Kate Fritz's Blog

On the train, nearing Mongolia

2010-12-07T01:12:00.000-05:00

*From journal entry November 27th

When I woke up this morning the flavor of the scenery outside the train was distinctly different. It suddenly felt like we were in Asia. The style of the houses and the layout of the villages looks more like Tibet than the rural areas outside Moscow and Petersburg. After that brief look-out, I had to go back to sleep. I woke up feeling really lousy, and Truke said I looked pale and maybe like I had a fever. I slept almost the whole day, only waking up in the late afternoon when it was almost dark again. I did get up to greet a man who I think is the only other American on the train. He is an assistant district attorney in Madison, WI. I was relieved to hear that he also doesn't have a Mongolian tourist visa. Apparently, Americans don't need them for up to a 30 day visit.

There's an exciting update in my travel plans! A couple of days ago Truke mentioned that she had had to pay a double rate for her four day tour in Mongolia because they don't accommodate single travelers. She asked me if I wanted to join her for that leg of the trip, because she had already paid for it anyway! It's a good deal for her because she won't have to travel alone, and she enjoys my company. So yesterday, she SMSed the agency in Mongolia to make sure it was ok if I joined. They replied that I only have to pay for breakfast! Then there remains the issue of my train ticket, because I am booked on this train all the way to Beijing. I spent a very long time with a patient Chinese conductor trying to figure it out. After we sorted out the ticket, he stayed in our compartment to chat with me in Chinese for a little while. My Chinese is really rusty, but as soon as I hear words that I've forgotten, I pick them right up again. We talked about lots of things, where Truke is from and the nature of our relationship, why I decided to learn Chinese. Then I asked him about his family, etc. He invited me and Truke to eat with him and the other conductors in their cabin, where they are constantly cooking delicious smelling chinese dishes. It was a kind offer, but at that time they were eating some suspicious looking beef, so we declined.

At the train stop in Ulan-Ude I got out for some fresh air. I saw my same Chinese conductor friend having a frustrated conversation with some British backpackers. I asked if I could help sort out the problem, and the conductor immediately started explaining in Chinese. It was no big deal, and it got sorted out quickly,but I felt really great for being able to use my language skills to help with a practical problem. I've already been called on to help the conductors communicate with the rest of the English speakers on the train. Everyone seems a little in awe of my ability, including the Chinese guys. It feels great to be speaking Chinese again!

The bathrooms on the train have now accumulated enough filth to be nearly unusable. The toilet paper ran out a long time ago. The situation doesn't appear to be any better in first-class. The state of the bathrooms is a staple conversation of the english speakers on the train.

Finally, after dark today, we arrived in Naushki, the last stop on the Russian side before entering Mongolia. I have heard nothing nice about Russian border patrol, but the people who boarded our train to conduct the passport checks and cabin searches were relatively nice. During one search, one guy made me take out my fiddle and said there was a serious problem because I didn't have papers for it. I had been forewarned by a Gallatin Prof, Lauren Kaminsky, that the Russian government has very strict controls on musical instruments leaving the country. The officer got visibly frustrated when he asked me questions and I didn't understand the Russian. Finally he dialed his wife on his cell phone and she and I spoke english about where to instrument came from, how old it was, etc. Then I handed the phone back over. He shrugged and sighed and looked like he had no idea what to do. Finally he asked me to play it, I guess to verify that I was a genuine musician and not an antique smuggler. I played Alasdair's tune "Independence Trail". He seemed satisfied with my ability, and even happy about hearing the tunes. He even laughed and started tapping his foot.

Visit to deaf and blind orphanage, clowning on Arbot street

2010-12-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

*From journal entry November 25th

Right from the beginning of my time in Moscow I developed a problem with Clinco as my roommate. We got so excited talking to each other that no matter how late we got home or how tired we felt when we got into bed, we stayed up talking hours and hours into the night. On the second night we stayed awake until 7AM.

The next day we got onto the bus early. I usually feel awful after 2 hours of sleep, but I woke up that morning feeling alive, awake and alert. We drove to a town outside Moscow called Sergei Pasat, to a special orphanage for deaf and blind children. When we got there, Patch asked me and a couple of other clowns if we wanted to join him in the back rooms with the "special trips". These are the kids with life experiences the most unlike ours. When I got to the back room, I immediately fell in love with a small girl in a wheel chair. She was deaf, and her eyes were clouded and her head and legs were pretty badly malformed. I picked her up out of her chair and cradled her in my lap on the couch. Immediately we were having the sweetest, most intense love fest. She held onto me so tightly, hugging me and touching my face and the different textures of my clothes. She was giggling and cooing the whole time, and the two of us got completely lost. Children who live in institutions are so completely open to loving contact. It's as if they have been starving, and when you hold them and play with them you are finally satisfying their hunger. The job of clowns, in these situations, is to give undivided, unconditional, complete loving attention to the kids for as long as they can. This girl and I had absolutely no form of communication except through touching, and so I told her through the way I caressed her face, rocked her, and snuggled her that I loved her. And I could tell, the message was received loud and clear.

Other parts of this visit are still very clear in my mind. There was a blind girl who was a lot older than the other kids, and I took my fiddle out and let her touch it and strum it. She squealed and laughed and enjoyed it a lot.

The bus dropped us off at the metro station near our hotel so we could do some clowning on Arbot street, a famous pedestrian walk-way. I mostly observed the more experienced clowns during this gig. Ginevra, the ring leader of the Italian clowns, had a great skit where she got two strangers to each hold one end of a clothesline. Then she would start pinning up teeny-tiny clothes. The people on the street loved this act.

Then Patch and Clinco arranged for the group to have a contra dance in the street. Patch taught some basic partner steps based on "Strip the Willow", and then the clowns found Russian partners, formed two lines, and I let the music rip. We had a really fantastic impromptu dance party. From that point on, contra dancing became a feature of the trip. Patch, Clinco, or Ginevra organized the clowns at almost every opportunity when there was enough unstructured time and space--to dance the simple contra dance. I provided the music every time. I came to be the minstrel of the trip, which delighted me.

On the way back from Arbot street, the clowns took a wild metro ride back to the hotel. We got the entire car full of people clapping to my fiddle music and playing with balloons and bubbles. Russian people appear stern on the outside, but once they get the signal that it's ok to play, they can really go for it. The Moscow subway system has these huge, long escalators that descend deep underground. Apparently Stalin ordered that they be built this way so the subway system could double as a bomb shelter. These long escalator rides provided the perfect venue for clowning. The slanting angle of the escalator is naturally funny, as is the motion up or down without moving feet. The clowns filled the escalator shaft with balloons, balloon animals, ukelele music, fart sounds, buzzes, whirrs, and squeaks. Patch also loves to get the triple threat going on the subway. Russian people are shocked to see this insanity on the metro. Normally, even during rush hour when there are thousands of riders, the only sound you can hear on the Moscow subway is shuffling feet. It's amazing to watch people start to feel liberated when they see the clowns.

Arrival and First days in Russia

2010-12-06T02:29:00.002-05:00

*From Journal entry November 24th

From Cambridge I said good-bye to Jesse and took the bus to London Heathrow. An uneventful flight to Helsinki, where I spent the night on a bench at the Moscow gate waiting for the clowns. I got almost no sleep, although no one bothered me. I set an alarm in the morning so I could have plenty of time to change into my clown suit in advance of clown arrival. I was just heading to the bathroom to perform my tranformation when 20 clowns appeared at the gate! I was thrilled to see Clinco, and friend and fellow Camp Winnarainbow counselor, and Susanna and Sasha, who had been my campers at Camp Winnarainbow last summer. Susanna and Sasha are both 15 now. I was roundly criticized for not having traveled in my clown costume. I rushed to the bathroom to put on my clown nose, etc.

The clown program started immediately upon arrival in Moscow. In the evening, a welcome dinner with Russian friends, in the morning, introductions on the bus on the way to an old folk's home in a town outside Moscow calle Tuula. The Russians explained the bleak circumtances of the people in the home, and in elderly homes across Russia. Families decide they don't want to or can't care for their grandparents. so the old people are sent to state-run facilities that have no social programs, no intellectual stimulation or exercise opportunities, and barely enough food. We were all prepared for something desolate.

The Russians were right, the place was pretty bleak. Nothing on the walls, no music. I ducked into the first room on the left and started to clown for four men, Yuri, Yuri, Alexander and Sergei. At first everyone was a little nervous, but I got out my fiddle and one of the Yuris lit up. A Russian clown tranlated that he once played in a symphonic orchestra, but that he hadn't heard music in a very long time. As soon as I started playing he got onto his feet and started dancing around the room. It was an incredible thing to see. Then I had a talk with the other Yuri via the Russian tranlator-clown (thank goodness for her!). He was from Kazakstan and had worked in the mines in Siberia for many years extracting different metals. He kept saying that he was supposed to be in Kazakstan with his family. He and I made a deep connection. When I left, he started scrambling through his things, and gave me a sugar cube as a good-bye present. It was literally the only thing he had to give me. I was so touched that he gave me some of his preciou sugar that I felt like crying. This Yuri also loved my music and said he hadn't heard music in a long time.

Alexander remained a mystery. Sergei did too, for the most part, although he fiddled with a broken balloon pump in his corner for the entire hour and a half of our visit. He managed to blow up one balloon, finally, near the end of our time there.

Leaving the nursing home in Tuula was hard because the clowns are the only visitors the residents get, ever. The clowns came for the first time last year, but before that I don't have any idea how long it was since they had other visitors. If I ever get back to Tuula, I will go straight back to visit Yuri, Yuri, Alexander, and Sergei.

The characters on the trip began to emerge right away. Patch, of course, was the star weirdo. These days he is specializing in what he calls the 'triple threat'--cheek spreaders with these awful false rotting teeth and a dangle of fake stringy snot that hangs out of his nostril down to his chin. The effect is absolutely disgusting, but it coaxes brilliant reactions from unsuspecting Russian strangers. People cannot contain their giggling revulsion when a giant 6'4" man in huge clown pants, florid shirt and tie, and aforementioned facial accoutrements wanders into the hotel lobby, or the metro platform. It is truly weird.

Other stars incuded the lovely semi-professional Dutch clowns Marleen and Cees ("pronounced like suit case, but without the suit!"). Along with Clinco and a few others, these guys were my closest friends on the trip. They are incredibly creative, natural comedians. Cees wore a huge tweed coat lined with "alligator fur", and both of them carried a small arsenal of disgusting rubber chickens. They are master of impromptu phyical comedy, hitting each other with the chickens, getting limbs stuck in unfortunate public places, and climbing into inappropriate containers. All in all, and incredible duo. The Japanese clowns were also wonderfully strange. Pinyon in particular had some very bizarre costumes, including a full body black spandex suit with head covering. He told me his clown name is inspired by a movie about a man who breaks free from his boring job in a condom factory, or something like that. It was always hard to know if I was getting the stright facts through his creative english.

Babushka Rosi is another one of my favorite clowns and a creative genius. At 77, she channels her age to make the sweetest, dottiest senile clown character. She has an endless number of hand-made props, my favorite of which were her foam "Stradivarius", Italian nonna puppet, and mini alp horn. She looks and dresses like a grown-up Heidi; traditional swiss skirt, embroidered apron, and bonnet. When she's not in Russia on the clown tour, it is easy to imagine her frolicking around the alps milking cows. She also has a dirty grandma streak. I immediately fell head over heels in love with her. I heard that in her village in Switzerland, 3 men are chasing after her. She apparently wants nothing to do with any of them!

First Full day on the Trans-Mongolian

2010-12-06T02:09:00.000-05:00

*This entry is from my jounral dated November 24, 2010

My firt full day on the Trans-Mongolian. It is only 4PM now but already dusk. I had some moments of real anxiety in Moscow about the trip. Clinco's friend Boris gave me a hard time about taking the train by myself. Hearing the alarm from a real Russian really put me on edge. And yesterday, before I got on the train I felt a little anxious too. I definitely had butterflies on the metro en route to the station. But Clinco and Maria's 21 year old daughter Alina brought me to the station and helped me carry my food for 6 days, water, fiddle, and back packs. It was so easy to get on the train with the help of a Russian! Although, the conductor standing outside my train car was Chinese, so I actually handled the majority of the logistical conversation. I convinved him to let the girls come on to help me get situated. In my cabin Truke was already sitting down with all her things put away. I felt immediately at ease with her--soft spoken, approximately my mother's age, solo-travelling, Dutch. Our train compartment is very modest by most traveling standards, but I think it's comfortable. There are 4 beds, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. I have a bottom bunk the whole way to Beijing. Truke has the other bottom bunk until we get to Ulaan Baatar, capital of Mongolia, where she will get off and spend four days. It appears that we won't have anyone else in our cabin for this leg of the trip. Lucky us! I am already starting to feel sad that Truke will leave partway through the trip. She and I hae become special traveling companions already, even though we boarded the train only 29 hours ago.

Outside the window the Russian wilderness just keeps rolling endlessly by. The statistic that Siberia stretches 1/3 of the way around the earth and comprises 1/7 of its total land mass keep popping into my mind. There is a whole lot of deep, dark, cold, mysterious forest out there. Truke keeps pointing out the window into the tree-filled abyss and saying "Look! It just goes on forever." She's exactly right.

Tonight Truke invited me to dinner in the dining car. The menu was pretty spare, but the chicken cutlets we ordered were tasty. I've never had a meal on a train dining car because Emma and I have never been able to afford it on the train from New York to Emeryville. Two other people joined us in the dining car--a man and a woman from Leeds. 40-somethings with a mysterious relationship. Lovers? Travel buddies? Co-workers? It remains unclear. But they are perfectly friendly. He is short and bald with a thick country Leeds accent. He reminisces about George W. Bush. She is a bulky woman who loves alcohol and is afraid of the meat they serve on the train. We were the only four guests that showed upn for the meal. We all remarked that the train is empty right now. They are in the berth next to ours, and there is a solo Mongolian man on the other side, but other than that we haven't seen anyone else besides Russian and Chinese staff.

Visit to the British Museum, full circle

2010-11-03T12:03:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went into London to secure my China visa. After a very long walk to the China embassy from King's Cross station, I discovered from a hard-looking but ultimately friendly police officer that visa-processeing at the Chinese consulate is only open weekdays 9AM to 12PM. I am now convinced that the third-party visa services have cut a lucrative deal with the consulate. I didn't want to just jump on the train back to Cambridge right away, and upon consulting a map, I realized I was within striking distance of the British Museum...and then I remembered that a large number of the Parthenon friezes and metopes are housed there.

I was immediately excited, because in March of this year I was lucky enough to take a trip to Greece with the Gallatin School's Dean's Honor Society. We visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and out beloved professor and guide, Hallie Franks, detailed the art historical, cultural, and political significance of the friezes in their hey-day in Athens, and also their contentious removal to London by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. The Greek govenrment has been making overtures to British officials for some time to get these treasures back. In Athens, we visited the Acropolis museum at the base of the site, which has a specially-designed display room for the friezes and metopes that currently live in London. An overt statement.

To my friends who saw the plaster cast place-holders in the Acropolis museum in Athens: the casts cannot possibly covey the glory of the real thing! I spent more than an hour walking around and around the display, which is laid out to represent the schema of the actual Parthenon. I was surprised at the relaxed vibe of the British Museum, compared to the Met, for example. You can get your face right up close, picture-takers casually mill around. The carvings were absolutely extraordinary up-close. They are so detailed and so delicate. It is was special to be able to peruse them up so close, and to think that so much effort and detail had been put into sculpture that was only meant to be viewed from very far away, the distance from the ground the the top of the Parthenon.

I was also overcome by a wave of sadness that my DHS friends couldn't be here with me, experiencing this full-circle encounter here in London. I know they would have enjoyed the real sculptures, and would have felt the deep, almost spiritual reunion that I was feeling. Having visited Greece with the DHS gave me a completely different connection to the material in the cold display room at the British Museum. For an hour, I was completely transported, back with my friends on top of the Acropolis.

My snapshots can't portray the austerity and grandeur of the friezes and metopes, but I did take some shots with the hope that I could share them with my DHS friends. Here are some of my favorite scenes:

I took this picture to show the fine detail of the carving. It is breath-taking

Three un-identified goddesses

A winged messanger flanking Athena

The caption below this one said that it is possible this very frieze inspired Keats to write the verse in "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Who are these coming to the sacrifice?/To what green altar, O mysterious priest,/Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,/And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?". This was a very evocative panel. I love that idea!

I never wrote about our Greece trip on this blog. Here are some of the best pictures from our DHS Greece trip:

Hallie Franks, professor and guide extraordinaire

Delphi

The DHS girls, at least most of us

George Burns next to the belly-button of the world!

Lisa Bass at the Parthenon

Lisa Bass, Zach Chalett, and Channing Kehoe at the Parthenon

The temple at the Acropolis

Molly Gilbert at the amphitheater outside Corinth

Tamara Davis and Sami Feld at the ancient site of Corinth

Zach at Corinth

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

By John Keats

Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loath?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,
Pipe to the spirit dities of no tone.
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss
Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unweari-ed,
Forever piping songs forever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity. Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

1820

Arkansas

2010-11-02T08:02:00.013-04:00

From West Virginia I flew down to Little Rock to meet my mom, Tommie Dell Smith, to meet with a committee that wants to make a film about Bayou Bartholomew. A bayou is basically a swamp with a moving stream running through it. Bayou Bartholomew is the pride of many residents of south eastern Arkansas. It is the largest bayou in the world, which, according to some of the people who would like to have it documented on film, recommends it is as a site of national interest. Tommie got wind of the film through various family connections in Monticello, AR. Tommie is a Monticello native. I enjoyed the few visits I have made to SE Arkansas throughout my life to visit Tommie's family and her hometown. This visit was distinctly professional, with a few family perks thrown in.

Downtown Monticello has some really incredible antebellum homes on Main St. We were lucky enough to stay in one called the Trotter house courtesy of the U of Arkansas at Monticello. Here is one that has been turned into a local museum. We didn't get to visit the museum because of its restricted hours, which disappointed me because I heard there were some very old fiddles on display.
The day after we arrived, we went to the big committee meeting that was hosted at the home of the lovable and eccentric local bank CEO, who lives on a gorgeous property on the bayou at the outskirts of Monticello. I was looking forward to getting my first glimpse of the bayou. It did not disappoint:

After the meeting (long, lots of back and forth), the bank CEO took us on a tour of his home. It was revealed that he is an avid collector, of butterflies, seashells, dry gourds, National Geographic magazines dating from mid-century, boats, etc.

When we left the house, everyone insisted that we go to the local bank branch to check out the alligator. Everyone kept saying, 'go see the gator! Don't miss the gator!'. So we piled in the car and drove down to the bank. Just short of the entrance-way lay one of the prides of the city:
Tommie was encouraged to stick her head in and pose for a picture, which she did with all the enthusiasm of one being encouraged to stick one's head in a dead alligator.

The committee saw to it that we got to see the very best of Monticello and the surrounding area. The committee was extremely excited about the prospect of a Bayou Bartholomew film, and they courted Tommie and me, as its main ambassadors, accordingly. As a result, we were ferried around from site-of-interest to site-of-interest, including this peculiar antebellum plantation house, now sitting in dilapidation and awaiting deeds and funds and whatever else before rennovation. We got a special tour of the inside, which is not open to everybody. I discovered that I have a particular aversion to bats.

One of the main rooms of the Taylor House. This is a picture of a fire place.

Taylor family graveyard outside the Taylor house. There is a slave graveyard very nearby, but the current owners of the property have let the weeds and vines overgrow the cemetery, so sadly we couldn't see any gravestones.

The next day, Tommie and I paid some visits to her family in Hamburg, just 30 miles from Monticello. These visits happened mostly because of my prompting. I have been hearing for years that there exists, somewhere in some attic of some distant relative, the fiddle that my great great grandfather made and played in Monticello. To me, this man is called Daddy Watkins, but I learned that others in the family call him Papaw, Daddy, or Marcus. Ever since my mother mentioned that Daddy Watkins made a fiddle, and that the fiddle might still exist, I have had a fierce desire to lay eyes on it and play it. I badgered Tommie to make the calls to see her great Aunt Bonnie (my great great aunt!) in Hamburg. I was very excited to meet her, but also excited to ask her about the fiddle. She was Daddy Watkins' step-daughter. The family relationships get a little bit complicated; it seems that everyone of that generation had two or even three spouses, children by different marriages, and multiple marriages between two families (brothers marry sisters). Some such tangled web of relating is the reason Bonnie is my great great aunt, though she is not nearly old enough to hold such a title.

As an extra bonus, Bonnie's sister was in town. She also referred affectionately to Daddy Watkins as Papaw. Both women said they did not know what had become of the fiddle, though they chattered nostalgically about the great man who made it. All this time, I was recording this mini interview with my new digital recorder. I have a plan to make a radio story about my search for the fiddle, and hopefully a recording of what it sounds like if I should ever get to play it!

The next day we went with Bonnie to visit the cemetery where Daddy Watkins is buried, along with many other Watkins family members. Bonnie recently commissioned a new headstone to be made for Marcus Watkins and his wife, my namesake, Maggie Delene Barham. I hadn't put that together before, that the woman whose name I hold (Delene is my middle name) was the first wife of Daddy Watkins. That magnified my curiosity about these people.

Lee Marcus Watkins

November 12, 1885-January 22, 1971

Maggie "Delene" Barham

February 23, 1890-June 22, 1948

And while I was there in the graveyard, perusing the other Watkins graves, another name jumped out at me. Helen Delene Watkins, daughter of Daddy Watkins and Maggie Delene. I didn't know that anyone else shared the name Delene with Maggie. But here it was, right on the gravestone in Hamburg. Reading the name gave me chills.

I am not sure if to what extent I will be able to participate in the production of the Bayou Bartholomew film, because of my impending move it China. But it sounds like a great project, and I have my own reasons for wanting to spend more time in SE Arkansas. I must find that fiddle!

West Vriginia

2010-11-02T07:55:00.009-04:00

From Cape Breton, I made a quick stop in Chicago to visit my best friend, Annie Kahane, before venturing on my train to Huntington, West Virginia, to meet up with my oldest friend, Sheridan Roush. I have known Sheridan since Kindergarten, and she has been a loyal friend ever since.

I came to West Virginia to as a preliminary trip to scout for the project for which I received funding from Gallatin through the Dean's Grant for graduating seniors. If you look a couple of posts back, you can see the grant proposal and my happy note that I had received funding. I ascertained earlier this summer that I needed a scouting trip so that I could figure out exactly where I needed to go and who I needed to talk to to execute my project.

I didn't have much of a plan when I got to Huntington, just some names and numbers. Sheridan was going to visit her grandmother in a town called Spencer in the very middle of the state. Spencer was having their annual Black Walnut Festival and parade that weekend, and when Sheridan asked me if I wanted to come along, I said I would love to. I remembered Sheridan's grandmother from very early on in my childhood, and I was looking forward to seeing her once again.

The festival and parade in Spencer were an incredible experience of WV culture. I haven't had much occasion to spend time in Appalachia since my family moved from there when I was 10. Having done most of my growing up in California, I came to identify, pretty staunchly, as a west-coaster. However, after a couple of days in West Virginia, I had to allow that the place really speaks to me. I do have an innate understanding of the culture, values, speech patterns, and aura of the place.

A 4H poster board that I found exemplary

Miss Spencer parading on her float

A high school marching band in the parade. I swear, every high school marching band in the state was there representing

From Spencer, I had planned to go spend a couple of days in Elkins. Many of the regions best fiddlers have called Elkins and the surrounding area home, and many more from out of town commune there every summer and fall for the Augusta Heritage Festival and Augusta Fiddler's Reunion. Elkins seemed like a natural place to land and plot my research. When I called a cheap motel in Elkins to book a room, however, the concierge told me that not only were there no vacancies at his hotel, but every hotel within 30 miles of Elkins was completely booked for the weekend. Flabbergasted, I said goodbye without asking him why. A little research turned up a schedule of Davis and Elkins College, which was having their Homecoming game and Alumni weekend that very day. This gives a clue into the culture of West Virginia: folks are serious about their college football, very very serious.

On the spot, I looked up a town nearby that a musical friend had told me about. I had heard that Thomas, West Virginia had become quite a little music scene, and was definitely worth checking out. A search for "hostels, Thomas WV" turned up a place called the Purple Fiddle. I knew instantly that the Elkins dilemma had happened for a reason, and that Thomas was where I was supposed to end up. I jumped in the car, and within 15 minutes of settling on Thomas as my destination, I was on my way.

I drove and drove and drove. When I finally crossed over the bridge leading into Thomas at about 11PM, I took a right and emitted an audible breath. Something in me immediately felt that this place was special. I drove onto the main drag, and located the Purple Fiddle with no difficulty, it is in the very heart of the town.

When I ducked inside, I confirmed my initial instinct. The place was jammed with beautiful, healthy-looking young people grooving to a fabulous blue-grass band. A dread-locked woman at the counter showed me up to my room on the third floor of the same house. The accommodations are hostel-style, so my room had 5 beds, but was completely mine unless another female traveller arrived. I was so tired that I collapsed and fell right asleep, enjoying the happy rumbling of foot-stomping below.

In the morning, I investigated the town front street, ducked into an art gallery and had a chat with the gallery keeper, ate lunch at an unbelievably cute brunch spot, and fell right in love with Thomas. The town had been a coal mining boom town at the turn of the century, then nearly abandoned until the 50s, and left pretty dilapidated until the new influx of young musicians, artists, and rabble-rousers arrived about 10 years ago. The Purple Fiddle seems to be the pulsing cultural heart of the new-old town.

At the Purple Fiddle later that night, I ran into a woman, Rebecca. who I had never met, but whose name was familiar from the Boston/Bay Area/Valley of the Moon fiddle scene. She invited me back to her house to listen to her roommate's band practice. The band was absolutely extraordinary! Four beautiful tall sisters in their 20s sang in gorgeous 4-part harmony on original country songs that made your heart ache it was so soulful.

Rebecca herself is a fabulous musician--guitarist, singer, cellist, and banjo-player, and we spent the next couple of days feeling out each other's musical styles and jamming. She even got me singing a little bit (though I promised her I would practice before I came back to Thomas)!

The Purple Fiddle

Originally I thought I would only stay one or maybe two nights in Thomas and then head back to Elkins when the Homecoming fervor died down. I did visit Elkins, but only for a day trip, because the music and coal mining investigation to be done was so thrilling in Thomas. I ended up staying for five nights.

The main street of Thomas is adjacent to a national forest, which I explored on foot over the course of several days. I came across the ruins of the old mining railroad, and some old mining buildings.

On the way to the airport back in Huntington, I got a ride from a delightful toothless cab driver who immediately launched into his life story. When I asked if he had any children, he said, "no no, I just have me a girlfriend. She needs lots of help around the house though, because she's blind. Blind by a violent accident." I replied that that was awful. He said, "oh yes, but don't you worry your pretty little head about it. She got him. She shot him good and dead." To which I replied with the only reply one can give in that situation, "that's somethin'."

When I arrived at the Huntington airport, I found that instead of a regular airport waiting area, there was instead a fleet of white wicker rocking chairs, idling back and forth with waiting passengers.

Thomas was so exciting for me that I am currently plotting how to spend a significant amount of time there. I am hoping to go for 6 months to a year, take lessons for the fabulous old-time fiddlers in the area and really get good at that style of fiddling, complete my radio project for which I received the grant, and invest myself in the region that I am from. West Virginia feels like home.

Cape Breton

2010-10-26T14:15:00.012-04:00

Cape Breton has always been an enchanted, mysterious place for me. I’ve been hearing about it for years from Alasdair Fraser and my other music mentors who have taught tunes from there. I know an entire catalogue of Cape Breton tunes, tunes by legendary fiddlers Jerry Holland, Buddy MacMaster, and Natalie MacMaster, to name a few of the best known.

I went to Cape Breton to work as a production assistant for the film my mom, Tommie Dell Smith, is currently making. The film focuses on the life of the world-famous Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. Since I was 10, I have been a member of the organization that Alasdair founded in the late 1980’s called the San Francisco Scottish Fiddle Club. In fact, Tommie discovered her subject because of my involvement with the San Francisco fiddlers.

Working on Tommie’s set was an extremely intense experience, but had some very rewarding perks. Take, for example, the pictures I snapped at this stop we made on the coast to take some scenery shots for the film.

Originally, Tommie booked the trip to Cape Breton to film Alasdair interviewing his mentor, Buddy MacMaster. I was thrilled that I got to come along. I had never met Buddy before, but I have been listening to recordings of his effervescent Cape Breton fiddle playing for years. Buddy is elderly now, in the his 80's and has recently stopped playing the fiddle because of bad arthritis. When we arrived in Cape Breton, we receieved a call that Buddy had been admitted to the hospital after a routine check-up. It didn't look like anything serious, but he wasn't feeling well, so the set interview time was changed to a play-it-by ear, which deeply disappointed the film crew.

In the mean time, we filmed Alasdair and Natalie Hass playing a concert that was meant to mimic the ambience of an 18th century musical experience: acoustic, candle-light. If you have ever tried to shoot a movie in a candle-lit venue, the administrators of which want nothing to do with 21st century technology, then you will understand what we were up against. It was dark, it was freezing, and Dan the sound man and Goro the cinematographer had to dodge around the wary staff to set and operate their equipment. But the show was beautiful, and it took place in this beautiful chapel:

But the real treat of the week for me was when, after an afternoon show, Alasdair asked me if I would like to come along on a trip to "raid" Buddy's hospital room. It had already been determined by that point that Buddy was not feeling well enough to recieve the film crew for the interview. I had given up all hope of meeting him, until Alasdair told me to grab my fiddle and meet him at the car. We, together with Pate and Judy Thompson of the SFSF, and Natalie drove out to the hospital, hopped out of the car instruments in hand, and floated past the in-take nurses up to the second floor. The ward nurses quickly understood our purpose, and installed us in the TV room so that we could prepare for our performance. When we were ready, they called Buddy in. We started playing just before he arrived in the doorway, and when he saw Alasdair he exclaimed out loud and tears came into his eyes. He was so happy that we had come. After we played a couple of tunes, we sat around and talked with the residents for a while. The rest of the folks on the ward had started streaming in when they heard the music. Everyone on Cape Breton loves fiddle music, and there is a dearth of it in hospitals, even there. It was one of the happiest hospital visits I have ever been on. And, Buddy even said I my fiddle playing sounded "just like a Judique lass"! That is an incredible compliment because Judique is his hometown. I will take with me for the rest of my life.

Revival

2010-10-26T14:01:00.005-04:00

Hi all,

Thank you for coming back to see my blog after all this time. I am reviving my blog to chronicle my journey back to China after a long hiatus. I have had some key experiences in the past months since graduating from NYU's Gallatin School in May. I decided not to travel with a computer on this trip, which has made airport security delightfully simple, but makes blogging a challenge in computer opportunism! So, hang in there with me as I jump from computer to computer and update when I can.

Here is a rough outline of my itinerary, subject to whim, visa attainment, job prospects, and the health of my savings account:

September 23: left parents home in Forestville, CA for Laura Cortese's bachelorette party in Montreal.

September 23-28: weddings festivities in Montreal and Harrisburg, New Hampshire

September 29-October 7: visit friends in NYC, obtain Russia visa

October 8-12: meet Tommie and film crew for filming in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

October 13-26: West Virginia and Arkansas

October 26: last day in the US for undetermined amount of time!

October 27-November 6: visit with Jesse Sleamaker at Cambridge University in the UK, weekend trip to Wales, secure China visa, explore London

November 7-November 20: join Patch Adams and Gesundheit! Institute clowns for "nasal diplomacy" trip to Moscow and St Petersburg

November 23-November 29: Trans-Mongolian Railroad train ride from Moscow to Beijing

November 29-December 10: visit friends in China, itinerary undetermined

December 10-January 18: travel in South East Asia with Jesse, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

January 18: return to China

There it is. You can see, there will be much to write about!

Dean's grant update

2010-06-11T01:09:00.001-04:00

Update: I got the grant! I found out today. Looks like I will be spending some time in West Virginia sometime in the next year. I'll keep posted about the plans and the travels!

Proposal for Dean's Award for Graduating Seniors

2010-04-19T19:31:00.004-04:00

Below is a grant proposal I recently completed for a project that would take me through the fall of 2010. If you are curious about what I'm up to, cross your fingers and hope I get this grant!

West Virginia has most recently been in the news for the devastating mine collapse on April 5th, 2010 that killed 25 miners and brought the painful history of mining safety violations back into the public eye. The Upper Big Branch mining disaster is just one story among many. As the second poorest state in America, West Virginia has a long history of environmental and social injustice, which has been chronicled in recent popular documentary films like Coal Country. While these narratives occupy much of the popular conception about the state, there is another that abounds. Over the last century, ethnomusicologists such as Alan Lomax have voraciously recorded West Virginia’s deeply rooted musical tradition, framing it as a precious American treasure.

As a displaced West Virginia native and a practitioner of its musical tradition, I have recently wondered about the connection between these two compelling facets of West Virginia. Legendary Appalachian fiddlers like Tommy Jarrell and Ed Haley have long captivated my musical imagination. As a student of social movements and environmental justice, I learned that West Virginia’s unique topography has led to some of the world’s most devastating environmental destruction, but also to a robust labor movement. These narratives clash in interesting ways; the status of West Virginia as an American cultural relic is on the rise, while its environmental and social status is dire.

The purpose of my proposed project is to chart the ways in which West Virginia’s music tradition has changed in relation to the changing landscape brought on by mountaintop removal mining in the Ohio River Valley. I would like to produce a 15-30 minute oral essay narrating my own field recordings, interviews, and personal experience, exploring this topic in West Virginia in fall 2010. I plan to conduct interviews with musicians, community elders, miners, and leaders of environmental organizations, in order to discover the ways that mountaintop removal mining affects folk music innovations in Appalachia.

The project is an opportunity to practice some of the theoretical conjectures I explored in my senior essay, where I examined the status of locality and place in cosmopolitan ethics. Through this intellectual work, I developed the idea that places – the particular sites of topography and geography where we live day-to-day – are resources from which we can draw energy for ethical generosity in an increasingly globalized world. Through that work, I have come to believe that topography and geography are constitutive sites of human meaning—places haven’t been given enough attention in contemporary discourses about health, community, and the environment. Now, with this proposed exploration in West Virginia, I would like to add the contemporary discourse of music to that list.

Folk music traditions are inextricably connected to place—my childhood musical mentor was fond of saying that you can hear landscapes through the sounds of traditional music. In Scottish strathspeys, I can hear the echo of the highlands bordering the sea; in Swedish polskas, I can feel the steep slopes of fjords. The architecture of a tune reveals something about the life, character, and homeland of a people. In the case of Appalachia, a longstanding music tradition has developed within the context of the deracinating effects of mountaintop removal mining. I wonder, can you hear the eviscerated mountains in the reels?

A likely itinerary will be to travel roughly counter clockwise around the state, spending time in Lewisburg, Beckley, Logan, Hamlin, Parkersburg, and Elkins. Some places will yield more fruitful subjects than others, so my movement from place to place will depend largely on who I am able to connect with in each location.

I have been advised by a documentarian that a 15-30 minute piece will require between 10 and 15 hours of unedited material. I want each interview to last between 1-2 hours, so I plan to conduct approximately 10-12 interviews over the course of my trip. In addition to these personal interviews, I will include recordings of musical gatherings, private performances, and music festivals. I plan to conduct an average of one interview every three to four days, which will give me time in between to travel to a new destination and become acquainted with prospective interview subjects. I expect that the portion of the project that takes place on site will take between 6 and 8 weeks.

I have successfully directed interview-based projects prior to this one. While studying abroad in Yunnan Province, China in the spring of 2009, I produced a 40 page written report about China’s national parks based largely on interviews with community leaders and academic researchers that I identified through contacts at the university where I studied. Each interviewee put me in contact with other people who helped me along with my project. In China, I ultimately conducted 16 interviews with people I had never met at the beginning of my project period. My paper was subsequently published on the School for International Training website. My research experience abroad has given me the tools and confidence to cold-call authors of useful reports, network with the contacts of acquaintances and pursue useful leads. I plan to draw on the skills I developed in China to execute this project.

In addition, this summer I will work as a production assistant on a documentary film about a Scottish fiddler. My duties will include assisting the sound engineer, logging recorded material, and preparing interview questions and notes for the people interviewing the fiddlers. This practical experience will seamlessly translate to skills for my project in the fall.

Though I have not yet identified interview subjects, if awarded the Dean’s grant, over the summer I will mobilize my networks of traditional old-time fiddlers through the Valley of the Moon Fiddle School and my environmental networks including the Morris K. Udall alumni network and the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation scholars, to help me identify preliminary contacts in advance of my trip. Additionally, I have acquaintances at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and old family friends in the Ohio River Valley who will support my research. In advance of my trip, I will also use West Virginia cultural heritage sites and calendars, including the West Virginia Folklife, Fairs, and Festivals calendar and the West Virginia University Center for Black Culture and Research, to identify musical happenings that would support my research.

I will edit my material and create the finished oral essay using Verité Productions’ editing equipment in Forestville, California. Verité has generously offered its equipment to me at no cost, so there are no post-production costs of this project. Distribution of the essay could take the form of a “podcast”, which I can pitch to PBS, NPR, and the New York Times science page. I have already been in conversation with people who can provide me with contacts in these organizations.

I believe this project is an organic culmination of my concentration at Gallatin. It combines the environmental and place-oriented theory that I explored in depth in my senior essay with my personal passion and skill for fiddle music. The Dean’s Award will assist me in furthering my intellectual goals beyond the university; through this project, I will hone my skills in interviewing and fiddling while also acquiring the important new skills of production, sound recording, editing and oral presentation, skills I believe will further my goal to become an arts and environmental entrepreneur.

Interview with Liyunesh Yohannes

2009-12-12T05:58:00.004-05:00

I met Liyunesh at the 350.org booth when I approached to ask about where I might find the African Youth delegation hub. She said, 'I don't know where they are, but I am a member of the delegation!'. She shared her lunch with me! Liyunesh has two Masters degrees, one in Development and Globalization from a university in Belgium, and another in Environmental Economics from university in Ethiopia. When I first asked if I could sit down to talk with her, she said she wasn't a good person to talk to because she didn't have advanced technical knowledge of what's happening at the conference. Clearly, she was the perfect person for me to speak with. I am so thrilled that I got the opportunity to spend some time with her.

Kate Fritz: Tell me about where you are from and how you got to COP15.

Liyunesh Yohannes: That is my life story! I am from a rural part of Ethiopia, and I am here as a volunteer for 350.org. I’ve been trained by 350 to do training in the area where I am from in climate change actions for farmers who are affected by climate change.

KF: How did you become interested in environmental activism and environmental work?

LY: I learned about it more theoretically at university, but also from working with farmers. My sister is a farmer.

KF: You are seeing the effects of climate change where you are from?

LY: In the West, I don’t think there is much change, so you don’t see it. But in Ethiopia, there are huge changes. In the summer, the average temperature used to be 20ºC, now it is more like 26ºC. In September we have the rainy season, but now it is just hot. We usually have two seasons, the dry and rainy seasons, but the patterns are changing. It used to rain for 30 days at a time, now it rains for 30 minutes and then the rain is gone for a week. People are hungry because 85% of the rural population is involved in agriculture.

KF: What is your government doing to address the problem of hunger? Do people talk about the connections between climate change and changing temperatures and changes in agriculture?

LY: Rural people are not aware that these changes are caused by climate change. Our government is taking action now that there is COP. Our Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is here representing Ethiopia, and he is actually the spokesperson for the entire African delegation. NGOs do what they can to support farmers. Oxfam helps with improving irrigation and damming.

KF: You mentioned that your PM is representing the entire African delegation. Africa is such a diverse place with so many nuances and specific interests from different areas. What do you think about the fact that there is a central African delegation that is negotiating on behalf of all of Africa?

LY: I’m staying positive about it because it is not good to be negative. Even a few years ago, we didn’t even have a delegation. Now, at least we have one. It’s not possible to talk about Africa in terms of unity, because it is such a diverse place, but at least we have some representation here, because we didn’t in the past. I don’t think it is perfect, but I have to be positive about it. Our population is high, but we need some representation.

KF: So would you say there is a movement in Africa around climate change? How is climate change addressed in Ethiopia and even in Africa more broadly?

LY: The movement is bombarded by information from NGOs. It has to be about empowering the population, not about money and aid. We want to change people’s minds, change their vision and make positive future prospects. These things cannot be separated. We have to change behavior and we need technical support. We can’t even get water in urban areas. Water provides hydropower, so we can’t drink the water that makes electricity. At some times, we only have electricity 3 times a week, and that is in the capital city of Ethiopia! People don’t care about climate change if they don’t have anything to eat. The West is thinking about 2050 and about their children’s children. We think about what is coming 5 days ahead. But that is a reason why I focus on climate change. I feel responsible and I want to do something for the population.

KF: How does that feeling of responsibility translate into what you are doing at the conference?

LY: 350.org invited me and my sister here because we won the organizing competition for best climate action for 350 day in October. We organized a 15,000 student march in Ethiopia to protest climate change. This was a huge awareness raising campaign in my country. My sister is here with 350.org, and I am here under a grant from the African Youth Initiative for Climate Change (AYICC). There are 50 African youth here.

KF: What are your observations about how people with NGOs from around the world are working together here? Have you met anyone interesting who you might want to work with in the future?

LY: It feels like everyone is working on their own, they’re confused about what network they want to be a part of, and they don’t want to disperse. I’m focusing on my awareness raising work with 350.org. It helps for me to stay focused. The African people here just don’t have the resources that others have.

KF: Has the conference influenced your aspirations for the future?

LY: I want to be a leader, wherever I am. I don’t want to be bounded in a box. I have started thinking globally and I want to show Ethiopia the rest of the world, and the kinds of things that are possible in the world.

KF: There are a lot of critics of globalization that are very vocal right now, especially after the economic crisis. What do you think about that? It seems like economic policies that have historically been part of the globalization process aren’t going away very soon. Do you think Ethiopia will ultimately be better off in a globalized world?

LY: I don’t think that globalization has to be an economic disaster. Globalization should be specific. The poor are not getting the benefits of globalization and they aren’t getting any economic help. The tech prospects are getting better, and that is a very important part. But if people can see that they should be able to determine their own life, and given the tools to do that, then that is the purpose and value of globalization. We are having this conversation because of globalization. And I think that is a good thing. So I don’t think globalization is good or bad. It is mixed, and with the good things comes some bad.

KF: I think it’s good that we are talking to each other too. I feel lucky that I get to talk to you today and thank you so much for sharing your lunch with me.

Interview with Josh Levine

2009-12-12T05:06:00.003-05:00

This is the first interview in a short series about youth, social change, globalization, and possibilities for democracy in the face of global environmental problems. I'll be developing these interviews into my final project for Three Modalities of Social Entrepreneurship with professors Margaret Scott and Rogan Kersh at Wagner School of Public Policy, the curricular component of the Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU. I was lucky enough to sit down with Josh Levine, who I met at the US/China youth gathering on December 10th. Josh attends Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He is attending COP15 as part of the Sierra Student Coalition delegation.

Kate Fritz: Tell me about how you came to be interested in environmental issues and how it lead you to COP15.

Josh Levine: When I graduated high school, I went to stay at a sustainable living center in Costa Rica. I became aware of sustainability and how trash, energy consumption, and food were all connected. I saw that trash doesn’t just disappear when you throw it away, and that personal decisions really do affect the environment. This was the point at which I decided that the environment was my overarching issue. If we lose on the environment, we lose on every other front.

KF: Can you expound on that a little? How are environmental issues connected to other social issues?

JL: An easy example is the healthcare debate. In congress, there is no talk about food or pollution in conjunction with healthcare. We’re planting monocultures and feeding that degraded food to kids. It is not functional for our bodies or ecosystems and it is not good for our health. We know that industrial agriculture is contributing huge amounts of carbon. So the connections are clear. That seems like the most obvious example, but there are many examples. All these issues are connected to the environment.

KF: What about the climate movement? Would you say there is such a thing, and if so, how would you characterize the movement itself? What are its defining characteristics?

JL: I do think there is a movement. I like to think that it is characterized not just as a fight against, but as a fight for something. We’re fighting for community, transparency, health and most importantly, justice.

KF: You think that justice is a central tenet of this discussion?

JL: Yes I do. Anything could be a movement, and so I guess I am hesitant to call this a coherent movement because there are a lot of people working on these issues with a lot of drives and interests. You have people who are concerned about childhood asthma working along side people who want to make money off the new economy, working with people who care about polar bears, and then some anarchists. So it is not coherent, but I do think that the bottom line in all of these discussions is justice and wanting to make the world more equitable for people.

KF: What about the youth movement? Here we are witnessing an amazing meeting of the minds in the youth delegations from around the world here, what are young people talking about, and what are their organizing themes here?

JL: The youth movement is about sustainability and justice! Scientific findings and research are part of the puzzle, but that alone does not characterize the movement. It is about much more pressing, and deeper issues. I think were seeing the commitment to justice even in the way the youth groups are structured—they often strive to be non-hierarchical and use dialogue to make policy decisions. It is slow, but the movement is committed to politics.

KF: How is that playing out here at the conference?

JL: Well I think this conference is playing out at two levels. There are the people at the top who are making the major negotiations and policy decisions, and then there are the youth, NGOs and the bottom of the conference. There are incredibly hopeful conversations happening at the bottom. We’re hoping ultimately that policy can make equity, but we’re also seeing here how much these negotiations are contingent on the feelings of a handful of white men in the US congress. These issues are mostly affecting low-income people of color—and it is a powerful structure that we’re seeing at work. More equal representation in the political system is part of the goal, because better representation would mean better policy.

KF: Talk more about what’s happening in the underbelly of the conference. We both attended the US/China Youth planning session last night, and I don’t know about you, but I thought it was incredible to have a room full of American and Chinese young people talking about shared aspirations for the future together.

JL: That meeting blew my mind! I don’t know the extent to which Chinese and American young people are part of the same movement. I would say we definitely have different motives, which doesn’t mean we can’t work together. I think a lot of American students come to this through feelings of guilt. A lot of people start learning in school about America as the oppressor and that really affects people. Most of the American kids that are here are white.

KF: It’s sad to me to think that this is fueled by guilt. What would it mean if the American piece of this was founded on guilt? What is beautiful and exciting to me about the talks here is that we do seem to have a common idea of justice. How can we talk about justice if it is based on guilt?

JL: I think maybe a lot of American students’ involvement is originally fuelled by guilt, but guilt is a first step. I do feel bad about the fact that my trash is in someone else’s backyard. And I want to fix it.

KF: So let’s talk about the drives after guilt. What is it that can fuel a movement that is greater than guilt. I like to think about and use the language of love, particularly political love as it has been characterized by great thinkers like Martin Luther King Jr. I think solidarity is another way of talking about the same thing. What do you think about that?

JL: Ultimately, guilt is selfish. We have to get over feeling bad, because it is what’s beyond that that gives us real possibilities. We can talk about visions of the future, justice, and equality as organizing principles. Did you go to the International Youth Conference that preceded COP15 last week?

KF: No, I’m sorry I missed it.

JL: It was this incredible meeting of international youth to talk to each other and form policy positions. I saw things that it is hard to see and hang onto in America. America is the center of the world, for better of worse, especially in these discussions. But it was incredible to see youth from the Maldives, Philippines, Australia, saying “hey, we’re making moves!”. I wanted to pick the minds of so many people. There was so much information and so many perspectives. And even though the United States was a major issue of discussion, it was in no way dominated by US perspectives. It was also disturbing because the power play was still evident, even in that special place. Some people have more power, just by virtue of the place where they are from. The negotiators from the LDCs (least developed countries), even the ones at the top at the conference, simply don’t have as much of a voice as the delegation from the US and EU. We’re seeing injustice and oppression playing out at the very top levels of the negotiations. But the youth have cohesion about these issues. People from all these countries believe in justice and equity, and that’s what it is about. It was incredibly empowering.

KF: Can you talk a little bit more about the relationship between power and empowerment?

JL: Yes, the youth conference was empowering, despite the ugly power play at COP15. I was sitting at a table with a group of kids from all over the world, and I was the only American. They looked at me and asked me straight why the United States will only agree to reduce net emissions 3% by 2020. And I started babbling, trying to explain about our political structure and how difficult it is to make big changes quickly. But it was so hard for me, because the other people at the table are not just watching this on TV, they are directly affected. This is directly affecting their lives. No matter how much I care about these issues, and I care about them deeply, I am not in fear for my life. The stakes are lower for me than they are for a lot of the other young people here. That is an extremely humbling recognition. I just don’t have as much at stake. Sure I care about the future and I might face some insecurity as part of climate change, but I am not personally worried about my long term livelihood. So it is weird that I am having so much fun and taking so much pleasure in being at a conference where the stakes are life and death for other people.

KF: This has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much. Is there anything else you want to add?

JL: I don’t think so.

general impressions of Copenhagen

2009-12-11T04:40:00.007-05:00

My friend Mike made the observation that Copenhagen is “the land of bicycles, 7-11s, shwarma, and underwear stores.” That’s just about right.

Copenhagen (Kobenhavn), is an extraordinary city. Normally I make some effort to learn at least the very basic courtesy words when I’m traveling to a new country. The run up to this trip was so intense that I didn’t have the time, but truthfully I don’t think it would have mattered. Literally everyone here speaks perfect English. I’m not sure whether it is taught in school or whether it is essential cultural currency, but everyone is bilingual.

Copenhagen is extremely expensive—the general rule is to take the price in kronas and divide by 5. A meal never costs less than 65 kronas ($13), which is about 1.5x as much as New York City price. I have been pinching kronas since I got here. Free breakfast at the hotel usually lasts me through most of the day.

The public benefits of socialist democracy are evident everywhere. There are no people living in extreme poverty on the street, and really, no evidence of poverty at all. It makes me very sad that seeing homeless people in New York City is a regular occurrence, and here what surprises me is that there aren’t homeless people on the street. Everyone seems to have excellent quality of life—nice clothes, free healthcare, bicycles, education, etc. It is also safe! The tattoo parlor is a bit of a walk from the Planetarium and a couple of times I’ve walked back at night. In New York City, I try to limit these experiences, but here I revel in the peace of the city at night. I haven’t been catcalled once since I’ve been here.

Polar bear ice sculpture in the city center

Me and Mike in the city center

View from outside Mike's apartment

Amazing mini model city of Copenhagen ca.1530

mini-gallows(!)--so small I couldn't get a clear picture

Save me Brad!

2009-12-10T20:23:00.000-05:00

Extraordinary day at COP15

2009-12-10T19:50:00.006-05:00

...but then again, what day here isn't extraordinary?

I started the morning by arriving an hour early to the US delegation center, and waited around to ensure my spot at Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's talk about the Department of the Interior and climate change. This is second of several Department Secretary addresses at the address. I missed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's talk yesterday.

The talk preceding Salazar's was a high level briefing about the US's carbon sequestration initiative, a technology of which I'm embarrassed to say I have very limited technical knowledge. I listened to the tech-speak, and during the Q&A, who should announce himself as a questioner but Andy Revkin from the New York Times! Revkin writes the Times' DotEarth blog. I'm a huge fan. But this shows the high profile of the folks that are here at the conference, reporting, speaking, and observing. You never know who you will meet.

Speaking of, my friend Kriya was waiting in line for the Salazar talk and struck up conversation with a woman named Allison Chin. No big deal, she's only the President of Sierra Club!

Salazar's talk was pretty standard US politicking. He didn't say anything original or sensational--evoked the majesty of the mountaintops, etc. I don't understand how politicians manage to speak for 40 minutes at a time without saying ANYTHING. Still, it was pretty cool to sit in the second row of a room of 100 people hearing an address from the US Secretary of the Interior. However, they did have time for questions from the general public, and a member of the US youth delegation asked about what Salazar and his department are doing to get comprehensive, science-based policy through congress. After talking through his commitment, blah blah, he congratulated the US youth on their presence at the conference and encouraged young people to continue applying pressure to political leaders. This is a different tone than that of other high flyers at the conference, who usually dodge young people.

When I emerged from Salazar's talk, a huge crowd had gathered around the EU pavilion's streaming broadcast of Obama's Nobel Prize speech in Oslo. It was extraordinary to stand around a larger than life television screen with hundreds of strangers from every part of the world watching Obama tread delicately through 34 minutes of "just peace." I am furious with him, but he is one of the most exquisite speakers of my lifetime. I couldn't really get the temperature of the crowd. Most people are stunned by the recent announcements about Afghanistan, I think.

People gathered around the TV screen to watch the live broadcast of Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

A clown protester!

US/China Youth Delegations Event

2009-12-10T19:15:00.003-05:00

Just came back from a fantastic event by the US Youth Delegation, a US-China workshop called "Our Shared Future" at the University of Copenhagen. It was stunning to see 100 ambitious and inspired Chinese and American young people in one room talking seriously about collaborative policy between our two countries. There was a real sense of purpose and destiny in the room--and I met some extremely impressive Chinese and Americans. Some interesting comments that came out of the discussion (CH means a member from the China Youth Delegation, US means a member from the US Youth Delegation):

CH: "China would agree to deeper emissions cuts if the US was willing to step up their targets."

This is fascinating to me--the sense from Chinese youth is that US and China are in a stalemate situation, but that China would be willing to make adjustments to their emissions targets. This is not the sense I have gotten from policy analysts or from the world news media. It has seemed to me that China is staunchly opposed to changing their numbers. But I'm sure that is a bargaining position. If the US really is the lynchpin to furthering Chinese emissions cuts, then my perspective on the negotiations has changed somewhat.

CH: "Chinese negotiators and delegates think that COP15 is a game that developed countries play on China, India, and the rest of the developing world."

Whoa. If this is the true sentiment, something is going seriously wrong with the promise of the UN negotiating process. Then again, the Danish text was pretty damning. Overall, I've been pretty disheartened about the role the UN can/will play in climate change policy in the future. If key developing countries (BRICs) feel that the process is empty, then as far as I can tell, negotiations can stop now.

CH: "The conference is a good beginning, even if it doesn't have a good and lasting result."

I think I largely agree, although I qualify with "I think" because backlash from a media saturated, high profile climate change event that doesn't go anywhere might ultimately be more detrimental. There is no doubt that the conference is raising awareness about climate change, but do we need awareness? Is that the good beginning to which this Chinese delegate was referring?

US: "In listening to Chinese and American young people talking here, I noticed that the Chinese were far less critical of their government, and even of our (United States) government."

This is generally true in my experience. We started the evening by talking about how Chinese and Americans approach dealings with government. Chinese delegates pointed out that action in terms of climate change usually takes the form of education campaigns and university research, while US young people go straight for direct political action and civil disobedience. But it was interesting that this person pointed out that the CHinese delegates were even less critical of the US government.

CH: "In hearing the United States youth talk about the working of politics in America, I was shocked to find out more about the lobby system. Money can buy everything there."

This was the high point of the evening for me. It is always startling to hear observations about your own reality inflected from the outside. What does it say about us that the young people of our fiercest economic competitors view us as beholden to money beyond all else?

I'm in there on the far left wearing a black hat

African Youth Delegation make some noise!

2009-12-10T02:59:00.002-05:00

I took some video of the African Youth Delegation demonstrating at the conference yesterday. The conference is starting to heat up in preparation for the arrival of important political leaders next week. People are flooding in to the conference site--so many that the coordinators have said they may start limiting the number of people they allow into the conference every day. I feel lucky that I got here so early was was able to get my badge before the chaos. Others in my group have waited as long as three hours to get their NGO Observer badges.

news about EU emissions reduction targets

2009-12-09T06:44:00.002-05:00

Gordon Brown has announced that the European Union should continue on to commit to 30% reductions of 1999 levels by 2020, regardless of whether the United States amps up their targets. Whether the EU will actually go for this is unclear, but ultimately unlikely. This is big news--maybe a little too good to be true. A very good Climate Progress blog post here about this.

US/China negotiations heat up

2009-12-09T06:03:00.005-05:00

News is breaking that China is getting fiercer about US and EU emission reduction target promises. China is unhappy with Obama's promise of 17% cut of 2005 level emissions by 2020. Of the two most important discussions happening at the conference (1. emissions reduction targets and 2. financing for developing countries) This is undoubtedly the most important part of discussion group 1. It was unclear to me exactly how heated this would get, because China didn't really give reaction in the press when Obama announced US's target intentions a few weeks ago. Now we're seeing this come out of the woodwork. China is making some very serious and potentially untenable requests--they demand to remain included in the G77 block, which is developing countries, yet their political clout and emission intensity are such that they have to belly up and be major negotiators. At the conference, the G77 events are posted as "G77 plus China", which gives a clue as to how folks on the ground here at the conference characterize China's involvement in the block. I think that we are starting to see, perhaps for the first time, just how much China has amassed political power. China is here!

Don't get me wrong, I will be first to say that the US and EU need to make deeper emissions cuts. But China's requests are troubling, because of their own refusal to reduce net emissions by 2020. Under China's current plan, emissions would still be net positive in 2020. China definitely does need emissions allowances to bring its rural population out of poverty, but they also need to come to terms with their total GHG output. If China was calling on the US and also offering deeper cuts itself, then we might be able to characterize China as a rising star in climate change leadership. Unfortunately, that is not the case, at least as it appears today.

I'm headed out to the conference center after I visit the print shop for Millennium ART. Things to watch today include fall out from yesterday's leaked "Danish text", and this feud between China and developed countries.

2009-12-09T04:16:00.001-05:00

2009-12-08T17:32:00.003-05:00

My friend Ned just sent me an article from the Guardian about the so-called “Danish text”, the headline of which reads, “Copenhagen climate summit in disarray”. Last week, my UN plane buddy told me about the deal that the US had struck with the World Bank to allow the bank to control all climate financing. That is only one aspect of the “Danish text”, which is a secret plan put together by developing nations (EU, US, and Denmark at least, and maybe more). This is both a surprise and a problem—a surprise because, hey, it was secret, and a problem because it completely undermines the UN negotiation process. I just read the Danish text fresh—they literally just left “x’s” for leaders to fill in the precise numbers when they decide later next week. But basically, the text means that these developed countries have already made up their minds about financing and regulation, and have formed a solid block that won’t let other proposals with less political power go forward. The Guardian says that developed countries are mad. And I don’t blame them.

Two main thoughts about this:

1. Let me say that I attended the conference today and witnessed no such disarray. It remains unclear to me in exactly what sphere the disarray is playing out—probably behind closed doors, where all the juicy stuff happens. The Guardian broke this story only a couple of hours ago. It’s not on the blogs yet, and my guess is that there will be more turmoil and talk at the conference tomorrow. I’ll be there!

2. I am not surprised. It makes perfect sense to me that these countries would have drafted a near-complete proposal in advance of the conference, so that Obama et al can swoop in in the last days of negotiations and produce a neat and politically acceptable (for them) agreement to save the day at the last second. However, this is seriously disheartening.

The Guardian says that one of the main discontents of ambassadors from developing countries is that the text reveals that US and others will “abandon the Kyoto Protocol”. This is hardly something that developing leaders can still be outraged over—the United States has never intended to sign Kyoto, and certainly didn’t come to Copenhagen imagining that outcome. The negotiations are currently split into two “tracks”, the talks that pertain to the UNFCCC AWG-KP (the ad hoc working group that is discussing what happens next with the Kyoto Protocol) and the UNFCCC AWG-LCA (those that didn’t ratify Kyoto and are participating in “long-term cooperative action”—basically, the US and any other developed country that has the political clout to join in these talks). The LCA talks were never going to result in an agreement that had anything to do with Kyoto. The time horizon and emission reduction targets will be negotiated independently. So the political character of the talks is already weird—there are the Kyoto talks and the “long-term cooperative action” talks, the rest of the world talks and the US talks.

That said, the text is a serious blow to the UN process. It makes the UN look bad and weak, and most significantly, it undermines the sense of democracy that comes from the UN representing each country equally.

There will definitely be more about this tomorrow. I’m very curious about what will happen at the talks.

cool press

2009-12-08T15:07:00.007-05:00

LATimes Blog: L.A. architect Christophe Cornubert's carbon-dioxide cube debuts in Copenhagen

Gawker: Deep Breathes

NYU Local: UN to Unveil Huge Multimedia Art Installation for Copenhagen Summit

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/12/05/one-ton-co2-cube-to-be-dropped-on-copenhagen/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/12/08/2765498.htm

http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-tech-un-to-launch-co2-cube-as-a-visual-demonstration-of-carbon-emissions/

http://www.fox43.com/news/nationworld/sns-viral-co2-cube-story,0,2148165.htmlstory

2009-12-08T14:33:00.001-05:00

CUBE Unveiling Ceremony

2009-12-08T04:53:00.019-05:00

Yesterday I ran around like crazy all day preparing for the CUBE unveiling ceremony. It was a great night--first a press conference, followed by a stunning visual show from the Obscura guys, then a live electric violin performance by Kenji Williams of Bella Gaia.

This morning the project was on the cover of the COP15 Post, which is a print newspaper running for the course of the conference, distributed free throughout the city.

Pictures from the light show:

The double on the bottom is the reflection of the CUBE in the lake water.

My new friends

2009-12-06T17:25:00.015-05:00

Gidget, Pricilla, and Romeo--my friends in the tattoo parlor. Giving them names makes them a little friendlier.

...and smattering of other objects of interest in the shop...

2009-12-06T17:14:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I got to explore the city by way of PR and advertising for the CUBE. With a stack of posters in hand, I visited every café and hotel lobby in the area, and finally ended up on the Copenhagen University campus. That part of town is so charming and beautiful! It felt very reminiscent of the “old towns” in other European and Chinese cities. Even though most of Copenhagen feels like an old town, this part was particularly quaint.

Today I really realized the monumental scale of the CUBE project. People keep pouring in from the US to help with the project. The guys are from Obscura Digital, an amazing digital art company in San Francisco. We’ve all become fast friends.

A big question is what will happen to the CUBE after the Copenhagen conference. The current hope is that it will make it to the Shanghai World Expo. This is incredibly exciting because the Chinese organizers are expecting 70 million visitors to attend over the course of the six months that it will run (May-October 2010). Not only that, but the UN has asked to use the CUBE as the centerpiece of their pavilion, but they can’t offer funding to bring it there. Mia was wondering aloud last night about how they would work out the logistics of bringing the CUBE to Shanghai if they got the funds—“we don’t even have anyone that speaks Chinese”. To which, I laughed! Maybe this will turn into an opportunity for me to land in Shanghai next year.

I’m not allowed to post pictures of the CUBE until after our unveiling event tomorrow night, to make sure that pics of the test visuals don’t leak to the press. I’ve been snapping lots of pics of the test phase, so on Tuesday I’ll post them. But I can show you the CUBE in daylight, from above. I took these from a hotel room overlooking the lake. They give a sense, I think.

I haven’t had a chance to get back in to the COP15 conference site today or yesterday because Mia and the team have needed me full time working on the CUBE in preparation for the unveiling ceremony tomorrow. I’m hoping that Tuesday I will get a chance to explore the Bella Center and maybe even meet up with the other Udall scholars who are here.

From 12/5, first days in Copenhagen

2009-12-06T16:52:00.000-05:00

This is the morning of my second day in Copenhagen. Yesterday was one of those strange, muddled 36-hour days that happen on getting to Europe.

I arrived at Copenhagen airport at 6:30AM, much to early to call the person at whose shop I’m staying. I decided to go to the UN negotiating headquarters to get my NGO Observers’ badge and orient myself for the conference. After several false starts, which included asking directions at the industrial plant on the other side of the river from the conference center, and a run-in at a parking garage, I made it to the Bella Center to check in. (Still lugging my luggage.) I was surprised by the relaxed atmosphere—so relaxed I couldn’t even identify the right building! The conference doesn’t officially start for 3 more days, which might account for the laxity. Now I have my very own NGO Observer’s pass, which entitles me to attend any open session posted on the schedule. My UN friend says that a lot of good stuff happens behind closed doors, but I’m still excited for the parts I get to see.

From here, I made my way, via excellent public transportation, to the Tycho Brache Planetarium to meet up with Millennium ART director Mia. The CUBE had been built the night before by an incredible team of strapping guys from California. They had worked all through the freezing night until 9AM to stack the shipping containers on top of each other and stretch the screens across the CUBE’s sides. I ran some hectic errands for Mia, which included jumping in the car with a jovial artist to go to the art supply store to get glue for pinning up posters. I thought to myself—yesterday I was at my apartment in New York City, and today I am at an art supply store in Copenhagen buying glue with a stranger, all without sleeping in between.

In the evening, I made my way to the tattoo shop, where I’ve been invited to stay by a new friend Lars. The shop is semi-abandoned now, as Lars and his colleagues have moved into a new space a few blocks away. They are using this space as storage for their friends’ art installations. Lars said, “Don’t let them freak you out”, in reference to the morbid, decaying sculptures lying around the room. Yeah right.

The first night in the shop went off without a hitch. There is a shower downstairs and an industrial sized sink in the corner. The shop sits on a main “walking street”, which means a main bar street. The merry-makers outside were making extreme merry until the wee hours, but I was so tired that I only woke up a couple of times for the most raucous street-singing. No problem.

Among the most colorful decorations at the shop are three fully make-upped, my-sized mannequins, a tank full of lizards (which Lars comes to feed every few days), an abandoned moto-bike, and a five-foot long snake skin that only presented itself to me as such when I brushed it off my face in the middle of the night.

The shop doesn’t have internet, so I’m trolling around and won’t be able to post until I find an open café.

For the climate-minded

2009-12-06T16:46:00.005-05:00

On the plane I sat next to a person who works for the United Nations Development Programme. Lucky me! I can’t divulge anything about her, because she told me sensitive information that had come to her through the UN. We talked for a long time about the goal of the negotiations, how the actual negotiating works, and who the major figures are. (Apparently the UN has a cast of characters as rich as a Woody Allen movie.)

Originally, the goal of this conference was to set legally binding emissions reductions targets for every nation in the world, so that a global regulatory scheme would be in place when the first wave of Kyoto agreements expires in 2012. The UN has had a much more difficult time than expected brokering these arrangements, so they have scaled back their goal for COP15, so that the new plan is to secure politically, as opposed to legally, binding agreements at this conference.

This plan is going better than expected. Even as recently as two months ago, things looked much worse for politically binding agreements. But the recent announcements by China of 40% reduction in "carbon intensity" from 2005 levels by 2020, and the United States' announcement of 17% emissions reductions of 2005 levels by 2020, have breathed new life into the talks. China’s number might look more ambitious than the US, but actually the China target will still result in a net increase in emissions, because Chinese style development is so energy intensive. Everyone was hoping for a better number from China, but considering that even a year ago China has said they would never, under any circumstances agree to binding emissions targets, this number makes everyone feel better. The US number is actually pretty good. It is certainly technically ambitious. Obama said two weeks ago that he will personally attend the conference, which is a big deal for the political side of the talks. President Hu is also attending, but the two heads will miss each other by a couple of days. That’s too bad, because we might have seen some very serious movement in the negotiations had the two leaders been talking here together. However, it is still heartening that they are both going to appear, and gives a political signal to the rest of the world that China and the US are serious about these talks.

My UN friend says the main things to look out for over the next few weeks: 1. Concrete and individual emissions reductions targets from developed countries. 2. Financing mechanisms for aid to developing countries for technology transfer and adaptation to climate change. In terms of financing, the main battle is between the US’ proposal that would give the World Bank exclusive control over financing mechanisms for climate change, and everyone else’s proposal to let the UN, along with other major banks and international organizations handle financing. The former plan would quadruple the size of the World Bank! And make it an even stronger regulatory presence in the developing world. Perhaps you can guess my views on this.

So, will Copenhagen fail? It depends on when and how you set your expectations. Clearly the China/US target announcements were a big deal, but they are only negotiating chips on the table in advance of the talks. It remains to be seen what those targets will look like in two weeks. Hu and Obama will both appear, which is huge, but in my opinion mere appearances aren’t enough to call the conference a success. The finance discussion is key. Apparently the financing regulator (World Bank v. rest of the world) is completely undetermined. If the US really wants the World Bank to govern climate financing, and they make that a stipulation in their aid agreement, this could be extremely detrimental for the other position. I’ll be keeping close watch on this while I am here.

The UN delegates were given detailed security briefings, elements of which my plane buddy shared with me. The UN expects severe civil unrest akin to the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle. While the Danish government is doing their best to keep the conference contained in one part of the city, demonstrations could happen anywhere, and they are expected to be fierce and unruly. The largest protest is scheduled for next Saturday, and she advised me to stay off the street.

A New Adventure

2009-11-30T21:02:00.013-05:00

On Thursday I’m headed to Copenhagen, Denmark for a two-week adventure at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties 15 (UN COP15). I am attending the conference under the auspices of the Millennium ART Foundation’s CO2 CUBE: Visualize a Tonne of Change project.

The CUBE ia a digital media art installation and communications platform designed to make visible the monumental scale of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released into the atmosphere by human activity. Measured and stored at standard atmospheric pressure, 1 ton of CO2 = 8m³ (282.5 ft3). So imagine a cube approximately the size of a three-storey building. The average American emits one ton of carbon every month! Worldwide, 80 million tons of carbon are emitted every day.

As I understand, the CUBE structure is made of steel with screen stretched across its sides. The screens lend the opportunity to project digital content onto the cube, transforming it into a live multimedia interface. As I write, the cube is being erected on Saint Jørgen's Lake in front of Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen. The planetarium is quite near the United Nations’ main negotiation halls in Copenhagen—the neighborhood will have a lot of conference-related foot traffic. I’m told that the location on the lake is such that at night, the illuminated cube will be visible from many points in the city.

You can see from the artist’s renderings:

The CUBE looks magical on the lake! Check out more CUBE pics here.

I’m lucky enough to get NGO observer status because of my affiliation with Millennium ART. So I’m going to do my best in between CUBE events to take advantage of that privilege.

The blog will serve a dual purpose during my trip. I will chronicle my observations about the workings of the United Nations, the vibe in Copenhagen during the conference, updates and pics of the CUBE, my musings, etc. But I will also conduct a few interviews with youth activists on the challenges and possibilities for democracy in a globalized world. This is a special project for my class, Three Modalities of Social Entrepreneurship, the curricular component of The Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship.

Thanks for checking in!

And just for fun, from my recent trip to the San Francisco Bay:

A simple primer on the UN conference:

The UNFCCC holds an annual conference to advance intergovernmental relations and create a global regulatory scheme to mitigate global climate change. As the name suggests, there have been 14 of these meetings to date. COP15 in Copenhagen is important because the Kyoto Protocol is set to lapse in 2012. The conference in Copenhagen is the last opportunity to set a binding international regulatory scheme for green house gas emission reductions before Kyoto expires. This is important! Many constituencies from all over the world are heavily invested, not just environmentalists—indigenous populations, youth, citizens of low-lying island nations, the list goes on. You can read more deeply about the conference here: http://en.cop15.dk/frontpage

test post

2009-10-22T02:55:00.000-04:00

test post to see if we're still up and running...

I'll really post tomorrow or the day after.

Home again!

2009-06-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone,

I'm home safe with my family in California. I arrived yesterday at 8AM and had breakfast with my aunt, cousin, parents, and grandparents. It feels great to be home, if a little bizarre. I'm still in the "it feels like a dream" phase, and I'm having a hard time integrating my experience of China into my experience of the real world at home. I might have just had a very long, very wonderful waking dream.

Thanks for following my blog! I'm going to keep it for future abroad trips, but until then, happy, healthy travels.

Love,

Kate

Final weekend in Kunming

2009-05-30T01:46:00.000-04:00

These are the last few days in Kunming! I haven't had much to write about here in the last week because I've mostly been holed up in my dorm room writing my ISP and catching up with my friends. They have been doing amazing things! Yesterday we presented out projects to the group. I was so impressed by the range of interest and talent of my friends. Someone learned how to play the erhu, another studied traditional Chinese painting, another studied the food system of the Dai ethnic minority group in Southern Yunnan on the border of Vietnam. It was really fun to hear about everyone's adventures, minor misfortunes, and successes. We all have stories that we'll carry for the rest of out lives.

Last night I finally finished my paper. I feel pretty good about it--it's part academic and part personal. If anyone is interested in a copy, let me know, though it's pretty long.

This morning I had my final oral Chinese exam with my teacher. We just speak in Chinese for a while on open ended topics and she evaluates the improvement in my vocab, fluency, and grammar since the beginning of the semester. She said she was impressed by how much I'd improved! I'm excited too.

So this is the wrap up of the semester. We're headed to Beijing on Monday to see the great wall and have some fun, then next Friday I'm headed back to California just in time to see my cousin Lauren's 8th grade graduation! I can't believe the timing worked out so well. I might have chance for an update in Beijing, but most likely I'll wait to post again until I'm back in the states and can upload the pictures I've been saving up for so long.

Until then, 在见!

Return to Kunming

2009-05-23T00:38:00.000-04:00

This morning I arrived with Julie back in Kunming. The last few days have been wild ones! It feels like weeks since I wrote just a few days ago.

After the Pudacuo trip on Wednesday, Julie, Hallie and I went out to have drinks with some new Tibetan friends. There's a Tibetan saying that Tibetans learn to sing before they can talk and dance before they can walk. We learned it was true that night: we spent a long time exchanging songs around the table, each person singing a song. I was sharply reminded that people everywhere else in the world sing songs for fun, except in America. It's not a performance for them, just a simple way to exchange sentiments and share yourself and your culture. I love that! It's not about being the best singer, or even being a singer at all--our friend Dakpa said, "there's no person in the entire world who can't sing a song". I agree. It's something I'm quite comfortable with because of growing up with SFSF, but Americans don't generally feel comfortable sharing like that.

Julie and I woke early the next morning to catch a bus up to Tacheng in Weishi county to go to a national park that is under construction. The climate and scenery in Tacheng was completely different than that of Zhongdian. It was hot and almost tropical! We really felt how long we'd been so high up in the mountains.

We met my friend the government official who took us on a private tour of the park. The famous attraction here is the famous and elusive Yunnan golden monkey. After walking up a very steep mountain-side, we were nearly immediately greeted by a huge tribe of the monkeys. My friend said that our presence was quite auspicious--it is extremely rare to see so many monkeys so close. I took a million pictures (which I can't upload because of the restricted internet access).

The trip to Tacheng was magical. That evening we shared dinner with an amazing couple, two PhDs who teach at a university in Thailand, one from Thailand the other from Russia and their two beautiful little daughters. The man teaches international environmental law and the woman micro-biology (Julie's field!), so they were perfectly suited to us. They told us all about the circumstances of their romance--how they were brought together by signs in the clouds that were messages from God. They were really inspiring and genuine people. I've never heard stories quite like theirs.

Julie and I left Tacheng early the next morning to get back to Zhongdian. I left immediately to go back to Pudacuo, where I still felt like I had some unfinished research business. When I arrived, I tried to explain to the woman at the ticket counter that I had already been to the park, and I just wanted to see the village inside: Do I have to pay the whole ticket price (about $70 US)? I think she didn't quite understand my meaning, because she marched me right past the ticket booth and put me on a bus into the park without my having to pay a dime! The bus driver dropped me off a little way inside the park and pointed down a tiny dirt road with some houses on either side.

I entered this tiny village, increasingly sure that I had been misunderstood. Everyone in the village stared at me, tourists clearly weren't supposed to come here and my presence was confusing. I talked with some locals about the experience of living in the park, etc.

When I returned out to the road, none of the park buses would stop to pick me up because it was not an official bus stop. It was much too far to walk back to the park entrance gate, so I was thrilled when a clackety tractor pulled over when I hailed it down. The local man was happy to give me a ride. Just as I got settled and comfortable in the back of the trailer, he turned off the road onto a tiny dirt path. What had I gotten myself into!?! People started flooding from the nearby houses, clapping, waving and cheering as we drove by. I realized that he had taken to detour to show me off to his village! He was grinning ear to ear and kept pointing back at me. It was a really beautiful experience.

Now I'm back in Kunming, in the final stretch of my time in China. I'm starting to feel that mixed feeling of sadness and excitement when a great adventure is coming to an end. I'm preparing to come back home.

2009-05-20T07:17:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

I haven't written for the past week because I've been having a very difficult time accessing my blog. I'll let you all fill in the dots about why that may be. Let's just say I'm in a place where the internet is somewhat restricted.

I can't upload pictures from where I am now because of this problem. This is a pity, because today I went to Pudacuo National Park to carry out the observation part of my research. It was absolutely incredibly, outrageously, gloriously beautiful. It's best explained with pictures. I'm going to do my best to get them online soon.

Last weekend I had a fantastic interview with a man who works at a nature reserve called Tacheng. We really got along, and he invited me and my friends to come up to the reserve for a private tour. He told me they restrict tourist access, so we should have the place largely to ourselves. This is the site of the famous Yunnan golden monkey preservation project. charismatic mega fauna, yadda yadda. It should be great! Julie and I are headed down there early tomorrow morning for a few days.

I was particularly proud of this interview because I conducted it entirely in Chinese. I'm getting the hang of it!

So my plan to return to Kunming has been pushed back for a few days. I'm hoping to hop on a bus sometime this weekend. But I'm really enjoying myself and the research is going so well I don't want to stop now!

I'll do my best to find some good internet and update in the next few days.

Love to all,
K

trip to Deqin

2009-05-15T01:52:00.001-04:00

I returned yesterday from a side-trip to a tiny mountain town right on the border of Tibet called Deqin. Originally Hallie and I were planning to stay until Saturday, but the man I wanted to interview was out of town, and we learned that the major nature reserve Bai Ma, is closed to visitors right now. So I split a little ahead of schedule, and now I'm back in Zhongdian making more contacts and beginning to wrap up my project.

I took some pictures of the stunning scenery in Deqin and the nearby Meili Snow Mountain that I wanted to share here.

We stayed at a cute hostel in Deqin on the top floor. We had a stunning view from the roof!
Hallie and I took a trip out to Feilai si a mini-village that has been over-run with development. I felt compelled to document the construction here, as it was as much a feature of the place as the mountain-scape behind.
The entire place felt like a construction site. Pretty sad, really.
But even the noise of trucks and construction work was hard to distract from the stunning sight of Meili snow mountain.
Meili is a sacred mountain to the Tibetan Buddhists in this area. There is a 12-day pilgrimage trek around the mountain that many people endeavor each year. These were the kind of mountains you sit it awe in front of for a long time.
A friend and kindred spirit I met in a cafe at Feilai si.
A picture from the trip back down to Zhongdian. I was shocked at how much destruction we saw on the way. Huge mining and logging operations dotted the road all the way down. Entire mountains were denuded here. I've never really been as interested in the more "classic" environmental problems like mining and deforestation, and have spent most of my time thinking about climate change. But now I think that maybe my lack of interest came from never having actually seen the destruction in action, and the horribly devastating consequences.

This is surely one of the most beautiful places on earth. I was so surprised that the place is sacred to so many Buddhists in the area, and yet environmental destruction runs rampant throughout the area.

I feel like this trip put Chinese environmental problems in perspective for me unlike any other experience I've had since I've been here. I had been feeling rather optimistic about the prospects for environmental health here, but then this, in addition to Paul Krugman's article in the NYTimes today makes me feel frustrated and pessimistic all over again.

2009-05-09T21:51:00.000-04:00

I returned to Zhongdian on Wednesday afternoon and immediately called a contact that Anna had given me, a friend in the foreign affairs bureau in Zhongdian. Anna had told me that she spoke good English, but when I called on the phone, I realized that Anna was mistaken. No matter, because my Chinese is good enough to handle this now.

This lady was extremely friendly and we really got along. We went out for coffee, where we discussed her work, my studies, and the conservation system in China, about which she is quite knowledgeable. We got along so well that we decided to go out to dinner. She took me to a local hole-in-the wall place that serves some of the most delicious food I've had since I've been in China. This is one of the major benefits of consorting with locals!

At dinner, she invited me to some with her to her hometown on the weekend to celebrate her son's 3rd birthday. I ended up not being able to go, but this is just to illustrate how kind people have been to me.

After I said goodbye to her, I looked at my clock and realized that I'd been speaking only in Chinese for over 4 hours! I think I'm really getting somewhere, which has inspired me to continue working hard on this language.

The next day was a bit lonely. I didn't have any contacts lined up, and Hallie had gone with an NGO to check out "the cheese factory"--a rural yak cheese factory that is implementing a sustainable tourism project. I spent the first half of the day in a cafe working on some projects from home that I needed to clear up--the application to the Gallatin Dean's Honor Society, etc.

Then, just when I was really starting to feel lonesome, Hallie came bursting into the cafe! It was glorious to see her. It felt like we had been apart for a long long time. (small-world side note on Hallie: She's from Westport, CT and went to Staples High School with my cousin Matt).

On Friday Hallie and I had a lazy morning, followed by an amazing meeting with some folks from an organization called the Kawagebo Institute in a northern town called Deqin. The Kawagebo people were so fun and down to earth! After talking with them for many hours, we've planned to go with them up to Deqin to see what NGO and conservation work is going on up in the very north of Yunnan. Afterwards, Hallie and I treated ourselves to a spaghetti dinner, a rare treat around here.

Yesterday we went to check out the local museum, which turns out to be a museum on traditional Tibetan medicine. Hallie and I ended up getting appointments with the resident Tibetan doctor. This guy knew things about us just by looking. I got some herbs to treat a long-term chronic problem I have back in the states (I'll spare you all the details). The doctor really took to us and demanded that we join him for drinks later in the night.

Hallie and I met up with her friends from the cheese factory excursion for dinner. This was a great crew--a beautiful Tibetan in charge of the environmental division of 'the Bridge Fund', NGO, and a very funny American expat biologist who studies wild yak behavior and migration, and some other Tibetan NGO staff. We ended up having a bit of a wild night in a Karaoke bar singing and dancing the night away.

Today we plan to go out to the biologist's work center, called the China Exploration and Research Society, about 13km outside of Zhongdian. Then we're going to meet up with our friends from Kawagebo for dinner, then drinks with the doctor. Tomorrow we're off to Deqin. It's still unclear whether we'll return to Zhongdian, so this is goodbye to this magical place for now. What a wild ride the last few days have been.

The research saga continues, to Lijiang and back again

2009-05-08T05:38:00.000-04:00

My trip to Lijiang was incredibly informative, and so different from my experience so far in Zhongdian. I went to Lijiang to meet with the director of foreign affairs who is friend of my teacher. I lost my Chinese cell phone some weeks ago, and in stubbornness haven't gotten a new one, which turned out to be difficult when trying to rendez-vous with these important folks.

In Zhongdian I've mostly been hanging out with rugged Tibetan NGO directors, young, hip, and poor. This was a starkly different scene. I met the tourism director (again I won't use any names in this post to protect my friends) outside of his swanky new government office building. He was so kind to me, calling several contacts to try and set up an interview concerning the national park system. I ended up hanging out with him in his office and chatting for several hours while we waited to hear. We talked about everything (politics, Chinese culture, economics, development, environmental issues, etc.), and he was very open with me, which I found somewhat surprising.

He introduced me to my lovely new friend, a young woman who is a translator for the department. We jetted away together in a swanky government car, a sleek black Mercedes Benz, to meet with the director of strategic planning for a new national park. I felt kind of raggedy, wearing my simple clothes and tennis shoes to go meet with an important office (alas, these are the only things I have to wear here)!

My interview went extremely well. I got amazing insider info on the Chinese conservation scheme. This man was also very honest with me about the system, violence that has sometimes occurred between local people and park officials, and the current political situation in Yunnan. I am so grateful to my friend (I'll call her Anna), who came with me to translate.

In Lijiang I stayed the night in the cheapest room I could find, a little less than US$3/night. This was the kind of place with a bathroom you wouldn't dare walk in without shoes. The joys of being a college student on a tight budget!

That night I took Anna out to dinner to thank her for her kindness and help. We had Chinese "hotpot" and ended up talking late into the night. She's been accepted into the economics department at Cambridge for the fall. Her work is in a new field of economics which attempts to quantify cultural benefits and work them into economic development schemes. For those of you familiar with environmental economics, this idea is akin to "internalizing" environmental benefits. She's absolutely brilliant and we became good friends that night.

I returned to Zhongdian the next morning, happy to leave my hotel! The bus was crowded and smoke-filled, which was difficult to handle on the 4 hour, windy road back to Zhongdian.

Now I'm here again. I have more to say about what's happened since I've been here. I'll tell about it soon.

First days in Zhongdian

2009-05-04T21:56:00.000-04:00

My first couple of days in Zhongdian have been the perfect blend of relaxed and thrilling! I arrived and met up with my friends in Zhongdian on Friday morning. The city is on the Tibetan plateau, and the altitude in the highest places is 4500m (14800 ft). I suffered from some serious altitude malaise the first day, but my friend Hallie dragged me out of bed to go meet the director of a local Tibetan grassroots NGO. Hallie is studying Tibetan grassroots environmental movements and how the relationship to Buddhism informs their work--cool project!

This guy turned out to be incredibly cool, young, hip Tibetan who is totally hooked up in the environmental scene in Zhongdian. Unfortunately I can't give his name or the name of the organization due to the politically sensitive nature of his work (protect your sources, anthropologists!). He took us to this groovy little restaurant run by a couple folks who are from his tiny Tibetan hometown. In addition to giving us the scoop on environmentalism on the Tibetan plateau, he also guided us through a delicious traditional Tibetan meal. Side note: yak meat is delicious, even to this vegetarian. Kind of like buffalo, but so much more.

Then, it turns out that he is a musician and he's headed to a bar later to play some traditional Tibetan music, do we want to come? Of course!

We wind our way down some dark Zhongdian alleyways, away from the tourist mecca that dominates the scene. This bar was totally hip, cool young Tibetans and a few interesting foreigners sipping special tea made with mushrooms grown at 4000 meters, supposedly good for the immune and cardiovascular systems. Then, these guys start singing this traditional Tibetan music, and at first it's just one guy and his drum. It was totally different from what I had always thought of as Tibetan music. His voice was pure and soft, and heartbreakingly beautiful. The melodies were not that unlike traditional scottish or irish tunes. This was the coolest scene! We had a really beautiful night hanging out with these guys and swapping stories with foreigners.

Then, on Sunday Hallie and I went to visit out friends Justin and Julie who are studying tanka painting (traditional Buddhist painting) at the Zhongdian culture center under a Buddhist master. Sunday is their only day off, so we took a hike up a nearby mountain to the temple there and spent the day lost in our thoughts. This was the subject of the cloud posts a few days ago.

Somewhere between meditating and thinking, I felt myself open up and started taking in the whole scene. These last couple of days I've been thinking a lot about what I want out of the next couple of years. In some ways this trip to China has been truly transformative. Travel has reasserted itself at the top of my list of priorities.

Then yesterday Hallie and I experience a bit of frustration trying to get some more contacts for interviews. I called the Lijiang culture minister under whose jurisdiction falls the National Park. He said he'd call me back and then didn't for many hours. Some other contacts variously fell through, or didn't understand what we were asking, or failed to call back. I began to understand the more frustrating side of research abroad. Then, at around 4PM, Hallie finally got a call saying we should go meet this American guy at a nearby cafe who could tell us more about local NGOs.

An ex-Bard professor and conservation biologist by training, he has worked for various local and international NGOs (as well as the World Bank!), as well as for the Chinese nature reserve system. He is extremely hooked up around here and took to us. He and some Tibetan friends were headed to do an environmental audit of a cheese factory some ways outside of Zhongdian, and he invited us!

I had already made plans to come to Lijiang to meet with the tourism bureau, but Hallie was seriously considering going when I left last night to come down here. I wouldn't be surprised if she's gone when I return to Zhongdian.

So those have been my blissful first few days of research. I think I could get used to this! This afternoon I'm meeting with several government officials to discuss the park. Things are looking up up up.

Study of Clouds at Zhongdian Temple

2009-05-03T06:19:00.000-04:00

2009-04-30T23:43:00.000-04:00

After a brief and unexpected detour to Kunming to clear up a little tummy malady, I arrived here in Zhongdian yesterday ready to start my research.

Getting to Zhongdian was something of an adventure. My bus was scheduled to leave at 7:30PM from the Kunming bus station. I left the student dorm at 6 with plenty of time to get to the station and get settled on the bus. A (seemingly) nice cabbie picked me up and promptly took me to the wrong bus station, which I'm now convinced he knew was the wrong one, and charged me an exorbitant fare. Once I ascertained the mistake, he had taken off and left me facing end-of-the-day-no-cab-will-pick-me-up-because-their-shift-is-about-to-be-over frustration. I tried unsuccessfully to hail a cab until 6:50, at which point a very kind young man helped me get to the public bus stop where I could catch the local bus to the long distance station.

The bus came, so packed with locals that a nasty exchange ensued in front of me. There wasn't a chance that I was going to get on that one. A second one came, and the driver told me that that bus wasn't scheduled to make the stop I needed on Thursdays (go figure), and that I needed to take another bus on the other side of the street. 7:02PM.

I cross the street. Bus #3 comes, and another unpleasant exchange occurs in which I am informed that I can't get on the packed bus with my backpack. 7:07PM

A sketchy white van pulls over with equally suspicious driver who wants to charge me a flat rate to go to the bus station. Everything bit of advice I've even been told about personal safety screams not to get in the van with this guy. 7:12PM

I desperately hail a cab who agrees to take me because the bus station is near his home. 7:14PM

I can't stop biting my nails and make a plan B about what to do if I miss the bus. 7:15PM

Arrive at the bus station!7:26PM

Locate the bus to Zhongdian! 7:28PM

The thug "boss" approaches me demanding an entrance fee for the bus. Talia and I encountered this on the way to Lijaing before Tiger Leaping Gorge and the con-artist weaseled 10 kuai out of each of us. This time, by some act of quick-thinking brilliance, I pretended I didn't speak english or chinese and just stared at him blankly as he hassled me for money. This guy did not know what to do with me! He let me onto the bus unscathed! 7:32PM

Pretty uneventful bus ride. I arrived in Zhongdian at 9:30AM yesterday morning and met up with my friends Julie, Hallie, and Justin who are also here.

Tomorrow I'm starting off on the solo adventure!

2009-04-26T06:18:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the last night with the big group. After that, I'm headed back up to Zhongdian with my friend Justin who is also conducting his Independent Study Project (ISP) there as well. I've made some good contacts already for the project--the regional tourism director of Lijaing, the culture center director in Zhongdian (who says he knows the national park director), and some NGO staff in Kunming.

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. It occurs to me that nobody really knows what my project is about. Here is the "project abstract" that I wrote for my project proposal (very brief and very informal):

National parks are sites of highly charged political and cultural expression in relation to the environment. What is the purpose of a national park? To protect precious natural landscapes? To preserve nature for future generations? To inspire national pride? Who are national parks for? For animals? For humans? For nature in and of itself? These questions and their vast range of answers reveal the inextricable link between human values and protected "natural" spaces.

In my ISP, I plan to study these political and cultural dimensions at China’s first ICUN approved National Park, Pudacuo. My preliminary research indicates very little scholarship on the human dimensions of the park in contrast to the highly developed research on ecology, geology, botany, and biology. I want to consider Pudacuo as a site where human values have indelibly shaped this “natural” space. Through my research I hope to gain a clearer understanding of the complex interactions between local people, NGOs, and the government at Puodacuo, and how each has affected and been effected by the park.

So--I'm going to hang out near this park for a few weeks, talk to some local folks (I've heard that some people were displaced during the formation of the park), talk to some NGO staff, learn more about the environmental movement in China, and hopefully pick up some nice connections and vocab along the way. It should be fun! And hopefully not too lonely. There are several students who will be there (although conducting their own research).

Does anyone have any advice about conducting research abroad? Krame, I'm thinking of you.

Since I'll be on my own schedule starting tomorrow, I should have more time for updates and phone class. Love to all. XOXO

Temples at Zhongdian

2009-04-23T05:10:00.000-04:00

The last day in Shaxi, my homestay mom prepared this beautiful set of dishes. She said they were traditional in her family. At first, I thought she had prepared them specially for my good-bye, but then Talia's homestay Dad said that they are prepared when someone has passed away. Neither of us was able to ascertain what was going on--whether someone had actually died, whether she had prepared them just to show them to me, or whether she made them for some other reason entirely. Just one of the many language/culture obstacles I've had recently!

Me and my homestay mom. She's sweet!

We rode in the bus for several hours to Zhongdian. This is my second time here, the first time was after the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. Zhongdian was abloom! This is where I'm planning to carry out my independent study project. I love it here.

We visited the largest temple in Easter Tibet on this day. Here is the picture from down below the mountain. The stairs were intense!

The view from atop the temple. Here we were blessed by the living Buddha. I am still wearing the thin red rope that he tied around our necks. We wear them for three days and then burn them to ensure our blessing. This temple was stunning. I loved this view from the top, looking out over the vast expanse of the rural area outside Zhongdian. The clouds this day were capturing my imagination.

Oh look at those Tibetan mountains! I will get over there some day. I feel like my friends are getting tired of me saying how badly I want to go. Mom and Dad, you want to come?

I was fascinated by the monks here. They seemed simultaneously studious and relaxed. We saw many of the younger ones talking on cell phones. Who has ever seen a Tibetan monk drive a car? Let me tell you, it's paradoxical looking. Still, there's no doubt there is serious study happening here. Boys as young as 7 come to study!

The highly specialized and technical "tanka" style painting practiced by Tibetan monks. Several of my classmates are considering studying tanka painting during their independent study period.

The next day, we went to this Buddhist pilgrimage site 40 minutes outside of Zhongdian. The sacred intentions of the visitors here were palpable. And visible, because the pilgrims string Buddhist prayer flags all through the forest around the small temple. I just sat in the woods and soaked up the ethereal beauty of the flags waving in the wind. The air felt heavy with prayers. This is a sacred place.

We saw a monk in the temple doing his daily full-body prostrations--1,000 every single day!

Thinking of you Dad.

pictures from Shaxi

2009-04-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

This is the visual component to yesterday's post. I didn't have it together then to put these up.

Shaxi men carrying decorations for a wedding ceremony that happened today.

I sat in the town square on the morning of market day, Friday. This was one of many parades that made its way right through the middle of town.

A beautiful view of the river that runs through Shaxi. My house is very close to this bridge.

The idol at the "local God temple". He is a supernatural being said to be able to defeat the dragon god in water. Each village has its own local God.

Visit to the Shaxi market! (These pics are red because all the vendor tables were shielded by red umbrellas.)

I ran into my homestay mom at the market. She was selling the noodles that the family makes at the house.

Each on of my classmates is conducting a "Shaxi Community Study Project" while we're here. I decided to look into waste management. My interest in rural waste management systems was spurred by my trip to Belen, Peru last year. The conditions here are somewhere between really bad and kind of bad. This is a "trash pick up site", which is right in the middle of town.

My little room in the homestay.

Little bro

my friends!

an illustration of life in Shaxi

2009-04-18T04:43:00.000-04:00

A couple of us ordered drinks in a cafe in Shaxi. The guy said he was out of milk and we'd have to wait for a bit. After waiting for more than 2 hours, we finally asked what the story was, the guy said he was waiting for the cow to come down from the mountain so he could get more milk! And here we thought someone was running out to the grocery store...

Rural homestay

2009-04-17T23:15:00.001-04:00

This is my third day living in my “rural homestay” in Shaxi village. These three days have been extraordinary. Each has shattered and subsequently reshaped my perception of what it can be to live on planet Earth (sounds dramatic, and it is!).

My family lives in a compound-style living complex. There is a sizeable courtyard surrounded on three sides by two storey buildings, the fourth is a plaster wall. I live with Mama, little brother who is seven years old, and mom’s parents BaBa and NaiNai. I’m not sure where Dad is—the information hasn’t been offered, so it seems rude to ask.

I’m living in the little boy’s room. This caused some excitement and anxiety on the first day! I told him that it was okay if he came in to play with his toys and use his things, which opened him up a bit.

Directly outside my side of the compound live three fat pigs and 15 chickens. I’m still getting used to the persistent, all-hours grunting and sqwaking. Animals are smelly too! I asked if I could help feed the pigs, but Grandma just raised her eyebrows and laughed at me. That’s the general response I’ve received upon asking to help with family chores. The impression is that I’m inept, and they’re completely right.

I’m still trying to figure out gramps. Today at breakfast I heard him speak a whole sentence for the first time. Usually when I address him he just nods his head. I’ve never seen him smile either. This guys looks and acts like he’s seen some stuff. I’m fascinated by him and would really like to know something about his life story, but he doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me.

The main family activity is noodle production. Mama and grandma prepare this huge, flat flour and rice cake that sits and dries for several days. When they’re ready, they cut the slab into strips and feed it into a machine that turns out perfect noodles. I asked to have the method explained to me, and the answer I got was rather technical—I think I missed a lot of nuance.

Meals are simple and delicious. We usually eat some noodles with vegetables and spices, along with a dried bean dish that tastes kind of like potato chips. That I don’t eat meat hasn’t posed any problem at all. The veggies are plentiful and varied.

Something incredible about this culture—they waste NOTHING. If a dish isn’t finished at one meal, I will definitely see it the next. All food scraps are given to the pigs. Even bath water is saved for washing clothes. It’s a really cool way of living that I hope to emulate when I get back to the states.

The town of Shaxi seems like it’s on the verge of a development boom. Tourism is still very slow here, but there are now a few guesthouses and cafes which cater to western tourists. I imagine that in the next few years this place could explode into a mini Dali.

Until then, life here is slow and peaceful. My teacher describes the people as “still pure”, and that seems about right. I’m really enjoying the pace of life.

[Shout out to Talia’s parents. Can’t wait to meet you in NYC!]

An incredible couple of days

2009-04-16T23:40:00.000-04:00

What happens when the bus breaks down?

I love this picture that I took of my friend Keli'i, who goes to Fordam. He is perfecting his Chinese peasant look. I think he looks pretty authentic.

Plan B for getting us to our destination were these sketchy white mini-buses. Our driver got lost on the way to a small school that we planned to visit. When we finally arrived, this school was incredible. An Aussie couple is running an experimental preschool program that integrates the native "Bai" language along with the Chinese language curriculum. The kids' scores in the first grade have jumped by more than 25 percentage points! They are truly inspirational people. I hope someday to come back to this place.

5-year old class

We left the school and continued on to the Buddhist temple where we stayed the night. This place was so beautiful and peaceful. In the afternoon we wandered around the hills looking for monkeys! Alas, none came. I was extremely disappointed. I've never seen a monkey in the wild and I was really looking forward to it.

In the morning, this stupid rooster (which was living right under our room) started crowing at 6AM. I got my shoes on at one point and tried to go down and find it. I don't know what I would have done if I had.
Then, as we were heading down the hill, who should find us but this guy:
...and then there were more and more of them. I was so thrilled I was jumping out of my skin. This was an incredible interaction. I felt like I was looking at my distant cousins or something. They are such beautiful, expressive animals.

More on my rural homestay, where I'm living now, when I have a minute to really tell about it.

The start of a new adventure

2009-04-13T04:03:00.000-04:00

We've been on the road now for 3 days. I've finally made it to the bustling city Dali. What a charming town! This is where my homestay father is from, he says its the best place in all of China (though he admits his bias).

On Saturday we went to the town Weishan. Here we spent time on the sacred Taoist mountain Weibaoshan, as well as saw this beautiful Bai minority dance troupe:

This guy was playing this amazing long gourd flute. The sound was low and rhythmic, like a drum to which the dancers all moved. It was hypnotic.

This woman monk on the sacred Taoist mountain played her gu-qin (literally, ancient stringed instrument). She is a renown painter. I bought one of her paintings! Get ready Emma.

I enjoyed the sunset with some buddies. This is Marissa in this picture.

In the evening we had something of a hotel party.

On Monday (today), we left Weibaoshan early and went to a tie-dye factory on the way to Dali. I felt really lucky to have this experience--how many people get to tour a factory in China? But I felt like the manager was showing us only select parts. He said more than 4,000 people work here, yet we only saw about 30 or 40. Where is everybody else? These workers' conditions looked pretty good in terms of cleanliness and physical safety. Still, I don't envy their work.

"Made in China". Yeah, no kidding.

And the prized picture on the factory wall. H.W. himself!

Tomorrow we're hanging in Dali. On Wednesday, we're going to spend the night at a temple on the way to our homestay in rural Shaxi. We're told there's internet at the Culture Center in the rural area, but I'll believe it when I see it. Til then!

Homestay wrap-up

2009-04-13T03:48:00.000-04:00

So, I've officially left the extreme comfort and safety of my homestay family. I was so sad to leave them. They have truly impacted my life.

On the last night, they took me out to a really great Muslim restaurant. The food was delicious! Chen chen brought a few friends with her. There's just nothing like rowdy 6 year old girls.

(Chen chen in the middle).

After dinner we had a little photo session. I felt like we were sitting for a formal portrait.

My hero! I just love this lady.

And one last adorable picture of Chen chen.

2009-04-10T08:30:00.000-04:00

Hi! Sorry I've been MIA. I've been trying to make the most out of living with this family, which has meant less time thinking about my blog (but not less time thinking about my loved ones reading)!

Today I had my Chinese final test. The written part went really well. My Chinese writing skills have always been relatively strong. The oral exam was an unqualified disaster. My teacher was nice and gave me an okay grade, but I was nervous and froze up. It was like I couldn't even speak Chinese. I'm glad it's behind me, and no great harm done.

The formal classroom style schooling for the semester is over! I can't believe it. My program is half over, only 7 weeks to go. Tomorrow morning I've taking off with my SIT class for a two week field-trip to see some more of Yunnan. During this time, I'll have lectures from experts and regular town folks. I'll also do my 4 day rural homestay near the town of Shanxi. It's going to be a whirlwind. I'm bringing my computer, but I'm not sure how the internet access will, particularly when I'm in rural places. Good news is though, I'll take lots of pictures. When I do update it will be colorful!

Visit to minorities museum, homestay update

2009-04-04T07:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my SIT class went to the Yunnan Province Minorities Museum. The museum is entirely devoted to the art, cultural artifacts, and celebration of China's myriad ethnic minority groups. This is something the average American knows woefully little about. To our uneducated eyes, Chinese people and culture appear uniform and monolithic. Not so! There is incredible diversity within China. China has come to call the populations with distinctive identities "ethnic minorities". I think this is a clunky English translation of a clunky Chinese idea. In America, the phrase "ethnic minority" holds a host of charged connotations. In China however, "minority people" enjoy a special political and social status, such as exemption from the one child policy, special minority colleges (I attend the one in Kunming!), and a break on the college entrance exam score necessary to get into university. Even so, the categories aren't as neat as the Chinese would have us believe. Stereotyping is a major problem that "minority" people face.

The museum was stunning, one of the most interesting I've ever visited. I was particularly taken with the mask exhibit and the special costume exhibit. Mom-I was thinking of your love of masks when I was walking through this room. Here are some of my very favorites:

The title under this was "Dai minority wizard costume"!

"Witch doctor costume"

Last night I brought out my fiddle to play for my family. After I played the first tune, my homestay mom said--"that's Scottish music!" I was extremely impressed. Usually people have to be pretty familiar to be able to distinguish Irish from Scottish music.

My little sister Chen Chen put on her special dress-up outfit and danced to my playing. She looked so cute, I couldn't resist a few pictures.

Pi-pi

Tiger Leaping Gorge essay draft

2009-03-30T07:12:00.000-04:00

This is a draft of the response paper I wrote for SIT after my Yunnan Exploration Project. I've developed it a little more since I turned it into my academic director because it has really helped me articulate some mysteries about my feelings and experience so far. I feel like I'm putting myself out there with this a little, but here goes:

“You alright?” Liz and Talia frequently asked on the vertiginous bus route from Bai Shui Tai village to the Tibetan city Zhongdian. The truth would have revealed my stoic façade. I was squeezed from all sides, squatting on the floor of the bus, gripping the musty seat back to stay on-kilter, its occupant staring unabashedly at the three women “wai guo ren”—foreigners. I counted 16 legitimate seats and 33 less legitimate riders, all twenty-somethings dressed in full military fatigues. Slight shifting provoked a truculent hissing from the battalion. Despite my anxiety, I reveled in this “real” China to be retold to loved ones at home.

I’ve often answered untruthfully when asked about my emotional condition in the last few weeks. Being in China is hard.

The last week has been transformative for me. For the first time, I’m conscious of why I wanted to come to China. I’ve been bad at articulating my reasons even to myself, and certainly gave unsatisfactory answers to most who asked; something like, “Why am I interested in China?: Have you read the news lately?”. It’s silly for young people to pretend that the world’s future—economic, technological, cultural, and environmental doesn’t rest with China. But this week I got closer to understanding what is personal about this semester abroad—why I think China is stunning in its own right, and why it deserves appreciation in spite of its astronomical rise as a world force.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve been absorbed in Edward Said’s classic post-colonial text “Orientalism”. This book has caused me to examine my own relationship to ‘the East’. Said says that Western nations, particularly France, Great Britain, and America invented narrative about ‘the Orient’ that has governed western scholarship and politics for more than a century. This way of conceiving of ‘the East’—even the idea that such a cohesive and culturally uniform place exists—still operates impressively today.

While Said focuses on the Middle East and the West’s uses of Islam, I’ve been thinking about his argument and its application to my experience in China. I am observing China with a ‘western’ eye, which means that I come with a long cultural history of privilege, domination, and prejudice. Using Said as a lens for my trip has opened me enormously, but I’ve struggled to simultaneously reckon with ‘Orientalism’ and feel comfortable studying abroad in China.

Tiger Leaping Gorge pulled me starkly out of that analytical mode.

Because I wasn’t studying, I let myself simply experience the gorge. I paused many times along the path, saturating my mind’s eye. This felt genuine—to just be in this country without expectations—with a wide-open mind. I feel that for the first time I was really appreciating China—in touch with its vast expanse. The total humility and awe I felt soaking up the sublime mountain horizon of Tiger Leaping Gorge doesn’t come very often. I felt so at the mercy of the landscape, both physically and emotionally—it tested the limits of my body and my comprehension at once. This is why I came here. To be awed. To be transformed by whatever China is.

Ultimately, I think escaping analysis can lead to the kind of understanding that I yearn for and seek so adamantly by reading books.

Here study and experience form something that is larger than either of the two. I acknowledge that I do not and cannot ever know China. There is no “real” China to relate to my friends and family. Yet I have a way of conceptualizing China despite this admission, one that is absolutely colored by my national identity. As an American, I conceive of China in a way that I did not entirely choose, that I’ve little hand in constructing myself (though of course I can’t absolve myself completely of my own view). But as a human being, I can live this experience to the fullest extent and crystallize an understanding that is unique—that is beyond culture and transcends my culturally embodied experience. I can have my own, personal China. No matter what complexities, memories, and paradoxes my China consists of by the time I leave in June, there is no doubt that it is partly constituted by my time in Tiger Leaping Gorge last week.

About my Chinese family

2009-03-30T01:14:00.000-04:00

I moved in with my Chinese family on Friday. First, let me ease the minds of my anxious (American) parents and say that they are absolutely fantastic.

On Friday my Dad came to pick me up. He was extremely nervous--even more than I! He's a funny guy. he's from a city called Dali in the north of Yunnan and his "Beijing Hua" (proper Chinese speaking) isn't very good. It's a bit difficult for me to understand him, and I often reply to him with "shen me?" (what?). He giggles goofily and scratches his head, trying to pick out the right words in very slow, broken English.

My Mom is a computer and technology professor at Yunnan Science and Technology University, so we live in faculty housing on campus. Mom is warm and extremely friendly. She laughs a lot. She speaks cleaner Mandarin and I have almost no trouble understanding her speech. She also understands a lot of English, though she doesn't really speak. For example, if I don't know the meaning of a Chinese word, I can guess the English translation and she will recognize the word as correct or incorrect.

On Friday, Mom and I we went to pick up my little sister at elementary school close to the university. Chen Chen is 6, in 1st grade, incredibly cute and curious. She immediately took to me (it was mutual) and she's taken up my Chinese education with a vengeance. She has a small English/Chinese children's picture dictionary that she whips out whenever I don't understand her.

The family also has a ferociously ill-behaved puppy named Pipi, so named because the Chinese word for naughty includes the syllable "pi". If he wasn't so cute, I would probably throttle him. Already, Pipi's victims include special two pens, my sandal, and my family photo-album.

I spent the entire weekend with my family. We were going to go to the park on Saturday, but Mom decided in the afternoon that it was too hot, so I stayed inside all day and didn't go out til the evening. We went to a beautiful nearby park and played with Pipi. Pipi nearly got his eye poked out by a protective mother hen! Afterwards, they took me to the big grocery store to buy "some food that I prefer". They refuse to believe that I'm happy eating Chinese food.

On Sunday, I did homework in the day and played chess with Chen Chen for hours. She's not too bad! The last American exchange student who lived with the family taught her how to play, and Mom said that she just has it in her mind that that's what American's like to do. Fine with me, its a good time.

In the evening, Mom's sister came over and we all made dinner together. The ladies took me downtown to see a wedding fashion show and walk around. The weather is stunningly beautiful now in Kunming and it was very pleasant to walk around the city center.

Today was my first day back in Chinese class in more than a week. Both of my teachers said that they couldn't believe how much my Chinese had improved. Hwang said that she didn't believe I was the same student. I think that's what being in a crucible of a Chinese-speaking environment will do to you. I also feel my Chinese improving, even over these three days. It's really exciting to try to communicate my thoughts with my limited vocab. My family is very encouraging. I'm trying to speak every thought that comes to my mind. It's exhausting but extremely rewarding. I'm having the time of my life!

I will post some pictures of my family when I get some in the next few days.

2009-03-26T09:52:00.000-04:00

My friend and fellow trekker Talia is keeping a blog of her trip also. She put some beautiful pictures of the gorge on her blog, which you can find here: http://whonuyunnan.blogspot.com/

You might see someone who looks familiar in some of the pictures...

Day 1, bus ride to Lijiang

2009-03-25T23:16:00.000-04:00

Although the plan had been to leave on Friday, on the way to the ticket station on Thursday Talia and I got inspired to leave Kunming and go to Lijiang to explore a day early.

The Kunming bus station felt more like a 1970's bizarre. Upon arrival we were approached by aggressive private car services promising to take us to exotic locales for cheap. In China, a bus ticket has the departure time, destination, and bus license plate number. It was a job to find our bus. When we did, it looked like this:

After a rocky night on this bus, our day in Lijiang was beautiful. We bopped around the town with no agenda.

I learned how to ride a bike! I can really do it! Not only did I learn, we biked around this town all day.

We came upon these revolutionary grave stones at this beautiful park.

Talia tried on this cool hat!

Day 2, first day on the trail

2009-03-25T23:10:00.000-04:00

We met Liz early in the morning at the bus station and caught the public bus to Qiao tou, the small town at one end of Tiger Leaping Gorge. On the bus ride we shared our back seat with this woman and her one-month old baby daughter. We chatted for a while and she invited us to stay with her in her village of Bai Shui Tai. We did go to Bai Shui Tai but decided not to stay the night, otherwise we might have seen her again.

We had a quick lunch at Jane's in Qiao tou. This was the scene as we embarked on our journey:
Sure enough, we made it just around the first bend, and this was the sight that greeted us. There have been few sights that have actually taken my breath away--this was one of them.

I was so happy! We stayed in this spot for a while.

This day ended after about 5.5 hours of walking. The last few hours were extremely intense, we climbed up the mountain to get to the "high path". Many times it felt like little less than rock climbing. We stayed in a sweet guest house called "Tea Horse". Bedtime couldn't come soon enough.

Day 3&4, descent into the gorge and Sean's

2009-03-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

When we awoke in the morning at Tea Horse Guest House, the sun was rising. I tried to capture the shafts of light on the mountains as the sun was rising behind them.

This entire day was pure rapture. Liz and I were really feeling it here at this moment!

This day we called an early night after about 4 hours of walking and stayed at an unremarkable guest house called Tina's. While at Tina's, we ran into some fellow adventurers who told us about a path that would allow us to descend into the gorge right down to the water. We were so excited! We went to bed early so we could get a good start in the morning.

The descent was harrowing at times. The path is maintained by a well-meaning family who live at the head of the path. While the descent was short--only 2km, it was almost entirely vertical. But it was worth it because this awaited us at the bottom:

We spent some time down in the gorge, but the wind was very strong down here and it was overcast anyway that day. When we got cold, we came back up to Tina's.

We made our way down the road. Not long after, we came upon this beautiful refreshing waterfall. It was spilling over the path. This experience reminded me of the kids book that Hannah and I used to read that went something like "going on a bear hunt, have to cross the river, can't go over it, can't go under it, have to go THROUGH it!".

We were pretty exhausted after our morning exertion, and stopped for the day when we came to Sean's Guest House. We had heard of Sean from the husband of our Program Director. Sean is a riot. He's from the mountains and knows the gorge intimately. He seemed to have opinions about everything: cats--they have no purpose and are therefore an abomination, reading--he doesn't do it because everything he's ever read in a book is false bullshit, etc. We hung out with Sean for a while and then decided to take a walk down into the rice paddies of the village.

It was still overcast, but the light made the fields look magical. We just sat here taking in the mountains and these fields for a long while. These were magnificent hours.

Day 5, limestone terraces at Bai Shui Tai

2009-03-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

We left Sean's in the morning. We caught a car to the small village called Bai Shui Tai, where we and heard there were bizarre geological formations called the limestone terraces.

This is one of the only pictures of the three of us on the whole trip, taken by our driver on the way to Bai Shui Tai.

At first, we were a bit underwhelmed by the terraces. There were impressive, but we weren't allowed to walk directly on them and there wasn't a really great place where we could look out. But the longer we were there, the more we began to appreciate the place. There was an ethereal quality to the landscape that was subtle, and eventually stunning.

We came to the fresh spring on the mountain, the source of the water on the terraces. This pool felt very special to me, clearly other have felt the same, because the area was festooned with Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags, incense, and prayer sticks. I sat here quietly for a long time, soaking up the feeling of this place.

...and Talia made a friend.

We came down from the terraces to have a quick lunch before catching the 2:30PM bus out of Bai Shui Tai to the larger city of Zhongdian. It had been stressed to us by several helpful folks there there is only one public bus per day, so we were anxious not to miss it.

Literally as our meal was being served to us--we hadn't taken a bite!--a local man came running in to tell us that the bus had arrived and they were waiting for us. They put our lunch into plastic bags and we raced up the hill to meet the bus.

I'm still processing this bus ride. This was absolutely the craziest experience I've had in China so far. We got onto this bus to find it jammed with 20-something Chinese men all in full military fatigues. This 15 seat bus already had 33 passengers, not a single of them female. The experience of getting onto the bus full of men made me acutely aware of my status as a woman in a way that I've only felt a few other times in my life.

We squatted on a tiny wooden bench in the aisle on the floor of the bus. Not only was the bus horribly crowded, but we were also traveling on extremely steep, windy mountain roads that caused us to have to hang on hard for the entire 4 hour trip.

At one point Talia tried to take a picture, but the jeering and hissing that erupted from the crowd dissuaded me from trying. Here's her attempt to capture the scene:

We are sure that were the subject of conversation for much of the ride. The guys weren't speaking Mandarin, or if they were the dialect was so far from the clean Beijing mandarin we're taught that we couldn't understand. I developed something of a philosophy on this bus ride: If I am the butt of a joke, I prefer that the joke be spoken in a language I can't understand.

Day 6, Zhongdian and return to Kunming

2009-03-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Zhongdian in the evening and spent an uneventful night at a small guest house. In the morning, was explored the town.

Zhongdian is a Tibetan town that has become a major Yunnan tourist attraction for both Western and Chinese travelers. Despite this, I loved this city. The director of my program has suggested that I do my independent study project here in Zhongdian because of its proximity to so many of China's environmental hot spots--NGO's, dam projects, national park, etc. It wouldn't take much to persuade me.

That evening we got back on the overnight and arrived in Kunming the next morning (today).

A brief hiatus...

2009-03-19T01:43:00.000-04:00

Just letting you know that I'm taking off on my "Yunnan Exploration Project" adventure tomorrow. Talia (Oberlin College), Liz (Bates College), and I are headed to "tiger leaping gorge" sometime tomorrow afternoon. The expected travel time in 8-10 hours. Although we'll be staying in little guest houses along the trek which claim to have internet, I'm a little too skeptical to predict my availability. While I might be able to check my email a time or two, I doubt I'll have time to write a post until I get back. Plus, I want to soak up everything I can while I'm there!

So, this is to say that the temporary disappearance is just that. I expect I'll have some stunning pictures when I get back late next week! Cheers!

P.S. I talked to my grandparents today on Skype! It was extremely exciting to connect with them all the way from the other side of the planet.

2009-03-18T07:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I made a trip to the Chinese hospital...not on a field-trip.

Monday night I went to bed not feeling very well, and sure enough around midnight I was up and stayed up all night long. I skipped class on Tuesday and tried to sleep a little more. At around 2PM my roommate had our director come in to check on me. She took one look and said "oh yes, you need to go to the hospital!".

I had lost so much water out of my system (and wasn't able to keep any down) that I was extremely dehydrated. My roommate Liz and the program assistant Jo come with me to the hospital. I didn't realize how sick I was...I could barely get out of bed!

We took a cab to the hospital. Even though I was kind of out of it, the Chinese emergency room experience was a really interesting comparison to US healthcare. In China, you pay the hospital fee up front. My fee was just under 200RMB, which is about $30 (not bad for me, but expensive for many Chinese people). The service was quick, Liz and I waited outside in the hall while Jo registered me and talked to a nurse. Liz and I were shocked when we saw my form--Jo had registered me as "Katherine"--that's all! No last name, no official identification. I joked and asked Jo if I could have registered under any name. She said that the hospital really doesn't care, as long as you can pay the money upon arrival.

A triage nurse saw me, took my vital signs, and referred me to a triage doctor who prescribed the hydration liquid and antibiotics. A few minutes later, they took me into a large plain room with 15 beds and hooked me up to an IV. I was all set up by about 3:15PM.

Most of the other people in the hospital were elderly. One man came in with pretty ugly wounds on his face and neck. I think he had been in a minor motorcycle or car accident (not hard to do here where there are apparently no traffic laws). At one point an entire family came in to visit an old man. I was sleeping when they came in, but I was soon awake because they started a real party. Food, chatting, laughing, etc. It seemed like the right way to be in the hospital (a la Patch Adams).

At first, the nurse said my treatment would be over in a few hours and I would be able to leave around 6PM. 6PM came and went, and then 6:30, and then 7. While I was asleep, a doctor came over and took my vital signs again and told Jo I needed another bag of liquid! When I woke up and found myself hooked up to another bag, I was a little distressed, to say the least. I was feeling pretty ready to get out of there. Finally, around 11PM, I finished my treatment, and they let me go after I signed "Katherine" on my form.

All in all, it was a pretty uneventful experience. I feel lucky that nothing more dramatic happened, because, while I trust the Chinese hospital with something like a simple rehydration IV, I'm not sure how I would feel about a more complicated treatment.

Today I ate my first real meal in a few days. I felt a little queasy afterward, but overall I'm much improved. Lucky me!

Musings about next week

2009-03-15T01:19:00.000-04:00

Next week we have a version of spring break called the "Yunnan Exploration Project". We have a small stipend to go anywhere in Yunnan Province for 6 days. At first I wanted to go alone and have the week to myself, but on second thought I think it will be good to travel with a buddy or two to keep things straight.

Yunnan Province is a lot like California in that it has a vast variety of climates and terrains. In the south, there is the legendary Sichuan Bana near the border of Vietnam. This is unadulterated jungle--opportunities for 3 and 4 day hikes, visits from wild monkeys and other exotic fauna...

I think the south sounds fantastic, but I'm feeling called to the northwest, on the border of Tibet. We're thinking of a two day hike in a place called "tiger leaping gorge", so called because of an ancient story that a tiger used to jump over the river from one side to the other at a particular spot along the ridge. There's another hike that I'm considering that takes a day, up a steep mountain. You arrive at sunset at the summit of a vast, snow-peaked mountain range.

I don't quite know why, but I feel compelled to visit Tibet. I want to hear those bellowing horns that the Buddhist monks blow that reverberate off the side of the mountains!

Does anyone have any advice? What should I look for? I feel so lucky to have such a wide-open adventure approaching!

Visit to the Miao village

2009-03-13T05:47:00.000-04:00

On Monday we visited a Hmong village, called Miao in Chinese. This day, I heard the most beautiful Christian choir music I've ever heard (no exaggeration). I sat in the pews and couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was breathtakingly beautiful. (Mom, look no further for your Chinese documentary subject). I took some video of the choir on my little point-and-shoot camera. The quality isn't great but at least there's some record.

A view of the beautiful mountains near Kunming. Even here in this rural area the air pollution makes the mountains hard to see.

New members of the village!

This is pretty much the whole place. The population of the village couldn't have been more than 100 people. What looks like bananas on top of the roof is actually dried corn cobs. I guess they help insulate. The pigs like to eat them too!
A view of the outside of the church, by far the most permanent structure in the village.
View of the Miao village, called "little whale village" because on a map its shape is similar to a whale.
The congregants of the Miao church. The heavenly choir is singing here.

Christianity is growing quickly in China. Some liberal estimates claim that there are as many as 130 million practicing Chinese in China (not all registered). 'Home churches' are very popular because the Communist government keeps a close watch on more formal places of worship. For this reason, there are only vague and probably inaccurate estimates of the number of practitioners.

TCM Hospital and Beijing Opera

2009-03-13T05:33:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday our group went downtown to check out the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Hospital. The two main treatment rooms we saw were the acupuncture and massage wards. In China, massage isn't such the luxury that it is in the states. Massage is a regular part of the Chinese lifestyle and is commonly prescribed by doctors as treatment for all kinds of ailments. I have already benefitted from this lovely aspect of Chinese culture!

After the wards, we got to go into the "pharmacy" part of the hospital, where we saw workers filling prescriptions for herbal remedies. The Chinese use all kinds of herbs, animal skins, minerals, and powders as tonics and medicines. Usually the medicine is taken in tea form. Check out these amazing wall-drawers!

After the hospital, we went to a small courtyard square to see some Beijing opera. It was pretty informal because (get this), these were retired people who were studying opera singing and acting. For those of you who are familiar with Beijing opera, you know that it can be hard to handle even when performed by the most admired opera stars. I'll let you imagine what it was like to hear aging opera students...

Nevertheless, they were in full dress and makeup. I'm particularly proud of these photos.

A day in my life here

2009-03-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hi,

A few people have asked me exactly what my days are like here. The answer is that the days are quite varied. We often go on field trips or other excursions. But there are a few things that are relatively stable:

7AM: wake up and take a quick, 3 minute shower. Our toilet and shower are in the same little room. We haven't decided whether the shower is in the bathroom or the toilet is in the shower. Both, I guess.

7:50AM: run out the door to get some breakfast before class. Breakfast looks like this:

It's not much, but it's not spicy--a quality that I admire in breakfast. It's a very plain pancake. The guy who makes them is right outside my dorm. His wife, who carries a very tiny baby on her back, picks out the hottest one for me every morning.

8AM: Chinese class #1, grammar and writing. 2 hours!

10AM: Tai ji quan class with Master Ju. In America the practice is called Tai Chi--you've probably seen old Chinese people practicing this in parks in San Francisco and New York City. I'm learning! Our master says that the ultimate goal of Tai ji is to allow your body to be moved by the conscious effort of your mind. It was developed in China by Daoists who sat for long periods in meditation. They were often accosted by thieves when they were sitting so peacefully. So they developed this more active meditation as a form of self-defense. It's a stunning form when performed the masters. That guy can bend like a wet noodle! Here is out tai ji class:

10:30AM: Chinese class #2, speaking.

12-2:30PM: Lunch break. Usually we eat at the cafeteria on campus, although I think its made me sick a few times, so I'm officially avoiding it. There are delicious vendors on the street that make dumplings, buns, noodles, fried rice, etc.

2:30M: Lecture or outing with the program. We've had lectures on Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity in China, along with visits to places of worship. We had an incredible lecture by a 91 year-old guy who flew with the Flying Tigers in WWII. If you don't know about them, check them out.

6PM: Dinner, usually at a local Chinese restaurant. When we can't handle Chinese food anymore we go to "Western Street". It's like a reverse Chinatown. Every kind of cuisine is available, though significantly more expensive than the local food.

8PM: Chinese homework, Chinese homework, Chinese homework.

10PM: Maybe a little reading for pleasure and then bed.

Visit to the vegetable and meat market!

2009-03-05T01:45:00.000-05:00

Hi!

Today our language teachers gave a break from class and we took a field trip to the traditional meat and vegetable market in Kunming. The government has attempted to shut down this kind of market in recent years because they prefer western-style grocery stores. This place looked like it has been the same for hundreds of years. A word of warning to vegetarians or the otherwise meat-squeamish: I saw some pretty wild stuff today. Consider this your gross-out warning. (I can't think of a more tantalizing invitation to look!)

Anybody know what kind of veggies these are?

We saw this woman pick out a chicken from this hutch and hang it upside-down to weigh it. Then the customer brought the chicken, squwaking, inside the market where the butcher made it ready for dinner!

Look at all these different kinds of mushrooms!

A lady selling beautifully colored spices and beans.

This is a goofy picture of me, but a sweet picture of my two Chinese teachers--Teacher Wang (left) and Teacher Hwang (right). Wang barely speak any English and is very exuberant. She's in charge of our speaking class. Hwang is soft-spoken and absolutely lovely. She helps us with grammar. I spend a lot of time with these guys--almost 4 hours a day! My Chinese has improved 10-fold even in the couple of weeks that I've been here.

This is what Chinese noodle-making looks like.

Ok vegetarians: beware!

Yikes!

Cured goat heads are supposed to make babies and small children smarter. Can you imagine trying to feed this is a 4 year-old?

These are very fresh...believe me.

That's all for now. We're going to a small village tomorrow to see a Christian choir. I'll update on that if its noteworthy. XOXOXO

Ways to get in touch with me while I'm in China

2009-03-03T06:46:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

If you're wondering how to get in touch with me while I'm in China, here are a few ways:

1. Email me! kf633@nyu.edu I have pretty regular internet access. I check my email almost every day.

2. Send me a letter or a package! My address here is:

Katherine Fritz

c/o School of International Education

Yunnan Nationalities University #134

12.1 Street

Kunming, Yunnan 650031

This is a somewhat risky option. It takes at least 2 weeks for snail mail to reach Yunnan from the states, and then another who-knows-how-many-days for the university to process mail and deliver it to us. I'll be leaving to live in a homestay in about 3 weeks, but the university will hold our mail for us while we're gone.

3. Talk to me on Skype! My Skype name in katemagnet. This is a cool option because you can actually see me when we talk to each other. If you don't know about Skype and want to set it up, let me know and I'll tell you how to do it. I also got a Chinese cell phone and have set up a "call-forwarding" option for Skype. If you call me on Skype and I'm not there, theoretically it should forward to my cell phone. (I say theoretically because this method has been untested as of yet.)

I hope you will get in touch with me. Just because I'm on the other side of the world doesn't mean I've become a stranger! If there's anything you want to hear about in particular about my experience, please let me know. I miss you all so much and think about home often.

Pictures and news from my first week in China

2009-02-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't been able to give an update yet. I've been very busy settling in and getting my bearings here. I think my pictures from the last week are the best way to tell about my experiences so far. (I hope they make you proud Mom!)

This picture is from my second day in China when our group went to a town called Tonghai (about three hours away from Kunming where our program is based). We met up with the culture minister who took us out to this tiny village to see a group of old women with bound feet do a traditional dance. The youngest dancer was 72 years old!

This is the famed fried wasp dish from one of our first meals. Tastes like a potato chip with more protein!

This is the traditional Dongxi orchestra that we saw in Tonghai. It reminded me a lot of SFSF--people of all ages playing traditional music together. If SFSF ever makes it to China I'm definitely going to make sure this group crosses our path.

This is a good example of some of the extraordinary architecture in some of the temples around Kunming. This is from a Buddhist monastery we visited. The color palate of these temples is breathtaking. I've never seen such saturated colors on the outside of buildings.

I met these sweet girls at the Xiu Shan temple complex outside of Tong Hai. I talked to them for more than an hour, which was great because they spoke no English. I love talking to kids here because they're so patient with my Chinese. They just laugh and correct me. These girls gave me a Chinese name, Fu Ya Qin. The Fu part is Fritz. The Qin part is the same character as "violin". I gave them American names too, Melissa and Leslie. This was a really great afternoon.

This is an example of the idols outside of the Buddhist temples. I thought this guy was particularly striking!

My beautiful roommate Liz buying our first breakfast on the street outside our dorm. Liz goes to Bates College in Maine.

China is at the same time exactly as I imagined and nothing that I could have imagined. It is the paradox that people say it is--a strange mix of cutting edge development and old, ingrained tradition. It is extraordinary to be in a place where middle aged people have seen violent revolution. This is what I find most exciting about being here.

Stay tuned! More soon!

The Last supper

2009-02-20T01:34:00.000-05:00

This is a test of the new blog. I'm leaving tomorrow morning on flight 889 from San Francisco to Beijing. More to come when I land and get my sea legs...(China legs?)