It just occurred to me that the comment posted by "snot" was probably from Brooke, not Em. Would you guys let me know which "snot" it is when you post. If you are not Emma or Brooke, please ignore this blog completely.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Chicken Wars II
You wouldn't believe it. Yesterday, the bloody red chook got out again! Witness my stunning defeat and subsequent humiliation.
I was so over the whole thing. I followed it around half heartedly for 10 minutes, making the occasional lunge. I was out of bread, so I tried to set up a cardboard box trap with sunflower seeds, which didn't particularly work. So I gave up and went and washed my hair in a basin in the courtyard. Quite difficult actually. Host Mum came home and I pointed and said "chicken, too fast". She walked over to the gate and opened it wide and the other chickens and the rooster started to wander across the threshold. She walked up to red chicken and shooed it towards the gate, and it and all the other chooks scurried back into their yard. She banged the door. Less than ten seconds and it was all over.
Oh and the other point I was wondering about- chickens definitely do eat number twos. In fact, I can report that the rooster seemed to particularly enjoy mine. Uggh. This begs the question: Should I be eating the eggs? Is it unhiegenic or just another part of the great circle of life? I eat what they lay and they eat what I .... Enough said. I have probably lost half my readership with this last paragraph. My apologies.
My host mum finally had a little free time yesterday and she took me across the road to her Mosuo mother in law's place again. They are still matrilineal over there, apart from the son who moved across the road when he married the Tibetan English teacher. Gran lives there with several sons, a daughter and I think a grandchild. The kitchen has no windows and is pitch black except for a roaring fire at the hearth which is used for cooking, boiling water and warming toes. Yesterday after lunch, it was me, teacher, gran, her daughter and another woman who lives nearby all sitting around the fire. They gossiped while I sat quietly and smiled and then we all drank cups of green tea with salt and ate Zamba. Zamba is a light brown powder, you scoop a large teaspoonful up and toss it into the back of your throat (not touching the spoon which goes back in the pot) generally (if you're me or grandma) sprinkling it all over yourself in the process. You follow it with a sip of salty tea. It looks a little like their tossing back shots of tequila rather than teaspoons of a certain type of wheat flour. If you want to get yourself right into my experience make a little black tea and add a teasp0on of salt, toss a heaped teaspoon of wholemeal flour down your throat, sip some tea to make a gluggy paste and try not to choke. I found I can manage it as long as I just eat a little Zamba at a time. Bit disappointing that it's just wheat flour though. I was expecting to get high, given the relish with which they ate it.
We went back home and Host mum taught me some Mosuo words and sentences. They have been very curious about my obvious liking of the cat, so made sure she taught me how to say "I like cat" (nya huali fe) and "cat likes me" (huali nya fe). At dinner (rice, pig stomach, stir fried potatoes, cabbage, toufu) I was given the privilege of giving the cat an English name, after I enquired what it was called. I called it Twiggy, as it is very skinny and refuses to eat rice like any normal cat but will only eat expensive things like fish and meat. So it is slowly starving to death. I wonder if it has worms. Does anyone know any home remedies for worms? I haven't exactly noticed yongning being overwhelmed with Vets.
I drew a picture of a person and of a face and mum and I set off back to mother in law's house after tea, where she identified body parts for me in Mosuo. The words for "breast" and "bottom" were the cause of great hilarity so we could only do this kind of activity when there were no men in the room. After a little more Zamba and tea, Gran's four strapping sons showed up for dinner. Gran wears traditional garments, kind of a turban and a long navy blouse and skirt which is twisted and hooked up into her belt so that it doesn't hang too low. One of her sons had a big fur hat, interestingly decorated, but another looked the modern businessman in a navy suit and with manicured hands. They taught me a few more words and laughed at me saying that I liked the cat. They invited me to have spring festival with them. They are a noisy jovial lot and soon the loud animated discussions reverberated off the beams. Then we went back across the road to the cold living room to sit in front of the boring tv (I hate the damn things). By 10 I was ready for bed just so I could get warm and got my hot water bottle and went to bed.
I've been waking up every morning at 8 when the light comes through my window, and it is getting colder. The taps and puddles in the garden are completely frozen in the morning now, though the blue sky and sunshine tricks you into thinking it's really quite warm. There is warm water in the flasks to wash your face, feet etc, which is nice, but the air is really cold. By late morning it thaws and then the afternoon sun is really pleasant and I sit outside and get a tan on my face.
Lulu: In answer to your question, I do write this blog basically for family and friends, but you're very welcome to read it and I'm glad you enjoy it.
Snot (Emma): good to hear from you- send me an email about how you're going. What is happening with your job? take care
I was so over the whole thing. I followed it around half heartedly for 10 minutes, making the occasional lunge. I was out of bread, so I tried to set up a cardboard box trap with sunflower seeds, which didn't particularly work. So I gave up and went and washed my hair in a basin in the courtyard. Quite difficult actually. Host Mum came home and I pointed and said "chicken, too fast". She walked over to the gate and opened it wide and the other chickens and the rooster started to wander across the threshold. She walked up to red chicken and shooed it towards the gate, and it and all the other chooks scurried back into their yard. She banged the door. Less than ten seconds and it was all over.
Oh and the other point I was wondering about- chickens definitely do eat number twos. In fact, I can report that the rooster seemed to particularly enjoy mine. Uggh. This begs the question: Should I be eating the eggs? Is it unhiegenic or just another part of the great circle of life? I eat what they lay and they eat what I .... Enough said. I have probably lost half my readership with this last paragraph. My apologies.
My host mum finally had a little free time yesterday and she took me across the road to her Mosuo mother in law's place again. They are still matrilineal over there, apart from the son who moved across the road when he married the Tibetan English teacher. Gran lives there with several sons, a daughter and I think a grandchild. The kitchen has no windows and is pitch black except for a roaring fire at the hearth which is used for cooking, boiling water and warming toes. Yesterday after lunch, it was me, teacher, gran, her daughter and another woman who lives nearby all sitting around the fire. They gossiped while I sat quietly and smiled and then we all drank cups of green tea with salt and ate Zamba. Zamba is a light brown powder, you scoop a large teaspoonful up and toss it into the back of your throat (not touching the spoon which goes back in the pot) generally (if you're me or grandma) sprinkling it all over yourself in the process. You follow it with a sip of salty tea. It looks a little like their tossing back shots of tequila rather than teaspoons of a certain type of wheat flour. If you want to get yourself right into my experience make a little black tea and add a teasp0on of salt, toss a heaped teaspoon of wholemeal flour down your throat, sip some tea to make a gluggy paste and try not to choke. I found I can manage it as long as I just eat a little Zamba at a time. Bit disappointing that it's just wheat flour though. I was expecting to get high, given the relish with which they ate it.
We went back home and Host mum taught me some Mosuo words and sentences. They have been very curious about my obvious liking of the cat, so made sure she taught me how to say "I like cat" (nya huali fe) and "cat likes me" (huali nya fe). At dinner (rice, pig stomach, stir fried potatoes, cabbage, toufu) I was given the privilege of giving the cat an English name, after I enquired what it was called. I called it Twiggy, as it is very skinny and refuses to eat rice like any normal cat but will only eat expensive things like fish and meat. So it is slowly starving to death. I wonder if it has worms. Does anyone know any home remedies for worms? I haven't exactly noticed yongning being overwhelmed with Vets.
I drew a picture of a person and of a face and mum and I set off back to mother in law's house after tea, where she identified body parts for me in Mosuo. The words for "breast" and "bottom" were the cause of great hilarity so we could only do this kind of activity when there were no men in the room. After a little more Zamba and tea, Gran's four strapping sons showed up for dinner. Gran wears traditional garments, kind of a turban and a long navy blouse and skirt which is twisted and hooked up into her belt so that it doesn't hang too low. One of her sons had a big fur hat, interestingly decorated, but another looked the modern businessman in a navy suit and with manicured hands. They taught me a few more words and laughed at me saying that I liked the cat. They invited me to have spring festival with them. They are a noisy jovial lot and soon the loud animated discussions reverberated off the beams. Then we went back across the road to the cold living room to sit in front of the boring tv (I hate the damn things). By 10 I was ready for bed just so I could get warm and got my hot water bottle and went to bed.
I've been waking up every morning at 8 when the light comes through my window, and it is getting colder. The taps and puddles in the garden are completely frozen in the morning now, though the blue sky and sunshine tricks you into thinking it's really quite warm. There is warm water in the flasks to wash your face, feet etc, which is nice, but the air is really cold. By late morning it thaws and then the afternoon sun is really pleasant and I sit outside and get a tan on my face.
Lulu: In answer to your question, I do write this blog basically for family and friends, but you're very welcome to read it and I'm glad you enjoy it.
Snot (Emma): good to hear from you- send me an email about how you're going. What is happening with your job? take care
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Chicken Wars
Now I thought I always got on pretty well with chickens, always had some in the garden etc. In this house this has been taken to a whole new level. I'm not sure how well I've explained the setup here. There is a courtyard, two sides are buildings, two sides are fences, you go through a gate in one of these fences to another fenced in outdoor area which has a chicken coop and the dunny. The dunny is a hole in the ground with no door,but three walls, the chickens wander freely around and watch you curiously while you are having a squat (Do chickens eat people shit?) Anyway I was dealing with being perved on by the chickens quite okay and was getting good at going quickly through the gate to the courtyard because the chickens always try to make a break for it.
This morning it all went sadly awry because as I escaped back into the courtyard, one fat red hen ran through the gate before I could stop it. The normal thing to do would be to open the gate and shoo the chook back through, but in this case that would release the half a dozen other chooks and the rooster on the other side. Due to the layout of garden beds and hedges in the courtyard, the chook had a perfect figure 8 to run around in making her quite difficult to corner. I tried sneaking up, I tried the snatch and grab but every time she squawked and flapped or ran under the hedge. She was having a great time pecking at everything in the vegie patch and around the courtyard.
Realising I was not going to be able to defeat her with either my strength or agility (and I might add, there was no one else home to call for help) I decided to outwit her. A plan formed in my head and I found a big cardboard box near the wood pile which I stood on one side with just one flap open near the gate. Ran up to my room and grabbed the last of a breadroll I had put and laid a trail of bread crumbs leading into the box. I'm glad no one was home, they would have killed themselves laughing. The chook took the bait and started pecking up the crumbs. The first time she started to enter the box, I tried to close the box too quickly and she got away. I patiently laid more crumbs and after following her around the garden another 8 or 10 times to head her in the direction of the gate, she finally pecked her way into the box and wham, I slammed the box shut behind her, picked it up and triumphantly carried it into the chook yard. Red hen joined her mates and I wiped her droppings off the courtyard floor. The whole thing took over half an hour. But my host family will never know!!! Ha ha ha. evil laugh.
This afternoon I taught another conversation class. The kids were pretty good, laughed a lot, bit noisier this group. That was fine. Nothing else has happened so that will be all for now,
see yas
This morning it all went sadly awry because as I escaped back into the courtyard, one fat red hen ran through the gate before I could stop it. The normal thing to do would be to open the gate and shoo the chook back through, but in this case that would release the half a dozen other chooks and the rooster on the other side. Due to the layout of garden beds and hedges in the courtyard, the chook had a perfect figure 8 to run around in making her quite difficult to corner. I tried sneaking up, I tried the snatch and grab but every time she squawked and flapped or ran under the hedge. She was having a great time pecking at everything in the vegie patch and around the courtyard.
Realising I was not going to be able to defeat her with either my strength or agility (and I might add, there was no one else home to call for help) I decided to outwit her. A plan formed in my head and I found a big cardboard box near the wood pile which I stood on one side with just one flap open near the gate. Ran up to my room and grabbed the last of a breadroll I had put and laid a trail of bread crumbs leading into the box. I'm glad no one was home, they would have killed themselves laughing. The chook took the bait and started pecking up the crumbs. The first time she started to enter the box, I tried to close the box too quickly and she got away. I patiently laid more crumbs and after following her around the garden another 8 or 10 times to head her in the direction of the gate, she finally pecked her way into the box and wham, I slammed the box shut behind her, picked it up and triumphantly carried it into the chook yard. Red hen joined her mates and I wiped her droppings off the courtyard floor. The whole thing took over half an hour. But my host family will never know!!! Ha ha ha. evil laugh.
This afternoon I taught another conversation class. The kids were pretty good, laughed a lot, bit noisier this group. That was fine. Nothing else has happened so that will be all for now,
see yas
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
School days
Settled in now at the new house. It is a bit different. I have a first floor bedroom with a beautiful view of Goddess Gemu, but it doesn't have any glass in the windows so can be a little windy. They feed me heaps and heaps here and seem surprised when I say I'm full after two bowls of rice.
Getting on better with the English teacher. I know she knows a lot about English grammar and can write in English well, but apparently my spoken Chinese is better than her spoken
English (which is scary) as she seems very reluctant to speak to me in English other than to say single words. She speaks Mosuo, and interpreted an interview with an elderly Mosuo lady for me yesterday (her mother in law) but interpreted from Mosuo into Chinese, staying well away from English. I have taught her some new English words. They include torch, mandarine and State family planning commission. Everything that we eat she wants to know if we have it in Australia. She also gave me a draft of the English exam she had prepared to check. I made lots of corrections and she didn't say much. Not sure if I am helping or offending sometimes, she is a difficult person to read. She said I could come along to some of her classes yesterday morning, but then sat me up the back and didn't let me do a thing to help. I sat there and cringed while she added a vowel to the end of every English word that should end in a consonant "challeng-ah" and pronounced every "th" as "z". She only asks for my help in pronounciation when we are in the teachers office.
Well, it is a challeng-ah.
The kids do Mosuo circle dancing three mornings a week in the oval. I took some photos this morning. They are pretty good. The English teacher says she will teach me dancing for new year.
The house is nice and has a sunny courtyard and a little black cat that is always on my lap.
Oom Cees, leuk van je te horen- alsjeblieft email me, Mum kan je de adres geven.
liefs, Laura
Getting on better with the English teacher. I know she knows a lot about English grammar and can write in English well, but apparently my spoken Chinese is better than her spoken
English (which is scary) as she seems very reluctant to speak to me in English other than to say single words. She speaks Mosuo, and interpreted an interview with an elderly Mosuo lady for me yesterday (her mother in law) but interpreted from Mosuo into Chinese, staying well away from English. I have taught her some new English words. They include torch, mandarine and State family planning commission. Everything that we eat she wants to know if we have it in Australia. She also gave me a draft of the English exam she had prepared to check. I made lots of corrections and she didn't say much. Not sure if I am helping or offending sometimes, she is a difficult person to read. She said I could come along to some of her classes yesterday morning, but then sat me up the back and didn't let me do a thing to help. I sat there and cringed while she added a vowel to the end of every English word that should end in a consonant "challeng-ah" and pronounced every "th" as "z". She only asks for my help in pronounciation when we are in the teachers office.
Well, it is a challeng-ah.
The kids do Mosuo circle dancing three mornings a week in the oval. I took some photos this morning. They are pretty good. The English teacher says she will teach me dancing for new year.
The house is nice and has a sunny courtyard and a little black cat that is always on my lap.
Oom Cees, leuk van je te horen- alsjeblieft email me, Mum kan je de adres geven.
liefs, Laura
Monday, January 03, 2005
English teacher extaordinaire
This morning, after getting up at 7am (before dawn) to help make baozi for breakfast, I wandered down to the school. Assembly was on and all the kids tittered as I walked past. The English teacher showed me some of the work they've been doing and then invited me to her home for lunch. I will be staying at her home for the next week or so I think. We had decided that I would sit in at her classes this afternoon, but as we approached the classroom she told me I could take this class and run it as a conversation class if I liked, pointed me to the doorway and walked off. I was a little nervous as I hadn't even been introduced to the students.
Anyway, I walked into the room of about forty 16year olds and they all cracked up laughing and yelled "hello". She told me she teaches the classes in Chinese, so they were a little unnerved when I spoke almost exclusively English, only switching to Chinese for a quick explanation. Right at the start students yelled out to me "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" so I made that the format for the next part of the class, I asked them questions and got them to ask me questions. We talked about the relative sizes and populations of China and Australia. Then one student asked me to tell them about Australia.
By some inspiration I had chucked a heap of Aussie postcards into my handbag this morning, knowing I would probably be seeing the kids so I grabbed them out, taught them the words kangaroo, emu, koala, etc told them about the animals and did a demonstration of a kookaburra's laugh which completely cracked up the whole class. I passed out some flower and landscape postcards. Then I found some postcards of Aboriginal dot paintings and embarked on an explanation of Australian history, settlement, immigration and Australian Aboriginal people and their art, also mentioning that they traditionally ate all the pretty animals we'd just been looking at pictures of. At the end of the class one of the students asked me to sing an English song, but I explained that I am a particularly bad singer, but I would instead bring in some English music next time I come. Mmm, I wonder what I have that would be appropriate.
In a week or so it will be exam time anyway and then holidays, so teaching won't be taking over my schedule. I think they really enjoyed the class, though they were very shy about speaking English aloud. I don't think that happens much. Even the teacher prefers to speak to me in Chinese.
I got phone calls from my mum and Scott last night, which was lovely and had a quick chat to Jon and Zosh. It is good to hear from people back home- so bloody well email me and tell me what is going on!!!
Anyway, I walked into the room of about forty 16year olds and they all cracked up laughing and yelled "hello". She told me she teaches the classes in Chinese, so they were a little unnerved when I spoke almost exclusively English, only switching to Chinese for a quick explanation. Right at the start students yelled out to me "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" so I made that the format for the next part of the class, I asked them questions and got them to ask me questions. We talked about the relative sizes and populations of China and Australia. Then one student asked me to tell them about Australia.
By some inspiration I had chucked a heap of Aussie postcards into my handbag this morning, knowing I would probably be seeing the kids so I grabbed them out, taught them the words kangaroo, emu, koala, etc told them about the animals and did a demonstration of a kookaburra's laugh which completely cracked up the whole class. I passed out some flower and landscape postcards. Then I found some postcards of Aboriginal dot paintings and embarked on an explanation of Australian history, settlement, immigration and Australian Aboriginal people and their art, also mentioning that they traditionally ate all the pretty animals we'd just been looking at pictures of. At the end of the class one of the students asked me to sing an English song, but I explained that I am a particularly bad singer, but I would instead bring in some English music next time I come. Mmm, I wonder what I have that would be appropriate.
In a week or so it will be exam time anyway and then holidays, so teaching won't be taking over my schedule. I think they really enjoyed the class, though they were very shy about speaking English aloud. I don't think that happens much. Even the teacher prefers to speak to me in Chinese.
I got phone calls from my mum and Scott last night, which was lovely and had a quick chat to Jon and Zosh. It is good to hear from people back home- so bloody well email me and tell me what is going on!!!
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Lige Dao
Well, I'm back in Lige, about to try to figure out how to get to Yongning. May not be back online for a few days. Update on my mobile number, if calling from Australia you need to put the country code in first- making it 0086 1357 837 5714. There is an internet site on Lugu lake too, it is in Chinese but has a map, weather forecasts, photos, etc http://www.luguhu.cn/web/
I am doing okay, the bus was a bit frustrating today- bus driver stopped for every photo opportunity. I bought some nice postcards in Lijiang, if you would like one you will have to send me your postal address, as I forgot to bring any addresses with me.
bye for now,
I am doing okay, the bus was a bit frustrating today- bus driver stopped for every photo opportunity. I bought some nice postcards in Lijiang, if you would like one you will have to send me your postal address, as I forgot to bring any addresses with me.
bye for now,
Saturday, January 01, 2005
And then there was one
Yesterday afternoon we decided to climb a hill following some China syndrome. The syndrome of which I speaking is one that involves being misled and made to jump through hoops in order to satisfy local bureacratic urges. When I bought my phone on Thursday they told me I had to go to "China Mobile" and have it enabled in order to make international calls. I checked whether that would involve any hassle or require further payment of money and was assured that it would not. Upon arriving at China mobile Iwas told I had to pay a 3000 yuan security deposit for the privilege of calling outside of China. I have been unable to discover why it's actually necessary because the phone is prepaid so there is no risk of me exceeding my income on international calls. Furthermore, I haven't been able to discover what could occur that could cause them to refuse to refund the 3000 once I leave China. If the phone is lost or stolen I apparently just call up the number and they will freeze the phone, not affecting said security deposit in the slightest. As far as I can tell it is just there so that China mobile can collect interest on the amount while I am here. At first I flatly refused to pay- I would expect to be informed in advance if a $500. AU security deposit was required, and wasn't sure I had it to spare. The guy who sold me the mobile phone helpfully suggested that I make calls using a public phone and use the mobile to receive calls, whereupon I explained to him for the fifth time that it isn't possible to make international calls from Yongning from a public phone and that was why I had bought the damn thing in the first place.
Anyway I caved in today and came up with the cash (could not be paid by credit card). Hopefully it will come back (as promised) when I go home to Aus.
Not a promising start to our day, yesterday, so we went and climbed Lijiang Hill and sat up there eating mandarins and snickers bars and enjoying the view.
We had bought a massive 1.5l bottle of Champagne from the supermarket so we tried to kick off New Years celebrations with that in the courtyard, late yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately it was disgustingly sweet (Scott compared to fruit juice that had gone off) so it ended up down the toilet.
Got dressed up and went out with a friend called March. Ate tea, walked around the shops and ended up in the French quarter playing drinking games with some of his mates. As they weren't very sociable and the games weren't particularly fun we made our escape and went down to the peasant cafe so Scott could have a last feed of his favourite mushrooms. Approaching midnight we were eating Mexican pizza on a sweet pizza base, and at midnight we kissed in the square and said 'xin nian kuai le'. Drank some cocktails, played cards and chatted quietly in the Budweiser Bar until 2am before going back and banging on the outer door of our inn to be let in.
Made our way to the airport uneventfully this morning, and watched Scott's plane fly away. I waved but you will have to ask him whether he saw me. Grandma back in Yongning will miss him, she liked the way he sawed wood in the backyard for her. Considering that the two of us have been joined at the hip ever since he got back from Wodonga over two years ago, being back in a long distance relationship is not going to be easy. For a start I am going to have to navigate the rabbit warren of Lijiang old town by myself instead of gazing into the shops and wandering aimlessly while Scott says 'go left here' etc. Feels a little strange at the moment wandering around by myself. Well, I am off to Lugu lake again tomorrow morning. Next blog likely to be posted from the Husi teahouse with a hot Yunnan coffee in hand.
bye for now
Anyway I caved in today and came up with the cash (could not be paid by credit card). Hopefully it will come back (as promised) when I go home to Aus.
Not a promising start to our day, yesterday, so we went and climbed Lijiang Hill and sat up there eating mandarins and snickers bars and enjoying the view.
We had bought a massive 1.5l bottle of Champagne from the supermarket so we tried to kick off New Years celebrations with that in the courtyard, late yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately it was disgustingly sweet (Scott compared to fruit juice that had gone off) so it ended up down the toilet.
Got dressed up and went out with a friend called March. Ate tea, walked around the shops and ended up in the French quarter playing drinking games with some of his mates. As they weren't very sociable and the games weren't particularly fun we made our escape and went down to the peasant cafe so Scott could have a last feed of his favourite mushrooms. Approaching midnight we were eating Mexican pizza on a sweet pizza base, and at midnight we kissed in the square and said 'xin nian kuai le'. Drank some cocktails, played cards and chatted quietly in the Budweiser Bar until 2am before going back and banging on the outer door of our inn to be let in.
Made our way to the airport uneventfully this morning, and watched Scott's plane fly away. I waved but you will have to ask him whether he saw me. Grandma back in Yongning will miss him, she liked the way he sawed wood in the backyard for her. Considering that the two of us have been joined at the hip ever since he got back from Wodonga over two years ago, being back in a long distance relationship is not going to be easy. For a start I am going to have to navigate the rabbit warren of Lijiang old town by myself instead of gazing into the shops and wandering aimlessly while Scott says 'go left here' etc. Feels a little strange at the moment wandering around by myself. Well, I am off to Lugu lake again tomorrow morning. Next blog likely to be posted from the Husi teahouse with a hot Yunnan coffee in hand.
bye for now
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