Zebo village

Yesterday, a 16 year old Mosuo girl who I've become friends with here in Luoshui took me to visit her village, Zebo. We left around midday, got a taxibus to Yongning and from there we walked about an hour to her village. It was a pleasant walk except that after 20 minutes she started worrying that I might be tired or that my feet might be hurting. She explained to me that she knew westerners don't walk much, they ride their bikes everywhere!

It was a bit overcast as we got there, but it is really a very pretty village. The blossoms on the trees have just come out, people were working in the fields and the village is nestled just at the base of Gemu mountain. I sat in her home and interviewed her parents. She also took me to her friend's home to interview them. It was starting to get late (we didn't get away from Luoshui very early)and we were about to start walking back to Luoshui when it started raining. I really wanted to get back to Luoshui that night and I hadn't brought any of my things with me. Anyway, her brother said that he wanted to drive back to Luoshui that evening too and we could go with him. But first his truck, which had a load of roof tiles in the back, needed to be unloaded. Everyone donned gloves and started unloading. I tried to get them to give me some gloves but they refused and told me to sit down and have a rest!


Then I tried to help without gloves (as a few people were doing) but the tiles are filthy, they are curved and feel like theyre made of coal, and the people on the truck refused to pass them to me. They were concerned my hands would get dirty. I stood there feeling annoyed and frustrated- I don't really appreciate being subjected to stereotypes that westerners (and particularly western women) are incapable of any physical work, and that uni students have never done a days work in their lives anyway. I stood there fuming, recalling the many jobs of done that were more unpleasant, dirty and heavier than unloading a few tiles and felt frustrated that I couldn't communicate that. As the work continued, I saw my chance. They pulled away one of the side slats as the truck became emptier and from there it was possible to just reach in a grab a stack of tiles.

This is exactly what I did as I flashed my very angry, determined expression at the guy on the truck, warning him not to get in my way (Scott can probably describe this look to you quite well) and started helping. They gave in then and gave me some gloves. The mood lightened after that and we joked as we unloaded the truck. Then the girl tried to get me to sing something but I got out of that saying I don't know how to sing, just know how to unload stuff.

Then we washed our hands, three of us piled into the front seat of the truck, next to the driver, and as the sun set we drove across the unmade, heavily potholed roads, back to Luoshui.

Sat down with the brother who drove us and his friend who came along and had tea. Then we started drinking beer. Spent the evening talking and joking and drinking. At one point he started calling me 'Australian kangaroo' (Aodaliya de daishu) and I recall us all playing a game where we threw sunflower seeds at each other and tried to catch them in our mouths and they taught me how to eat sunflower seeds the Mosuo way, by crunching them up between your teeth and spitting out the shells. Then they had to duck as I spat a little too enthusiastically! Hey if you can't do it in China....