By that I mean that I am staying in a room by myself with a bathroom, eating western food and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Yep, I decided to spoil myself after 4 weeks of village life. Every night I find a cafe that attracts westerners and find people to speak English with. Overall, it is very fun. During the day I have been getting some things organised. I went and ordered business cards today with my contact details in English and Chinese, printed out my questionaire, bought stationery, sat in a cafe in the sun, etc. Just that kind of thing. It's a pleasant change. I've also had a haircut and spent too much time in the shower. Got to go back to Lugu lake on Wednesday so I am making the most of civilisation and luxury. It is particularly nice being independent.
Tonight I went to a cafe and ordered a steak with mushroom sauce. Big disappointment, It was tiny and the sauce didn't really taste like mushroom. It's not often you walk away from a steak dinner thinking "maybe I'll go somewhere else and order pizza or something". Especially with what you pay for western food here (It's actually equivalent to Australian prices! I'm not used to paying that much for food anymore). My pasta carbonara last night was nice though. Unfortunately my "American breakfast" yesterday was stone cold and served with salad.
I ate sizzling yak meat yesterday for lunch with rice. It wasn't bad. Stirfried with chillies and sesame seeds. But very salty. The rude shock came when I went to buy a map at the bookshop with a Y50 note that they gave me in change and they wouldn't accept it. I assumed this was because it was torn and took it to the bank where the teller explained to me that it was a fake. I was pretty annoyed (Y50 may be worth less than $10 AU but it can buy a lot over here). I marched back to the restaurant - I knew that was where I got it and told them that they'd given me a fake 50. I thought that they would at least be more careful in future, but they actually reimbursed me even though I couldn't actually show it to them (the bank didn't give it back to me). I walked away feeling pleased that just for once China hadn't screwed me over financially. Not that it's expensive here but you often walk around feeling like you're not getting local prices or buying items that are poor quality.
There is a nice little bookshop in Lijiang that has a bookshelf full of reasonably priced modern English novels. Because the selection is small I can't stick to the same authors I normally read so I have read some interesting books I picked up there that I probably wouldn't buy back home. The latest of these is "Life of Pi" which has been fantastic so far- I haven't quite finished it. If you come across it, it is well worth a read. A bizarre and interesting and hilarious book. Well I have to go meet rowdy backpackers and an archaeology PhD student at a noisy cafe in the French quarter. bye for now.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
Hitch hiking
Yep, I'm a hitch hiker nowadays. It's actually the only way to get anywhere around here. After lunch today I had to go into Yongning to buy a phonecard. When you live in Zhudi there isn't exactly a taxi rank or bus stop. I walked to the main road and started walking. A taxi came along and I flagged it down and jumped in with everyone else. The other day when I had my backpack on I hailed a vegie truck just to get up a mountain. I know it's not really hitch hiking if you catch a taxi, but I think most of the taxis are private vehicles anyway with a sign stuck in the window. They're kind of taxis and kind of buses in that there's a set fare per person to go to a certain place and they wait until they get a few people and pick up more on the way. But they have no set times when they go and if you're the only person who wants to go to their destination they make you pick up the full expense, especially if they don't think they can pick up anyone for the return trip.
Yesterday I was walking to Lige and a passing four wheel drive stopped for me and I realised it was two guys I had met at a bar in Lige, the day before I was walking along and a taxi containing one of the families I stayed with picked me up. At least this means I usually only have to walk one way. It is a forty minute walk to Lige so the return walk takes quite a long time. You need to allow two hours. Especially as yesterday coming home I had to wait because a fork lift was busy scooping up the rocks left by the landslide into the backs of some trucks. I waited with a Chinese guy carrying a basket on his back. We caught the eye of the forklift driver and when a truck drove off we had a window of opportunity to dash over the rubble beside the forklift.
The weather is improving dramatically. I don't have to wear my thermals everyday anymore. Particularly in the late morning and afternoon it is mild and sunny with a light breeze most days. Washing gets dry, I don't have to wear my heavy jacket everywhere- I feel almost normal. It certainly makes climbing the mountain to go to the toilet more bearable. The family still tells me to eat all the time. I have taken a stand against everyone putting their chopsticks in my bowl in order to give me more to eat. But otherwise, I smile, or try to distract them by asking them questions and stuff. When I've really had enough to eat I quickly put my bowl and cup up on the bench so no one can feed me anymore.
Well, I'm going to Lijiang tomorrow. I have some stuff I need to work on quietly plus I want to go to the bank before spring festival kicks in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to having a pizza. I like the food here, but I get occasional cravings for cheese and coffee. And chocolate. The chocolate you can buy in yongning is crap. A shower probably wouldn't hurt either.
Yesterday I was walking to Lige and a passing four wheel drive stopped for me and I realised it was two guys I had met at a bar in Lige, the day before I was walking along and a taxi containing one of the families I stayed with picked me up. At least this means I usually only have to walk one way. It is a forty minute walk to Lige so the return walk takes quite a long time. You need to allow two hours. Especially as yesterday coming home I had to wait because a fork lift was busy scooping up the rocks left by the landslide into the backs of some trucks. I waited with a Chinese guy carrying a basket on his back. We caught the eye of the forklift driver and when a truck drove off we had a window of opportunity to dash over the rubble beside the forklift.
The weather is improving dramatically. I don't have to wear my thermals everyday anymore. Particularly in the late morning and afternoon it is mild and sunny with a light breeze most days. Washing gets dry, I don't have to wear my heavy jacket everywhere- I feel almost normal. It certainly makes climbing the mountain to go to the toilet more bearable. The family still tells me to eat all the time. I have taken a stand against everyone putting their chopsticks in my bowl in order to give me more to eat. But otherwise, I smile, or try to distract them by asking them questions and stuff. When I've really had enough to eat I quickly put my bowl and cup up on the bench so no one can feed me anymore.
Well, I'm going to Lijiang tomorrow. I have some stuff I need to work on quietly plus I want to go to the bank before spring festival kicks in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to having a pizza. I like the food here, but I get occasional cravings for cheese and coffee. And chocolate. The chocolate you can buy in yongning is crap. A shower probably wouldn't hurt either.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
village life
Yep, I'm really living out in the sticks now. Though at least I can walk across to Lige when I want to jump on the net or have a coffee (though the coffee here is too expensive). I think there was a very small earthquake here last night. I'm not completely sure because I've never experienced one, but for about a minute in the early hours this morning I woke up and the bed felt like it was vibrating. But so softly that I think I might not have noticed it if I had been up and walking around. Nothing was rattling or anything but I could here some dogs barking. When I woke I thought I might have dreamt it, but then I walked down to Lige and there had been a landslide overnight basically blocking the bottom section of road with dirt and broken rocks. There were still some pebbles rolling down. All the tourist buses that leave Lige every morning would have been stuck there except they kind of flattened out the rubble so they could drive up over it to get to the road. But they didn't seem to be letting any more cars in. They were making them park on the road. It could also have been partly caused by a lot of roadworks around this area at the moment. But the landslide wasn't directly where the trucks had been driving around and digging up the road.
Anyway, I might wait a few more days before I go back to Lijiang. In any case, I still have plenty of cash and the friend I was going to meet in Lijiang on the 28th won't be there after all, not till after spring festival (Chinese new year). I walked down to Lige this morning because the family was going to be doing a heap of cleaning and the girl wouldn't have time to work with me. It's a fine sunny morning so it was a nice walk down here and I might have a shower while I am here and wash a few dirty clothes that I left here. We have been getting a lot of work done- which I think is more exhausting for me than for her. I realised this morning, of course, that she is comfortable and fluent in Mosuo and Chinese, while I am comfortable and fluent in neither. She speaks no English, so we do everything through the medium of Chinese. We spend some time working with the recorded texts (stories recorded by her mum) trying to translate them into Chinese. I mean, she can easily just tell me in Chinese what they mean, but writing down each word in Mosuo and working out what it means is time consuming and not exactly riveting. Then we spend time with her teaching me to say things in Mosuo.
The work side of things has been fine but there have also been some cultural things that have been difficult for me to cope with. Somehow I can take on board the lack of hygiene, privacy, different food, discomfort, all the external stuff. The thing I'm finding difficult to cope with at the moment is quite different- it relates to their ideas of hospitality. These involve doing absolutely everything for me and telling me what to do a lot. I'm used to living out of home, being pretty independent, looking after myself. If I want to take my own plate to the sink I have to be quick. When I go to fill a basin with water to wash my face or my feet, they insist on filling it for me. When we're eating meat with bones on it, we just drop the bones on the floor and I'd noticed them picking them up to give to the dog or whatever, so after I finished eating my meal I picked up the bones I had dropped and put them in my bowl. I was sternly told off by the older sister who insisted on doing it myself.
The hardest time is during every meal, though. From the moment the bowl of rice is placed in front of me, at least 2 or 3 family members will look up every minute or two and say "Chi ba" meaning "Eat!" quite sternly. It makes absolutely no difference if I have my mouth full of food and have more food poised on my chopsticks, they will still encourage me to eat and even ask "Don't you like the food?" Then to further emphasise the point that I'm obviously starving to death, they will pick up more meat with their chopsticks and press it into my bowl. Even the six year old joins in. Then, if the rice in my bowl is hovering below the halfway mark, someone will be instantly standing there with a ladle full of rice, waiting to refill it. Anyone who knows me will know that I have a pretty hearty appetite and I've never in my life been accused of not eating enough before. Now I've watched and I think I eat about the same as everyone else. About 2 bowls of rice plus meat and vegetables. Or for breakfast a bowl of rice and a couple of chunks of a thick local pancake. Having someone harass me to eat every 30 seconds during every meal and press food into my bowl (which I am perfectly capable of getting myself) is driving me nuts. On the first day I nodded politely and smiled. By the second day I was saying "I'm eating, I'm eating!" By the third day I was saying "I'm eating a lot! I'm eating everything! Why do you say I'm not eating? I'm really full!- Please stop watching me eat. Let me eat by myself- I don't need help".
Since living there I've completely forgotten what it feels like to get an appetite. The next meal rolls around and I feel like I've barely finished the last one. I've started trying to eat more slowly, so that they try to refill my bowl less often, and sitting further back from the table, so it's harder for them to physically put food in my bowl (some of which I genuinely don't want to eat- like large lumps of pork fat). This attention is not directed to anyone else- who are all allowed to eat as much or as little as they please without scrutiny. I know all this sounds stupid- but I feel like every meal I receive severe criticism- I really don't look forward to meals at the moment though the food is generally fine. The odd thing is I think they're doing it to be hospitable.
Hopefully, I can get them to stop treating me like an invalid or a three year old otherwise it's going to be very difficult to continue living there, despite the fact that I'm getting a lot of work done.
Anyway, I might wait a few more days before I go back to Lijiang. In any case, I still have plenty of cash and the friend I was going to meet in Lijiang on the 28th won't be there after all, not till after spring festival (Chinese new year). I walked down to Lige this morning because the family was going to be doing a heap of cleaning and the girl wouldn't have time to work with me. It's a fine sunny morning so it was a nice walk down here and I might have a shower while I am here and wash a few dirty clothes that I left here. We have been getting a lot of work done- which I think is more exhausting for me than for her. I realised this morning, of course, that she is comfortable and fluent in Mosuo and Chinese, while I am comfortable and fluent in neither. She speaks no English, so we do everything through the medium of Chinese. We spend some time working with the recorded texts (stories recorded by her mum) trying to translate them into Chinese. I mean, she can easily just tell me in Chinese what they mean, but writing down each word in Mosuo and working out what it means is time consuming and not exactly riveting. Then we spend time with her teaching me to say things in Mosuo.
The work side of things has been fine but there have also been some cultural things that have been difficult for me to cope with. Somehow I can take on board the lack of hygiene, privacy, different food, discomfort, all the external stuff. The thing I'm finding difficult to cope with at the moment is quite different- it relates to their ideas of hospitality. These involve doing absolutely everything for me and telling me what to do a lot. I'm used to living out of home, being pretty independent, looking after myself. If I want to take my own plate to the sink I have to be quick. When I go to fill a basin with water to wash my face or my feet, they insist on filling it for me. When we're eating meat with bones on it, we just drop the bones on the floor and I'd noticed them picking them up to give to the dog or whatever, so after I finished eating my meal I picked up the bones I had dropped and put them in my bowl. I was sternly told off by the older sister who insisted on doing it myself.
The hardest time is during every meal, though. From the moment the bowl of rice is placed in front of me, at least 2 or 3 family members will look up every minute or two and say "Chi ba" meaning "Eat!" quite sternly. It makes absolutely no difference if I have my mouth full of food and have more food poised on my chopsticks, they will still encourage me to eat and even ask "Don't you like the food?" Then to further emphasise the point that I'm obviously starving to death, they will pick up more meat with their chopsticks and press it into my bowl. Even the six year old joins in. Then, if the rice in my bowl is hovering below the halfway mark, someone will be instantly standing there with a ladle full of rice, waiting to refill it. Anyone who knows me will know that I have a pretty hearty appetite and I've never in my life been accused of not eating enough before. Now I've watched and I think I eat about the same as everyone else. About 2 bowls of rice plus meat and vegetables. Or for breakfast a bowl of rice and a couple of chunks of a thick local pancake. Having someone harass me to eat every 30 seconds during every meal and press food into my bowl (which I am perfectly capable of getting myself) is driving me nuts. On the first day I nodded politely and smiled. By the second day I was saying "I'm eating, I'm eating!" By the third day I was saying "I'm eating a lot! I'm eating everything! Why do you say I'm not eating? I'm really full!- Please stop watching me eat. Let me eat by myself- I don't need help".
Since living there I've completely forgotten what it feels like to get an appetite. The next meal rolls around and I feel like I've barely finished the last one. I've started trying to eat more slowly, so that they try to refill my bowl less often, and sitting further back from the table, so it's harder for them to physically put food in my bowl (some of which I genuinely don't want to eat- like large lumps of pork fat). This attention is not directed to anyone else- who are all allowed to eat as much or as little as they please without scrutiny. I know all this sounds stupid- but I feel like every meal I receive severe criticism- I really don't look forward to meals at the moment though the food is generally fine. The odd thing is I think they're doing it to be hospitable.
Hopefully, I can get them to stop treating me like an invalid or a three year old otherwise it's going to be very difficult to continue living there, despite the fact that I'm getting a lot of work done.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Greetings from Zhudi and chicken amnesty
Well, I moved to Zhudi, the next village over, and despite increased primitiveness of facilities I think it was an excellent move. This family are born language teachers. They didn't wait for me to sit down with them with a tape recorder and notepad, but from the time I arrived yesterday afternoon they have been speaking to me in Mosuo language. They ask me a question, someone repeats the question in Chinese, then they repeat the question slowly in Mosuo until I say it correctly and then they offer me alternate answers in Mosuo. Even if the question is "would you like more tea?" they go to this effort. I'm not saying I remember how to say all these things yet, but the sounds are becoming more familiar as are some of the commoner words and sentence strucures. There are two adult daughters in the family, one is just a year younger then me and I have worked with her the most. She only attended primary school and has a one and a half year old baby girl, but she has worked in a bar in Lijiang for a while and speaks beautiful standard Chinese and fluent Mosuo. She also has incredible patience with me and speaks very clearly, initiating a lot of my language teaching, which has encouraged the rest of the family to do the same. Teaching me Mosuo became a bit of a game for the kids (there were several visiting children last night) and they came up with all kinds of questions for me in Mosuo and giggled at my replies a great deal. Except for when they were over in a corner pulling out one of the girl's teeth. I don't think they have a tooth fairy here, but they seemed to have fun with that just the same. Then they sang for me and then (ye Gods) demanded that I sing for them. If you have ever heard me sing you will understand my reluctance. Finally I favoured the room with a rendition of "kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" which I had decided would be suitable as it is short and has no high notes. I even got a round of applause. Next the kids will teach me to dance.
I shared a room with the girl and her baby last night and this morning we got stuck into translating the story her mother told- I left her the choice to talk about basically whatever she wanted (Mosuo story or own experience) and was a little surprised that the story was about class struggle with the cruel landlords followed by liberation by the communist party when she was 12 years old. Though there is a lovely print of Chairman Mao on the wall.
Around mid morning I wandered up to my bedroom to get something and was most surprised to discover a chicken nesting on the end of my bed. oops, must have left the bedroom door a little open. I shooed it from the room only to discover it had left me a present, a freshly laid egg on my doona. I can only assume, as a peace offering. Now I am down in Lige for some internet time and I will go back in an hour or so.
This morning the courtyard was a winter wonderland, large snowflakes were falling when I got up and there was about an inch of snow everywhere. Just when I move to a house with no toilet!! Typical- And no jokes about yellow snow- it was definitely cold outside though. By lunchtime most of it had melted and the sun was out- much better. I like sitting out in the courtyard in the sun, and though I think snow is pretty when it is falling, I don't really like tramping about in it.
I shared a room with the girl and her baby last night and this morning we got stuck into translating the story her mother told- I left her the choice to talk about basically whatever she wanted (Mosuo story or own experience) and was a little surprised that the story was about class struggle with the cruel landlords followed by liberation by the communist party when she was 12 years old. Though there is a lovely print of Chairman Mao on the wall.
Around mid morning I wandered up to my bedroom to get something and was most surprised to discover a chicken nesting on the end of my bed. oops, must have left the bedroom door a little open. I shooed it from the room only to discover it had left me a present, a freshly laid egg on my doona. I can only assume, as a peace offering. Now I am down in Lige for some internet time and I will go back in an hour or so.
This morning the courtyard was a winter wonderland, large snowflakes were falling when I got up and there was about an inch of snow everywhere. Just when I move to a house with no toilet!! Typical- And no jokes about yellow snow- it was definitely cold outside though. By lunchtime most of it had melted and the sun was out- much better. I like sitting out in the courtyard in the sun, and though I think snow is pretty when it is falling, I don't really like tramping about in it.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
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.
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.
Life in Lige
I haven't posted in a while- we didn't have electricity in the village for two days this week, I guess a power line was down. I'm still living at the guesthouse. As I think I mentioned in the last blog (can't remember) I asked my friend here if they could suggest someone who could work with me regularly every day. They insisted they could help, but it hasn't been that successful. The person, though well-intentioned, does not find time every day and doesn't prioritise my work, so it is regularly interrupted or doesn't occur at all. Furthermore, he is quickly bored and don't have any interest himself, and there are clearly gaps in his knowledge of the language. He is often unclear and not very precise, which is not helpful when trying to learn a language. Now I just have to figure out how to seek someone else out or leave or whatever without offending him. The interpersonal aspect can be great but also very difficult. A girl I met in the last few days, suggested someone from a nearby village so I will be walking down there tomorrow.
I am currently feeling frustrated about the whole thing- hopefully I will be optimistic and motivated again by tomorrow. mmmm.
Not that much hilarious stuff happens down here. Life seems more orderly- or maybe I'm getting used to it. Oh! two days ago, my friends asked me to keep an eye on the guesthouse for a bit, they had to go out. I was working in the dining room of the restaurant anyway so I said "fine". Naturally, ten minutes later a buffalo wandered into the yard. I waited a minute, hoping it would go away, but instead it started munching on a tree in the courtyard and nearly kicking over the brick garden bed surrounding it. I had to act so I wandered over there and made a kind of "shoo" noise. To my great amazement, the buffalo mildly turned around and strolled obediently back out of the gate. Well, I guess if my fieldwork is a failure, I may have a future as a buffalo herder- can't say the same for my skill with chickens.
Yesterday I had organised to go into Yongning with my friend, ostensibly to pick up a few items at the shops. Then a whole heap of guests showed up and they wanted to go to Yongning too. We all ended up going straight through Yongning to the hot springs. This is not as attractive as it sounds- just a large, somewhat dirty indoor pool filled with warm water where locals go to bathe occasionally. I couldn't resist the thought of a bath though so in I went. There are separate sections for men and for women- the women wear underpants or nothing at all and sit there washing there hair and scrubbing each other's backs. Being the only foreigner though, meant that fifteen pairs of eyes were riveted on me as I undressed and got into the bath. I'm used to being stared at, just not when I'm undressed. It was a little unnerving realising I had the biggest bottom in the room. But the girl who was with me had strange cartoon characters on her underpants so that must have drawn some attention away from me! I'm certainly not losing any weight here though. The food is so fantastic! And they encourage me to eat so much of it! And it's cold so I'm hungry all the time. Well, I can't afford to go up a dress size- My legs are too long to find jeans here that fit anyway, so I have to stick with the things I brought with me.
Did more washing in the lake this morning. Apparently I'm Lugu Lake's newest tourist attraction. All the tourists stop to watch me washing my clothes. Actually, so do the locals. I'm going back to the guesthouse, now. I think I'll go straight to bed though. When I left, the lounge was full of buddhist monks watching tv.
I am currently feeling frustrated about the whole thing- hopefully I will be optimistic and motivated again by tomorrow. mmmm.
Not that much hilarious stuff happens down here. Life seems more orderly- or maybe I'm getting used to it. Oh! two days ago, my friends asked me to keep an eye on the guesthouse for a bit, they had to go out. I was working in the dining room of the restaurant anyway so I said "fine". Naturally, ten minutes later a buffalo wandered into the yard. I waited a minute, hoping it would go away, but instead it started munching on a tree in the courtyard and nearly kicking over the brick garden bed surrounding it. I had to act so I wandered over there and made a kind of "shoo" noise. To my great amazement, the buffalo mildly turned around and strolled obediently back out of the gate. Well, I guess if my fieldwork is a failure, I may have a future as a buffalo herder- can't say the same for my skill with chickens.
Yesterday I had organised to go into Yongning with my friend, ostensibly to pick up a few items at the shops. Then a whole heap of guests showed up and they wanted to go to Yongning too. We all ended up going straight through Yongning to the hot springs. This is not as attractive as it sounds- just a large, somewhat dirty indoor pool filled with warm water where locals go to bathe occasionally. I couldn't resist the thought of a bath though so in I went. There are separate sections for men and for women- the women wear underpants or nothing at all and sit there washing there hair and scrubbing each other's backs. Being the only foreigner though, meant that fifteen pairs of eyes were riveted on me as I undressed and got into the bath. I'm used to being stared at, just not when I'm undressed. It was a little unnerving realising I had the biggest bottom in the room. But the girl who was with me had strange cartoon characters on her underpants so that must have drawn some attention away from me! I'm certainly not losing any weight here though. The food is so fantastic! And they encourage me to eat so much of it! And it's cold so I'm hungry all the time. Well, I can't afford to go up a dress size- My legs are too long to find jeans here that fit anyway, so I have to stick with the things I brought with me.
Did more washing in the lake this morning. Apparently I'm Lugu Lake's newest tourist attraction. All the tourists stop to watch me washing my clothes. Actually, so do the locals. I'm going back to the guesthouse, now. I think I'll go straight to bed though. When I left, the lounge was full of buddhist monks watching tv.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Chilly Sunday
I was just about to post a funny blog about something or other and then I got an email saying an old workmate died on Wednesday. Don't really know what to write about now...
Ummm. Well I'm living at Lige Isle now for the time being and working with a Mosuo man learning Mosuo every afternoon for a couple of hours. So, some progress there. He is the father from the family where I lived first in Yongning and they have recently set up the motel and chat bar here. They got their first guests last night which was the cause for much excitement. The guests included a man from Norway, who spoke excellent English. At that point I reminded them that they didn't even have a menu yet, let alone one in English. He wrote out a list of items and then tried to explain to me what they had in them so that I could translate them into English. When we got to the Mosuo specials, four dishes in a row seemed to translate into English as "boiled pork". It turned out the pork came from different cuts from the pig's body, none of which appeared in my dictionary. So I had to write things like "boiled pork legs" "boiled pork- all different cuts" "boiled pork ribs" "boiled side of pork". I'm not really sure if these translations are accurate- they were conveyed by pointing at different parts of the body. Maybe "legs" should have been "trotters" and maybe "ribs" should have been "torso". Hmmm. Maybe they should all have said "stewed" instead of "boiled". Oh well, they should get the idea that there is pig meat and water involved.
I will help them put the menu on computer and print it out one of these days.
The day before yesterday I mostly did washing. With water from Lugu lake. I should just wash each set of clothes as soon as it's dirty, but that is hard when you're moving around as I was earlier this week. Then it suddenly builds up to four pairs of jeans plus heaps of thermals and skivvies and I have no more socks to wear and it all goes to hell and the washing takes a couple of hours- that is of actual washing, not just waiting for a machine to finish. That's once I work up the courage to dip my hands in the cold water.
I also go for random climbs up the side of mountains to keep warm. I have moved bedrooms so I am in an upstairs room now, which I think is nicer. Also it has a wood floor rather than concrete, which is warmer. Yesterday evening was nice, we sat around the fire and ate sunflower seeds and chatted for a few hours.
Ummm. Well I'm living at Lige Isle now for the time being and working with a Mosuo man learning Mosuo every afternoon for a couple of hours. So, some progress there. He is the father from the family where I lived first in Yongning and they have recently set up the motel and chat bar here. They got their first guests last night which was the cause for much excitement. The guests included a man from Norway, who spoke excellent English. At that point I reminded them that they didn't even have a menu yet, let alone one in English. He wrote out a list of items and then tried to explain to me what they had in them so that I could translate them into English. When we got to the Mosuo specials, four dishes in a row seemed to translate into English as "boiled pork". It turned out the pork came from different cuts from the pig's body, none of which appeared in my dictionary. So I had to write things like "boiled pork legs" "boiled pork- all different cuts" "boiled pork ribs" "boiled side of pork". I'm not really sure if these translations are accurate- they were conveyed by pointing at different parts of the body. Maybe "legs" should have been "trotters" and maybe "ribs" should have been "torso". Hmmm. Maybe they should all have said "stewed" instead of "boiled". Oh well, they should get the idea that there is pig meat and water involved.
I will help them put the menu on computer and print it out one of these days.
The day before yesterday I mostly did washing. With water from Lugu lake. I should just wash each set of clothes as soon as it's dirty, but that is hard when you're moving around as I was earlier this week. Then it suddenly builds up to four pairs of jeans plus heaps of thermals and skivvies and I have no more socks to wear and it all goes to hell and the washing takes a couple of hours- that is of actual washing, not just waiting for a machine to finish. That's once I work up the courage to dip my hands in the cold water.
I also go for random climbs up the side of mountains to keep warm. I have moved bedrooms so I am in an upstairs room now, which I think is nicer. Also it has a wood floor rather than concrete, which is warmer. Yesterday evening was nice, we sat around the fire and ate sunflower seeds and chatted for a few hours.
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