Jenna's package to Julian and me arrived today. I opened it, but it's filled with foam stuff, so I'm going to wait until I get to Julian's to rip it all out. She said that she sent him Kraft Mac and Cheese and Ketchup, and me vodka. It costs $80 a bottle in Zunyi.
School has been aggravating of late. I was supposed to tutor Duoduo for several hours a week, which would have been cool, b/c it would have been one-on-one and we could have looked at the internet or discussed whatever. Then the school added his cousin Jolin and a friend, Skywolf, to the class, so instead of being a break from teaching classes of kids, it is a book-based intensive class that requires more planning than any of my classes. It really sucks.
Also, the school has told us that it refuses to get us TAs and if we want assistants we will have to pay for them ourselves. So, we have classes of 20 seven-year-olds running wild and the school thinks... I don't know what they think. I wonder if they think at all. We will be writing them to let them know what we think of their new policies. "Dear School, you suck." Not providing assistants means we waste a huge amount of time disciplining students, when we could be teaching. I've had to modify my lesson plans b/c I realized that there was no way I could do them with that many unruly kids.
I just spoke to the folks in the office again about a girl who is in one of my classes. She was in my summer children's intensive class and now she is in an advanced children's class that is too hard for her. Part of the problem is that the school is bad at keeping track of English and Chinese names. Other children from my summer class are now in book 1B, but Clara was placed in 3B (the books range from A to 4B). Yesterday in class, when they were all doing an assignment, she just didn't do it. I didn't complain, b/c I knew that she couldn't. The school/parent's argument is that one child from the summer class is in the Teen 1 class, so Clara should be up to 3B. All schools here care about is making parents happy. I told the school that the parents were wasting their money. They seem to know and not care.
This place is so weird. Amy just came in and told me that if Julian and I wanted to eat at school on Monday, we could (they had sent us a memo saying that they were stopping meals at school on Monday and Tuesday), just no special meals (Julian has very bland tastes). I told her we would let her know if we would be eating here. Then as she was about to leave, she stopped and said that she wanted to tell me that I am very kind and have been nice to her and she is happy to have met me. She also apologized for a misunderstanding a while ago, where she told me I had to be at school at 10:30am, instead of 12pm -- she had just passed along information from the admin. She also said that [she appreciates that] I don't complain. I told her that if there is a problem and telling the school can help, I do. If not, I don't usually say anything. That was all.
Kaili- Trip synopsis. I spent a couple of days in Kaili, which is devoid of charm. They eat lots of dogs there. Jenna had given me directions to the Miao women's embroidery market, which is amazing. I had met a couple of women the day before and after the market I went to one woman's house to see her embroidery. Her mother travels around the villages and buys things, so they had many examples from the different Miao groups. I bought several things there, including the dragon coat. These are the old women in the picture with me. We all had lunch when the shopping was over. That would be the picture of the chicken's feet. It's like the mom went to the butcher and he said, "Well, we've got chicken wings, breasts, thighs and pork chops, loin, [other random cut of pork]..." Mom: "What about 'part'? Do you have any 'part'?" That's what Jenna and I call it when it obviously comes from an animal, but I'll be darned if I can tell what part of the animal it is. And perhaps it would be better if I didn't know.
The next day, I went to Xijiang, the World's Largest Miao Village- allegedly. It is a really beautiful town. Lots of wooden traditional houses and terraced fields all around. My hotel didn't have running water.
Then Shidong, which is known for embroidery. I bought several things here. As soon as I got off the bus and old woman ran up to me and offered to take me to her house to buy stuff. She helped me get checked into the hotel and then we went to her place. I bought a few things and then all her friends came over to sell me their things. I put pictures in my Yahoo photo album.
I got up early the next morning to go to Shibing. The Lonely Planet was rather pessimistic about transportation, but it wasn't all that hard. You turn right out of the hotel and walk down the road. Then ask someone how to get to the river. Walk through charming back streets, avoiding cows and their droppings. Go down to the beach. Get in the dugout boat/canoe and go across the river. Then follow everyone through that town (Mahao) and walk up the hill until you get to the bus. There ended up being a bus that went straight to Shibing and it only took a couple of hours.
Shibing has more of a karst landscape and a beautiful park around Yuntai Shan (mountain). I got in at about noon and after having a hellish time finding a hotel (I ended up staying in a decent place, which is unfortunate, because those cost money), I took a bus to the park. That part of Guizhou is developing fast, I guess, b/c the book talks about taking a bus and then hitching, but I went to the bus station and told them where I was going and they put me on a bus that dropped me off at the gate.
Yuntai Shan. It's like a beautiful hell. The park is mountains/hills that look like the ones in old Chinese paintings and it's all stairs. ALL stairs. I ended up hiking for about five hours that day and by the end, my legs were shaking (if I stopped and stood just right). There was this crazy cyborg old woman who kept following me and trying to sell me water and kiwis. She just never stopped. I'm 25 and she looked to be at least 65, but I was never able to lose her. I would hurry up stairs and then stop to take a breather and see her, still coming. Her pace never varied, and she didn't seem to get tired. She had offered to take me to the place in the photograph on the entrance ticket for 5 yuan, but that would normally be ridiculously expensive, so I declined (turns out the park is so hellish, it was probably worth it). In the end, she was probably a good thing, as I might not have made it as far if she hadn't been relentlessly pursuing me. She was scary.
By the time I left the park, the buses had stopped running, so one of the park guys called a taxi for me. He was pretty nice. We kind of had a conversation, though we eventually got frustrated and gave up. "Ting bu dong.... ting bu dong." [I don't understand... I don't understand.] He called again for the taxi, since it had been a while and he was talking to the guy on the phone "Ta shi waiguoren.... Meiguoren.... [something something] piao liang..." [She's a foreigner... American... (something something) pretty...] At which point I smiled amusedly. Him: "[Oh] Ni ting de dong ma?" [Oh, do you understand?] Me: [a little]- continue smiling amusedly.
I came back to the park the next morning, hoping to photograph the fog in the mountains. Then it really looks like a painting. Unfortunately, it was too warm. I might go back later in the year. But I was there, so I decided to check out another part of the park. I started by walking down stairs for 45 minutes straight. I would have found englightenment if I hadn't been cursing so much. At every turn, I thought, Great, here's another staircase I'm going to have to walk up at the end of two days of ridiculous hiking. I didn't make it as far as I wanted to. My legs were on the verge of giving out and I needed to check out of my hotel. I left the park and sat by the road, waiting for a bus, but it was taking a long time and I really wanted my security deposit back. Then the guy from the park with whom I had spoken the previous evening was getting on his motorbike, so I asked him if he was headed to town and if he was, could I hitch a ride? He said yes, and yes, so I got to go on my first motorcycle ride. I didn't even die.
Then I came home.
After dinner, we went to the tea house on the river. It's such a nice place. They have an outdoors patio and you can just sit there and look at the temple on the hill. The river doesn't smell in that part. Don't know how they worked that one. Jenna gave me a picture frame that has a black man with an afro, wearing a gas mask and camoflauge clothing (the frame is camo colored, too) and has the word "baby" in the upper right hand corner. It's such a weird country.
Then we went to check out a bar nearby, but they mostly had coffee, and we were about to leave, when two guys walked in and introduced themselves as Oisin Bourke and friend. He had a name. Oisin (the "s" sounds like "sh") is a regular poster on the Thorn Tree (Lonely Planet forum) and he is moving to Guizhou to teach English, so Jenna invited him to join us. We all ended up going to a different bar and hanging out until 1 a.m.
Jenna and I got back to our hotel room and the phone rang. I picked up and said, "Hello?" People who don't speak English shouldn't be calling. Not because I don't like them, but why would I give my phone number to someone with whom I cannot communicate? Anyway, female voice on the other end. She asked something basic, and I answered, she realized that I was a girl, and then she hung up. Like girls can't want a hooker! Maybe Jenna is tense and needs a "massage".
Things have gone well today. I spent the afternoon wandering around town, cursing Lonely Planet for it's crappy maps. Then I found some little old ladies selling farmers hats (the kind that go to a point at the top and then have straight, diagonal sides). They said they were 18 rmb, so I asked them to pian yi diar yi xiang and if 10 kwai would be okay. They said "yes", immediately, leading me to believe I should have tried for 5, but I just can't imagine paying less than a dollar for that hat. We chatted for a bit, but they have terrible accents and I don't speak Chinese. Now I'm off to check out the night market. Tomorrow, I'll be going to the Miao women's embroidery market and I have an appointment in the afternoon to visit a woman's house and look at her things. Then on Saturday, it's off to remote villages.
After dinner, we all (foreigners) went out for a drink down by the river. There are little cafes set up along the banks. HM's brother came with us. Since he stopped saying that foreigners are stupid when Jenna is in the room, she and he have been getting along much better. It turns out he used to do diving. I think he must have been good, b/c he was talking about 10m platform and I don't think they have one of those nearby. We were talking about how the old people are against the government, while the young ones are all brainwashed and how HC (the brother) was at Tiannanmen Square the day of the massacre. He had gone up there with six classmates after finishing college in Guiyang. He was the only one who made it back alive.