Less than a month to go here. Again, my tutoring this afternoon has been canceled. I think I will use this opportunity to pay my electric and phone bills, so my services aren't cut off. What I need is an online bill-paying service. That's a joke. It's China.
One of my kids gave me some Christmas decorations today, which I put up in the office. She's in the good class, 2B. They always give me presents. And they're so nice, after the evil kids in 1A. [shudder] Fortunately, HM is in town this weekend to yell at them. It makes everything easier. Of course, Giles did try to burn my boyfriend by leaving him on the coal stove. His name is Peter, I think. He wears a blue and white horizontally striped shirt and green and white vertically striped pants. He's half-Chinese, half-American. He's kind of two dimensional.
Unfortunately, the Kitchen Gnome is still here. I'm going to have to ask HM about that. I came into the office during a break and she was here again. I don't think I will find any of my granola bars missing,but she totally creeps me out. I will accept nominations for creepy people or characters with whom I can associate the Kitchen Gnome.
Kaili. I went on Tuesday and stayed in the Petroleum Hotel. There wasn't any heat and I almost died. I had my travel alarm clock (thanks MRCE!), which was a double-edged sword: seeing the temperature let me feel adequately sorry for myself, but knowing it was 52 degrees in my room made it seem extra cold.
The next day, following the recommendation of the "concierge", I went to Jianhe, a town a few hours away. I was hoping to see some scenery and be accosted by old ladies trying to sell embroidery at small-town prices. There was a nice bridge, and they were making canoes down by the river (the big ones they use to get around in; approx. 5'x30')
In that hotel, there was a heated bed pad and in one of those funny moments, I thought, "Forget boyfriends! I have an electric blanket!" It was the most wonderful thing in the world. Unfortunately, it made getting out of bed a bit of a challenge the next morning.
That day I went to Shidong, which is where I had done some of my shopping on my last trip. I was accosted by the women who accosted me last time, but told them I wanted to eat lunch first (in order to give them a chance to get their friends together, in order to keep prices competitive. plus, I was hungry). It's this group of old ladies, the oldest being maybe 85 and the youngest 60 (not that 60 is old, but it's only "young" if you are an obsequious waiter) and they all wear Miao clothing and their hair in the Miao style and do embroidery. They're really nice. So I looked at their things and bought some things and left when the bus was leaving. On the bus, I sat next to a guy who had just graduated from Guizhou Whatever University and wanted to practice his English; normally annoying, but he was pretty cool. He asked me how much I had paid for one piece; I told him it was Y80 and he said that his friend had bought the same style and size for Y200. I'm not sure if he was placed on the bus by the Post-Purchase Self-Esteem Coalition, but I felt pretty confident in my bargaining abilities.
Then I headed back to Kaili and found out that the Petroleum Hotel has heated bed pads as well, but they tuck the cords under when they make the beds. Pardon me for coming from a country with central heating south of the Mississippi. What? You think that last sentence didn't make sense? Give yourself a pat on the back and have someone who knows me explain my sense of "humor" ("" added in the interest of fairness).
The next morning, when I was able to drag myself away from my heated bed pad, I went to the Miao Women's Embroidery Market. That's my name for it. There are men, too, but the embroidery is done by the women. It is mainly for festivals, often courtship ones, or for marriage and married life. The market is great, b/c it gives them a chance to make money, when they would ordinarily be financially dependent on their husbands. It's such an amazing market; you want to buy everything. I was the only foreigner there, which is good for bargaining. I bought a pair of bracelets; when I went to the first guy, he said Y150, but then I went to a woman nearby and she said Y70. He came by and asked her how much she had quoted me. I think she probably got a talking to about ripping off foreigners after I left. I got another cool peasant hat, but as soon as I bought it, another woman came up and asked how much I had paid for it. I told her and she said that was too much, plus it was poor quality and I should look at hers, which were much better. And she was right, but there are no returns and I didn't need another hat. Julian said my hat has "character".
Eventually, after inflicting a fair amount of damage, I left, went back to Kaili, got a bus to Guiyang, and another to Zunyi. I made it back just as I was supposed to start tutoring DD, so I didn't get dinner. We finished class at a noodle place and he picked up the check.* Perhaps I have managed to teach him something after all.
*only Y4/$.50
Tomorrow, heading off to Kaili to buy textiles. I will probably stop in some of the other little towns around there. It's a cute area.
It's godawful cold here, so I'm going to head out. Only a few more weeks of teaching!
No DD tonight. Julian hates me for another 1.5 hours.
Today I took my 2B class to the zoo. Yesterday they tried to bribe me into taking them. We got up to Y5 each student. I tried to get them to give me $5 US, but it didn't work. We made puppets for the first half of class and then split. They are a lovely class to have in the afternoon, since my morning is such hell.
Okay, can't think, b/c Julian is teaching in this room and he and the guy he's tutoring are discussing American history.
Today I went to but a new tailpiece for my violin, b/c I'm sure all you violinists out there regularly carve your own bridges and replace tailpieces. It was two dollars. Then I saw a bunch of bows sitting there, so I asked how much they were: Y25. That's about $3 US. For a bow. I told the music store guy that in the US, mine cost $400. He said that was too much. Of course, my new one is plexiglass and is really bad, but the one that came with the violin was really bad in more annoying ways, so it's a trade up.
Then on my way home, I came across 38 foreigners from Sarasota FL (including the vice mayor); part of a theater troupe, who are in town for a cultural exchange and are acting in a play tonight somewhere in the city. They said something about creativity. I said that that wasn't exactly encouraged in this country.
Weird.
As I said on my homepage, I spent the morning shopping with HM. I brought HM along for shpping advice and because things are cheaper when she's there. We went to the Red Dress Store, where they have lovely Chinese dresses and jackets. Since I already have a qi pao/cheongsam, I decided to get a jacket. I found a really beautiful black one with a black medallion in the middle. The clothes there are so well cut. There was a shirt there that Jenna had loved -- she had the tailor make two copies for her (in different colors) -- and I was showing it to HM and saying how lovely it was and she bought it for me! Now I have a lovely black jacket and a lovely red, sleeveless shirt. I'm going to go home and put on a fashion show for Rammie and Camel.
Also, if anyone has any requests for Miao textiles or jewelry, let me know soon. I might be going down there next week or so.
I think we're back on track for the time being. I deleted a couple of pictures, so I have more space in my Geocities account. It was Julian's theory that I was having problems saving, b/c my entire account was full, which I tried to save the other day, but since my accout was full, couldn't. I still think he's wrong.
As I successfully mentioned a couple of days ago, the Kitchen Gnome is leaving. She was eating my granola bars and today, when I was going to give my kids candy, it was all gone, except for one piece. I might have thought this was my doing, but it was chocolate covered almonds, and I'm not a big fan of them. I think she also took a pen of mine, plus, she is really creepy. In case I hadn't mentioned that in the last five minutes.
Today, in 2B, I taught my kids parts of the body. We learned head, ears, nose, eyes, mouth, hair, shoulders, arm, hand, fingers, leg, knee, foot/feet, and toes. Then, at the children's request: neck, face, cheeks, bone, heart, intestine, stomach. We didn't learn some of the other words they requested. They thought "allantios" was a dirty word. Did you know the plural of that is "allantoides", pronounced [a-lan-toe-ah-deez]? They also asked what "S-H-I-T" meant. I told them I didn't know. Ditto for "A-S-S-B-O-L-E(sic)".
Right, so other news. I plan to blow this Communist pop stand on January 20th or so, head down to Laos, then Cambodia, hang out there for a while, then do the whole Trans-Sib and Europe thing home. Assuming I still have money when it comes time to leave SE Asia. I had been looking at a job working for a non-profit in Laos, but they took someone else who was immediately available. Hey, if they want to settle...
This week, the regular office girl isn't here and we have someone in from Guiyang. She's great. Her English is good and she's incredibly competent.
Still having problems with the stupid homepage. News: the Kitchen Gnome is leaving.
New journal. Not sure about Journal 20 or homepage.