Less Than Two Weeks Till Yunnan

Today was my second day of class, and already I'm bogged down with work. We have 70-100 new characters (each having 3-4 words associated with them) to learn each night and a dictation quiz each morning promptly at 8am. There are four Chinese teachers for my level (Intermediate Chinese II - 252), who rotate from class to class each day. This is a wonderful setup, since it keeps things interesting, and allows us to have only 5 people per class. I really haven't done much in the past couple days besides gone to class, but I had a little free time so I figured I'd make a post. Tomorrow, we don't have class since it's Wednesday, so I'm probably going to sleep in a little and then go explore the city.

This evening, after dinner, I went back to Wangfujin by myself to pick up a book and do a little shopping. While walking around I was approached several times by young women saying in English "Hello, where are you from?"..."Can we walk with you?"..."Do you want to go to a tea party?", etc. I had read that in tourist areas people will often try to scam you one way or another by asking to practice their English with you, and then going with you to a restaurant, and "forgetting" their wallets. Sometimes, they even have deals with the owners of the restaurants, who plan to charge you exorbitant amounts of money for tea and jiaozi. So, I continually responded "wǒ shì dé guó rén. bù shuō yīng yǔ" (我是德国人. 不说英语. - "I'm German, don't speak English"), and then walked away. Of course, they then always break out into Chinese with their same shticks. In any case, I find it interesting what types of people are going about this game. They always appear to be well dressed, and have shopping bags and nice jewelry and cell phones, etc. It makes you wonder at least for a moment if they might really just be interested in practicing their English and so on. (But of course I know better).

There are definitely certain things that I've seen and heard here that I'm not comfortable posting on this blog or discussing on the phone, but which may make interesting stories when I get back. So, if you see me when I get back in the States feel free to remind me to tell you. Anyway, since it is still officially Chun Jie, fireworks are still permitted to be set off, and the millions of people in Beijing are still apparently taking advantage of this day and night. This also means that many stores and restaurants are still closed or have limited hours, there aren't too many people around the city, and I'm still without a roommate.

Our Chinese roommates (who we've yet to meet) come back to school on February 22, which is the day that we leave for our two week trip to Yunnan (in the south of China). Yunnan is in south central China and borders Tibet, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. Therefore, the climate ranges from that of the cool mountainous regions in the North to that of the hot jungles in the South. For this trip, we had three itineraries to choose from, and I chose the Ethnic Studies trip through Tiger Leaping Gorge (primarily in the north). This trip departs on February 22 for Kunming (the provincial capital of Yunnan), spending one day in Kunming including a discussion about nearby Tibet (which I'll be visiting in June) and a tour of a local Monastery. Then, we will be driving to Napa (pronounced Nah-Pah) Village where we will be spending 4 days living with local village families by the mountains and helping them to build a new school. After our time in Napa, we will be traveling to Baixuetai (By-sueh-tie) at the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Tiger Leaping Gorge is found in Northwestern Yunnan where the Yangtze River passes between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙山 - Yùlóng Shān) and Haba Xueshan (哈巴山 - Hābā Shān), and is also consider by many (subjective to exact definitions) to be the deepest river canyon in the world. While there are some trails through the gorge, it is not considered to be largely navigable. We will be spending three days hiking through the gorge, sleeping twice at small hostel-like stops run by indigenous people. After exiting the gorge, we will then drive to Dali (Dah-Lee) just beyond Erhai Lake (so named because it's shaped like an ear) and the Jade Green Mountains (Cangshan). There, we will be spending time with locals learning some of their native practices including cheese making and tiedying. The next day, we'll be going on a 30 mile bike ride around part of Erhai Lake to Wase Market, also touring local fishing villages. After hiking Cangshan (the Jade Green Mountains) the next day, we'll be taking an overnight train back to Kunming, followed by a flight back to Beijing. This should be an amazing trip, and I'm really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I won't be bringing my computer with me, so I won't be posting from February 22nd till March 5th. BUT, I'll try to keep a journal while I'm traveling, and type it up when I get back in Beijing.

Well, that's pretty much it. I've also just posted some more photos from my orientation week so check my photo gallery (they're after the old pictures), and I'll start a new gallery once I take some more photos. Also, I've included below a video that was taken by a friend of mine from the 16th floor apartment of the family that she was visiting for the eve of Chun Jie (Chinese New Year) just in case you didn't believe me how amazing the fireworks were:

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