My grandparents were going to join us here in Xiaguan just a few days before I left the Blackburns' house for the first time. My grandparents arrived yesterday; I have only three days left in Dali. They're going to have to be rather busy days if I'm to get done everything I want to do here. Tonight, we're going out for a hotpot dinner (at my request). I understand it's a concept similar to fondue- everyone gets their own hot pot to cook whatever raw foods in that they order. Tomorrow afternoon we're going into Old Dali a final time (I have a few more present to buy). Grace, the Blackburns' house helper, invited us Saturday to her village for their meal. It's a holiday for them during which they spend the entire night singing and dancing. I'm not sure whether we're going to go. Apparently Grace's village is a very traditional one, and all of the songs they sing, while having very complex lyrics, all are sung to the same tune. They have only one dance as well, a slow shuffling dance apparently. I think it would be interesting, but my cousins assure me I'll be bored. I guess I'll find out later if we're gonna go or not...
Last weekend my cousins and I were in Lijiang (I apologize, but I've been spelling it wrong in my blogs, I found out recently). We traveled by train- a new experience for me. I've heard that day-style trains (with rows of seats) are horribly crowded, with no space for luggage and far too many people. Night-style trains (with bunk beds three high), which we took, are supposed to be better, because you sit on the lower bed and store your bags on the upper ones. It was very hard to find our seat due to a ticket misprint (our ticket said car 6 but the seat number was in car 8), but afterwards it went well. The trip was much faster by train. We stayed at the Pinson's house. Their daughters met us at the train station and we took a half-hour bus ride to their house on the other side of the Lijiang Old Town. We arrived in time for a lunch of noodles made by their house helper, and then the girls took Maggie and me to Lijiang Old Town for shopping. It was similar to Dali's Old Town, except bigger. The minority people group in the Lijiang area is different than Dali, so the minority costumes people wore were a bit different. Also, Aden explained to me, Lijiang Old Town was a bit nicer and cleaner because it was new. In Dali, the buildings look a hundred years old because they are a hundred years old. In Lijiang, the buildings were built to look a hundred years old, but all the real ones had been torn down. Lijiang, I was told, is known in China for it's waterways. The streets were lined with little brooks set deep under the road level. It was quite pretty. Lijiang is a very large tourist city and nearly all of the stores and signs had English. Or more realistically, "Chinglish." I saw the "celebrity underwear soft" store, the "meat by naxi boy" yak meat shop, and a sign telling me "not to step on a head." The Pinsons and we spent a long time playing card games, board games, and Sardines at night in their compound. Sunday afternoon we took their dog on a walk through a nearby village to a large man-made lake to give him a bath. We saw men fishing, women working in the fields, and even babies using split pants. Rather than spend money on paper diapers or spend time washing cloth diapers, Chinese mothers put their children in split pants. As the name would suggest, they're basically just pants with a huge split inside. Every hour or so, mothers hold their children up and tell them to pee. In the grass, on the sidewalk, wherever. There's a reason no one in China wears shoes in the house.
Meanwhile, I've still been talking my Chinese classes. My uncle tells me that I'm learning incredibly quickly, and that my tones are already better than some people's he knows who have been here for years. He said that if I were here for six months I would likely be able to speak to locals quite easily and pretty fluently. But unfortunately, I only have one more day, as I won't be able to get lessons over the weekend. Although, Uncle Pete said at some point he might spend a half hour or so with me learning the underlying basics behind character writing. I spent two hours with him today practicing pronunciation and tones. They are so hard for me to hear and repeat, and there are certain sounds that I have a very hard time pronouncing quickly. Chinese has two forms of "sh" and "ch" sounds. One is a lot like English sound, a bit back in the mouth. The other requires you to stick your tongue against the back of your teeth while you make the sounds. I feel like I'm lisping, because my tongue keeps getting in the way and making an unintentional "th" sound. But I'm getting the hang of it. Days of the week are really hard, because they have both of those sounds, one right after another. But after Sunday I'll have to be a teacher again, as we're going back to the MSG. I've kinda enjoyed it, but I always feel like I'm not really explaining myself very well. My cousins say I did alright, but they're my cousins so they have to say that anyway... And after MSG, it's off to the north, where we get to be real tourists!
No comments:
Post a Comment