Moving house again

Sorry about my bad-tempered rant yesterday. I feel better today.

For a start I went out drinking with a French tourist called Stephanie last night, who was down to earth and fun and full of good advice and encouragement. She suggested going to a village she passed through a day or two ago, in walking distance of Lige, but without the tourists. I had been complaining that I couldn't get anyone to speak Mosuo to me, or spend time teaching me. She said they were super friendly down there and quite traditional.

I took her advice this morning, packed a bag with my recording equipment, a flask of tea and a dictionary and went out for a walk to the village. It was very fine lovely weather which improved my mood no end, and I even had to take off my jacket. I wandered out of Lige and down into this valley, right next to Gemu mountain but on the other side from Lige. I walked through one village which was not really a village but a large tourist complex with no tourists. On a bit further and I came across an Yi nationality village, I could tell because the woman working in the field wore a large flat head garment, covered in black cloth. She was excited to see me and led me into the village and brought a seat out into her yard for me to sit and gave me a pear to eat. Unlike Mosuo courtyards, which are usually neatly paved, this yard was full of mud, manure, chickens, pigs and little children. On one end was a straw mat where her husband lay inert, resting in the sun. He did not move or look up the whole time I was there, but occasionally mumbled a comment to his family. Their 18 year old daughter spoke some Chinese and we chatted a bit. She confirmed that the village was exclusively Yi people.

I moved on and walked through the paddocks to another village I had spotted from the road. After jumping over a few semi frozen streams I arrived in a very pretty Mosuo village. In Mosuo villages the architecture and women's dress are both distinctly different. Yet these villages were only a few hundred metres apart. Lots of women waved to me from the fields as I walked through the only street. I think it's all residential, I didn't spot any shops. Just as I was going past the last house a woman happened to step out through the gate. I said hi and she smiled and invited me in. It is a large family house. She and the other senior woman there didn't speak much Chinese- just a couple of words, their adult children were quite fluent in Chinese, as were the grandkids. A little girl was having a bath in the courtyard as I came in. We all sat down in the sun and I was fed sunflower seeds and apples.

Through the adult children I explained that I was interested in studying mosuo language. Then I pulled out a recording I got my Mosuo friend to make the other day, where he explained in Mosuo who I am and why I am here and how they can help me, etc. This went across well and they smiled and nodded and a few minutes later one of the women offered to let me record a story. This was initially a cause for great hilarity as she cracked up laughing as she held the little microphone. Then she told quite a long story- I have no idea what about. After that I explained to the daughter that I was looking for someone to help me translate the story and learn mosuo- I have a friend but that they don't have enough time. I asked if she knew someone appropriate. She said they could all help and after some consultation, offered that in the evenings she or someone else at the home would work with me, and that I could stay with them if I want. So it looks like I'm moving to Zhudi village tomorrow morning. They were very friendly and I stayed for lunch. More importantly, they speak lots of mosuo in the home probably partly due to the presence of monolingual mosuo speakers. The older women seemed to understand a fair bit of my Chinese (we discussed simple topics) though they spoke very little. Well, I don't know whether everyone is sick of hearing about the toilets here- I guess it's a topic I won't be covering for a few days, the house doesn't have any. The girl explained to me that you can pee in the backyard behind the house near the woodpile, any spot of your choosing really, but if you want to do anything more than that, you walk up the mountain behind the house and find a quiet spot to squat. Well, I guess it will be picturesque.

Also my friend from Lijiang phoned today- the one I met up with at Lige 10 days ago. We have agreed to meet up in Lijiang again at the end of this month. I will need to go back to do banking by then anyway. I am looking forward to ordering some pizza and cheap coffee- the coffee is expensive and generally very poor out here. I love the food out here, but I do miss eating dairy- cheese, creamy pasta, etc. I walked back to Lige mid- this afternoon feeling very pleased with myself at having accomplished so much.