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