SHANGHAI, Aug. 9 — It was late last month, the boy said, his voice still tinged with emotion, when he and his father were forced to march their two German shepherds to a public square and hang them from a tree.
The boy, Xia Shaoli, was not alone in his pain. Officials in Mouding County in southwestern Yunnan Province had ordered the mass extermination of dogs, pets as well as strays, after three people died in a rabies outbreak. And as a crowd gathered around a large tree in the village of Xiajiashan, owners complied one after another with commands to string their dogs up.
According to official figures, 54,429 dogs were killed during the Yunnan campaign. Reports in the Chinese news media say that some people out walking their dogs had the animals seized by gangs of vigilantes, who clubbed the dogs to death on the spot.
The events in Yunnan have been quickly followed by rabies scares in other parts of China. On Wednesday, the Chinese news media reported the killings of 280 dogs in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai, and 13 in the city of Fuzhou in southern Fujian Province.
Earlier this week, a cluster of 16 villages in the southwestern part of Shandong Province declared a rabies alert, and county officials have drafted a dog extermination plan that would call for the killing of any dog found within a three-mile radius of any known rabies case.
There are half a million dogs in the city of Jining, which encompasses the 16 villages, the official New China News Agency says. Officials there said their extermination plan was scheduled to begin later this month. There have also been reports of smaller extermination schemes in other parts of the country, notably in Sichuan Province.
As remarkable as the killings themselves, however, has been the response. With its rising prosperity, China is developing a pet-owning culture, with dogs standing out as a particular favorite. As word of the killings has spread here, pet owners have begun to mobilize — speaking out online and circulating petitions — to try to stop the killings.
In fact, discussion of the issue has surpassed the bounds of a simple conversation about pets’ rights, with many commentators sharply questioning a system that could order the mass extermination of dogs, whether or not they are licensed and vaccinated. The reaction of groups and individuals, often through the Internet, also provides a striking illustration of the emergence of true public opinion in China, unmediated by the official press or censors.
“This is just another stupid decision by several foolish officials taken in a small room, totally unreflective of the people’s will,” said a comment on Mop, a current affairs forum.
Some drew comparisons with China’s human rights situation. “We don’t have human rights, let alone dog rights,” wrote a commentator going by the name of Kui Kui Xiang Ri, on the Tianya forum. “I’ve seen too much live abuse, let alone abuse of dogs. Anyway, it’s the local emperors who have their say, and we ordinary folks are not much different from dogs in their eyes.”
Chinese humane societies have announced plans to file lawsuits against local governments that mount extermination campaigns. “This kind of thing is just too terrible, too inhumane,” said Huang Juan, a leader of the Abandoned Pets Assistance Center, in Wuhan. “They did it without any real reason, since many of these dogs are vaccinated and cannot spread rabies. But how can you speak reason with these people?”
Another group, the China Small Animal Protection Association, said it would sue. “We are meeting with lawyers the day after tomorrow, and will go to court and bring charges against two local governments,” said Lu Di, the group’s director. “I will not just try to persuade, warn or criticize them — it’s too late for that. We will sue them to make them understand that this is not merely a moral issue, but a crime.”
On Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States offered $100,000 to China to establish a program to control rabies in Jining, The Associated Press reported.
More broadly, others pointed out that the extermination campaigns contradict the guiding ideology of China’s current leaders, who constantly invoke the need to build a “harmonious society.”
Although the extermination programs are being widely denounced here, there is no doubting that rabies remains a severe problem in China. Nationwide, 961 people died of the disease in the first six months of the year, and last year, 2,545 people died. By contrast, rabies deaths in most Western countries are extremely rare.
Experts say the persistence of the disease reflects the breakdown of the rural health care system, once one of the proudest achievements of Chinese Communism. Many poor rural provinces view canine rabies vaccinations as a costly burden. Meanwhile, an oral vaccine, which is far easier to administer, is not imported, partly because of its cost.
“Many farmers are reluctant to get shots for their dogs, because it’s not always free, whereas the veterinary system at the township level has become very inadequate,” said Luo Tingrong, a rabies expert at Guangxi University. “There isn’t much investment into the system.”
China Plans a Rare-Animal Hunt
BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Reuters) — China plans to auction licenses to foreigners to hunt wild animals, including rare species, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
The government will auction the licenses based on the numbers in each category of animal, ranging from a starting price of $200 for a wolf, the only predator on the list, to as much as $40,000 for a yak, The Beijing Youth Daily said. There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 mature wild yak in the world.
The newspaper said the auction, on Sunday in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, would be a first for China.
For the picture and article click here
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Friday, August 11, 2006
Cow Smarts
Have to hand it to yaks - not only have we gotten some excellent butter and cheese products here in Tibet, but the animal is surprisingly nimble. We have seen yaks in places that just seem impossible to get to, especially for an animal its size.
Also, on our way back from Everest, I saw 2 cows helping each other get a tasty snack. One cow was holding a sapling tree down so the other could eat off of the top, while the other cow was doing the same.
Hmmm...
Also, on our way back from Everest, I saw 2 cows helping each other get a tasty snack. One cow was holding a sapling tree down so the other could eat off of the top, while the other cow was doing the same.
Hmmm...
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Shangri-la Detours and Sights
So, now I am actually back in Lhasa, but would like to tell you all about our road trip out to the Everest Base Camp and back. On the road Internet cafes were not as available, so I will have to play catch-up.
Last Friday, we met up with two fellow travelers (Lis and Ryan, who we originally met in Xining) and all went on a road trip together. We decided to save some money and go for the old 1980's Japanese built tank of a 4x4 vehicle. It had nice, roomy seats, a huge back end for packs and a cheery driver. Perfect!
We left Lhasa in the morning - probably not exactly on time, but close enough by Chinese standards. Our first stop? The exotic gas station. Wooooo! We pull into the gas station and figured out that you can fill the gas tank just a little bit more by rocking the car back and forth. So, after that exciting stop, we were ready to roll - almost. Our car just wouldn't really start. It wouldn't turn over at all. So, he threw open the hood and after about 20 minutes we hit the road. First stop, Yamdrok-tso (Yamdrok Lake).
It was a little grey out and kinda misty, but we were all thinking, "hey the road is really nice, why do we need the 4x4?" Oh, we were about to find out! Before the lake, we got to go through the first check point. Pretty low key. The driver had to pull over and the officer looked at some of the driver's paperwork and then waved us through.
We wound up pulling over shortly after at a scenic outlook. There, we met up with another tour group with a couple of Japanese tourists who we had met in Xining, a white woman who spoke Japanese and another Japanese women. We would wind up spending quite a bit of "rest time" with them on our trip the first day as our car was quite stubborn about starting up, like, all of the time. So, after the scenic spot, and waiting for the two drivers to start up our car, we were off to see the lake.
The lake, quite far from spectacular. It was quite grey out and was pretty cold and rainy. There were quite a few of people selling things and trying to get you to take a picture on their yak or next to their dogs or whatever. We had a little look around, but there wasn't too much to see and the clouds were pretty low and thick. So, we got back into the car and waited to get it started up before continuing on our journey.
It was starting to clear a little in spurts. The landscape was absolutely stunning! I am not the biggest scenery watcher, but I was completely mesmerized by the beauty of the land. Truly, there are no words to really describe just how amazingly beautiful it is out here. Both of us took a gazillion (okay, maybe a few less) pictures, but could have taken much more. Everything was beautiful and photo worthy - I think that I have at least a couple thousand images in my head that will serve me well in my lifetime. I only wish that I had bigger eyes to take in more of my surroundings. The hundreds of pictures we did take just don't do the area justice.
Our driver asked us if it would be okay to stop by the Sakya Monastery now rather than on the last day, we all agreed and we headed off to the monastery in Gyantse. OHMYGOD! The road was not so much a road as an adventure ride. I don't think my bottom was in contact with my seat the majority of the time we were on the "road". Every now and then I would catch the driver's eye in the mirror and he would start smiling as he revved up for another launching bump in the road. Honestly, he was one of the best drivers I have ever seen! Really impressive with all of the road obstacles we encountered along the way. Anyhow, next was onto the Gyantse Kunbum!
The site was interesting - a chorten packed with little rooms filled with wall murals and, yes, course, big plaster statues. Floor after floor of these little rooms that I even had to bend over to get into. Matt and I were really winded because of the high altitude, so went really slow around all of the rooms. A couple of time, Matt got the wind scared out of him by a couple of pigeons. Pigeons. From the chorten we had a great view of the Gyantse dzong (fort). After shaking off some children aggressively asking for money, we all got in the car and headed off to Shigatse.
After a good night's rest, we all went to the Tashilhunpo Monastery. It was an interesting place to go around, I saw a lot of monks counting money during my time there. This monastery is the seat of the Panchen Lama (scholar Lama) lineage and there is some history between the following parties: The seat of the Panchen Lama, the Dali Lama and the PRC (go figure). Three guesses as to which party was trying to encourage a divide between the other two parties. So, the big rock stars of this monastery are Panchen Lamas 9 (PL with moustache), 10 (the big guy) and 11 (the disputed Chinese-sponsored PL who was a young boy). There was a little quasi-museum with a bunch of old pictures showing how well the 10th PL got along with Mao and other leaders of the PRC.
Next, our driver asked us if we would like to go to Sakya now rather than on the way back. We all agreed, so we set off for the Sakya Monastery. Our driver got a part for the car so we didn't break down as much the second day. One of the obstacles we ran into heading to Sakya was that for whatever reason, we could not always drive on the road. So he would have to pull off the road and maneuver the "detour" route. The "detour" we ran into this time was a tunnel under a bridge. Our car with luggage rack was not going to fit through. We tried a couple of times, but no go. So, Matt, our driver and the Japanese tour group driver took off the rack and carried it over to the other side. Once through, the next task was attaching the roof rack back onto the car. This became quite the spectacle.
Anyhow, the Sakya Monastery was cool! I really liked it for whatever reason. When we entered, it was really low key, nice. We went to one of the buildings to find dozens of monks sitting in the room chanting. Very cool. It was grey out, so the only light was from the butter lamps around the room. I don't know, I didn't really talk to any of the monks, but they just seemed to be really warm and friendly there. We enjoyed looking around the monastery and came across a very curious room - the chapel was of people being tortured and had limbs hanging from the ceiling and a lot of painted on blood. Right next to that chapel was a little room filled with stuffed animals - not like, taxidermy, think more on the plush side. Weird. Anyhow, we saw our driver wandering around the courtyard and figured that he was looking for us. So, we headed back to the car and continued on to Shegar.
In Shegar we didn't really do anything. We grabbed a bite at a not so great Sichuan restaurant and hit the sack. My sack had a huge crater in the middle, so I didn't sleep too well - kind of like trying to go to sleep in a belly-flop position. The next day many of us were not feeling very well from the proven not so great Sichuan food from next door. The first thing we did was to go get our permits for Everest Base Camp.
Then more driving - luckily, I was the best off, as I had only consumed my good ol' standby of potatoes the night before. So, on the way to the Base Camp we wound up taking a break on to of a mountain. There were a lot of kids trying to sell you stuff from the moment the car rolled up. A couple of little girls latched onto me. I told them that I wasn't interested and gave them a little side hug. They really responded to that. They no longer were really interested in selling me something, but, rather, getting more hugs. They were so cute! Eventually Matt did buy some prayer flags from one of them, she got so excited to get the 5 yuan! She just beamed and called out "thank you" very brightly. When it was time for us to leave, I was approached by an older man who asked me to buy a rock. I looked him in the eye and politely said that I didn't want it and smiled. He smiled and thanked me for being so kind. He told me in English that many people aren't very kind to him and don't bother to smile even if they aren't interested in buying anything, instead they act very angry. He also thanked me for loving the children because they are often treated not very kindly. Finally, time to get into the truck, all of the little girls I was playing with came over to the car and the one we bought the flags from called me her good friend - they all gave me hugs and waved as we drove off.
The last stop before the base camp was for lunch in a small town. We again had Sichuan food - really good potatoes! In our restaurant was a huge poster with Western-ish looking food - we have seen this same poster in many restaurants around the country. I don't know what it is about this particular poster, but many Chinese restaurants seem to have it.
Anyhow, now, finally, Everest Base Camp!
The road is really bumpy and we go through a nature preserve. It was a little misty out, but still beautiful. We get about 400 meters from the base camp drop off when - flat tire. We all get out, driver laughs a little (what else can you do?) and he changes that flat in about 5 minutes! So, we roll in and head up to the camp. Part way up I don't know exactly what I did - I think I was trying to equalize my ears and got a little dizzy, slid in a weird way and wound up twisting my ankle. Eventually, I caught a horse cart for the rest of the way up.
At camp, we found a really nice tent. Really nice, more like a semi-mobile hotel. They had nice, clean and comfortable benches/beds and a stove in the center of the room. We threw down our packs and went out to explore the camp a little bit. Here we ran into some more of the same travelers we had seen during various parts of our travels. We were all pretty tired. So we crashed. Me a little later than the others. At one point, while I was writing, the Tibetan man who was in charge of his tent, came over to cover Lis' eyes with the blanket. The way he was doing it or something - I don't know why, but he and I found what he was doing to be incredible hilarious! We couldn't stop laughing. When he finished he gave me a good pat on the back (both still laughing) and filled my tea cup.
The next morning, Matt and I were pretty sleepy - we had a hard time sleeping. I blame his long legs. We went out to see if Everest was going to make an appearance this morning. Nope. Cloud cover. So, we waited. and waited. and waited. Matt went to the top of an outlook and I went past the barrier (hey, I look Chinese - who's going to stop me?). The clouds started to lift and clear out and we were suddenly standing in full view of Mt. Everest. Breathtaking! Eventually, we went over to the base camp sign to take some pictures (comrade and other) and we wound up running into our driver.
After a bit, we caught a horse cart back down, only to run into our driver again and started the journey home. We decided to drive back to Shigatse. Our drive back was really quite an experience! We really got to see what our 20+ year old car was made of! The first real challenge (besides starting up on a regular basis) was one of the river detours we had to take. We don't know why we had to to take it as the road looked just fine and no one was working on it at the time. Maybe the road was just too new to drive on yet or something. Anyhow, so we off-roaded it. In a riverbed. It was fun. There was a bit of a traffic jam so our driver tried to go around it and promptly became stuck - was it the mud? the rocks? We didn't know, but we were stuck. Matt and Ryan got out of the car and started to push without much luck. Finally the driver told them to throw rocks under the tires while he floored it - front tire smoking, we made it out of that particular obstacle and were ready to face the next challenge.
A kind of American Gladiators of sorts for cars, the next challenge was the incline (to get back onto the road). We watched many attempt and fail - Oh, what was that non-4x4 bus thinking? The time came when we were up. Our driver backed up a little and gunned it and...well, you know that big Viking ship ride at amusement parks? It was kind of like that. We went really fast up and then just as fast back down. He told and motioned for us to get out of the car. He backed it way up and let 'er rip. Success! We all scrambled up the hill and back into the car. Our driver had the best laugh and the 4 songs he was able to play on the tape deck will forever be in my memory - laughing, singing and cheering we set off for the next roadside challenge. As we were leaving he slowed way down so we could watch the bus make another attempt at the incline.
The next challenge was the obstacle course. We were driving down the road when all of a sudden our driver starts to look around, like, a lot. Suddenly he stops, backs up a little and asks some locals by the roadside a question. They all nod and he pays him some money. They move some rocks and we go through. We are speeding along a little village path, normally for tractors and horse carts. We race past an official looking building. Lis asks the driver if that was a check point. The driver laughs a little and says yes. She them asked him why we are driving around it as we have permits. He tells her that "sometimes they don't like to let people through". Silent pause. He starts to laugh and points at the check station and laughs. We all start to laugh as we make our little round about around the check point through this little village. Sooner or later we were driving parallel to the main road when we see a very official looking black 4x4 with tinted windows, lights and a siren approaching us from the main road. Inside were some very serious looking PSB officials, who were not amused with something. Our driver got very serious and just plowed on. We got back onto the main road with a couple of other vehicles who took the same route we had taken. The big black car got closer to us and then passed us to pull over a rather large truck. I guess that would be more suspicious, a big truck taking the "detour" rather than a couple of 4x4s carrying no more than 10 tourists.
Anyhow, after that we all exhaled. Relief!
The last challenge was both a mental and physical challenge. We took another "detour" from the main road in which we cut through another village. Everything was going well until we stumbled across a truck that was hopelessly stuck. The back wheels were, well, screwed! One wouldn't move at all because it was so stuck in the mud and the other was touching nothing - so just spinning. Was our driver going to sit around and wait for it to work itself out? No! He's a man of action - so he and some of the locals tried a couple of things to try to unstick it, but the truck would not budge. So he gathered up some more people to push the truck from side to side and he was able to get it to budge. The truck slowly lurched from its pit and promptly slid along to the next big muddy hole, almost got stuck again, but managed to crawl out of it.
Our last night of our road trip was back in Shigatse. We wound up getting a really nice room - shared bathroom facilities, but at least they were clean (can't say the same about Everest - literally 2 feet of shit surrounding (that would be 2 feet out from the toilet and about 1 foot up) the pit toilet squatter and in front of the platform? Why, a lake a urine! I don't understand what the problem is, I mean I did not grow up with squatters, yet I have never managed to miss that badly AND if I did happen to grossly misjudge where my waste was going, I would try to just take the paper and shove it down the hole. Y'know clean up after myself. I mean, really, how did 2 feet all the way around happen? Yes, I peed on my feet and there was no one else to blame but myself (er...and the dark) for that one, but I did clean up after myself and it's not like I just chose to take a big dump 2 feet to the left of the toilet and leave it there for someone else to deal with. Also, there should be a rule that if you are unsure about how to use a pedestal toilet, do not attempt it. Anyhow, back to the story) which we didn't always have along the trip. We all went to a great restaurant called, Tashi and I had a most excellent vegetable korma and garlic naan (oooh, yummmm).
The next morning, back to Lhasa. We decided to drive most of the way through - we did stop so our driver could wash the car with water from a nearby stream, but no big challenges on the last day. He got stopped by a PSB officer about his seat belt, one time he pretended to put it on (tucked the strap under his leg) and the other time took it off as soon as we were out of sight.
We did stop at a little town as a horse festival was letting out. It was so cool to see all of the people in their traditional dress - also knowing for many of these people these are the clothes they wear everyday, not just for the tourist shows. We wandered around a little bit - the pictures aren't very good because I didn't feel like taking pictures. But, back at the car, a bunch of little kids came over and were asking for candy. I didn't have any, so I took some pictures of them. They were thrilled! They loved seeing their picture on my little screen. One of the little boys had a toy camera and started to click away at me. The kids are great!
All in all it was a really fun trip, a lot of time in the car, but at least we had the perfect vehicle and driver to make the trip exactly what I was hoping for. I really love it here in Tibet and don't want to leave. Lhasa is a really cool city, but everyone should try to get out and enjoy the scenery and people in the countryside. If you have the interest and means to get out here, do so, soon as it will change fast. We were lamenting that it really may not be too distant in the future that a deluxe hotel will pop up at base camp, complete with plastic palm tree. This place is truly amazing.
Last Friday, we met up with two fellow travelers (Lis and Ryan, who we originally met in Xining) and all went on a road trip together. We decided to save some money and go for the old 1980's Japanese built tank of a 4x4 vehicle. It had nice, roomy seats, a huge back end for packs and a cheery driver. Perfect!
We left Lhasa in the morning - probably not exactly on time, but close enough by Chinese standards. Our first stop? The exotic gas station. Wooooo! We pull into the gas station and figured out that you can fill the gas tank just a little bit more by rocking the car back and forth. So, after that exciting stop, we were ready to roll - almost. Our car just wouldn't really start. It wouldn't turn over at all. So, he threw open the hood and after about 20 minutes we hit the road. First stop, Yamdrok-tso (Yamdrok Lake).
It was a little grey out and kinda misty, but we were all thinking, "hey the road is really nice, why do we need the 4x4?" Oh, we were about to find out! Before the lake, we got to go through the first check point. Pretty low key. The driver had to pull over and the officer looked at some of the driver's paperwork and then waved us through.
We wound up pulling over shortly after at a scenic outlook. There, we met up with another tour group with a couple of Japanese tourists who we had met in Xining, a white woman who spoke Japanese and another Japanese women. We would wind up spending quite a bit of "rest time" with them on our trip the first day as our car was quite stubborn about starting up, like, all of the time. So, after the scenic spot, and waiting for the two drivers to start up our car, we were off to see the lake.
The lake, quite far from spectacular. It was quite grey out and was pretty cold and rainy. There were quite a few of people selling things and trying to get you to take a picture on their yak or next to their dogs or whatever. We had a little look around, but there wasn't too much to see and the clouds were pretty low and thick. So, we got back into the car and waited to get it started up before continuing on our journey.
It was starting to clear a little in spurts. The landscape was absolutely stunning! I am not the biggest scenery watcher, but I was completely mesmerized by the beauty of the land. Truly, there are no words to really describe just how amazingly beautiful it is out here. Both of us took a gazillion (okay, maybe a few less) pictures, but could have taken much more. Everything was beautiful and photo worthy - I think that I have at least a couple thousand images in my head that will serve me well in my lifetime. I only wish that I had bigger eyes to take in more of my surroundings. The hundreds of pictures we did take just don't do the area justice.
Our driver asked us if it would be okay to stop by the Sakya Monastery now rather than on the last day, we all agreed and we headed off to the monastery in Gyantse. OHMYGOD! The road was not so much a road as an adventure ride. I don't think my bottom was in contact with my seat the majority of the time we were on the "road". Every now and then I would catch the driver's eye in the mirror and he would start smiling as he revved up for another launching bump in the road. Honestly, he was one of the best drivers I have ever seen! Really impressive with all of the road obstacles we encountered along the way. Anyhow, next was onto the Gyantse Kunbum!
The site was interesting - a chorten packed with little rooms filled with wall murals and, yes, course, big plaster statues. Floor after floor of these little rooms that I even had to bend over to get into. Matt and I were really winded because of the high altitude, so went really slow around all of the rooms. A couple of time, Matt got the wind scared out of him by a couple of pigeons. Pigeons. From the chorten we had a great view of the Gyantse dzong (fort). After shaking off some children aggressively asking for money, we all got in the car and headed off to Shigatse.
After a good night's rest, we all went to the Tashilhunpo Monastery. It was an interesting place to go around, I saw a lot of monks counting money during my time there. This monastery is the seat of the Panchen Lama (scholar Lama) lineage and there is some history between the following parties: The seat of the Panchen Lama, the Dali Lama and the PRC (go figure). Three guesses as to which party was trying to encourage a divide between the other two parties. So, the big rock stars of this monastery are Panchen Lamas 9 (PL with moustache), 10 (the big guy) and 11 (the disputed Chinese-sponsored PL who was a young boy). There was a little quasi-museum with a bunch of old pictures showing how well the 10th PL got along with Mao and other leaders of the PRC.
Next, our driver asked us if we would like to go to Sakya now rather than on the way back. We all agreed, so we set off for the Sakya Monastery. Our driver got a part for the car so we didn't break down as much the second day. One of the obstacles we ran into heading to Sakya was that for whatever reason, we could not always drive on the road. So he would have to pull off the road and maneuver the "detour" route. The "detour" we ran into this time was a tunnel under a bridge. Our car with luggage rack was not going to fit through. We tried a couple of times, but no go. So, Matt, our driver and the Japanese tour group driver took off the rack and carried it over to the other side. Once through, the next task was attaching the roof rack back onto the car. This became quite the spectacle.
Anyhow, the Sakya Monastery was cool! I really liked it for whatever reason. When we entered, it was really low key, nice. We went to one of the buildings to find dozens of monks sitting in the room chanting. Very cool. It was grey out, so the only light was from the butter lamps around the room. I don't know, I didn't really talk to any of the monks, but they just seemed to be really warm and friendly there. We enjoyed looking around the monastery and came across a very curious room - the chapel was of people being tortured and had limbs hanging from the ceiling and a lot of painted on blood. Right next to that chapel was a little room filled with stuffed animals - not like, taxidermy, think more on the plush side. Weird. Anyhow, we saw our driver wandering around the courtyard and figured that he was looking for us. So, we headed back to the car and continued on to Shegar.
In Shegar we didn't really do anything. We grabbed a bite at a not so great Sichuan restaurant and hit the sack. My sack had a huge crater in the middle, so I didn't sleep too well - kind of like trying to go to sleep in a belly-flop position. The next day many of us were not feeling very well from the proven not so great Sichuan food from next door. The first thing we did was to go get our permits for Everest Base Camp.
Then more driving - luckily, I was the best off, as I had only consumed my good ol' standby of potatoes the night before. So, on the way to the Base Camp we wound up taking a break on to of a mountain. There were a lot of kids trying to sell you stuff from the moment the car rolled up. A couple of little girls latched onto me. I told them that I wasn't interested and gave them a little side hug. They really responded to that. They no longer were really interested in selling me something, but, rather, getting more hugs. They were so cute! Eventually Matt did buy some prayer flags from one of them, she got so excited to get the 5 yuan! She just beamed and called out "thank you" very brightly. When it was time for us to leave, I was approached by an older man who asked me to buy a rock. I looked him in the eye and politely said that I didn't want it and smiled. He smiled and thanked me for being so kind. He told me in English that many people aren't very kind to him and don't bother to smile even if they aren't interested in buying anything, instead they act very angry. He also thanked me for loving the children because they are often treated not very kindly. Finally, time to get into the truck, all of the little girls I was playing with came over to the car and the one we bought the flags from called me her good friend - they all gave me hugs and waved as we drove off.
The last stop before the base camp was for lunch in a small town. We again had Sichuan food - really good potatoes! In our restaurant was a huge poster with Western-ish looking food - we have seen this same poster in many restaurants around the country. I don't know what it is about this particular poster, but many Chinese restaurants seem to have it.
Anyhow, now, finally, Everest Base Camp!
The road is really bumpy and we go through a nature preserve. It was a little misty out, but still beautiful. We get about 400 meters from the base camp drop off when - flat tire. We all get out, driver laughs a little (what else can you do?) and he changes that flat in about 5 minutes! So, we roll in and head up to the camp. Part way up I don't know exactly what I did - I think I was trying to equalize my ears and got a little dizzy, slid in a weird way and wound up twisting my ankle. Eventually, I caught a horse cart for the rest of the way up.
At camp, we found a really nice tent. Really nice, more like a semi-mobile hotel. They had nice, clean and comfortable benches/beds and a stove in the center of the room. We threw down our packs and went out to explore the camp a little bit. Here we ran into some more of the same travelers we had seen during various parts of our travels. We were all pretty tired. So we crashed. Me a little later than the others. At one point, while I was writing, the Tibetan man who was in charge of his tent, came over to cover Lis' eyes with the blanket. The way he was doing it or something - I don't know why, but he and I found what he was doing to be incredible hilarious! We couldn't stop laughing. When he finished he gave me a good pat on the back (both still laughing) and filled my tea cup.
The next morning, Matt and I were pretty sleepy - we had a hard time sleeping. I blame his long legs. We went out to see if Everest was going to make an appearance this morning. Nope. Cloud cover. So, we waited. and waited. and waited. Matt went to the top of an outlook and I went past the barrier (hey, I look Chinese - who's going to stop me?). The clouds started to lift and clear out and we were suddenly standing in full view of Mt. Everest. Breathtaking! Eventually, we went over to the base camp sign to take some pictures (comrade and other) and we wound up running into our driver.
After a bit, we caught a horse cart back down, only to run into our driver again and started the journey home. We decided to drive back to Shigatse. Our drive back was really quite an experience! We really got to see what our 20+ year old car was made of! The first real challenge (besides starting up on a regular basis) was one of the river detours we had to take. We don't know why we had to to take it as the road looked just fine and no one was working on it at the time. Maybe the road was just too new to drive on yet or something. Anyhow, so we off-roaded it. In a riverbed. It was fun. There was a bit of a traffic jam so our driver tried to go around it and promptly became stuck - was it the mud? the rocks? We didn't know, but we were stuck. Matt and Ryan got out of the car and started to push without much luck. Finally the driver told them to throw rocks under the tires while he floored it - front tire smoking, we made it out of that particular obstacle and were ready to face the next challenge.
A kind of American Gladiators of sorts for cars, the next challenge was the incline (to get back onto the road). We watched many attempt and fail - Oh, what was that non-4x4 bus thinking? The time came when we were up. Our driver backed up a little and gunned it and...well, you know that big Viking ship ride at amusement parks? It was kind of like that. We went really fast up and then just as fast back down. He told and motioned for us to get out of the car. He backed it way up and let 'er rip. Success! We all scrambled up the hill and back into the car. Our driver had the best laugh and the 4 songs he was able to play on the tape deck will forever be in my memory - laughing, singing and cheering we set off for the next roadside challenge. As we were leaving he slowed way down so we could watch the bus make another attempt at the incline.
The next challenge was the obstacle course. We were driving down the road when all of a sudden our driver starts to look around, like, a lot. Suddenly he stops, backs up a little and asks some locals by the roadside a question. They all nod and he pays him some money. They move some rocks and we go through. We are speeding along a little village path, normally for tractors and horse carts. We race past an official looking building. Lis asks the driver if that was a check point. The driver laughs a little and says yes. She them asked him why we are driving around it as we have permits. He tells her that "sometimes they don't like to let people through". Silent pause. He starts to laugh and points at the check station and laughs. We all start to laugh as we make our little round about around the check point through this little village. Sooner or later we were driving parallel to the main road when we see a very official looking black 4x4 with tinted windows, lights and a siren approaching us from the main road. Inside were some very serious looking PSB officials, who were not amused with something. Our driver got very serious and just plowed on. We got back onto the main road with a couple of other vehicles who took the same route we had taken. The big black car got closer to us and then passed us to pull over a rather large truck. I guess that would be more suspicious, a big truck taking the "detour" rather than a couple of 4x4s carrying no more than 10 tourists.
Anyhow, after that we all exhaled. Relief!
The last challenge was both a mental and physical challenge. We took another "detour" from the main road in which we cut through another village. Everything was going well until we stumbled across a truck that was hopelessly stuck. The back wheels were, well, screwed! One wouldn't move at all because it was so stuck in the mud and the other was touching nothing - so just spinning. Was our driver going to sit around and wait for it to work itself out? No! He's a man of action - so he and some of the locals tried a couple of things to try to unstick it, but the truck would not budge. So he gathered up some more people to push the truck from side to side and he was able to get it to budge. The truck slowly lurched from its pit and promptly slid along to the next big muddy hole, almost got stuck again, but managed to crawl out of it.
Our last night of our road trip was back in Shigatse. We wound up getting a really nice room - shared bathroom facilities, but at least they were clean (can't say the same about Everest - literally 2 feet of shit surrounding (that would be 2 feet out from the toilet and about 1 foot up) the pit toilet squatter and in front of the platform? Why, a lake a urine! I don't understand what the problem is, I mean I did not grow up with squatters, yet I have never managed to miss that badly AND if I did happen to grossly misjudge where my waste was going, I would try to just take the paper and shove it down the hole. Y'know clean up after myself. I mean, really, how did 2 feet all the way around happen? Yes, I peed on my feet and there was no one else to blame but myself (er...and the dark) for that one, but I did clean up after myself and it's not like I just chose to take a big dump 2 feet to the left of the toilet and leave it there for someone else to deal with. Also, there should be a rule that if you are unsure about how to use a pedestal toilet, do not attempt it. Anyhow, back to the story) which we didn't always have along the trip. We all went to a great restaurant called, Tashi and I had a most excellent vegetable korma and garlic naan (oooh, yummmm).
The next morning, back to Lhasa. We decided to drive most of the way through - we did stop so our driver could wash the car with water from a nearby stream, but no big challenges on the last day. He got stopped by a PSB officer about his seat belt, one time he pretended to put it on (tucked the strap under his leg) and the other time took it off as soon as we were out of sight.
We did stop at a little town as a horse festival was letting out. It was so cool to see all of the people in their traditional dress - also knowing for many of these people these are the clothes they wear everyday, not just for the tourist shows. We wandered around a little bit - the pictures aren't very good because I didn't feel like taking pictures. But, back at the car, a bunch of little kids came over and were asking for candy. I didn't have any, so I took some pictures of them. They were thrilled! They loved seeing their picture on my little screen. One of the little boys had a toy camera and started to click away at me. The kids are great!
All in all it was a really fun trip, a lot of time in the car, but at least we had the perfect vehicle and driver to make the trip exactly what I was hoping for. I really love it here in Tibet and don't want to leave. Lhasa is a really cool city, but everyone should try to get out and enjoy the scenery and people in the countryside. If you have the interest and means to get out here, do so, soon as it will change fast. We were lamenting that it really may not be too distant in the future that a deluxe hotel will pop up at base camp, complete with plastic palm tree. This place is truly amazing.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Tibetan Tongues
Hello all - I actually started this post before Matt and I left for our road trip, so it is a little dated, but wanted to post it up anyhow.
Just a quick update. Today Matt and I got our first tongue hello. We were walking back from the Tibet Museum (see below) and we passed this little older lady with a ginormous sack on her back. I smiled at her when I saw her and she gave us back the biggest toothless smile and then stuck her tongue out while still smiling. I waved at her and she kept on smiling. We were about 50 feet away from her and she was still standing on the corner, smiling at us with her tongue out. It was great.
The museum was "interesting"....They put a lot of time and money into this museum, and it shows. The exhibit halls were all very nice, good lighting equipment and displays. The text was particularly interesting and informative. So for those of you who don't know about the fascinating history, take out a piece of paper and a pencil, and prepared to get schooled by the Central Authority. Here are some snippets of the text that I scribbled down:
From the Art and Culture Room: The cultural tradition prospered down to the present in language, literature, art, medication, astronomy and calendar with more brilliant achievements under the Socialist system.
From the Jade Room: Jade seals and slips are representative objects in the collection, not only represents the Central Government's recognition of Tibetan authority, but also witnessing the effective administration and sovereignty in Tibet executed by the Chinese Central Government.
Entitled, "Tibet is Inalienable in its History": ...In 1791 the Qing government stationed an army in Tibet and from 1792-1793 the central government proclaimed the "Imperial Edicts over Administration in Tibet" which regulated the management in political, financial, military, diplomatic and religious affairs in Tibet with a view to enhance centralization. On the 23rd of May 1951 the "Agreement on Peaceful Solution of the Issue in Tibet between the Central People's Government and the local Government of Tibet" was signed in Beijing, which marked the peaceful liberation of Tibet.
From the "Tibet's Natural Resources" Room: Tibet has been an attraction of visit in its unknowns. The "no man's" land to the North of the plateau is ever more unknown. It's described as a natural treasure owing to its bright future with its particular geographical conditions and rich natural resources. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, particularly since the reform and opening up, by the tender care of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and by the highly concern and correct leadership of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party committee, including the help of the sister's departments, the "no man's land" in Tibet's Northern plateau has undergone remarkable change in its protection of science, and a good foundation is laid for its proper opening of natural resources.
The Exhibit Forward (right when you walk in):
Tibet - snow-clad majestically on the roof of the globe. Its celestial poise since antiquity never fails to agitate our patriotic pride.
It was on this sky-scraping tableland and with their assiduous labour and splendid wisdom that the Tibetan ancestors created the brilliant ancient civilization and left behind them a wealth of cultural legacy over history. Traversing over the space and span of Tibetan history and culture, one can't help the eruption of nostalgia and reminiscence. A probe into the remote history of Tibet, the magnitude and profoundity of its cultural tradition, the colorful variety of its artistic creations, the aesthetic appreciation of its folkloric style and customs help us to comprehend the luxuriance of foliage and deep-reaching ramifications of the grandiose tree of cultural tradition in China - evergreen and awe-inspiring!
Thanks to the cordial concern of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council and under the correct leadership of the Party Committee and the local government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, marked success has been achieved in the construction of Tibetan economy and culture and important attention has been paid to the preservation of cultural relics. Colossal investments have been allocated to complete the building of the Tibetan Museum. And also thanks to the positive supports from all social walks of life, the collection compilation and research in cultural works, in archives and documents were smoothly streamlined. Upon the happy coincidence of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 40th annual celebration of the Democratic Reform in Tibet, the Tibetan Museum ceremoniously presents this Exhibition on the History & Culture of Tibet as a gift to the jubilee!
Entering the Exhibition, we find ourselves in an exotic holy place - history is welcoming us and we are marching into it. Across the space of history, we see the contributions made by the Tibetan people in building up the brilliant culture of the Chinese nation and in its national unification which brings us under the profound impression that the prosperity, decline, glory and humiliation of Tibet are always intimately connected to the fate of our great motherland.
Here the antique treasures unite past to the future. The lofty mountains and torrential rivers in Tibet welcome you, honourable guests!
There were signs like the ones above outside of every exhibit hall. All in all, the museum was very carefully, um, planned. The actual exhibit space was very well done, but I would go just for the writing!
So, just like Justin Timberlake when launching his solo career, now the PRC is "Justified" as well.
Okay, so I have, like, hundreds of new pictures up on my flickr site to keep you busy while I work on a new post. Later!
Just a quick update. Today Matt and I got our first tongue hello. We were walking back from the Tibet Museum (see below) and we passed this little older lady with a ginormous sack on her back. I smiled at her when I saw her and she gave us back the biggest toothless smile and then stuck her tongue out while still smiling. I waved at her and she kept on smiling. We were about 50 feet away from her and she was still standing on the corner, smiling at us with her tongue out. It was great.
The museum was "interesting"....They put a lot of time and money into this museum, and it shows. The exhibit halls were all very nice, good lighting equipment and displays. The text was particularly interesting and informative. So for those of you who don't know about the fascinating history, take out a piece of paper and a pencil, and prepared to get schooled by the Central Authority. Here are some snippets of the text that I scribbled down:
From the Art and Culture Room: The cultural tradition prospered down to the present in language, literature, art, medication, astronomy and calendar with more brilliant achievements under the Socialist system.
From the Jade Room: Jade seals and slips are representative objects in the collection, not only represents the Central Government's recognition of Tibetan authority, but also witnessing the effective administration and sovereignty in Tibet executed by the Chinese Central Government.
Entitled, "Tibet is Inalienable in its History": ...In 1791 the Qing government stationed an army in Tibet and from 1792-1793 the central government proclaimed the "Imperial Edicts over Administration in Tibet" which regulated the management in political, financial, military, diplomatic and religious affairs in Tibet with a view to enhance centralization. On the 23rd of May 1951 the "Agreement on Peaceful Solution of the Issue in Tibet between the Central People's Government and the local Government of Tibet" was signed in Beijing, which marked the peaceful liberation of Tibet.
From the "Tibet's Natural Resources" Room: Tibet has been an attraction of visit in its unknowns. The "no man's" land to the North of the plateau is ever more unknown. It's described as a natural treasure owing to its bright future with its particular geographical conditions and rich natural resources. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, particularly since the reform and opening up, by the tender care of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and by the highly concern and correct leadership of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party committee, including the help of the sister's departments, the "no man's land" in Tibet's Northern plateau has undergone remarkable change in its protection of science, and a good foundation is laid for its proper opening of natural resources.
The Exhibit Forward (right when you walk in):
Tibet - snow-clad majestically on the roof of the globe. Its celestial poise since antiquity never fails to agitate our patriotic pride.
It was on this sky-scraping tableland and with their assiduous labour and splendid wisdom that the Tibetan ancestors created the brilliant ancient civilization and left behind them a wealth of cultural legacy over history. Traversing over the space and span of Tibetan history and culture, one can't help the eruption of nostalgia and reminiscence. A probe into the remote history of Tibet, the magnitude and profoundity of its cultural tradition, the colorful variety of its artistic creations, the aesthetic appreciation of its folkloric style and customs help us to comprehend the luxuriance of foliage and deep-reaching ramifications of the grandiose tree of cultural tradition in China - evergreen and awe-inspiring!
Thanks to the cordial concern of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council and under the correct leadership of the Party Committee and the local government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, marked success has been achieved in the construction of Tibetan economy and culture and important attention has been paid to the preservation of cultural relics. Colossal investments have been allocated to complete the building of the Tibetan Museum. And also thanks to the positive supports from all social walks of life, the collection compilation and research in cultural works, in archives and documents were smoothly streamlined. Upon the happy coincidence of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 40th annual celebration of the Democratic Reform in Tibet, the Tibetan Museum ceremoniously presents this Exhibition on the History & Culture of Tibet as a gift to the jubilee!
Entering the Exhibition, we find ourselves in an exotic holy place - history is welcoming us and we are marching into it. Across the space of history, we see the contributions made by the Tibetan people in building up the brilliant culture of the Chinese nation and in its national unification which brings us under the profound impression that the prosperity, decline, glory and humiliation of Tibet are always intimately connected to the fate of our great motherland.
Here the antique treasures unite past to the future. The lofty mountains and torrential rivers in Tibet welcome you, honourable guests!
There were signs like the ones above outside of every exhibit hall. All in all, the museum was very carefully, um, planned. The actual exhibit space was very well done, but I would go just for the writing!
So, just like Justin Timberlake when launching his solo career, now the PRC is "Justified" as well.
Okay, so I have, like, hundreds of new pictures up on my flickr site to keep you busy while I work on a new post. Later!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Lhasa-EBC-Lhasa
Hello all - no updates for a little bit because I was on the road and internet was not available. We went on a road trip out to the Everest Base Camp and some other little cities along the way.
It was fantastic! This area is so beautiful - I don't think that words could ever possibly do it justice! I promise to write a long post tomorrow (also pictures - bonus!)
Everything is just breathtaking! Or maybe it is just the lack of oxygen up here :-)
Okay, more tomorrow, so stay tuned!
It was fantastic! This area is so beautiful - I don't think that words could ever possibly do it justice! I promise to write a long post tomorrow (also pictures - bonus!)
Everything is just breathtaking! Or maybe it is just the lack of oxygen up here :-)
Okay, more tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The Great Tibetan Get Together
Hello all!
Another quick update from the roof top of the world. So we have officially begun seeing stuff on our mandatory tour. Today we eventually were able to see the Jokhang Temple. The outer structures are always really interesting to look at, but the inside was a lot of gold plaster statues. It was neat to see all of the worshippers add butter to the lamps as they made their rounds at the temple - all of the worshippers and the tourists really made it quite cramped some times in the little chapel rooms. Our tour guide is Tibetan which is good because then he can tell us about Tibetan Buddhism and what all of the statues are. The inside was interesting, the floor was really slippery because of all of the butter and soot like stuff. The most interesting though were watching all of the worshippers with their beads and wheels/rattles going around and adding yak butter to all of the candle lamps in the various chapels. Later today we will go out to the Sera Monastery. I will post later about that.
It took us awhile to get started today because of a mix-up that wound up pissing me off like something fierce. We went to to travel agency for our mandatory tour and wound up waiting for over an hour after the supposed start time. It turns out that there was a lot of confusion about our hotel room - we had asked the agent in Xining to try to help us pre-book a room in Lhasa as we had heard that hotel rooms were a little difficult to come by. So, she called an agency in Lhasa and told us that there was "no booking" but to stop by the travel agency next to the Banak Shol Hotel and they would help us find a room (this is what I remember, everyone seems to have a different version of events) she also gave us a number to call to set up the tour. We arrive and go to the travel agency next to the Banak Shot Hotel. They didn't have a room for us, they didn't really know what we were talking about. But they did help us find a room at a place not too far away (the Pata Hotel).
The next day we contacted the man for the tour. We briefly met him and he gave us his card. He told us to meet him at his office at the Banak Shol the next day for the start of the tour. So, we go there and he's not at the tour place that we originally went to, but there was another, poorly marked tour agency on the second floor of the hotel. So we go there and wait. A little later we find out that another guy working for that tour agency booked and paid for a room for us at the Banak Shol hotel and was demanding that we pay him 140 yuan for the room that we didn't wind up staying in. We say that what he was telling us was not what we were told and that we should not have to pay it, but because it was a misunderstanding between us and they agencies, we would pay half. He would not budge and just kept on saying the same thing. What a shyster! I can't stand people like that.
Lhasa is really a beautiful place to visit. The government has just made it such an incredible rip off for the non-Chinese tourist to visit. We decided to fly, in order to do so you need a permit, in order to get the permit you must sign on to a tour. The permit alone costs about 400 yuan, but the mandatory tour (which does not include admissions costs) costs another 1020 yuan. This includes a 4 person room and a public toilet - something we really did not want. So, we were able to get them to knock off the room cost, but still the tour is a huge rip off - an incredible racket to fleece tourists.
Anyhow, so getting here is quite expensive but I guess in the long run it will be worth it. I just hate all of the added costs - in one way or another China will make you pay.
So, yesterday we made another round at the market - Matt caught up with a couple of clingy beggars. We haven't bought anything yet, but will do so after our outing to the Everest Base Camp. It is fun to be at the market though, to see all of the worshippers making their way around the kora, all of the PSB officials watching all of the worshippers and looking up to see the cameras mounted on top of some buildings watching all of us. We also saw an uncomfortable situation with a young Tibetan woman shop assistant and an old PSB officer - a really creepy encounter in which he was whisking her away to an upstairs room area.
Oh, the title! The MN State Fair is known as "The Great Minnesota Get Together" - so, this is nothing like that, but mobs of people following an invisible path around outside while looking at booths of stuff, the butter sculptures, the food on a stick and the fried cheese curds...well i just couldn't help the analogy.
I will end this post with, yaks are awesome! Bye-bye!
Another quick update from the roof top of the world. So we have officially begun seeing stuff on our mandatory tour. Today we eventually were able to see the Jokhang Temple. The outer structures are always really interesting to look at, but the inside was a lot of gold plaster statues. It was neat to see all of the worshippers add butter to the lamps as they made their rounds at the temple - all of the worshippers and the tourists really made it quite cramped some times in the little chapel rooms. Our tour guide is Tibetan which is good because then he can tell us about Tibetan Buddhism and what all of the statues are. The inside was interesting, the floor was really slippery because of all of the butter and soot like stuff. The most interesting though were watching all of the worshippers with their beads and wheels/rattles going around and adding yak butter to all of the candle lamps in the various chapels. Later today we will go out to the Sera Monastery. I will post later about that.
It took us awhile to get started today because of a mix-up that wound up pissing me off like something fierce. We went to to travel agency for our mandatory tour and wound up waiting for over an hour after the supposed start time. It turns out that there was a lot of confusion about our hotel room - we had asked the agent in Xining to try to help us pre-book a room in Lhasa as we had heard that hotel rooms were a little difficult to come by. So, she called an agency in Lhasa and told us that there was "no booking" but to stop by the travel agency next to the Banak Shol Hotel and they would help us find a room (this is what I remember, everyone seems to have a different version of events) she also gave us a number to call to set up the tour. We arrive and go to the travel agency next to the Banak Shot Hotel. They didn't have a room for us, they didn't really know what we were talking about. But they did help us find a room at a place not too far away (the Pata Hotel).
The next day we contacted the man for the tour. We briefly met him and he gave us his card. He told us to meet him at his office at the Banak Shol the next day for the start of the tour. So, we go there and he's not at the tour place that we originally went to, but there was another, poorly marked tour agency on the second floor of the hotel. So we go there and wait. A little later we find out that another guy working for that tour agency booked and paid for a room for us at the Banak Shol hotel and was demanding that we pay him 140 yuan for the room that we didn't wind up staying in. We say that what he was telling us was not what we were told and that we should not have to pay it, but because it was a misunderstanding between us and they agencies, we would pay half. He would not budge and just kept on saying the same thing. What a shyster! I can't stand people like that.
Lhasa is really a beautiful place to visit. The government has just made it such an incredible rip off for the non-Chinese tourist to visit. We decided to fly, in order to do so you need a permit, in order to get the permit you must sign on to a tour. The permit alone costs about 400 yuan, but the mandatory tour (which does not include admissions costs) costs another 1020 yuan. This includes a 4 person room and a public toilet - something we really did not want. So, we were able to get them to knock off the room cost, but still the tour is a huge rip off - an incredible racket to fleece tourists.
Anyhow, so getting here is quite expensive but I guess in the long run it will be worth it. I just hate all of the added costs - in one way or another China will make you pay.
So, yesterday we made another round at the market - Matt caught up with a couple of clingy beggars. We haven't bought anything yet, but will do so after our outing to the Everest Base Camp. It is fun to be at the market though, to see all of the worshippers making their way around the kora, all of the PSB officials watching all of the worshippers and looking up to see the cameras mounted on top of some buildings watching all of us. We also saw an uncomfortable situation with a young Tibetan woman shop assistant and an old PSB officer - a really creepy encounter in which he was whisking her away to an upstairs room area.
Oh, the title! The MN State Fair is known as "The Great Minnesota Get Together" - so, this is nothing like that, but mobs of people following an invisible path around outside while looking at booths of stuff, the butter sculptures, the food on a stick and the fried cheese curds...well i just couldn't help the analogy.
I will end this post with, yaks are awesome! Bye-bye!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
:-P
Yes, this is the second post that I have started with an emoticon. No, I am not ashamed.
So, Matt and I are in Lhasa and I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you that it is pretty damn cool here and I already LOVE it here. The western side of the city pretty much looks like a Chinese city anywhere, but once you go over to the east side - it is a whole new world. I will have to tip-toe around certain political issues here - and if you post a comment, best not to voice your personal feelings about this area. You can probably guess what my feelings about it are - the eastern side doesn't really feel like you are even in China (ahem, ahem, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and it is really refreshing.
I just can't even begin to describe how cool it is here. We wound up flying - sort of wussed out but, no one seemed to know what was going on with the train situation and we didn't want to wait around longer until someone did. Yes, true, we could have jumped a bus from Golmud. But we would have to first get to Golmud and pay just as much to travel from there on a bus. So, flying. We have never regretted flying. Clean and fast. Oooh, baby! So nice!
We arrived and hopped an airport bus to the city. The landscape was beautiful on the way from the airport - the clouds seemed so low. The bus drove by the Potala Palace - the winter residence to a number of the Dali Lamas. I have to say that it is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen! I will try to snap some pictures, but I don't think that they will do it justice.
We actually lucked out and found a hotel (with some help) and the room is very nice. Because of the train, hotels are really booked up. We grabbed a great dinner at a really relaxing place and explored the Barkhor Market after. The scene was really something else! Both sides of the marketplace were lined with stalls and stores. The Barkhor is also one of the "koras" - pilgrimage paths. So we followed the worshippers around the path - the worshippers were praying and reciting mantras while fingering beads or spinning a prayer rattle. Some were prostrating the entire stretch of the path. There were all kinds of interesting people to look at. The people don't look anything like the people we have seen elsewhere in China. I just don't have the vocabulary to describe the scene right now - I am fairly tired.
So,we both are really excited to be here and are looking forward to some more exploration. The altitude isn't really bothering us yet, but I guess the effects can take up to 24 hours before you really get symptoms.
Oh,the emoticon - I was reading that a common greeting in the countryside is to stick out your tongue. This is to determine who is a human and who is a demon. Demons will have a green tongue even when they are in a human form.
Okay, so that is all for now, but I will write more later after some good shut eye.
So, Matt and I are in Lhasa and I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you that it is pretty damn cool here and I already LOVE it here. The western side of the city pretty much looks like a Chinese city anywhere, but once you go over to the east side - it is a whole new world. I will have to tip-toe around certain political issues here - and if you post a comment, best not to voice your personal feelings about this area. You can probably guess what my feelings about it are - the eastern side doesn't really feel like you are even in China (ahem, ahem, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and it is really refreshing.
I just can't even begin to describe how cool it is here. We wound up flying - sort of wussed out but, no one seemed to know what was going on with the train situation and we didn't want to wait around longer until someone did. Yes, true, we could have jumped a bus from Golmud. But we would have to first get to Golmud and pay just as much to travel from there on a bus. So, flying. We have never regretted flying. Clean and fast. Oooh, baby! So nice!
We arrived and hopped an airport bus to the city. The landscape was beautiful on the way from the airport - the clouds seemed so low. The bus drove by the Potala Palace - the winter residence to a number of the Dali Lamas. I have to say that it is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen! I will try to snap some pictures, but I don't think that they will do it justice.
We actually lucked out and found a hotel (with some help) and the room is very nice. Because of the train, hotels are really booked up. We grabbed a great dinner at a really relaxing place and explored the Barkhor Market after. The scene was really something else! Both sides of the marketplace were lined with stalls and stores. The Barkhor is also one of the "koras" - pilgrimage paths. So we followed the worshippers around the path - the worshippers were praying and reciting mantras while fingering beads or spinning a prayer rattle. Some were prostrating the entire stretch of the path. There were all kinds of interesting people to look at. The people don't look anything like the people we have seen elsewhere in China. I just don't have the vocabulary to describe the scene right now - I am fairly tired.
So,we both are really excited to be here and are looking forward to some more exploration. The altitude isn't really bothering us yet, but I guess the effects can take up to 24 hours before you really get symptoms.
Oh,the emoticon - I was reading that a common greeting in the countryside is to stick out your tongue. This is to determine who is a human and who is a demon. Demons will have a green tongue even when they are in a human form.
Okay, so that is all for now, but I will write more later after some good shut eye.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Big Stuff in Qinghai
So, our time in Xining is drawing to a close. Tomorrow we will be hopping a plane to Lhasa. Both of us are really excited about this trip! The "Roof top of the world" and "Shangri-la". Cool. We really don't know what to expect there. We have been told that Lhasa is really Chinese in feeling and to try to travel out. With the new train line that has been opened, new restrictions for foreigners shortly followed. It will be interesting to see what we can do, what we can't do, how much the things we can do are and how much the things we can't do wind up being. Many things are, umm, "negotiable" here.
What have we been up to in Xining? Well, not a whole heck of a lot. A couple of days ago we went out to see the very large Qinghai Lake. It is a large salt water, "surreal" lake. And well, yes, that is correct. Large lake. Don't know about "surreal", but it was, um, water. It seems that many of the sites that we have gone to see natural and unnatural usually aren't worth the money we pay to go see them. Sure, there are exceptions, but how much do I really want to pay to see a large, gold, painted plaster statue? Also, we have to pay to see natural features like the lake. Not a small amount either, then pay to take the tram around the area, pay to take a boat out, etc. Usually when we conclude our day we are relieved to be off of the tour (Chinese tours are definitely one of the circles of hell) and our general thinking is not how cool the experience was, but at least we won't wonder what we missed.
Anyhow, about the lake. It was an interesting area. Coming from the very brown and dry Guyuan, Xining is very lush in comparison. I enjoyed looking out at the green hillsides. It was almost as if someone covered all of the hills with velvet green drapery. It was beautiful! The scenery was also very interesting - these green hills turn into rocky hills which turn into sand dunes which turn back into green hills.... We had a great tour guide, but concluded that being a Chinese tour guide would be horrible! He spoke some English and he seemed to be excited that some foreigners were on his tour - I think that we were his first.
We also met a couple of people from Poland who were traveling up from India, Nepal through Tibet into China. They were fun to talk to and they were able to give us some travel advice about traveling around Lhasa and Tibet. They also told us about visiting Poland and Belarus, the guy was very excited about Belarus (see Matt's blog). We were able to share some frustrations we have experienced along the way and got some laughs. When we went our separate ways - he called out, "see you in Poland!"
What else...
Today we walked by one of the largest mosques in Western China. Again, yes, it was big. Foreigners aren't allowed inside, so we just gazed at its bigness from across the street. It was fairly unremarkable though. It just seemed to lack the character we have seen in other mosques here in China. But, yes, it was big, so there you are.
Now, we are just trying to get everything together for the trip out to Lhasa and who knows where else in Tibet - we'll see what the PSB will allow us to do. Hopefully the altitude won't make us sick for too long and even more so, hopefully neither of us will have a case of acute mountain sickness and have to leave.
The next time I check in will be from Lhasa. If you have any shopping requests, please drop me a comment. I may not be able to fulfill any of them as, well, I am a volunteer and all, making a volunteer's salary. But, at least I will be able to try to bargain for some things and you may get lucky!
What have we been up to in Xining? Well, not a whole heck of a lot. A couple of days ago we went out to see the very large Qinghai Lake. It is a large salt water, "surreal" lake. And well, yes, that is correct. Large lake. Don't know about "surreal", but it was, um, water. It seems that many of the sites that we have gone to see natural and unnatural usually aren't worth the money we pay to go see them. Sure, there are exceptions, but how much do I really want to pay to see a large, gold, painted plaster statue? Also, we have to pay to see natural features like the lake. Not a small amount either, then pay to take the tram around the area, pay to take a boat out, etc. Usually when we conclude our day we are relieved to be off of the tour (Chinese tours are definitely one of the circles of hell) and our general thinking is not how cool the experience was, but at least we won't wonder what we missed.
Anyhow, about the lake. It was an interesting area. Coming from the very brown and dry Guyuan, Xining is very lush in comparison. I enjoyed looking out at the green hillsides. It was almost as if someone covered all of the hills with velvet green drapery. It was beautiful! The scenery was also very interesting - these green hills turn into rocky hills which turn into sand dunes which turn back into green hills.... We had a great tour guide, but concluded that being a Chinese tour guide would be horrible! He spoke some English and he seemed to be excited that some foreigners were on his tour - I think that we were his first.
We also met a couple of people from Poland who were traveling up from India, Nepal through Tibet into China. They were fun to talk to and they were able to give us some travel advice about traveling around Lhasa and Tibet. They also told us about visiting Poland and Belarus, the guy was very excited about Belarus (see Matt's blog). We were able to share some frustrations we have experienced along the way and got some laughs. When we went our separate ways - he called out, "see you in Poland!"
What else...
Today we walked by one of the largest mosques in Western China. Again, yes, it was big. Foreigners aren't allowed inside, so we just gazed at its bigness from across the street. It was fairly unremarkable though. It just seemed to lack the character we have seen in other mosques here in China. But, yes, it was big, so there you are.
Now, we are just trying to get everything together for the trip out to Lhasa and who knows where else in Tibet - we'll see what the PSB will allow us to do. Hopefully the altitude won't make us sick for too long and even more so, hopefully neither of us will have a case of acute mountain sickness and have to leave.
The next time I check in will be from Lhasa. If you have any shopping requests, please drop me a comment. I may not be able to fulfill any of them as, well, I am a volunteer and all, making a volunteer's salary. But, at least I will be able to try to bargain for some things and you may get lucky!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Remember the '80s
So, I have finally gotten around to reading a certain book about the early-mid eighties here in China. I have to say that it is especially interesting reading it here. There are many things (so far) that seem to be coincidental similarities from the book to the history/society that I am currently living in.
Or well
Oops...
I mean, "oh, well"
Or well
Oops...
I mean, "oh, well"
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Ramblings by Matt
I didn't want you to miss Matt's latest post:
Little Buddhist Dogs Attacked Me
Today we visted Ta'er Si, one of the most important Tibetan monastaries in Qinghai. We spent the afternoon meandering around and I managed to meander into a courtyard next to the yak butter sculptures that was apparently off limits.
Usually, it is fairly comical to see little dogs attempt to ward off intruders. They bark, twirl, do backflips, whatever. As it was this time. But they were emboldened by their numbers.
Of course, it didn't actually strike me that I should be concerned when these five little lap ornaments drew near. Afterall, we were in a holy place and their master was probably some revered holy man. This was not a place of violence. And, they were little.
Then one bit me. Right on the lower calf.
Which places one in a predicament in a venerated monastary. Is it okay to kick a dog in self-defense? How about scaring them? Is it permissible to bark back? Or growl? How stupid am I willing to look?
And, given that they were buddhist dogs, were they really dogs? Was this actually some errant holy man from a past life now, literally, nipping at my heels.
Unlike them, I chose the peaceful path and walked out of the courtyard. They followed, but then I reached the steps. It was a pretty steep first step.
So, I didn't get to see what was inside the buildings next to the courtyard. However, I'd like to think I earned some good karma in the process.
And I'd like to think that the dog that bit me will soon be a cat.
Little Buddhist Dogs Attacked Me
Today we visted Ta'er Si, one of the most important Tibetan monastaries in Qinghai. We spent the afternoon meandering around and I managed to meander into a courtyard next to the yak butter sculptures that was apparently off limits.
Usually, it is fairly comical to see little dogs attempt to ward off intruders. They bark, twirl, do backflips, whatever. As it was this time. But they were emboldened by their numbers.
Of course, it didn't actually strike me that I should be concerned when these five little lap ornaments drew near. Afterall, we were in a holy place and their master was probably some revered holy man. This was not a place of violence. And, they were little.
Then one bit me. Right on the lower calf.
Which places one in a predicament in a venerated monastary. Is it okay to kick a dog in self-defense? How about scaring them? Is it permissible to bark back? Or growl? How stupid am I willing to look?
And, given that they were buddhist dogs, were they really dogs? Was this actually some errant holy man from a past life now, literally, nipping at my heels.
Unlike them, I chose the peaceful path and walked out of the courtyard. They followed, but then I reached the steps. It was a pretty steep first step.
So, I didn't get to see what was inside the buildings next to the courtyard. However, I'd like to think I earned some good karma in the process.
And I'd like to think that the dog that bit me will soon be a cat.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Two Monks, an American and a Korean...
We just got back from looking at a Buddhist monastery. It was interesting, but I think that the buildings are more interesting than the actual contents inside - usually a large, gold plaster statue. But I'm getting ahead of myself once again.
We finally made it to Xining! We rolled into to town really early in the morning (around midnight). We don't know why, maybe all of the people trying to take the train to Lhasa, but we could not find a hotel room. We had the bus drop us off at one place, which was closed and locked shut. So we set off looking for alternative lodging. Suddenly, the sky just opened up and started to down pour. We ran over to where some people were beckoning for us to come over. They had some little food tents set up, we told them that we really weren't interested in eating, but we needed to find a hotel for the night. So one of the older women, beckoned a cab over and told the driver to bring us around town until we found a place for the night. She was so nice and helpful - was even worried that I would get cold.
So, Matt and I piled into the cab with our huge backpacks and we set off to find a hotel. One hour later, no luck. Two hours later, no luck. They drove us around everywhere in town and asked the hotels if they had rooms without any luck. Finally, as the third hour approached, the lady asked us about going to a public lodging place. As it was 3 AM anywhere would be fine with us. So, they talked to a man at a boarding place about how there wasn't anywhere for us to go. He eventually let us in. I don't think that this was a place where foreigners were supposed to go. It was nice enough for one night. Shared bathroom with a scary squatter, but the room was clean and we could rest for a couple of hours. When I went to the bathroom, the light was a motion sensor type of switch. I didn't know this. I get all set to do my business - pants down, squatting - aimed over the hole and ready to go. Then the light goes out. I am pants down squatting over a smelly hole in the dark. Since there was nothing I could really do to remedy the situation, I just had to go - I don't know how much actually made it into the toilet, but I know that I did manage to pee on my feet a little.
The next morning I was woken up by a set of vicious mosquitoes and many welts on my arms and one particularly good one on my cheek. We decided to try to find a hotel as we were in a Chinese only place. So, we wound up finding a room down near the train station. The noise is a little bad, but not bad enough to expend the energy to find a new room. We also got a chance to explore the town. Xining is great! Not quite the wild west of China as I was expecting, but neat all the same. The people here look a lot different than the people that we had seen in Guyuan and elsewhere in China. It is an interesting mix of ethnicities.
Anyhow, today we went to a monastery. It was a fun place to look around. Matt got attacked by a pack of little dogs, but he can tell you about that. One of the coolest things was the yak butter sculptures. They were really something else! It makes the butter portraits at the MN state fair look like a kindergarten art project (not that the MN ones aren't cool, it's just, well you know...)
What else...
I GOT PUSHED BY A MONK
I was looking at one of the little alters and there was space all around me and a monk wanted to get by (apparently), so he shoved me out of the way. Seriously. Not a little brush past push not a tap-tap I want to get by sort of thing. I almost fell down. Stop laughing. What is the appropriate response? I decided a little laugh was the best response because you really can't shove a monk back or elbow him in retaliation, right?
Anyhow, we decided to catch a cab back. As we were leaving, a group of monks asked us if a couple of them could hitch a ride with us to Xining (since there was only 2 of us in the cab) and how do you say “no” to a monk who has given up all of his earthly possessions. So we all squeezed in and set off back to Xining. Now, I think we'll go back to the market place, grab a bite to eat and think more about the next leg of our trip.
We finally made it to Xining! We rolled into to town really early in the morning (around midnight). We don't know why, maybe all of the people trying to take the train to Lhasa, but we could not find a hotel room. We had the bus drop us off at one place, which was closed and locked shut. So we set off looking for alternative lodging. Suddenly, the sky just opened up and started to down pour. We ran over to where some people were beckoning for us to come over. They had some little food tents set up, we told them that we really weren't interested in eating, but we needed to find a hotel for the night. So one of the older women, beckoned a cab over and told the driver to bring us around town until we found a place for the night. She was so nice and helpful - was even worried that I would get cold.
So, Matt and I piled into the cab with our huge backpacks and we set off to find a hotel. One hour later, no luck. Two hours later, no luck. They drove us around everywhere in town and asked the hotels if they had rooms without any luck. Finally, as the third hour approached, the lady asked us about going to a public lodging place. As it was 3 AM anywhere would be fine with us. So, they talked to a man at a boarding place about how there wasn't anywhere for us to go. He eventually let us in. I don't think that this was a place where foreigners were supposed to go. It was nice enough for one night. Shared bathroom with a scary squatter, but the room was clean and we could rest for a couple of hours. When I went to the bathroom, the light was a motion sensor type of switch. I didn't know this. I get all set to do my business - pants down, squatting - aimed over the hole and ready to go. Then the light goes out. I am pants down squatting over a smelly hole in the dark. Since there was nothing I could really do to remedy the situation, I just had to go - I don't know how much actually made it into the toilet, but I know that I did manage to pee on my feet a little.
The next morning I was woken up by a set of vicious mosquitoes and many welts on my arms and one particularly good one on my cheek. We decided to try to find a hotel as we were in a Chinese only place. So, we wound up finding a room down near the train station. The noise is a little bad, but not bad enough to expend the energy to find a new room. We also got a chance to explore the town. Xining is great! Not quite the wild west of China as I was expecting, but neat all the same. The people here look a lot different than the people that we had seen in Guyuan and elsewhere in China. It is an interesting mix of ethnicities.
Anyhow, today we went to a monastery. It was a fun place to look around. Matt got attacked by a pack of little dogs, but he can tell you about that. One of the coolest things was the yak butter sculptures. They were really something else! It makes the butter portraits at the MN state fair look like a kindergarten art project (not that the MN ones aren't cool, it's just, well you know...)
What else...
I GOT PUSHED BY A MONK
I was looking at one of the little alters and there was space all around me and a monk wanted to get by (apparently), so he shoved me out of the way. Seriously. Not a little brush past push not a tap-tap I want to get by sort of thing. I almost fell down. Stop laughing. What is the appropriate response? I decided a little laugh was the best response because you really can't shove a monk back or elbow him in retaliation, right?
Anyhow, we decided to catch a cab back. As we were leaving, a group of monks asked us if a couple of them could hitch a ride with us to Xining (since there was only 2 of us in the cab) and how do you say “no” to a monk who has given up all of his earthly possessions. So we all squeezed in and set off back to Xining. Now, I think we'll go back to the market place, grab a bite to eat and think more about the next leg of our trip.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Killing More Time
*sigh*
We went out to the airport yesterday all excited about "hassle free traveling" only to find out that our plane was "broken" and we can't leave for another couple of days.
So, we got ripped off by the cabbie, went back to the hotel we just checked out from and went back to the travel agency to straighten out our ticket situation. I don't think I can spend another 6 hours at an internet cafe like yesterday....
So far, we have not been too impressed with the quality of the things we buy here. Matt has yet to have a watch that will last more than 2 weeks.
Oh well, at least they didn't try to quickly fix the plane - just imagine the announcement, "Um...we are looking for about 20 passengers who currently have some chewing gum...."
We went out to the airport yesterday all excited about "hassle free traveling" only to find out that our plane was "broken" and we can't leave for another couple of days.
So, we got ripped off by the cabbie, went back to the hotel we just checked out from and went back to the travel agency to straighten out our ticket situation. I don't think I can spend another 6 hours at an internet cafe like yesterday....
So far, we have not been too impressed with the quality of the things we buy here. Matt has yet to have a watch that will last more than 2 weeks.
Oh well, at least they didn't try to quickly fix the plane - just imagine the announcement, "Um...we are looking for about 20 passengers who currently have some chewing gum...."
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Killing Time
Our plane doesn't leave until about 11:30 PM tonight. Yes, I did say PLANE! I have decided that I love - LOVE flying! Now, don't get me wrong, the trains are nice and all, but can still be a bit of a hassle when you need to fight for space to put your bag. Plus, I like going to sleep without chicken feet next to my head.
We have had a great time in Dunhuang （post bus ride)! The first major site we went to see were the Mogao caves (thanks for the tip Anajli!). The morning we were looking to head out was rainy. We were told that the bus going out to the caves would not be running because of the rain, and to try back at 1 PM. We didn't think that rain would really matter because the Mogao caves are actual caves you enter with flashlight to look at the paintings and statues. So, we eat. At the cafe, we meet a really friendly German couple and decide to share a taxi out to the caves.
Once there, we found out that yes, the caves were in fact closed due to rain. They told us to check out the little on site museum and check back in about an hour. An hour later, still closed. Later still - we see the Germans in line and they excitedly point to the window and say, "tickets!" We get in line and purchase our chance to see the glorious caverns (with guide) with our new German travel friends.
The caves did not allow us to bring in our cameras, but I wouldn't have taken pictures anyhow (would need flash). I can't even begin to describe just how incredible awesome the caves were! The other big Buddha things that we have seen else where in China were not this awe inspiring. Truly amazing. I will try to send some postcards out sometime....
Okay, I won't go into too much detail, but it is definitely one of the best sites I have seen here in China and worth a visit if you come out this way.
The other big thing we did while out here was visit the singing sands of the Mingsha Shan dunes. I love the desert! The dunes were so beautiful! We went on the touristy camel ride and I was lucky to ride on a very docile, mild-mannered camel. However, something did spook my camel and it did a little run-jump thing and scared the bejeezus out of the little girl ahead of me who started to whine in fear. On the way up the dune, the picture booth kinda ruined the effect for me - a guy in a cowboy hat trying to get us to smile. From his truck, "We Will Rock You" blaring from a half working speaker.
Anyhow, we got off of the camels near the crescent moon lake, which is really not that spectacular, and hiked up one of the dunes. The view was amazing! The dunes were so beautiful and the sand felt great on my feet. We got to the top and waited for the sun to set (see the obscene number of pictures I took on my flickr site). Meanwhile, we got, well, stupid (was it the sand? height? admission price?) and were "comrade posing" (and *shudder* Chinese girl posing) on top of the dune. A group of kids saw Matt striking a particularly good comrade pose and got a huge kick out of it and did some similar posing of their own.
The sunset was spectacular! My pictures just don't capture the brilliance of the colors and the way the sand reflected the sun light. Cool. Seriously Cool.
Anyhow, now we wait. I load pictures and wait.
We have had a great time in Dunhuang （post bus ride)! The first major site we went to see were the Mogao caves (thanks for the tip Anajli!). The morning we were looking to head out was rainy. We were told that the bus going out to the caves would not be running because of the rain, and to try back at 1 PM. We didn't think that rain would really matter because the Mogao caves are actual caves you enter with flashlight to look at the paintings and statues. So, we eat. At the cafe, we meet a really friendly German couple and decide to share a taxi out to the caves.
Once there, we found out that yes, the caves were in fact closed due to rain. They told us to check out the little on site museum and check back in about an hour. An hour later, still closed. Later still - we see the Germans in line and they excitedly point to the window and say, "tickets!" We get in line and purchase our chance to see the glorious caverns (with guide) with our new German travel friends.
The caves did not allow us to bring in our cameras, but I wouldn't have taken pictures anyhow (would need flash). I can't even begin to describe just how incredible awesome the caves were! The other big Buddha things that we have seen else where in China were not this awe inspiring. Truly amazing. I will try to send some postcards out sometime....
Okay, I won't go into too much detail, but it is definitely one of the best sites I have seen here in China and worth a visit if you come out this way.
The other big thing we did while out here was visit the singing sands of the Mingsha Shan dunes. I love the desert! The dunes were so beautiful! We went on the touristy camel ride and I was lucky to ride on a very docile, mild-mannered camel. However, something did spook my camel and it did a little run-jump thing and scared the bejeezus out of the little girl ahead of me who started to whine in fear. On the way up the dune, the picture booth kinda ruined the effect for me - a guy in a cowboy hat trying to get us to smile. From his truck, "We Will Rock You" blaring from a half working speaker.
Anyhow, we got off of the camels near the crescent moon lake, which is really not that spectacular, and hiked up one of the dunes. The view was amazing! The dunes were so beautiful and the sand felt great on my feet. We got to the top and waited for the sun to set (see the obscene number of pictures I took on my flickr site). Meanwhile, we got, well, stupid (was it the sand? height? admission price?) and were "comrade posing" (and *shudder* Chinese girl posing) on top of the dune. A group of kids saw Matt striking a particularly good comrade pose and got a huge kick out of it and did some similar posing of their own.
The sunset was spectacular! My pictures just don't capture the brilliance of the colors and the way the sand reflected the sun light. Cool. Seriously Cool.
Anyhow, now we wait. I load pictures and wait.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Another update from the road!
Thank you to all of you who shared their thoughts about the knicker craze sweeping the East! I enjoyed reading your comments!
Right now I am in Dunhuang (western Gansu) and so far it seems like it is a nice city. Tomorrow we are going out to look at the Mogao Caves and possibly hop on some camels for some more desert fun!
When I was little I seem to remember a theme park ride called, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride". I remember getting into one of those little cars attached to a rail and going through a tunnel. But nothing much more than that, must not have been too wild. Why am I writing about a children's ride? Why, let me tell you!
We decided to take the express bus out here - about 5 hours and totally doable. I am once again sick with bathroom problems (both ends again), but decide that 5 hours would be okay. So, we board our bus, wedge into the little seat and prepare for our ride out to Dunhuang. What we didn't realize was that there is a ton of road construction going on. Unlike in the states, there isn't an easy detour road that we can take, so we just pull off the road and travel on God's road. Yup, dirt and rock. It was like travelling in/on a huge pothole filled with potholes for 7 hours. Yes, I said 7 hours. You might be thinking, "wait, you said that the bus ride was only 5 hours". Well, the road work seemed to add at least another 3 to that. So we are getting violently rocked back and forth, up and down for HOURS while I am nauseous and have diarrhea (really, really bad diarrhea), it gets better - no bathroom. Everywhere we pull over does not have a bathroom option. Have you even held in your urine and bowels for so long and under such aggravating circumstances that you actually feel like you will pass out? Well, now I can check that off of my list.
So, I decide it is best just to try to go to sleep. Getting lulled by the bus motion wasn't easy, but after a little bit I managed it. Just as I nod off, the lady behind me on the aisle side pokes me on the head. I ignore her. Then the pokes me on the head again. I ignore her again. Third she hits me. I wake up and stare at her, thinking, "what the hell is your problem?" She motions to the window in front of me and motions for me to pull the curtain open. I fumble with it a little but it was stuck and wasn't worth the effort to me. So I just go back to sleep. A minute later she leaps to her feet and reaches over me, making sure to wake me up again with her elbow forcibly placed on my head to tear at the curtain. I can't even begin to tell you how incredible pissed off I was. Mind you, from where she was sitting she really wouldn't be able to even look out the window, much less appreciate the desolate view.
At the next stop off, she made sure to disturb me once again by whipping me in the face a couple of times with the curtain as she tried to tie it back before switching to a different seat which would make my window accessibly not necessary at all. In her new seat she immediately leaned over the woman at the window seat and tore away at that curtain too. She has thus been dubbed the "curtain Nazi". I never was able to really fall back asleep and every time she heard a curtain being moved the "CN" immediately shot me a disgusted look.
So finally, we are about 1 hour away from town and the bus breaks down! For the next 1.5 hours or so the driver and assistant battle the bus transmission every 200-300 meters or so. The bus driver can't shift gears and can only toggle between first and second gears with incredible difficulty. Then it breaks down. They go to fix it, toggle between first and second, break down, etc., etc., etc. Finally, it is unrepairable and they have another bus come and pick us up and drive us into town. We roll into to town just before midnight, we left at 2:30.
Anyhow, we are swarmed at the bus station right after we get off of the bus. I REALLY have to use the bathroom and am in no good mood to deal with the people looking to rip off the tourists.
Long story short, I'm still not in the best of health. Got a little food in me. Slept most of the day (our hotel is actually fairly quiet!) and will hopefully be able to enjoy my time here tomorrow.
Oh, happy birthday, Dad! I spent your special day getting sick on a bus and harassed by the window treatment gestapo. But ate at "Charlie's cafe" and had chocolate souffle in honor of your birthday (thanks for the excuse）！
Thank you to all of you who shared their thoughts about the knicker craze sweeping the East! I enjoyed reading your comments!
Right now I am in Dunhuang (western Gansu) and so far it seems like it is a nice city. Tomorrow we are going out to look at the Mogao Caves and possibly hop on some camels for some more desert fun!
When I was little I seem to remember a theme park ride called, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride". I remember getting into one of those little cars attached to a rail and going through a tunnel. But nothing much more than that, must not have been too wild. Why am I writing about a children's ride? Why, let me tell you!
We decided to take the express bus out here - about 5 hours and totally doable. I am once again sick with bathroom problems (both ends again), but decide that 5 hours would be okay. So, we board our bus, wedge into the little seat and prepare for our ride out to Dunhuang. What we didn't realize was that there is a ton of road construction going on. Unlike in the states, there isn't an easy detour road that we can take, so we just pull off the road and travel on God's road. Yup, dirt and rock. It was like travelling in/on a huge pothole filled with potholes for 7 hours. Yes, I said 7 hours. You might be thinking, "wait, you said that the bus ride was only 5 hours". Well, the road work seemed to add at least another 3 to that. So we are getting violently rocked back and forth, up and down for HOURS while I am nauseous and have diarrhea (really, really bad diarrhea), it gets better - no bathroom. Everywhere we pull over does not have a bathroom option. Have you even held in your urine and bowels for so long and under such aggravating circumstances that you actually feel like you will pass out? Well, now I can check that off of my list.
So, I decide it is best just to try to go to sleep. Getting lulled by the bus motion wasn't easy, but after a little bit I managed it. Just as I nod off, the lady behind me on the aisle side pokes me on the head. I ignore her. Then the pokes me on the head again. I ignore her again. Third she hits me. I wake up and stare at her, thinking, "what the hell is your problem?" She motions to the window in front of me and motions for me to pull the curtain open. I fumble with it a little but it was stuck and wasn't worth the effort to me. So I just go back to sleep. A minute later she leaps to her feet and reaches over me, making sure to wake me up again with her elbow forcibly placed on my head to tear at the curtain. I can't even begin to tell you how incredible pissed off I was. Mind you, from where she was sitting she really wouldn't be able to even look out the window, much less appreciate the desolate view.
At the next stop off, she made sure to disturb me once again by whipping me in the face a couple of times with the curtain as she tried to tie it back before switching to a different seat which would make my window accessibly not necessary at all. In her new seat she immediately leaned over the woman at the window seat and tore away at that curtain too. She has thus been dubbed the "curtain Nazi". I never was able to really fall back asleep and every time she heard a curtain being moved the "CN" immediately shot me a disgusted look.
So finally, we are about 1 hour away from town and the bus breaks down! For the next 1.5 hours or so the driver and assistant battle the bus transmission every 200-300 meters or so. The bus driver can't shift gears and can only toggle between first and second gears with incredible difficulty. Then it breaks down. They go to fix it, toggle between first and second, break down, etc., etc., etc. Finally, it is unrepairable and they have another bus come and pick us up and drive us into town. We roll into to town just before midnight, we left at 2:30.
Anyhow, we are swarmed at the bus station right after we get off of the bus. I REALLY have to use the bathroom and am in no good mood to deal with the people looking to rip off the tourists.
Long story short, I'm still not in the best of health. Got a little food in me. Slept most of the day (our hotel is actually fairly quiet!) and will hopefully be able to enjoy my time here tomorrow.
Oh, happy birthday, Dad! I spent your special day getting sick on a bus and harassed by the window treatment gestapo. But ate at "Charlie's cafe" and had chocolate souffle in honor of your birthday (thanks for the excuse）！
Friday, July 14, 2006
Knicker Snickers
Hello from Lanzhou! It is polluted and hot here, but we were expecting that. It isn't helping my cold though. We are killing time, waiting for the train to Jiayuguan.
Lanzhou is okay, not great, just okay. There isn't a whole lot to see around here and the city is kind of ugly. We did make it out to see Binglingsi - another big Buddha carved on the side of a cliff type of thing. But it was a cool ride out there - mini bus and speed boat. This one was better preserved than some of the other sites as its remote location spared it from the Red Army during the Cultural Revolution which sadly destroyed many of China cultural relics. You can only go out to see it when the water level of the Yellow River is high enough.
Other than that, we attempted to go to another Provincial Museum and like before we were denied. I think there must be something going on at all of the provincial museums, everyone we have tried to go to has been closed. The city museum was okay, but not too exciting. There was a cool little pagoda, but there are many cool little pagodas in China. We were thinking about taking the chair lift up the mountain, but the smog is so bad we won't be able to see anything anyhow and might as well save the money for something worth while.
But, I must tell you all, I have some very bad news. It seems that, sigh, knickers are the "IT" wear for the summer season here. I can't even begin to tell you how stupid they look and how mad I get when I see them. Seriouly, unless you are 3 and don't know any better or a little dutch boy, knickers really don't have any business on anyone. Now, I know my mother would like to tell you all that even I had a pair of these maddening, blooming short pants (I think they were purple). Yeah, I know. But, I must point out that in my particular case this fashion faux pas falls into the youthful ignorance category rather than the delusional, "this is a hip trend" one. I wish that I could even begin to describe just how absolutely ridiculous they look on adults. Really, I do. But I just don't think that my language abilities allow me to capture all of the angst this particular fashion is causing me. I am not the biggest fan of capri pants either, but they never really made me angry. Yes, these pants actually make me feel anger and, well, sometimes they make me laugh/cry because they're dumb.
What else...
I think prostitutes have been calling our room. Yup. We had been getting calls between 7 - 11 PM in our hotel room. All women. All would say a super sugary sweet, "Ni hao!" before I said, "hello, what do you want?" in English. They - giggling. Me - hang up phone. Matt told me about how some prostitutes will call rooms at random for business.
Anyhow, I know it's summer and you all have a ton of other things to do besides sitting at the computer, but drop me a line or a comment sometime - we're a little e-lonely. And sorry for typos and misspellings, I am back to internet cafes and Chinese programs.
Lanzhou is okay, not great, just okay. There isn't a whole lot to see around here and the city is kind of ugly. We did make it out to see Binglingsi - another big Buddha carved on the side of a cliff type of thing. But it was a cool ride out there - mini bus and speed boat. This one was better preserved than some of the other sites as its remote location spared it from the Red Army during the Cultural Revolution which sadly destroyed many of China cultural relics. You can only go out to see it when the water level of the Yellow River is high enough.
Other than that, we attempted to go to another Provincial Museum and like before we were denied. I think there must be something going on at all of the provincial museums, everyone we have tried to go to has been closed. The city museum was okay, but not too exciting. There was a cool little pagoda, but there are many cool little pagodas in China. We were thinking about taking the chair lift up the mountain, but the smog is so bad we won't be able to see anything anyhow and might as well save the money for something worth while.
But, I must tell you all, I have some very bad news. It seems that, sigh, knickers are the "IT" wear for the summer season here. I can't even begin to tell you how stupid they look and how mad I get when I see them. Seriouly, unless you are 3 and don't know any better or a little dutch boy, knickers really don't have any business on anyone. Now, I know my mother would like to tell you all that even I had a pair of these maddening, blooming short pants (I think they were purple). Yeah, I know. But, I must point out that in my particular case this fashion faux pas falls into the youthful ignorance category rather than the delusional, "this is a hip trend" one. I wish that I could even begin to describe just how absolutely ridiculous they look on adults. Really, I do. But I just don't think that my language abilities allow me to capture all of the angst this particular fashion is causing me. I am not the biggest fan of capri pants either, but they never really made me angry. Yes, these pants actually make me feel anger and, well, sometimes they make me laugh/cry because they're dumb.
What else...
I think prostitutes have been calling our room. Yup. We had been getting calls between 7 - 11 PM in our hotel room. All women. All would say a super sugary sweet, "Ni hao!" before I said, "hello, what do you want?" in English. They - giggling. Me - hang up phone. Matt told me about how some prostitutes will call rooms at random for business.
Anyhow, I know it's summer and you all have a ton of other things to do besides sitting at the computer, but drop me a line or a comment sometime - we're a little e-lonely. And sorry for typos and misspellings, I am back to internet cafes and Chinese programs.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Outta Here!
Farewell banquets - check
Hours of the dice game - check
Hauling all of our stuff down to the post office to ship - check
Throwing the rest of it away - check
Contacting Gateway to make sure my computer won't explode at 16,000 feet - check (?)
Saying goodbye to 1,200 kids - check
As you may have guessed from my last post, the last was the most difficult to do. We got our train tickets to Lanzhou (will be leaving later tonight) and will be homeless again until August when we will journey to our new home in Beijing.
Right now it is peaceful in Guyuan. It is late Sunday night and there is really no noise. Quite a feat! No cabs honking, no people hacking, no cuckoos coo-kooing....Quite a contrast to the flurry of activity from the last couple of days. Many of the senior three teacher are going on a vacation together - a special reward from the school for doing such a good job with the students this past year (the senior three students from Yi Zhong were ranked really high for the National Exam).
So, this caused quite a bit of activity for us as we are trying to get everything all done before we head out of town too. Unfortunately for us, what we have on our plate is of little or no concern to them as long as we do what they want us to do. So much for a relaxed exit. Actually, with all of the hubbub and pomp concerning our arrival, our departure is rather anticlimactic (must like this post).
Anyhow, I won't go into the details as you probably can guess pretty well what the dinners are like and what goes on during 'em. I'll just fast forward to the result, I'm tired, irritated and sick. Yes, I am starting off yet another vacation ill. Foiled again by the family-style food sharing system. Luckily, most of the people who were concerned with our day to day lives are out of town so I won't have the "injection" threat looming this time.
So, for those of you who are curious: Guyuan to Lanzhou to Xining to Lhasa to Nanjing to Beijing. There will be some little side trips, but that is generally what our IT is shaping up to be.
So, farewell Guyuan! We have had some good, bad and interesting times together. I don't know if Beijing will be a better or not, but we know it will be a lot different. Hopefully we will be able to make it back a few times.
Stay tuned to posts from the road!
Hours of the dice game - check
Hauling all of our stuff down to the post office to ship - check
Throwing the rest of it away - check
Contacting Gateway to make sure my computer won't explode at 16,000 feet - check (?)
Saying goodbye to 1,200 kids - check
As you may have guessed from my last post, the last was the most difficult to do. We got our train tickets to Lanzhou (will be leaving later tonight) and will be homeless again until August when we will journey to our new home in Beijing.
Right now it is peaceful in Guyuan. It is late Sunday night and there is really no noise. Quite a feat! No cabs honking, no people hacking, no cuckoos coo-kooing....Quite a contrast to the flurry of activity from the last couple of days. Many of the senior three teacher are going on a vacation together - a special reward from the school for doing such a good job with the students this past year (the senior three students from Yi Zhong were ranked really high for the National Exam).
So, this caused quite a bit of activity for us as we are trying to get everything all done before we head out of town too. Unfortunately for us, what we have on our plate is of little or no concern to them as long as we do what they want us to do. So much for a relaxed exit. Actually, with all of the hubbub and pomp concerning our arrival, our departure is rather anticlimactic (must like this post).
Anyhow, I won't go into the details as you probably can guess pretty well what the dinners are like and what goes on during 'em. I'll just fast forward to the result, I'm tired, irritated and sick. Yes, I am starting off yet another vacation ill. Foiled again by the family-style food sharing system. Luckily, most of the people who were concerned with our day to day lives are out of town so I won't have the "injection" threat looming this time.
So, for those of you who are curious: Guyuan to Lanzhou to Xining to Lhasa to Nanjing to Beijing. There will be some little side trips, but that is generally what our IT is shaping up to be.
So, farewell Guyuan! We have had some good, bad and interesting times together. I don't know if Beijing will be a better or not, but we know it will be a lot different. Hopefully we will be able to make it back a few times.
Stay tuned to posts from the road!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Heartbroken
This past mini-week has been really difficult. I really didn't think that I would bond so much with these kids, but I guess that I did and now I have to leave them. So, me very sad.
They changed the exam schedule, so I had lessons Mon., Tues., and Wed. So, I ended my teaching at Guyuan Junior School with one of my favorite classes. It was good, but really, really sad. I don't think that I have ever really been sad about leaving a place and people before. And, for those of you who might be wondering, yes, I did cry and I'm comfortable telling you all that. :-)
My Monday Junior classes weren't too hard to leave as we have had a lot of difficult classes. But my seniors! Geez - those kids were so wonderful, I am so sad to be leaving them. Every week that I had class with them was such a great experience. I just want to bring them all home with me. Many of these kids come from the country side and are really poor and don't really have anything (some can't afford to call home more than once a year). But they are just the most caring and warm hearted kids. I just want to give them the world.
Tuesday was really difficult. I had to say goodbye to two of my favorite classes - one of my kids told me that he was really having a bad day because his best friend was moving to Yinchuan the following day and that this was his last class with me. He is normally a very happy, smiley kid but that day he was just slumped on his desk with his face in his arms. We walked home together and he said that he can't stand it (just learned that phrase in class) and that he had to hurry home so he could cry. The other class was the famous class 6 - the class with Sam. I have had so many great times with that class, I just don't know where to begin. All I can say is that China just won't be as happy without my weekly dose of my posse. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved these two classes.
My last day was yesterday, Wednesday. I decided to write goodbye letters to all of my classes, so I delivered all of the notes to the English teachers so they could help with the translation. The morning was a half 'n' half. One good junior one class, one bad. I hated saying goodbye to all of my little girls in my junior one class one - they decided to make a bunch of copies of my letter because it was written by a "real" English speaker and they wanted to always keep the words of Ms. Molly.
Oh man, I dreaded the afternoon. Matt and Ms. Wang sat in on one of my classes - Matt caused quite a stir of excitement. Then I spent the recess period with some of my favorite students and said goodbye. Then, oh god, my LAST class - Junior 2 Class 1. This is probably the friendliest class that I have had - they were so welcoming when I first came here and I don't think that there is a more friendly kind-hearted group of children out there, well besides groups of my other students.
We did my lesson - a fun ASL lesson and EVERYONE participated, even the students who usually don't do a whole lot in class really enjoyed it. We had a great last class together and I held it together pretty well (although I did have to excuse myself once). At the end of class, I told them how much I loved being their teacher and they all stood up and applauded, did a deep bow and thanked me for being their teacher. I excused them from class and was swarmed by people wanting me to autograph things (books, papers, uniforms, skin) and write a little message to them and get a last hug. I started to tear up. This was followed by, "Please teacher, don't be sad." Which, of course, made me want to cry more. But, I was able to restrain.
I was writing a message to one of my SFSs and he blurted out, "I love you so much Miss Molly. I will love you everyday you are gone more and more until I see you again and then I will be happy again. I don't want you to ever leave me." Then, he gave me a huge hug and, well, tears. He then said, "Oh, Miss Molly, please don't cry. Because when you cry I feel very sad and I want to cry to. But if I cry, my friends will hit me." This kid always makes me smile.
The last student I said goodbye to was another one of my SFSs. He gave me his necklace. He told me it was one of his favorite things and that he has worn it everyday since he got it (it is a tag with his name, birthday, and blood type and a little charm). I told him that I couldn't possibly take it as it was something that he loves. I refuse, refuse, refuse. Then he told me that he really wanted me to have it because he loves it so much. He wanted me to know how much that he loves me by giving it to me and that I have to take it so he will feel happy - also, to know that in some way we will always be together and be friends. Then he put it in my hands and threw his arms around me. I just lost it and tears just started to pour out.
By the time I left school, it was pretty empty - all of my usual gang had already left. So, my SFS and I had a nice casual walk and talk home all alone. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to my experience at Guyuan Yi Zhong and Guyuan Wu Yuan middle schools and just what I needed.
I was thanked so many times for coming to China to be their teacher and for what I have done for them. But, I strongly feel that I should be thanking them for what they have given me as it is so much more than what I could have ever possibly given them.
To all of my students, I will miss you all so very much, all of your smiling faces, I will remember you always and I love you.
They changed the exam schedule, so I had lessons Mon., Tues., and Wed. So, I ended my teaching at Guyuan Junior School with one of my favorite classes. It was good, but really, really sad. I don't think that I have ever really been sad about leaving a place and people before. And, for those of you who might be wondering, yes, I did cry and I'm comfortable telling you all that. :-)
My Monday Junior classes weren't too hard to leave as we have had a lot of difficult classes. But my seniors! Geez - those kids were so wonderful, I am so sad to be leaving them. Every week that I had class with them was such a great experience. I just want to bring them all home with me. Many of these kids come from the country side and are really poor and don't really have anything (some can't afford to call home more than once a year). But they are just the most caring and warm hearted kids. I just want to give them the world.
Tuesday was really difficult. I had to say goodbye to two of my favorite classes - one of my kids told me that he was really having a bad day because his best friend was moving to Yinchuan the following day and that this was his last class with me. He is normally a very happy, smiley kid but that day he was just slumped on his desk with his face in his arms. We walked home together and he said that he can't stand it (just learned that phrase in class) and that he had to hurry home so he could cry. The other class was the famous class 6 - the class with Sam. I have had so many great times with that class, I just don't know where to begin. All I can say is that China just won't be as happy without my weekly dose of my posse. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved these two classes.
My last day was yesterday, Wednesday. I decided to write goodbye letters to all of my classes, so I delivered all of the notes to the English teachers so they could help with the translation. The morning was a half 'n' half. One good junior one class, one bad. I hated saying goodbye to all of my little girls in my junior one class one - they decided to make a bunch of copies of my letter because it was written by a "real" English speaker and they wanted to always keep the words of Ms. Molly.
Oh man, I dreaded the afternoon. Matt and Ms. Wang sat in on one of my classes - Matt caused quite a stir of excitement. Then I spent the recess period with some of my favorite students and said goodbye. Then, oh god, my LAST class - Junior 2 Class 1. This is probably the friendliest class that I have had - they were so welcoming when I first came here and I don't think that there is a more friendly kind-hearted group of children out there, well besides groups of my other students.
We did my lesson - a fun ASL lesson and EVERYONE participated, even the students who usually don't do a whole lot in class really enjoyed it. We had a great last class together and I held it together pretty well (although I did have to excuse myself once). At the end of class, I told them how much I loved being their teacher and they all stood up and applauded, did a deep bow and thanked me for being their teacher. I excused them from class and was swarmed by people wanting me to autograph things (books, papers, uniforms, skin) and write a little message to them and get a last hug. I started to tear up. This was followed by, "Please teacher, don't be sad." Which, of course, made me want to cry more. But, I was able to restrain.
I was writing a message to one of my SFSs and he blurted out, "I love you so much Miss Molly. I will love you everyday you are gone more and more until I see you again and then I will be happy again. I don't want you to ever leave me." Then, he gave me a huge hug and, well, tears. He then said, "Oh, Miss Molly, please don't cry. Because when you cry I feel very sad and I want to cry to. But if I cry, my friends will hit me." This kid always makes me smile.
The last student I said goodbye to was another one of my SFSs. He gave me his necklace. He told me it was one of his favorite things and that he has worn it everyday since he got it (it is a tag with his name, birthday, and blood type and a little charm). I told him that I couldn't possibly take it as it was something that he loves. I refuse, refuse, refuse. Then he told me that he really wanted me to have it because he loves it so much. He wanted me to know how much that he loves me by giving it to me and that I have to take it so he will feel happy - also, to know that in some way we will always be together and be friends. Then he put it in my hands and threw his arms around me. I just lost it and tears just started to pour out.
By the time I left school, it was pretty empty - all of my usual gang had already left. So, my SFS and I had a nice casual walk and talk home all alone. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to my experience at Guyuan Yi Zhong and Guyuan Wu Yuan middle schools and just what I needed.
I was thanked so many times for coming to China to be their teacher and for what I have done for them. But, I strongly feel that I should be thanking them for what they have given me as it is so much more than what I could have ever possibly given them.
To all of my students, I will miss you all so very much, all of your smiling faces, I will remember you always and I love you.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Orchard Blossom
So, today was a really difficult day to me. I had to say goodbye to two of my favorite Junior 1 classes. Many tears. I will miss them all so much! Tomorrow will be a long and hard day for me. It will be my last day teaching and I will go from first period t the very last period with a dinner banquet to wrap up the day. My last class at the middle school will be my Junior 2 class 1 - a class that I am very close to. I don't know how to say goodbye to them.
Today, I was just hanging out with some of the kids between classes when one of the kids started to sniff my arm. Shortly after me asking him what he was doing, he ran away and yelled something in Chinese. Suddenly, I am surrounded by kids all trying to get a whiff of the laoshi.
Finally, one of the kids said that I smelled "beautiful", another said like a "sweet apple" the others agreed that my scent was very pleasing and continued to jockey for a good sniffing position.
Their head teacher casually strolled by just as a couple of students were inhaling my underarm odor treatment. He walked about 10 paces down the hall, came to a complete stop and turned on his heal, just to make sure that he did just see a crowd of kids smelling their teacher. He stood there a little dumbstruck? amused? befuddled? before laughing a little, shaking his head and continuing down to his office.
It is very strange to have about 50 people smell you, have others watching you being whiffed and being given some sort of passing approval about the whole ordeal.
Today, I was just hanging out with some of the kids between classes when one of the kids started to sniff my arm. Shortly after me asking him what he was doing, he ran away and yelled something in Chinese. Suddenly, I am surrounded by kids all trying to get a whiff of the laoshi.
Finally, one of the kids said that I smelled "beautiful", another said like a "sweet apple" the others agreed that my scent was very pleasing and continued to jockey for a good sniffing position.
Their head teacher casually strolled by just as a couple of students were inhaling my underarm odor treatment. He walked about 10 paces down the hall, came to a complete stop and turned on his heal, just to make sure that he did just see a crowd of kids smelling their teacher. He stood there a little dumbstruck? amused? befuddled? before laughing a little, shaking his head and continuing down to his office.
It is very strange to have about 50 people smell you, have others watching you being whiffed and being given some sort of passing approval about the whole ordeal.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Egads, Dude!
T-minus 10 days and counting....
I am actually really, really sad to be leaving Guyuan.
Of course, there are some things that I really won't miss. And, lucky for you, this is a post about one of those things.
Mr. Horse - AKA Math Dude.
Seriously, dude, what's your deal?
Today, I wrapped up things with two more classes (junior two this time, not as tear filled, as I didn't really get to know these kids quite as well). Mr. Horse is the head teacher for one of these classes. I wanted to have the time to be with my students, take some pictures and wrap up the final exam. And, well...
Okay, inhale, getting a little ahead of myself.
I posted a little while ago, after the English competition, that I was afraid that things were going to start up again after that most unfortunate dinner I was duped into with him and another couple of teachers. Well, I'm not happy about being right about things this time.
To recap, the English competition dinner: Confused English about being happy about the students' success and wanting to celebrate. Me thinky - "ooh! Student dinner - fun, fun." Reality: dinner with Horse and another teacher who I don't know. Back story - I had already refused an apology "sit" with Horse ("sit" - a smoke screen that meant dinner).
It is fairly obvious to me, at least, that I put out nothing but a toxic vibe when around him. I think others notice this as well. But he just doesn't GET IT. The big "IT". The big "Stay away from me, I can't stand your presence" or more bluntly, "F-off" type of thing. Seriously, I don't think that I could be more blatant with my attitude or body language than if I flat out said, "Dude, I hate you. Go away. Now."
Alright, now that we have my general comportment on record, let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Since the dinner that I really didn't want to be at, he now thinks that I have "forgiven him" for his drunk-ass behavior from October and worse yet, that I am his friend. I honestly, do not know what would possible give him that idea.
So, besides just the routine annoyance of having him seek me out in the common areas of the school, having him dismiss students I am playing with and such, he has brought his game to a whole new irritating level.
So, he has this book called, "Crazy English". He has decided to catch me and interrupt me no matter what I am doing to have me try to explain to him what certain phrases in this book mean. The phrases are usually "hand picked" and of a certain theme. Like: "Oh, you are such a sweet man!" and "what a sweetheart" and something that was the equivalent of "that dress is hot" and the like. Yeah, cherry picked phrases so he can make example sentences with the convenient characters of Ms. Molly and Mr. Horse.
Crrreepy!
The headmaster for the junior school decided to throw a special dinner for all of the junior teachers. All of the junior 1 teachers were in one room and all of the junior 2 teachers were in another. So, I went to dine with all of the junior 1 teachers. Enter Mr. Horse - Junior 2 teacher. The only junior 2 teacher in the room. We thought that he would only be staying for a little while and then retire to the other room. Nope. He stayed. Stayed for the whole dinner. Other teachers made fun of him - "why are you here?" and "go to your room, get out of here!" Nope. He stayed. Sat right across from me. Yup. Stared at me the whole entire dinner. It not only made me feel uncomfortable, but also the other teachers at the table. At the first opportunity for me to leave, one of the English teachers grabbed me and said, "You should leave now". So I am rushed out with the Horse nipping at my heels.
So, fast forward to about 4 weeks ago. I had started to give his class my final exam. It is a talking exam (how else to test spoken English). So, I was taking students in pairs out into the hallway to give them the test. Suddenly, the students stop talking and start gaping. I look up from my stool to find Horse looming over me holding ice cream over my head. I don't know how long he had been there or what, but, I mean, what the hell...? I told him that I really didn't need the ice cream but he insisted. Rather than dragging it out DURING MY CLASS TIME, I accepted it so he would get lost. Nope. Instead, he starts to comment on how he thought that he thought that I must be hot and that he thought that I looked tired, blah blah blah. Finally, I told him that I really must work and that I need him to leave so I can test his students. So, he said that he would come find me after class so we can talk during the free period. Like hell! I slip away down the back staircase as soon as class lets out.
Now, let's jump to last Friday. So, I had written about these mad exams that the kids take to get into University, well the Junior 3 students take one to get into Senior School. So, now that the test is over, they must all be corrected and my school was chosen to be one of the test correction sites. What does this mean? It means that they emptied out the top two floors of the Junior building to accommodate all of the teachers from various schools coming to check the test. Which also meant my office. We had to move all of our stuff down to an office on the second floor. The Junior 2 floor. The Junior 2 office. Mr. Horse's office. *Shudder* He brightly announced that I could share his desk, which was approved despite my protests. Great. Luckily, he was called in to help correct the tests, so I wouldn't have to share space, but I still didn't spend a lot of time around the vicinity for his frequent "check-ins".
Now, last weekend. I was supposed to meet some kids last Saturday at the Junior School. I was a little early so, I waited and helped some of the junior 1 kids get ready for their talent show. I didn't really think that many teachers would be at the school, outside of the Junior 1 teachers. Wrong. Yup. Mr. Horse. He cornered me and when I excused myself he always managed to find me again shortly after. Finally, he asked when I would be leaving Guyuan. So I told him. He then said that he wants to have a special goodbye dinner for his American friend. I told him that it was not necessary. But, sometimes, talking to the Chinese people that I have met here is really more like talking to a Chinese wall (hmmm... walls, something that the Chinese really excel at). So he continued. I continued to refuse. I tried the too busy, not enough time shtick on and on and on. Finally, he relented. I talked my way out of it! Whoo-hoo! Triumph!
I was able to watch my kids perform in peace. A side note: It was strange to look at the packed auditorium, filled with kids and think that I teach them all. That sea of people in front of me - I see each one every week.
Anyhow, back to the story.
Tuesday - I have been going to school during their open period to give my test to those who want to get it over with and, well, to play with the kids on the playground. Which I have found is quite the oddity to the guest teachers correcting exams. They are all puzzled by this "look like Chinese" foreigner, wearing strange clothing, big earrings and playing with kids. So, I am going to leave for the day when one of my fellow English teachers says, "oh you're leaving? I thought that we would walk to Mr. Horse's dinner together." Me, "WHAT!?!?!" She, "Mr. Horse says that we are having a dinner tonight". I tell her that I didn't know anything about it and that I was just too busy to possibly go.
Meanwhile at the bat cave...err...apartment...
Matt gets a call from one of the Senior English teachers who we like. We both know that he was planning some kind of farewell dinner for us and the other English teachers. So, Mr. King invites out to a goodbye dinner. Matt accepts, thinking that this is the dinner. He is told to meet Mr. King out by the Senior gate in about 10 minutes. So, as I am walking home, I meet Matt on the way. He tells me about the farewell dinner with Mr. King. I swear loudly, robustly and with feeling. This is Mr. Horse! This is the dinner that I told him that we were just too busy for. So, knowing that I am refusing, he goes around and pulls this shit. I am furious! I wind up going for only an hour because I needed to go and grade papers. I am so angry I won't even look at him the entire dinner. The next day my English teacher friend wanted to talk about a little to comment on how strange the whole thing was.
Alright, now today.
I am barely in the office, but today I happen to be in there for about a total of 15 minutes. I see Mr. Horse 7 times.
This afternoon. I am early, so I wait in the hall and talk to kids before the next class begins. Mr. Horse is lurking about. I retreat to a different floor. Then, when the bells rings, I go to class. Safe! So, I bring some students out into the hall to give my final. I am in the middle of giving a test and up comes Mr. Horse. He gives me a canned coffee drink and wants to talk. Geez! What is up with this dip shit? Excuse my language. I have seriously censored my usual usage of colorful language for the purposes of this blog, but I am seriously pissed off with this man and "dip shit" is truly the nicest set of words I can manage right now.
I get him to leave and finish up (for the most part) with the exam. I tell my class "goodbye" and leave. As I leave the room, I see Mr. Horse heading down the hall toward me. I run down the staircase and retreat to the playground.
Oh yes, today he reeked of alcohol.
The photo?
This is the gift his "class" gave to me on Teacher's Day. I think that it is an accurate representation of our relationship. One horse trying to run away from the one following it. Or at least that it how I see it.
Well, shit. I'm tired.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
What are they doing?
Just thought that I would capture one of the more entertaining things for me to watch on my Tuesdays (well, other than Sam dancing). Between my 3rd and 4th period classes, the kids have an extended passing time to clean the classrooms and do these "eye exercises".
I love watching them do this to no end. One time they showed me what to do so I could do it with them, but everyone was laughing so hard it wasn't very successful. Usually I just peek into the classroom while they are doing them and they will try to wave while rubbing the eye area, and yes, they do wind up poking themselves in the eyes.
The video is a little long and a little bumpy (I was walking around recording), so watch what you can - and follow along!
Yi...er...san...si...wu...liu...!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Entertainment?
Just a blickie (blog quickie) -
Today it was actually raining hard here, which is really needed as the region is in serious drought.
and...
...my umbrella was a source of entertainment for 20 minutes.
My kids have never used a push button operated umbrella before. They also played with it all the way home.
More pictures on flickr - soonish.
Today it was actually raining hard here, which is really needed as the region is in serious drought.
and...
...my umbrella was a source of entertainment for 20 minutes.
My kids have never used a push button operated umbrella before. They also played with it all the way home.
More pictures on flickr - soonish.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Hard Core English!
More testing today. I am really surprised that so many kids have been coming during their free period. I mean, when I was their age, taking a test would be the last thing that I would want to do when I don't have class. In the past two days, I have tested over 160 kids.
Some highlights from today's testing:
The English teachers have all been really impressed with the kids listening comprehension and speaking abilities. Today, one of the Junior 3 teachers said that her students were not able to answer similar oral questions as well as the kids that I have been working with.
Students have been passing along the information that the Timberwolves are my hometown basketball team, so some of the boys all wore Timberwolves jerseys and made a little English song about basketball, my team, me, and English.
Some of my Junior 3 girls came up to see me (it was their last day of school). We had a really excellent chat. It was good to see them again as I probably won't see them again.
A boy from my junior 1 class 3 (boy pictured above) came in with a bandaged head and a big 4 inch, bloody gash on his head. He was in the hospital or something and got his parents to bring him back to school just to take my English test at an optional test time. I told him to go home and I would test him during his class time next week. But he said that he wanted to see me so he came. So, part of the conversation was the question, "how's it going?" he pointed at his head and replied, "just so-so". I'd say! He said that he was hit with something.
Last, after I finished testing another student, I told him that he did a very good job and he threw his arms around me and I gave him a big hug. The other teachers started to laugh and applaud. He got embarrassed and ran out of the office. When I left, he was outside waiting for me and said, "thank you teacher!" before running down the stairs.
I guess that is all for today. Tomorrow morning I have a brunch with some of the kids from my class 5. They are really excited about it, they have been visiting me at school to remind me and emailing me about it. Then, in the afternoon, I am climbing the hill with some more kids from class 6 (wish me luck, I don't think that I will be able to race up like they will want to).
Nauseating Fun
So, I am finally getting around to writing about last weekend, now that this weekend is almost here. I have been busy giving my final exams. It has been going okay - the kids cheat like crazy though. But more on that later.
Last weekend...Matt and I went out for lunch with some of my students from my lovely class 6 (junior 1). We went to have hotpot and then went to a new arcade at the mall. After, we all went to the park. It was fun! We took out some paddle boats and the boys acted exactly as 12 year olds boys should act. Also, we took a ride in some bumper cars - Matt and my car quickly turned into the target car to hit. Then, well, the nausea. There was much discussion leading up to the event. The result? We all wound up boarding one of those ship rides that rocks back and forth and arcs higher and higher until you want to puke. I was never too keen on those kinds of rides in my youth - more of a twirling ride kinda gal than a fast drop ride kind of gal. So, you can only imagine how the ride went over in my 20+ year older self. Yeah, exactly. I think that my kids forget that I am more than twice their age.
Anyhow, it was fun to hang out with some of my favorite students and will do so again this coming weekend.
So the finals. They cheat. Bad. But I guess that it doesn't really matter as our grades don't really count anyhow. Which brings me back to: why am I giving an exam exactly?
I have been speaking to each student individually to get an idea of their conversation abilities. But, the kids are upset that I am leaving and some of the sessions have been full of tears (mostly theirs). It is getting really difficult as some of them have been pleading with me to stay. It will be a hard few weeks as I have inadvertently become the adoptive sister to about 700 kids give or take. Many of my girls have taken my first name as their English name and many of my boys have started to use my surname on papers (and not just on papers for my class).
What else...I have been encouraging my students to come to the English office to take their spoken test during their free period so we can have a fun class at the end. So about 60 students showed up today. It was fun! I got to weave in and out of J1 and J2 conversations and later one of the teachers told me that her J2 students (who I only see every other week) were envious of my J1 students (who I get to see every week) because the J1s could speak and comprehend at my (very close to) normal speaking rate and they could not. They were really, really shocked that the J1s speaking ability was so much higher than theirs. She then told me that she thought that my classes were the reason. Whoo-hoo! Yes, I'm telling you this to brag.
Hmmm...I brought my Polaroid camera to school (thanks, Jerry!). Man did that go over big! I was mobbed. Not exaggerating. I chose one student to man the camera and then took photos with tons of kids. One of the students then showed the picture with me to his head teacher (one of the English teachers). She said that he ran over to her after class and said "Teacher, teacher I want to show you a photo, please wait for me to get it!" Then he ran and pulled out the Polaroid and exclaimed, "This is me and Miss Molly! Look how happy my face is - I can't believe it!” :-) I just don't think that University students can even begin to compete with the cuteness. *sigh* I will miss my 800 kids.
Last weekend...Matt and I went out for lunch with some of my students from my lovely class 6 (junior 1). We went to have hotpot and then went to a new arcade at the mall. After, we all went to the park. It was fun! We took out some paddle boats and the boys acted exactly as 12 year olds boys should act. Also, we took a ride in some bumper cars - Matt and my car quickly turned into the target car to hit. Then, well, the nausea. There was much discussion leading up to the event. The result? We all wound up boarding one of those ship rides that rocks back and forth and arcs higher and higher until you want to puke. I was never too keen on those kinds of rides in my youth - more of a twirling ride kinda gal than a fast drop ride kind of gal. So, you can only imagine how the ride went over in my 20+ year older self. Yeah, exactly. I think that my kids forget that I am more than twice their age.
Anyhow, it was fun to hang out with some of my favorite students and will do so again this coming weekend.
So the finals. They cheat. Bad. But I guess that it doesn't really matter as our grades don't really count anyhow. Which brings me back to: why am I giving an exam exactly?
I have been speaking to each student individually to get an idea of their conversation abilities. But, the kids are upset that I am leaving and some of the sessions have been full of tears (mostly theirs). It is getting really difficult as some of them have been pleading with me to stay. It will be a hard few weeks as I have inadvertently become the adoptive sister to about 700 kids give or take. Many of my girls have taken my first name as their English name and many of my boys have started to use my surname on papers (and not just on papers for my class).
What else...I have been encouraging my students to come to the English office to take their spoken test during their free period so we can have a fun class at the end. So about 60 students showed up today. It was fun! I got to weave in and out of J1 and J2 conversations and later one of the teachers told me that her J2 students (who I only see every other week) were envious of my J1 students (who I get to see every week) because the J1s could speak and comprehend at my (very close to) normal speaking rate and they could not. They were really, really shocked that the J1s speaking ability was so much higher than theirs. She then told me that she thought that my classes were the reason. Whoo-hoo! Yes, I'm telling you this to brag.
Hmmm...I brought my Polaroid camera to school (thanks, Jerry!). Man did that go over big! I was mobbed. Not exaggerating. I chose one student to man the camera and then took photos with tons of kids. One of the students then showed the picture with me to his head teacher (one of the English teachers). She said that he ran over to her after class and said "Teacher, teacher I want to show you a photo, please wait for me to get it!" Then he ran and pulled out the Polaroid and exclaimed, "This is me and Miss Molly! Look how happy my face is - I can't believe it!” :-) I just don't think that University students can even begin to compete with the cuteness. *sigh* I will miss my 800 kids.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Nail Biting
The National Exam is over!
I can hear the loud music and singing from the probable celebrations as I type this. This is the exam, the one that they all prepare for throughout their pre-university schooling. It's crazy!
The exam takes place over three days. All of the other senior students are excused from classes and are actually barred from entering the school grounds (unless they live in the dorms). The street in front of the school is blocked (so there is no traffic noise) with a police person standing watch to make sure no one sneaks through. The gate is locked except for when they let students in and out (or for the curious foreign teacher wandering around).
Parents take the testing days off and wait outside of the gate. There were small crowds of people all squatting on the sidewalk outside of the school, waiting for their child to finish the test. Everyone is tense. Just walking through the campus was eerie. No noise. None. At all.
Things were even quiet on the Junior campus - even they recognize the seriousness of The Test. The children were doing all of the things they generally do out on the playground, but not really making any noise. Spooky. Really spooky.
Anyhow, the test is now over and now they wait for the results - dwell on the test and over think what they did wrong. I hope there aren't any suicides. That would be horrible. I am worried about one of the students Matt and I had conversation practice with. These kids have so much stress - more than I ever had at their age. They prematurely go grey because of the stress. I am thinking about bringing up the idea of peer counseling to our waiban. When given the opportunity to talk about problems, they are startling open about what they are feeling and want to talk about whatever is on their minds, but they really do not have the opportunity to do so.
Anyhow, The Test is now done. The Junior 3 test to get into Senior School is coming up next (they only get one crack at that test).
I can hear the loud music and singing from the probable celebrations as I type this. This is the exam, the one that they all prepare for throughout their pre-university schooling. It's crazy!
The exam takes place over three days. All of the other senior students are excused from classes and are actually barred from entering the school grounds (unless they live in the dorms). The street in front of the school is blocked (so there is no traffic noise) with a police person standing watch to make sure no one sneaks through. The gate is locked except for when they let students in and out (or for the curious foreign teacher wandering around).
Parents take the testing days off and wait outside of the gate. There were small crowds of people all squatting on the sidewalk outside of the school, waiting for their child to finish the test. Everyone is tense. Just walking through the campus was eerie. No noise. None. At all.
Things were even quiet on the Junior campus - even they recognize the seriousness of The Test. The children were doing all of the things they generally do out on the playground, but not really making any noise. Spooky. Really spooky.
Anyhow, the test is now over and now they wait for the results - dwell on the test and over think what they did wrong. I hope there aren't any suicides. That would be horrible. I am worried about one of the students Matt and I had conversation practice with. These kids have so much stress - more than I ever had at their age. They prematurely go grey because of the stress. I am thinking about bringing up the idea of peer counseling to our waiban. When given the opportunity to talk about problems, they are startling open about what they are feeling and want to talk about whatever is on their minds, but they really do not have the opportunity to do so.
Anyhow, The Test is now done. The Junior 3 test to get into Senior School is coming up next (they only get one crack at that test).
Article about THE TEST
In China, students failing the stress test
Teenager’s suicide underscores concerns about student worry over exams
Associated Press
Updated: 7:46 p.m. ET June 7, 2006
SHANGHAI, China - A teenager’s suicide after being barred from a key high school exam for not tying back her hair underscores the intense pressure on millions of Chinese who began taking annual college entrance tests Wednesday.
Worries are rising about academic stress. There are 2.6 million places at China’s universities, but the competition is fierce — 9.5 million youths are taking the three-day exams that are widely viewed as crucial to career and financial success.
Although 16-year-old Wu Wenwen’s suicide occurred in January, during high school end-of-term tests, it is resonating during this week’s college exams.
According to her family and newspaper accounts, Wenwen drowned herself after she was stopped at the exam room door because her hair wasn’t tied back as her school required.
She returned in barrettes, but was told the exam had started and she was too late to take it. Wenwen phoned her mother in tears, and then disappeared. Her body was found that night in a nearby lake.
As in Japan and South Korea, schooling in China has become a nail-bitingly stressful ordeal for children and parents alike, one that experts say causes undue emotional distress.
“Pressure from study and exams is a top reason for psychological problems among Chinese youth,” said Jin Wuguan, director of the Youth Psychological Counseling Center at Shanghai’s Ruijin Hospital.
Parents even murdered
In China’s increasingly success-oriented cities, academic stress is seen as a rising cause of youth suicides and even murders of parents by children unhinged by overwhelming pressure to perform.
China doesn’t keep comprehensive statistics on student suicides, but Jin said health care professionals see the problem worsening, even among elementary students.
Most Chinese schools still lack counselors and teachers receive little training in spotting emotional distress, Jin said. Parents are little help, often piling on pressure while ignoring their children’s emotional development, he said.
“It’s a basic unwillingness or inability to recognize and deal with emotional problems,” Jin said.
Wang Yufeng, at Peking University’s Institute of Mental Health, estimates the rate of emotional disorders such as depression and paranoia among Chinese students under age 17 at up to 32 percent — a total of 30 million students.
Others say the figure may be as high as 50 percent. A survey last year by the government said nearly 58 percent of students felt highly stressed by academic pressures.
Chinese youth now enjoy greater material comfort and personal freedoms than their parents’ generation, but are more emotionally fragile, experts say.
Today's concerns: tests, work, relationships
Students educated before economic reforms began in the early 1980s were raised amid austerity and ideals of self-sacrifice. Under the job-assignment system prevailing until the early 1990s, graduates could expect the Communist Party to decide their futures.
Today’s Chinese teens are largely preoccupied with the same worries as their Western counterparts — exams, jobs and the opposite sex.
“Kids these days haven’t been through what we went through. Their hearts haven’t been toughened up and they’re distracted by all these other concerns,” Wenwen’s father, Wu Lijun, said in an interview.
Wu blames Wenwen’s school, the elite No. 7 Middle School in the eastern city of Wenzhou, for her suicide. He accuses the exam proctor of taking an overly harsh attitude and says school officials should have kept track of his daughter’s whereabouts.
Wu has sued the school and local education bureau over the death. A hearing was held in April, but no verdict has been announced.
School and bureau officials wouldn’t comment pending a ruling in the case. They refused to give their names because they weren’t authorized to speak to media.
Officials played down suicide
Wenwen’s case was front-page news in Wenzhou, sparking newspaper commentaries and heated discussion in online forums. But the coverage stopped after the lawsuit was filed — a likely sign that communist officials wanted to end talk about such a sensitive issue.
Students aren’t the only ones stressing over exams. Many parents take time off from work to help their children study, book them into hotels close to exam halls, and even petition to have traffic kept from near downtown schools to keep the area quiet during the tests.
Amid a budding debate over the wisdom of putting so much emphasis on the exams, counselors are reaching out through a medium most popular with teens: the Internet.
“This is such an important exam, it’s crucial to reduce anxiety to the lowest level possible,” Tsinghua University psychiatrist Li Yan said on the Web site “Emotional Navigation for Exam Takers,” hosted by the official People’s Daily newspaper.
“You need to lay down your burdens and just show them what you know,” Li said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Teenager’s suicide underscores concerns about student worry over exams
Associated Press
Updated: 7:46 p.m. ET June 7, 2006
SHANGHAI, China - A teenager’s suicide after being barred from a key high school exam for not tying back her hair underscores the intense pressure on millions of Chinese who began taking annual college entrance tests Wednesday.
Worries are rising about academic stress. There are 2.6 million places at China’s universities, but the competition is fierce — 9.5 million youths are taking the three-day exams that are widely viewed as crucial to career and financial success.
Although 16-year-old Wu Wenwen’s suicide occurred in January, during high school end-of-term tests, it is resonating during this week’s college exams.
According to her family and newspaper accounts, Wenwen drowned herself after she was stopped at the exam room door because her hair wasn’t tied back as her school required.
She returned in barrettes, but was told the exam had started and she was too late to take it. Wenwen phoned her mother in tears, and then disappeared. Her body was found that night in a nearby lake.
As in Japan and South Korea, schooling in China has become a nail-bitingly stressful ordeal for children and parents alike, one that experts say causes undue emotional distress.
“Pressure from study and exams is a top reason for psychological problems among Chinese youth,” said Jin Wuguan, director of the Youth Psychological Counseling Center at Shanghai’s Ruijin Hospital.
Parents even murdered
In China’s increasingly success-oriented cities, academic stress is seen as a rising cause of youth suicides and even murders of parents by children unhinged by overwhelming pressure to perform.
China doesn’t keep comprehensive statistics on student suicides, but Jin said health care professionals see the problem worsening, even among elementary students.
Most Chinese schools still lack counselors and teachers receive little training in spotting emotional distress, Jin said. Parents are little help, often piling on pressure while ignoring their children’s emotional development, he said.
“It’s a basic unwillingness or inability to recognize and deal with emotional problems,” Jin said.
Wang Yufeng, at Peking University’s Institute of Mental Health, estimates the rate of emotional disorders such as depression and paranoia among Chinese students under age 17 at up to 32 percent — a total of 30 million students.
Others say the figure may be as high as 50 percent. A survey last year by the government said nearly 58 percent of students felt highly stressed by academic pressures.
Chinese youth now enjoy greater material comfort and personal freedoms than their parents’ generation, but are more emotionally fragile, experts say.
Today's concerns: tests, work, relationships
Students educated before economic reforms began in the early 1980s were raised amid austerity and ideals of self-sacrifice. Under the job-assignment system prevailing until the early 1990s, graduates could expect the Communist Party to decide their futures.
Today’s Chinese teens are largely preoccupied with the same worries as their Western counterparts — exams, jobs and the opposite sex.
“Kids these days haven’t been through what we went through. Their hearts haven’t been toughened up and they’re distracted by all these other concerns,” Wenwen’s father, Wu Lijun, said in an interview.
Wu blames Wenwen’s school, the elite No. 7 Middle School in the eastern city of Wenzhou, for her suicide. He accuses the exam proctor of taking an overly harsh attitude and says school officials should have kept track of his daughter’s whereabouts.
Wu has sued the school and local education bureau over the death. A hearing was held in April, but no verdict has been announced.
School and bureau officials wouldn’t comment pending a ruling in the case. They refused to give their names because they weren’t authorized to speak to media.
Officials played down suicide
Wenwen’s case was front-page news in Wenzhou, sparking newspaper commentaries and heated discussion in online forums. But the coverage stopped after the lawsuit was filed — a likely sign that communist officials wanted to end talk about such a sensitive issue.
Students aren’t the only ones stressing over exams. Many parents take time off from work to help their children study, book them into hotels close to exam halls, and even petition to have traffic kept from near downtown schools to keep the area quiet during the tests.
Amid a budding debate over the wisdom of putting so much emphasis on the exams, counselors are reaching out through a medium most popular with teens: the Internet.
“This is such an important exam, it’s crucial to reduce anxiety to the lowest level possible,” Tsinghua University psychiatrist Li Yan said on the Web site “Emotional Navigation for Exam Takers,” hosted by the official People’s Daily newspaper.
“You need to lay down your burdens and just show them what you know,” Li said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Dragon Boat Festival
So, what do you do for the dragon boat festival when there is no water source?
I don't have an answer. Not feeling too clever right now.
The dragon boat festival was interesting. My kids gave me bracelets made out of colored string and many shoved steamed rice cakes in my face. It was fun and sticky. One of the teachers gave me a little dragon because of the festival and because I am year of the dragon. When my kids found out that I was year of the dragon they started to applaud. Freaks. They get excited over this strangest things.
Also, there were many willow branches in doorways. I was told it was to keep the ghosts out. I think some of my kids got a little carried away with this - one of the classrooms had so many branches you couldn't open the door very well.
Anyhow, that was last week. I have just been too lazy to put this up. This week...ummm....I have been breaking the news to all of my kids about my departure. This has been met with a lot of tears and protests. Lots of "but why?" and "no, you don't go", "we don't want a new teacher", and the heartbreaking "but I love you, do you have to go?" At least my announcement has been met with this kind of reaction rather than applause.
What else...one of my students got into trouble today. Apparently he took a potted plant and dumped it out onto his desk and threw some of the dirt. He was sent to the headmaster's office and then his mother was called into school. None of the teachers could get him to say why he did it, so I am to try to talk to him sometime (the students told a teacher that I'm the only teacher he likes).
Anyhow, hopefully I will be able to finish some of the half completed posts I started earlier this week and post them later this weekend.
I don't have an answer. Not feeling too clever right now.
The dragon boat festival was interesting. My kids gave me bracelets made out of colored string and many shoved steamed rice cakes in my face. It was fun and sticky. One of the teachers gave me a little dragon because of the festival and because I am year of the dragon. When my kids found out that I was year of the dragon they started to applaud. Freaks. They get excited over this strangest things.
Also, there were many willow branches in doorways. I was told it was to keep the ghosts out. I think some of my kids got a little carried away with this - one of the classrooms had so many branches you couldn't open the door very well.
Anyhow, that was last week. I have just been too lazy to put this up. This week...ummm....I have been breaking the news to all of my kids about my departure. This has been met with a lot of tears and protests. Lots of "but why?" and "no, you don't go", "we don't want a new teacher", and the heartbreaking "but I love you, do you have to go?" At least my announcement has been met with this kind of reaction rather than applause.
What else...one of my students got into trouble today. Apparently he took a potted plant and dumped it out onto his desk and threw some of the dirt. He was sent to the headmaster's office and then his mother was called into school. None of the teachers could get him to say why he did it, so I am to try to talk to him sometime (the students told a teacher that I'm the only teacher he likes).
Anyhow, hopefully I will be able to finish some of the half completed posts I started earlier this week and post them later this weekend.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
WHEEEEEE!!!!!
So, another week comes to a close. We are ever more suspicious about the level of monitoring going on in our home and my kids continue to provide me with material.
So, classes went pretty well this week, well, all but one. There was only five minutes left of class, but I just could not take it anymore. I walked out. I just couldn't babysit any longer. The kids in that class can do everything that I want them to do, they just chose not to do anything and to mock me instead. Yea, fun! I was fed up and left. Later two of my kids came to the English office to talk with me and their head teacher about class. One of the boys was really upset and was crying a little bit. It turns out that this boy thought that I was mad at him for his drawing on the black board (class activity). He thought that I left class because of him. He was really upset and teared up every time I looked at him. I tried to reassure them that they did not do anything wrong, I was not mad at him (he and his friend always do a good job in class) for his drawing, and that they did not need to apologize for anything. Eventually, they seemed to feel better and they left the office.
Later, both of the boys met me in the hallway while I waited for one of my Junior 2 classes to start. They wanted to make sure that everything was okay and that I wasn't angry with them. The little boy was starting to tear up again, so I asked him if he wanted a hug. He said "no", so I asked him again - "Are you sure you don't want a hug?" and held my arms open. Then the tears started to run down his cheeks and he nodded "yes" and ran into me with open arms.
Okay.
Class successes: Not too many. English cheerleader - Go! Verbs Go! (get it?) Anyhow, I'm a dork. So, in class I can be a bit of a spaz sometimes - but I want to get them animated because they sit stationary for long periods of time. I like to run around class and try to get people talking. I also like to work with the kids who don't really have people to work with. So, I have a little conversation practice with a girl and guy in the back of the classroom because they won't talk to each other. Everyone stopped talking to watch what I was doing - after getting them refocused on what the class should be doing, I went back to talk with the pair. The kids around me told me that they were both really shy. When I had the groups present, they didn't present together, but the boy volunteered at every single opportunity even though his English wasn't the best. At the end of class all of the students gave him a round of applause for his effort.
My oh my!
Okay next: Children's Day
Today is Children's Day. Some of my kids had exams today (junior 2) so their special day was, well, not. But I was invited to attend and chaperone movie afternoon for the Junior 1 students. Me, about 5 other adults and 500 hyper children. Interesting.
One of the other English teachers who I work with invited me to come along with her class - but I didn't know how to get to the theater, so she asked her kids who could meet me at the school and take a cab with me out to the movies, she told me that about 45 student hands shot up in the air all at once. She laughed as she has never been able to get that kind of response to a question before. She picked one kid who lived near the school, and then, she said, experienced one of the biggest groans from the disappointed students.
So, I met the student outside of the gate and we set out for the movie theater. He was talking to the cab driver about how I was his foreign teacher from America, but I how I am actually Korean. He played translator for us and I gave him praise for his English. When we got out of the cab, he held the door open for me and announced
very loudly, "After you Ms. Molly!" to get the attention of his classmates. He was so proud that he got to bring the foreign teacher - cute. This was greeted with a lot of applause.
So, all 600 students were standing outside of the theater in rank, waiting to be let in. Finally they are allowed in by class. I go with my class 5. Immediately, I am greeted with, "Teacher Molly, here!" "Teacher Molly, here!"
So, the movie. I didn't really get it. I mean, my favorite part was watching an old man suture a ceramic bowl (the conservation geek in me). Other than that, well, Zhang Zi Yi runs a lot.... Also the kids' response was entertaining. They applauded for, well, anything. They applauded when Zhang Zi Yi first showed up on screen, when her love interest showed up on screen (followed shortly by laughter), when she started running, when she fell down, when she started running, when she got water, when she started running, when she made him dinner, when he gave her a barrette, when she started running, when she fell down, when she fixed up the school room, when she put up paper cuts in the window, when she started running....
Anyhow, the movie was not too interesting, except for the bowl repair, but I loved being there with all of the kids and watching/listening to them. Far more entertaining. Also, I had a lap full of food and drink that the kids pushed on me which also kept me quite entertained.
I was also informed that I must attend a dinner tonight for all of the Junior 1 and Junior 2 teachers. It was okay. This time I went sans Matt. My first adult dinner without the white guy. The dinners are pretty boring, the English teachers try to include me, but it gets exhausting for them to constantly funnel conversation for me. So, I sit and look at the chicken feet on the lazy susan. Every now and then one of the other non-English teachers would shout out random English phrases for my benefit, but other than that, not too much in the way of excitement. Mr. Math was there. And, well, he didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room for Junior 2 teachers and, instead, spent a lot of time staring at me. A bit unnerving, y'know to be constantly stared at. It seemed to be making some of the other teachers a little uncomfortable too, but he didn't break gaze. So, staring, dice game - yup, you could say that I graciously took the first opportunity to jump ship and head home with my bag of pigeon (?) and chicken feet to give to Matt.
Anyhow, now I can officially start my long weekend!
So, classes went pretty well this week, well, all but one. There was only five minutes left of class, but I just could not take it anymore. I walked out. I just couldn't babysit any longer. The kids in that class can do everything that I want them to do, they just chose not to do anything and to mock me instead. Yea, fun! I was fed up and left. Later two of my kids came to the English office to talk with me and their head teacher about class. One of the boys was really upset and was crying a little bit. It turns out that this boy thought that I was mad at him for his drawing on the black board (class activity). He thought that I left class because of him. He was really upset and teared up every time I looked at him. I tried to reassure them that they did not do anything wrong, I was not mad at him (he and his friend always do a good job in class) for his drawing, and that they did not need to apologize for anything. Eventually, they seemed to feel better and they left the office.
Later, both of the boys met me in the hallway while I waited for one of my Junior 2 classes to start. They wanted to make sure that everything was okay and that I wasn't angry with them. The little boy was starting to tear up again, so I asked him if he wanted a hug. He said "no", so I asked him again - "Are you sure you don't want a hug?" and held my arms open. Then the tears started to run down his cheeks and he nodded "yes" and ran into me with open arms.
Okay.
Class successes: Not too many. English cheerleader - Go! Verbs Go! (get it?) Anyhow, I'm a dork. So, in class I can be a bit of a spaz sometimes - but I want to get them animated because they sit stationary for long periods of time. I like to run around class and try to get people talking. I also like to work with the kids who don't really have people to work with. So, I have a little conversation practice with a girl and guy in the back of the classroom because they won't talk to each other. Everyone stopped talking to watch what I was doing - after getting them refocused on what the class should be doing, I went back to talk with the pair. The kids around me told me that they were both really shy. When I had the groups present, they didn't present together, but the boy volunteered at every single opportunity even though his English wasn't the best. At the end of class all of the students gave him a round of applause for his effort.
My oh my!
Okay next: Children's Day
Today is Children's Day. Some of my kids had exams today (junior 2) so their special day was, well, not. But I was invited to attend and chaperone movie afternoon for the Junior 1 students. Me, about 5 other adults and 500 hyper children. Interesting.
One of the other English teachers who I work with invited me to come along with her class - but I didn't know how to get to the theater, so she asked her kids who could meet me at the school and take a cab with me out to the movies, she told me that about 45 student hands shot up in the air all at once. She laughed as she has never been able to get that kind of response to a question before. She picked one kid who lived near the school, and then, she said, experienced one of the biggest groans from the disappointed students.
So, I met the student outside of the gate and we set out for the movie theater. He was talking to the cab driver about how I was his foreign teacher from America, but I how I am actually Korean. He played translator for us and I gave him praise for his English. When we got out of the cab, he held the door open for me and announced
very loudly, "After you Ms. Molly!" to get the attention of his classmates. He was so proud that he got to bring the foreign teacher - cute. This was greeted with a lot of applause.
So, all 600 students were standing outside of the theater in rank, waiting to be let in. Finally they are allowed in by class. I go with my class 5. Immediately, I am greeted with, "Teacher Molly, here!" "Teacher Molly, here!"
So, the movie. I didn't really get it. I mean, my favorite part was watching an old man suture a ceramic bowl (the conservation geek in me). Other than that, well, Zhang Zi Yi runs a lot.... Also the kids' response was entertaining. They applauded for, well, anything. They applauded when Zhang Zi Yi first showed up on screen, when her love interest showed up on screen (followed shortly by laughter), when she started running, when she fell down, when she started running, when she got water, when she started running, when she made him dinner, when he gave her a barrette, when she started running, when she fell down, when she fixed up the school room, when she put up paper cuts in the window, when she started running....
Anyhow, the movie was not too interesting, except for the bowl repair, but I loved being there with all of the kids and watching/listening to them. Far more entertaining. Also, I had a lap full of food and drink that the kids pushed on me which also kept me quite entertained.
I was also informed that I must attend a dinner tonight for all of the Junior 1 and Junior 2 teachers. It was okay. This time I went sans Matt. My first adult dinner without the white guy. The dinners are pretty boring, the English teachers try to include me, but it gets exhausting for them to constantly funnel conversation for me. So, I sit and look at the chicken feet on the lazy susan. Every now and then one of the other non-English teachers would shout out random English phrases for my benefit, but other than that, not too much in the way of excitement. Mr. Math was there. And, well, he didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room for Junior 2 teachers and, instead, spent a lot of time staring at me. A bit unnerving, y'know to be constantly stared at. It seemed to be making some of the other teachers a little uncomfortable too, but he didn't break gaze. So, staring, dice game - yup, you could say that I graciously took the first opportunity to jump ship and head home with my bag of pigeon (?) and chicken feet to give to Matt.
Anyhow, now I can officially start my long weekend!
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