Today is one of those beautiful Kunming days. It's 75°F and beaming with sunlight. I made my usual way up YuanXi Lu and across Yunnan University's campus towards WenHua Xiang. Women are out toting their parasols above their heads to keep their skin as white as possible, and there's the most refreshing of breezes passing through the shade, carrying a strong scent of flowers (which somehow doesn't cause my allergies to explode). You could take me from anywhere on the globe and drop me in Kunming on a day like today, and I'd know where I was. Sometimes I wish I carried my camera with me all the time. But honestly, if I did, I'd never get where I was going.
I've passed the 5-month mark in my Fulbright grant, which means I have less than five months left till I return to the US. I met with one of my professors here this week to discuss my research, and devise a plan for the next few months. At the beginning of May, he's going to help me settle into a village in Luquan County, north of Kunming to continue with my linguistic documentation. At the same time, I've been continuing the sociolinguistic portion of my project, speaking with Yi people in and around Kunming. Over the next few months, I'll be visiting villages in every direction around the city, trying to get a better understanding of the changing linguistic environment.
I've been struggling with my apparently natural sleeping cycle, which would be more appropriate for Eastern Europe or Turkey than China (6 hours or so behind), but hopefully I've fixed it by getting so little sleep last night. Going to the gym has become my daily goal, and it's been giving me a bit of structure in my otherwise unstructured life.
I'm sitting at Salvador's Cafe, which is indeed more of a social scene than a quiet study spot, exemplified by the fact that I've run into 7 of my friends since I walked in. I'll try to get some work done anyway. At some I'm going to write another post this week about my recent trip through Southern China soon and post some more photos as well.
