ever met... however he is 8... and a boy... so I do understand what that means and I do feel for his mother. But in the 2 weeks I have been here the child has squirted random passer-bys with waterguns from the window, wrote "you are crazy" on the bed sheets, hit his mother and ran around the house half naked because he had to take a bath instead of playing video games, and sat in front of the TV until he had to be physically removed to do his homework.

Typical little kid stuff?

 

Anyway... it brought up a very enlightening conversation about the "one child policy" (note: this is an American term, the Chinese have never called it a "one child policy" nor is it one) I thought after learning and talking with a lot of women here, Americans might be interested to know some facts of the birth control policy in China.

 

1) If each parent is an only child than they may chose to have another child

2) Because property laws pass property to the son, many counties will allow a family to have a 2nd child if the first is a girl

3) Rural residents may have 2 or 3 based on the province

4) Many woman (almost ALL of who I have talked to) like girls and also only want one child

5) Minorities (those who are not Han) are not bound by these laws so they can increase their dwindling population (i.e Tibetans can have basically as many kids as they want)

6) The policy basically only comes down to affecting 35% of the population

 

I thought some people might like to know some facts, I won't tell people what to think. I think what matters is how the Chinese people think and even those that are allowed more than one child have said they don't want another.

 

One issue that was brought up that I find funny is the "little emperor syndrome" where basically little boys think they are kings... I have found this very evident in my homestay brother. ><

 

So I have one more weekend here and then it is off on our 2 week field trip and rural homestay. I will post pictures of the apartment and family when I have access to my own computer again :)

 

Zaijian!

April

Lijiang Pictures: Week 5

Lijiang: Unexpected Adventures

Well I apologize to my readers that I have not posted yet. I returned from Lijiang early Friday morning and then I had to move into my homestay.

With that being said now follows an account of my adventure and some advice for travelers to China.

The least I can say is that my trip to the mountains did not go as planned. This is both good and bad. I learned a lot on this trip; both about Chinese and about myself. I expect this to be a decently long post so I will start be giving some highlights of what I did:

Friday night, the 18th, myself and two of my friends left on a night train to Lijiang. This was my first experience on a sleeper anything and I highly suggest based on horror stories that travelers go by train if they can avoid a bus. The trains may have squat toilets which are inconvenient when moving but at least they have some form of toilet unlike buses.

I did enjoy the train ride even if I did not get to enjoy the scenery. However, we arrived in Lijiang at 6am.... 3 hours before we thought we would get there, and well before anything opens in China.

It then took us 4 hours to find me a hotel that was open and afterwards Maddi and Ben left for Tiger Leaping Gorge. (Side note: I HIGHLY suggest anyone goes to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge, I did not have time to do everything but the photos they took were GORGEOUS!)

Anyway...The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading in Lijiang.

Sunday, (we arrived Saturday morning) I decided to visit Black Dragon Pool, one of the most photographed places in Yunnan. It has a beautiful view of the mountain and a very relaxing park. Unfortunately, I lack a decent ability to read maps and ended up inadvertently hiking up a small mountain about 2 or 3 miles east of where I wanted to go. I still eventually found the park and relaxed for a while (though rain blocked my view of the mountain). After this mini adventure I explored old town and found a HUGE outdoor market like a farmers market. This place had some of the biggest vegetables I have ever seen. I did though make the mistake of venturing to the meat market section which showed a much uglier (visually) side of the area. I understand the reality that comes with eating meat and I enjoy eating it, but that was the first time I saw live animals being sold. And my readers can infer what kind of animals that included....

But the truth is, though I found this disturbing to see, its a reality. And there a lot of realities in the world that aren't happy and fun to witness but are still a part of life.

and I will still eat and enjoy my hamburgers, even if some people may judge me :)

Anyway, Monday was my trip to Yulong Xueshan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) and it was an interesting one. I came fully expecting to hike to at least a part of the mountain. But ended up having to take a bus to the lift and a lift to the top and at the top I planned to hike to the peak, but there was a blizzard. So that was fun. But I did get a picture of myself at the top of the mountain and 15,000ft or 4500m, at least as high as I could go. I then took the bus back down and tried to figure out how to get to Yak meadow (note: no one that works in the park speaks English). I finally found a tourist group and asked them if they new how to get there (trying in my broken Chinese) and they had me follow them. There was a wonderful woman with them that used to live in America and spoke English. I found out that the group were all Taiwanese hiking enthusiasts all over the age of 60. I went with them to Yak meadow (Maoniu Ping) and when we all go there...there were no Yak. Turns out they are only there in the summer months... something not mentioned in there travel arrangements or my guidebook. So we all stood freezing on top of the mountain where many saw snow for the first time, and then they took a group video which they pulled me into. It was a lot of fun to hang out with such an interesting group of people.

Tuesday I planned to go to Shigu Zhen (Stone Drum Town) and see the First Bend in the Yangtze River but got lost and could not find the bus. So, I went on Wednesday. It is a 2 hour ride into Shigu. When I got there though it was worth it, absolutely beautiful scenery, however the boat rides were either out of season or closed due to bad weather. I walked around the river and the town and I visited the museum for the Red Army from the 1930s and the memorial for the liberation of China. It was mostly just a nice relaxing time. An Australian couple I met that used to do NGO work told me that if it was not for that mountain making the first river bend, then the river would run to the ocean and China would be a desert. I can now say that I have been to, and have a rock from, the 3 longest river in the world and fully plan on seeing both the Nile and the Amazon to complete that top 3. :)

The rest of the trip I relaxed and walked and explored until going back on Thursday night.

So now that you know what I did I would like to give a few tips to travelers going to the area based on what I learned while being on my own:

1) Blue vans are your friends if you find out where the right stations are, they are much cheaper than taxis and go to all places in the Lijiang area, just be sure to ask the person at the hotel where you should meet them, because some will try to offer you rides place for way more. I spent fifteen dollars taking a taxi to the snow mountain but only 3 dollars back in a van.

2) Go to Tiger Leaping Gorge, but plan on walking 7 hours a day and don't trust maps or signs that say how long or how far something is... its probably wrong.

3) Know a decent amount of Chinese or find someone who does

4) Don't listen to the internet, there are no city buses that take you to Shigu, the mountain, or the gorge if its not in season.

5) Go visit in the late summer, the rainy season is June to August, so late May or in the fall/September is best, or you won't see a lot or be able to do a lot... I missed riding a Yak on the River :(

I think thats all the advice I have, I had a great time and I learned a lot about the people and myself.

Oh and I ate Yak meat, very very tasty. I also accidentally ate Chicken feet noodles.... not so tasty..

That is my other advice, try Yak :)

okay well pictures are next, bye for now

April

Week 4 Pictures



Husky being sold at Bird and Flower Market



Old Town Market

 

Bird and Flower Market petshop


 

Many people smoke tobacco from pipes



Front gate of Yunnan Nationalities University



Rest of the Dormitory complex





Dorrn that I live in



 

Chinese McDonalds



 

Chinese Dairy Queen





Old Town Kunming building





Sunset on Downtown street



Outlook for Lijiang

Well I was very excited to hear that on last Sunday's Amazing Race episode the group went to Kunming and Lijiang!

I haven't seen it yet but I thought it was exciting!

 

Ok speaking of Lijiang here is what I plan on doing, and when I get back I will have beautiful pictures and a detailed account of my first adventures on my own!

 

So I leave Friday at 22:00 and take a sleeper train to Lijiang, then I will spend Saturday and Sunday exploring Old Town.

Monday is the trip to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain where I plan to rent a donkey and ride up the mountain.

Tuesday I plan to visit Yak Meadow (yes it is a meadow of yak :) I know my family will be excited, I am!)

Wednesday I will go to Shigu town, a small rural village at the First Bend in the Yagntze River.

I will stay there for the night and go back to Lijiang Thursday and that night take the train to Kunming.

 

I am VERY excited, and I hope this blog is going well because I haven't read one, so I dont know what I am supposed to do.

 

Not much has happened this week. Today we went to Walmart....that did not go well...

Its a Thursday afternoon and it was so CROWDED and expensive and looked nothing like Walmart.

 

A few days ago I went exploring in old town Kunming... where I found a Dairy Queen, McDonalds and Papa Johns... the Old town is falling into disrepair but has become a great place to find vendors and shops.

It reminded me a lot of Canton :)

 

I have taken to talking to people on buses and in shops and I feel that my understanding of Chinese is improving, though speaking is still a little troublesome because my vocabulary is limited.

Until next week!

April 

Week 3

Well not much has gone on this week except more classes and we took a field trip to a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital which was pretty interesting. I am very excited to go to Lijiang next Friday. While I am there I am going to see the first bend in the Yangtze river, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and hopefully some endangered species that live there. We learned about the Yunnan Golden Snub Nosed Monkey that lives around that mountain and I hope to see some.

I am excited to get some time to explore and observe on my own, and I am VERY excited to take a train :)

Peking Opera Female

We got to watch Peking Opera in a tea house and have it demonstrated to us as well which was a lot of fun because we got to try on the costumes.

I was excited the first week I was here, and the next two I was wondering if I made the right decision to come. But I can say that moving into the forth week I have come to the realization that even if I don't find what I expect, I am still thankful that I am getting this experience.

Now....Enjoy some pictures from week 3! 



Traditional Chinese Medicine: Insects, Herbs, and Minerals



Stock in Pharmacy



Pig at Miao Village



Miao (Mang) Village



Mang Farmer



Peking Opera