Team 161, Kunming, July 5 & 6 (Lijiang Group)

By Joshua

Photo for Saturday: Yak in the mist at 12,000 feet above sea level

Photo for Sunday: Jade Dragon Snow Mountain reflected in Black Dragon Pool

Saturday in Lijiang started off with a free massage on our way to Jade Dragon Snow mountain. In actuality, it was just our bus driving along a bumpy road. As we got higher and higher into the foggy mountains, the temperature started dropping. Driving along, our guide Tina explained the common Naxi family names. Hé, the same name as our driver, is the name of the common people. Mù is another which is of higher status. We also passed a large field and were told it was a natural airport which in World War II was used by the Flying Tigers. After an hour on the road we arrived at the foot of a chairlift going up to 3700 meters. As we avoided piles of yak dung, making our way around yak meadow, we saw the wonders of Shangri-la, as James Hilton described it in the Lost Horizon. We arrived out of breath at the highest point of our journey, the iPhone still able to get service, the tallest mountain jutting up in front of us. 

After our ears popped once more, Margaret rode a yak, we saw a turquoise river (one of the wonders of Shangri-la), and the rain started. We took a trip to the home of Dr. Rock, an American who left America in the early 20th century to live with the Naxi people. By the time we were done, the rain had begun pouring and we rushed out. We traveled on to a Buddhist temple, which is known for its 1000 flower camellia. Though not in bloom, the tree, actually two trees grafted together, was beautiful and pictures of the two different shades of red flower stunned us all. 

Afterwards we went to see a fresco which was saved in the Cultural Revolution by having chairman Mao’s picture on top of it. On our way out we bargained with the venders for Batik tablecloths. Dinner was delicious pizza at a restaurant near the hotel, and once we were sated we returned home in the now pounding rain.

Sunday

Sunday morning was spent on our own. Some went shopping in the old city and some went to the Wan Gu Lao pagoda, the tallest wooden pagoda in China. After lunch we went to a Dongba/Naxi museum where we saw pictographs depicting cultural images, a topological map, clothes and other cultural items of the Naxi people including hunting weaponry and their traditional housing. A Dongba in the Naxi culture is the shaman. Still in the museum, we stopped in a shop where there was a living Dongba rewriting the scriptures. Also at the shop they had jewelry, beautiful porcelain, and other such treasures which were for sale from very little to a lot. I bargained my way out of 1400 Yuan on an item that I can’t name in this journal entry.


After this we went to the Jade Dragon reflecting pool, inside a beautiful park and took the perfect picture of the water with a bridge and the mountain jutting up in the distance. It was a beautiful day. Perfect for ending our trip to Lijiang. 

We left Lijiang Sunday night on the shortest flight of my life and returned that night. 

Team 161, Kunming, July 4

By Glenda

Thought for the Day: The past is history. The future is a mystery. Today is a gift that’s why it is called a present.

Photos for the Day: (1) Glenda gets a surprise birthday cake at breakfast. (2) Naxi Orchestra pi-pa player in Lijiang.

Today is the 4th of July and the teams recognition of their homelands National Holiday. Back in the USA many people would be singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, eating hot dogs and towards evening watching a display of fireworks; at least this has been my experience in the past. However, this morning, after the team enjoyed their usual fanfare of Asian and Western cuisine at breakfast we had a birthday cake and song.. Yes, today is my birthday. A special thank you to Hu Di and others who made this a special beginning to the day for me.

After breakfast we all departed for our morning teaching assignments. Two members of our team, Rhonda and Tim, are finishing their 2 week teaching assignment so farewells were in order in their clasrooms and beyond.

In my classroom, the students had discovered it was my birthday and rushed out to purchase a cake….so round 2 of a celebration took place. Wow…what a morning!

After lunch at the hotel, we all scattered in different directions to begin our weekend adventures, Margaret, Carole, Dixie, Leon, Rachel, Joshua and I headed for the Kunming airport for our flight to Lijiang.

Upon arrival in Lijiang, we were greeted by our guide, Wang Li Mei or her English name Tina. In route to the Grand Hotel, Tina informed us about the city of 100,000 mostly Naxi people. Li Jiang means “Beautiful River.” It’s a World Heritage Site with old wooden and stone buildings, cobbled stone streets and streams with willow trees. At an elevation of 2400 m or approx. 7,200 feet, the city is quite charming.

Tina also informed us that Lijiang is a “paradise for men.” The women do all the house and farm work while the men participate in playing music, chess, drawing pictures, drinking tea, smoking and drinking alcohol.

After arriving at our hotel we went to dine at a French Restaurant on bar street. It was a very colorful area in the old city.


We concluded our evening at the Naxi Concert Hall for a superb performance by the Naxi Orchestra. They played ancient music dating back to the Song and Tang Dynasties.

All in all ….a delightful day.

Team 161, Kunming, July 3

By Rachel

Thought for the day: Teamwork means never having to take all the blame yourself.

   

Photo for the day: Rachel in her classroom.

Today began with our regular breakfast with Yoyo translating our egg orders to the egg chef, and Hu Di giving us our bit of Chinese culture. Today we heard about two more festivals, the Double 9 (9/9) festival, and the Moon Festival. Hu Di gave the routine announcements where we found out that as the day progressed we would be joined by Tim’s wife, and Hu Di’s cousin. We then headed off for our usual teaching morning. As everyday, after we taught four classes, we returned to the hotel for lunch where we met Hu Di’s cousin, Brent.

In the afternoon, ll of us, Brent included, went back to the school where we were to hear speeches from 21 of the selected students, three from each class. The speeches were all very well done. All had a wide variety of topics ranging from dolphins to colors. After hearing all 21 of the speeches, we walked to a restaurant called the Golden Flower Hot Pot, where each of us enjoyed a steaming pot of spicy, non-spicy, sour, or coconut broth to which we added various meats and veggies.  
Towards the end of the meal, we were joined by Tim’s wife, Ren Ning, and then walked back to the school where we met up with our driver who took us back to the hotel for the night.

Team 161, Kunming, July 2

By Leon

Thought For the Day:

After observing our 60 students during yesterday's outing in the rain to the Hump Memorial, I have nothing but admiration for their acceptance of their circumstances without whining or complaint. They seem determined to enjoy whatever situation they are in. We can all learn from them, and so, my thought for the day is:

LIVE IN THE MOMENT

Photos for the day: (1) Joshua and some wet students with Leon in the background at Hump Memorial Park. (2) Rachel and her hairdressers.

Last night brought a thunderstorm that woke many of us up at 3 AM. In the morning there was a flood in the street in front of our hotel that appeared to be about 2 feet deep. Traffic was still passing and for reasons I don't understand, no vehicles stalled out.

Hu Di continued her discussion of Chinese traditional festivals with The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival or Double 5th Festival) and the Double Seven Festival.

I particularly enjoyed the bitter-sweet love story behind The Double Seven Festival which is the Chinese Valentine's Day.

We suggested to Hu Di that she look out of the restaurant window and view the condition of the street. She did, with an exclamation of surprise.  Then, after carefully studying the street and the sky, she gave us the weather forecast for the day: rain.

The flooding caused us to arrive about 15 minutes late for our eighth teaching day at Kunming Teachers' College. Kathleen and I arrived at our classroom to find only five of our eleven students. The rest were delayed by the flooding. During the morning all but one of our missing students straggled in. The most interesting story was told by Eileen who arrived two hours late to class: her children had to row her across the flood so she could reach transportation to the school. I later heard stories from other volunteers of students who walked in the rain for two hours in order to catch at least the last half hour of class. What amazing behavior! It is no wonder China's economy is growing so quickly.

Our group of four (Dixie and I and our two grandchildren, Joshua and Rachel) had planned to spend the afternoon at the Wild Animal Zoo, but the rain washed out that plan. So, Dixie and Rachel decided to try out one of the local beauty shops where Dixie got her hair cut and Rachel got xxxxxxxxxx (censored to prevent her parents from knowing) xxxxxxxxxxxx which looks astonishing.  Joshua, meanwhile, spent  the afternoon in the company of Bird and his girl friend, who both work in restaurants at the hotel. They played ping pong, showed Joshua how to make tea and watched videos. 

We ate dinner at a neighborhood restaurant and then met with Mr. Ma (our Kunming tour operator) who collected the money for this weekend's trip to Lijiang which he carried away in his wheelbarrow. 

In the evening our family group of four went with Bird and his girl friend to a KTV called Windsor. This was our first visit to a Karaoke establishment.  There was more chrome and marble in the building than in an entire Trump casino. We chose songs (yes, there were some in English from 45 years ago) from a computer screen and were handed microphones. The visuals behind the Singer were cinema graphic, without the dancing that we associate with MTV in the States. Between songs the big screen showed liquor commercials. The party room held a whole group of Bird's colleagues including his Manager. They were most hospitable but probably thought we were a bit strange when they discovered that our only drink was tonic water. It turns out that the Manager hails from Lijiang and, when we told her that we would be touring her home town this weekend she sang a number of songs for us, a cappella, in the Dongba language. When we took our leave at 10 PM the party was still in full swing and looked like it could go on 'till dawn. We were pleased to have been able to take part in another special experience in China.

Team 161, Kunming, July 1

By Rhonda

Thought for the Day: If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.

Photo for the Day: Rhonda and John with one of their students.

It seems that every culture and religion aerates rituals many in the form of celebrations, holidays or festivals, I think it is a common way we have of recognizing a season, a new beginning, an ending or passing.

Today, Hu Di spoke to us of 2 important Chinese festivals: The Spring Festival, Guo Nian, and the Pure Festival, Quing Ming , I think Guo Nian is like New Year in America. It is a true when the Chinese "get over the year", leave the bad behind. There is all sorts of customs, or we may them superstitions. For the 1st 3days, no one is to take medicine or bad luck will come in the year. Also, kids must not say 'death' and no one is to throw any garbage away because that would be like throwing away Prosperity and Fortunately. There is a term limit to this.

The real Spring Festival however is Qing Ming, students take off from school to sweep the ancestor's tombs. Relatives also burn paper money at graves so their ancestors have money to spend. I like that to take time to honor and remember who came before us and give the youngsters an opportunity to connect with the past , which is something we seem to separate more in America.

This is my second time as Global Volunteer and third time to teach in China. As usual, when entering the classroom, I learn more from the students about what they have overcome just to get here. I hear their stories and their speeches for our Global Volunteers newer ritual, "The Speech Festival". Perhaps someday our teacher-student children will participate in this newest celebration ¦and perhaps our children will want to celebrate with them! Xie Xie.

Team 161, Kunming, June 30

By Kathleen

Thought for the Day: eat less, exercise more, and drinks lots of liquid.

Photos for the Day: 1) Kathleen is shining her students' faces with beautiful smiles, taken in a field trip. 2)"We are good helpers". taken at a local wholesale flower market.

I started my daily routine getting up before sunrise, showering, taking my medications, and doing some lesson planning. While martin was getting his act together, I went to the western restaurant about 6:30 where I met the other charter member of the early risers club, Corrine McCarthy, we are occasionally joined by the third member of the club, John Doty. All of us spent this pleasant time chatting about anything or everything. A side benefit of the early risers club is that Bird, the hotel staff member in charge of the coffee bar, made a freshly brewed pot of coffee for the three of us.

By seven o'clock we were joined by the rest of the team for breakfast. John read his journal entry followed by my thought of the day. An educational lecture about population changes in china was given by Hu Di. I thought it was interesting that 147 million Chinese are constantly moving, working in areas different from their official residence.

After breakfast 9 Global Vlunteers took a field trip led by Chris Li to the Dounan wholesale flower market in the new Kunming area. Besides seeing all the beautiful cut flowers and plants for the region, the volunteers interacted with many local citizens. I especially enjoyed meeting and playing with the young babies in the market, buying flowers and souvenirs. Then the group returned to the hotel for a short break before an enjoyable non-spicy lunch.

Our teaching session today was in the afternoon. Leon and I continued our usual lesson plans but discussed the major change of the speech festival scheduled for Thursday afternoon our students were little anxious because they realized that they would have to work hard but they also realized that the volunteers would also work hard to get them ready for the festival.

After the teaching session, the team went directly to the 1915 restaurant, a restaurant of historical significance, where we enjoyed a mildly spicy dinner. I was happy to return to the hotel for some personal time before going to sleep.

Team 161, Kunming, June 29

By John

Thought for the Day:
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her only leaf is a flower;
But only for a hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
---Robert Frost, 1923

Photos for the Day: 1) John is saying with his dear students and teaching partner Rhonda. 2) Peacock dance at Dynamic Yunnan, a local primitive performance show.

So much has happened since last the previous Sunday when team building took place, and after a busy week. Our Team as a whole has achieved more than we expected. Of particular note, we have contributed to a set of goals established by the United Nations. They are known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Specifically we have done the following:

MDG #2: Achieve universal primary education: -helped 68 Chinese English teachers with their conversational English skills – providing 260 hours in classroom teaching plus 260 hours of lesson prep time.

Today was restful although the weather warmed up yesterday and remained so today according to Dixie’s weather report, the temperature was over 80 F. This morning, Corrine, Margaret, Glenda, Tim and I walked to a Catholic Church mass conducted by the Bishop. The ritual was familiar: two readings from the Bible, either old or new testaments, a gospel’s reading followed by a sermon, which proved to be long. There were incense, music, and singing. We recognized melodies of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, “Be Loving in the Wind” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. There was no wine served at communion and no collection. A small child across from us played while adults tried to keep her content. Of course, all words were in Chinese.

At breakfast, martin described his “purchase” (not thought) of the day, a tote bag that folds into a small item. At dinner of the day, Kathleen informed us of the “Flying Tigers” of WWII here in Kunming.

Hu Di and Glenda visited with a former global volunteer teacher who has been teaching here for one year. Corrine continued her reunion with the esteemed Mr. Ma. Joshua, after giving me a computer lesson, played with Bird ( a hotel western restaurant waiter).

Tim, Rhonda, Margaret and Carole went by taxi to the Yunnan Nationalities Village.

Leon abd Dixie found time to enjoy Green Lake Park. At dinner, we heard two journals, Corrine from Friday and Dixie from Saturday. Then we were off to Dynamic Yunnan, a performance of primitive minorities groups with dramatic use lighting, sound, dance, music, and song, culminating with a spectacular peacock dance. The image reflected the role ritual, tradition and beauty playing in a culture.