Bones, and a Photoshoot

Wednesday June 27, 2012

A few days ago while on my walk back from class, I met a Tibetan, Tenzin, on the road who speaks rather good English as well as the Lhasa dialect, which is the Tibetan I know. We talked for a few minutes and it was so nice to speak to another person in English. You don't come across English speakers so often here! He has been living in India for the past 10 years, but came back to visit and is now staying with his friend, the doctor in town. After lunch that day, I visited the doctor's Tibetan medicine shop which was quite interesting. Mostly just rows of glass jars with all sorts of medicine in them, probably made from all those plants I learned about and lots of patients. I've read about how Tibetan doctors often diagnose patients by checking their pulse, and now I see that's really how it's done.

In the afternoon after my last class, I joined the school in their activity time before dinner, which is a lot of the time playing outside on the grass field next to the school, and that抯 what we did today. 

 There were lots of soccer games going on and dancing and singing, although I decided to join in some strange game of throwing animal bones. I still don抰 understand exactly how it works, but each four sides the pieces can possibly land on each represent an animal: horse, sheep, ram (if I heard correctly) and something else that I don抰 remember. The closest game I know that it resembles is the pig toss game, where each way the toy pigs land is worth a certain amount of points, although the bone game involves trying to hit other bones and stealing them and other rules I didn't understand. All the sides of the bones looked the same to me upon first glance, but the other players were so fast in figuring out which animal side it was.

My friend Gonbotashi left yesterday to go to Shanghai for some teacher training I believe, and since I won't see him before I leave, he got me some nice Tibetan clothes. I'll have to have someone dress me since I'm not sure I can get the look right, but it's really beautiful.

Yesterday Tenzin's friends asked to take photos with me. I thought it was going to be like all the others, just a quick shot, but they all went home to get their fanciest clothes and we all dressed up and went to a beautiful field of yellow flowers. I didn't know it existed, but it's just behind all the buildings at the bottom of the hill. It was quite fun. One of their wives dressed me up in men's clothes so I didn't have to go get mine, but I'm pretty sure you can't tell the difference.

The Weekend

 Saturday June 23, 3012

It抯 finally the weekend here. There are classes in the morning on Saturdays, but in the afternoon everyone is free. It was pretty warm, aside from an afternoon thunderstorm, so Gonbotashi, his brother, wife, baby, and I went to the Yellow River for a picnic.

 

  We stopped in his hometown, about 5 miles from the monastery where there抯 a long wall made of stacked stones.

 Each stone has been carved with Buddhist text, and the oldest part is around 1000 years old. The newer round stones have been carved with a machine, but the older ones were all hand-carved and have the most text on them. 

 After walking around the wall, we sat by the river side and had some snacks, including spicy chicken feet. I tried one toe, but decided it was 1) too spicy and 2) too chicken-like so I stuck to eating bananas after that.

On our walk they pointed out to me all the plants used in Tibetan medicine, and pretty much everything I found interesting was included. On the way back, we saw Namnang抯 cousin and her friends coming down the mountain. She was holding a snakeskin, apparently also used for medicine and she seemed pretty excited about finding it.

School Dance

We're still moving along in our lessons at school. We are learning the 'be' verb this week, and I was asking for students to complete the sentence "We are..." One response I kept getting sounded to me like "We are monkeys" and it was only until I went back to "I am..." that I realized they were saying "We are monks" and "I am a monk"! In Tibetan, consonants are not usually placed together, so sometimes it is difficult for them to pronounce certain consonant clusters. 

The school days are long, starting at about 6 am and going until lunchtime. There's a break until 3, and then school continues until 9:30 pm. It's not all class time, and there's time for homework and exercise. Most of the students live at the school in dorms, as well as the teachers. They don't allow cell phones in class (thank goodness) and inspect the students' pockets before they enter the school. Between some of the classes, the entire school dances together outside, which I really enjoy watching. They make two large circles and dance to some Tibetan songs, and some students are more enthusiastic about it than others.

School Dance

I think the weather is getting a little warmer these days, if only slightly. I'm still wearing all my layers, but sometimes the afternoons feel to be almost 70 degrees, at least when the sun is shining. And then 5 minutes later the clouds come in and it rains and cools off again. 

I took my morning walk around the stupa after breakfast today and got swarmed by a group of older ladies who wanted to feel my hair and my skirt. If one person comes over to me, usually a trail of otherwise timid people follows. They've all been friendly though and I'm able to explain who I am well enough for them to understand.

Getting to Know You...

Tuesday June 19, 2012
I had my two other classes today. Well, three if you count Gonbotashi抯 grammar class that I attended as a student. I didn抰 understand a whole lot, but it was fun to take notes in Tibetan. Maybe someday they抣l be useful.
My other two classes I taught today are the lower levels, although within the three classes I teach, there is great variance in ability levels which makes it difficult to know what level at which to teach. Some students don抰 completely know the alphabet and others are making correct basic sentences. I抦 doing what I can to make sure everyone gets something out of it, especially since I抦 only here three weeks. I抦 still not used to the formality of the classes here all students standing when I enter and when class ends, all reciting loudly in unison something to the effect of 揼ood morning teacher? and students standing when they have something to say or when I walk over to their desk to talk to them.
It抯 kept me busy the past few days preparing lessons and going to each class, but the weather抯 been a bit warmer so I抳e been outside anytime I抦 able. Today was some sort of special day and there were lots of people circling the stupa early this morning and lots of people around town, mostly on motorcycles.

 I took my usual walks, which is several times a day, and met lots of people a long the way. There were three young kids, one girl 10 years old and her two siblings, who surprisingly spoke decent English. It抯 always a joy when someone comes up to me and speaks my own language. Plenty of people love to try to talk to me, even if it抯 just 揾i? There were two kids yesterday who kept running up to me as I was circling, and every time I saw them I would say 揾i? and eventually they caught on and said it every time after that.

Back to School

Monday June 18, 2012
Today抯 first day of classes went very smoothly. I only have one 30-minute class on Mondays, and it is the graduating class. Gonbotashi, Chimedorje and another Tibetan grammar teacher sat in on my class, which is about 20 students in all. The students do not know a lot of English and are all pretty shy except for two boys who sat directly in front of me. I抦 not sure about their ages梩hat will a lesson for another day梑ut they seem to be around 15 to 20 years old. The classes here are very formal. All the students stand when the teacher walks in and they stand whenever they are called on, which I am not used to.

It takes a little more creativity teaching here because of the limited materials. For this English class we have no book or worksheets, and there are no overheads or the like in the classroom. The other teachers did not tell me anything about what to expect, so I planned a range of lessons and activities to prepare for different abilities. I抣l have to rely mostly on speaking, writing on the chalkboard, and the students taking notes. I will teach three different levels, with about two classes each day. They seem like great students and interested in learning, so I think I will enjoy teaching them for these few weeks I抦 here.

Shopping in Tibetan

Sunday June 17, 2012
I went to the shops today in search of toilet paper. I couldn抰 remember the word for toilet, only paper, but I held up a tissue and they got the idea. After that, I saw Namnang抯 14-year-old cousin at the top of the hill, so I ran up to her and showed her my purchase.  She took me around to some other shops just to see, which was really helpful. It抯 difficult to figure out the stores here. They do not have storefront windows, and many do not even have signs outside. The insides are dark and usually packed so it抯 pretty hard to find what you抮e looking for. 

Note that I can抰 exactly communicate except for a few words, so I was very grateful that she explained to all the people in the shops that I only know Lhasa dialect. People seem to think that is really funny for some reason. A lot of people assume I know Chinese, which I don抰, so they抮e surprised when I can at least say a few understandable words in Tibetan.

My two other friends, Gonbotashi and Chimedorje, returned to town yesterday and we went out to eat for dinner. It was really nice to see them again. We three will start teaching tomorrow. I haven抰 received much information about what I抦 to do, although I have some of my own things planned just in case. It should be interesting?

Caterpillars and Yak Dung

(I don't know what happened with the Chinese symbols and I am too tired to figure it out!)

Saturday June 16, 2012
Things are very relaxed here. I抳e spent most of my time sitting outside with others, reading, or playing Chinese checkers which I抦 no good at. I did win once but that was because everyone helped me find good moves. There抯 also a cat, Shimi Little, that visits every day. We like to play with it and feed it meat since it抯 not afraid of us.  

The weather hasn抰 been too bad. It rains almost every day, but never for very long. It抯 hard to see very far past the mountains and the storms come up fast and pass quickly. The sun can be really hot when it抯 shining, but as soon as the clouds cover it, it抯 quite chilly. I dress in many layers桰 feel like I抦 wearing the entire contents of my suitcase most of the time. Everyone else here is wrapped from head to toe and wearing giant Tibetan overcoats even though I feel like it must be really warm to wear one even in the cool weather. 

The only place that抯 heated is the kitchen (via the yak dung-burning stove), so people stay there most of the time if the weather isn抰 good. In my bed there is an electric heating pad and three comforters, so I haven抰 had a cold night yet. Two nights ago the electricity went out (probably because of the thunderstorm) and I all I could think was 揘o heating pad?!  I抳e gotten really used to climbing into an already-warm bed. Luckily, the electricity came back on before it was time to sleep.

The other people around town are busy this month searching the mountainsides for caterpillar fungus. These are caterpillars that die off in the winter and somehow end up vertically underground, and from which they sprout a fungus about two inches out of the ground, the part you have to look for. They are the strangest things! They look like a little dried up caterpillar carcass with a stick coming out of its head. From what I can tell, they抮e pretty hard to find. Namnang抯 cousin spent two days and found thirty. These are very valuable and they are sold to businesspeople at the end of the day near the end of the shops in town and are then taken to the cities and sold for more. They抮e used to make Chinese medicine, but no one seems to know what kind. 

 Caterpillars:

 At the house people are curious about whether I like the food or not. Ani told Namnang that I抦 easy to cook for because I eat anything. The only problem is stopping everyone from giving me too much. They always refill for each other, which has taken some getting used to. I am enjoying the food though. We eat a lot of rice and noodles with vegetables, and lots of sheep and yak meat. It抯 all served hot梖ood, tea, and water. In fact, I was surprised today when we ate sugared cucumbers, fresh. It抯 the first time I抳e had a raw vegetable since I抳e been here. We have watermelon every day after lunch but other than that, we haven抰 had any sweets. There are three kids that sit outside our window every day eating ice cream, so I think I抣l have to figure out where they get it!

Tuesday June 12, 2012

School hasn’t started here yet—it starts next week—and so Namnang and I spent the day relaxing, as he says he does most of the time. We went down the road a few miles to the Yellow River and then walked to the smaller river near the town and sat by a stream looking at tadpoles and frogs. The grass here is short and it looks so perfect, like a golf course. 

Later, he had to go draw a picture for school, so I went on a walk around the small town. It is very small with one row of shops at the bottom of a little hill, and then Namnang’s family’s houses near the monastery.

At his house, there is his aunt who is a nun and who we call Ani. She does most of the work, especially cooking. That night after dinner, she and I went to circle the stupa as you can see people doing during most of the day. We first stopped by the giant prayer wheel, which is a huge wooden one about 10 ft diameter that you have to push around by hand. We were going around and around, and I don’t do spinning things so well so I was getting pretty dizzy, but since I didn’t know how to say “I’ll catch you on the next round”, we just kept going. When she finally stopped, we walked up to the stupa and around it… and around and around again. I think she planned to do about 20 rounds, but I stopped off at about 15 because my ears were getting cold since the sun was setting. 

kitchen/dining/living room

laundry day

cute pony

Today it rained a little, one good thunderstorm for about 15 minutes and it was sunny again. I spent a lot of time outside reading, and inside reading when it was too wet.

Bus Ride to Dawu: Don't Hit the Yak!

Monday June 11, 2012: Bus Ride to Dawu

We took the bus from Xining to Dawu, the main town of the county and where I had to stop off to get a permit to stay in Golok. The bus ride was mostly uncomfortable, but the views along the way were worth it. For some reason smoking is allowed everywhere here, and people don’t pay attention to “No Smoking” signs, so not only was there oxygen deprivation to deal with on the way here, but also breathing in cigarette smoke on the bus.

We passed through many mountainous areas, going up over passes and then through river valleys. At the top of each mountain there are streamers strung all over. Even though there are few towns along the way, you can see people everywhere, dotting the sides of hills along with their animals or walking alongside the road. Motorbikes are really common and there is surprisingly a lot of traffic. The mountains are so green and treeless, and there are rocky areas as well. The angles create a really beautiful setting when the sun shines on them.

 The first half of the trip was not so bad despite the bumpy roads, but the second driver was driving faster than the first and I got really tired of all the turns. Animals were everywhere and all I was thinking along the way was, “Don’t hit the sheep! (or yak, or cow, or horse, or dog)”  

                        

I really don’t think there was ever a stretch of road longer than a mile without a turn in it, so after 8 hours of that plus the smoke, we were both ready to get off.

After stepping off the bus, I could barely stand. Half of it was the altitude, but half was simply from being on the bus for so long. After a few minutes I felt better, a little out of breath, but nothing too bad. We were trying to get to the police station before it closed to get the permit, but ended up going to the wrong place with the taxi. We ended up walking about half a mile, with me lagging behind. When we finally got to the police station, Namnang’s policeman friend helped us get in to apply for the permit. Unfortunately, they gave me only 15 days for some reason, so we will try again once that time is up.

 We tried to find a driver to take us to the next town, but it was raining a bit and there were none. The policeman friend offered to drive us there, about an hour away, so we were very grateful for that. He just asked for some American food, which I was happy to give.

Even though my Tibetan is very limited, it’s nice to finally be able to understand signs and people speaking again. In Xining, most was Chinese, and here it is mostly Tibetan and I can usually pick up a few words I know from hearing people and from reading things.

some food and dancing

Today was my last day in Xining and another long one, so I'll leave you with some photos:

the only milk I could find, and quite good

dinner time

not sure what these are, but they are good

Saturday June 9, 2012

Today Namnang, his friend and I visited Kumbum Monastery (or Ta’er in Chinese), which is just outside of Xining. It’s a really big tourist spot, and I even saw some Americans. There was a huge weekend crowd, and I felt like I became part of the tourist attraction because during the time we were there about ten people asked to take a photo with me.

There are many buildings there and they date from the 1500s. I took pictures where I could since they weren’t allowed in some areas, especially the most beautiful interiors. They were doing lots of work around the area, paving and painting and rebuilding some parts. I loved all the colors used for painting and the fabrics. Everything is decorated. Inside each building there are lots of butter lamps and incense burning and it smells really wonderful.

 

 

 In the afternoon, we went to the Tibetan Medicine Museum of China and the Qinghai Natural History Museum. The museums are really impressive and must have been very expensive, so I was amazed how few people there were on a Saturday.

 After that, I met with Yixi Dolma downtown and met her brothers and a few friends for a drink down by the river. We walked Central Square and went to the shops, and got a sweet potato and corn cob which are really popular snacks here. I've eaten so many potatoes here! Later in the evening, we met some of her friends. There was a singing competition on the outdoor stage along with fireworks which was really enjoyable, despite the enormous number of people. We couldn't actually see the people on stage, but they were on a big screen as well.  

Xining: Friday

Friday June 9, 2012

Today I woke up early as usual and took a walk to find some breakfast. I finally found a grocery store and spent a long time trying to figure out everything in it. All the employees would come up and smile and say something, and I’m just assuming it was something along the lines of “Can I help you find anything?” I did find some oatmeal from Australia, and some sliced bread which I found is too sweet, but it will do with the peanut butter I brought with me.

For lunch, I went with Namnang to meet his uncle. We ate Tibetan food, and a lot of it. They kept bringing out dish after dish until I think there were nearly 10 different plates on the table. It was all really good though—lots of dumplings, mutton and yak meat, and a lot of vegetable soups.

In the afternoon, I met a girl, Yixi Dolma, that I had only talked to online before.  

She and I practice English and Tibetan together, so we knew each other pretty well and it was exciting to finally meet in person. She took me to Nanshan Park where we walked around and saw great views from the top of a hill.

Islamic building

In the park, there was a building where a monk was painting in the doorway.

He asked if I had an American dollar bill. I’m not sure why he wanted it since he offered to exchange it for RMB which I told him was unnecessary, so I gave him one and then he offered us some tea. We went to the cooking building next door and had some Tibetan tea which was good and tasted mostly like the sour butter they have. And then he scooped some food from a giant pot—some sort of meat, potatoes and noodles, so I ate that. And then tsampa, and then watermelon, and then he filled my Nalgene with tea and we were on our way.

The sky was dark in one direction and we knew it would rain soon, so we ran down the hill and got a taxi just as the thunder started. We stopped so Yixi Dolma could eat since she didn’t eat any of the food from the monk, but I was still incredibly full after that and the huge lunch earlier. Afterwards, we visited some shops which are not at all like stores in the US. There are tiny rooms that line the edges of a building which spirals up a few floors, so you just keep walking in circles past all these different clothing shops. All the clothes are different and hanging all over the place and there is not a wide selection of sizes it seems, so there's not really an option to get a different size if you find something you like.

For the evening, we planned to watch (or dance) some Tibetan dances, so we went to a nearby university and sat on the basketball courts watching students play waiting for the dancing. Right as it was supposed to start, it began raining again so they canceled it. I was exhausted by this time anyway, so we took a bus back into town.

I left the hotel and moved into a hostel yesterday because it’s a lot more comfortable being around other travelers, especially some who speak English. What’s not more comfortable is the bed. I thought the hotel bed was hard, but this one is a piece of plywood with something similar to a layer of quilt batting over it! Still, not bad for $6 a night…

Xining: Day One

 

I’m finally here! In Xining! I got here late last night because of a delayed flight from Beijing, and I was surprised to find that the friend of a KU friend that volunteered to pick me up was still waiting for me at 2 am, two hours after I was originally supposed to be there. In fact, he and his girlfriend and his brother who is a taxi driver were all there waiting for me holding a sign with my name at the airport. What a relief.

My first flight was absolutely wonderful, which was a good thing because it was the longest from Seattle to Beijing, just over 10 hours. They upgraded me to business class in Seattle along with Michael from San Antonio, a guy a few years younger than me who was also on his first trip to China. We were the only two non-Chinese in business class, but he was much less enthused than I was about the extra treatment and about going to China in general. He didn’t like the food and kept stabbing it with a single chopstick like a three-year-old and complained every time they made an announcement in Chinese he didn’t understand. That was every time because he speaks no Chinese like me. I hope he ends up enjoying the rest of his trip.

For me, the food was the best part on this flight. We got a full menu to order from, and even though I’m not a big eater when I’m traveling, I couldn’t help myself this time because it tasted so fresh. I suppose I’m an adventurous eater and like to try everything at least once.

I spent most of my time taking photos out the window because we passed by so many different places. That is until the flight attendant asked me to close the shade because everyone else was sleeping. I was just excited to be in the sunshine up there since Seattle had been so dreary and cold, so I kept it open a little and flipped up the shade every once in a while to look out for a moment.

When we finally got to Xining, we decided the hostel I originally reserved wasn’t such a great place—too out of the way and their hot water and electricity were off for some reason. So, we spent a long time driving around downtown to find a hotel room. We finally did and the three were nice enough to come inspect the room with me, start up the electric kettle and show me which the hot and cold water was.

Even though I wasn’t tired, I was in bed by 4 am, and slept a solid three hours but am now awake again and hungry. Unlike the first flight, the second flight’s meal was far less appetizing, so I ate the cabbage and some rice, and then two granola bars and ginger tea that I had brought with me when I got to my hotel room. 

 Alaska

 south of Anchorage

 Sea of Okhostk

 

on to Xining!

Monday, June 4: Seattle

My last full day in Seattle was a busy one. My cousin Melinda and I spent all day walking it seemed and playing around outside, even though we were a bit chilled. Luckily, there wasn’t too much rain.

We started near the University of Washington campus at an old gas company that had been converted to a picnic area with a great view.

 The library on campus is the most beautiful I’ve seen, with the world’s largest book, and the top floor which looks like a scene from Harry Potter. What a nice place to study.

 Since Melinda and I both love plants, we stopped by the greenhouse and the medicinal herb garden. The greenhouse warmed us up and had so many plants I had never seen. In the herb garden, there were lots of plants I knew from mixing tea, but had never seen in a non-dried form.

Next we stopped to watch dogs play at a dog park and picked out our favorites.

We visited the locks and watched two boats water-lifted up. This was fun to see, even though Melinda explained it’s a little awkward if you’re the one on the boat and all the tourists (like us) are watching. 

 We also ended up at the Burke Museum, which I had learned about during school, so I was happy to visit.

Sunday, June 3: Chukanut

Today, my brother decided to take me hiking to a place nearby called Chukanut Mountains. It was 8 miles roundtrip and we went up to a place called Raptor Ridge, a rock ledge at the top of one of the hill-mountains. It was a really enjoyable hike since I’m always fascinated by how tall the trees are and how green everything is here in the northwest. 

 There was a 10-mile trail race that day with some amazing runners. There were women and men not only running uphill at a pretty good pace, but a lot of them were just chatting away while they raced to the top. I, on the other hand, seem to be too accustomed to Kansas flat and so I was tired sore the next day, but in a good way.