Xijiang pt 1. The Scenery

This weekend I took a trip to Xijiang with Erin, Don, Jen, and Shirley. Xijiang is the largest Miao minority village in China. I took so many pictures that I have to split the blogs in 2 parts. This one will be about the scenery in and around Xijiang.

 To get to Xijiang we first had to take a train from Guiyang to Kaili. After arriving in Kaili we drove 30 minutes to the village. This picture is in the Guiyang station right before we walked down onto the train ramp. The train was pretty full and my group got to sit with each other so it was a nice 4 hour train ride.

 The scenery between Guiyang and Kaili was absolutely stunning. It was filled with open landscape, mountains, and landscape upon landscape. We passed over many villages and towns. This picture was taken right after we came out of a tunnel. It was a pretty cloudy day, but when we came out of the tunnel the clouds parted allowing some sunlight to hit the valley in the distance.

 This picture was taken about 45 minutes before reaching Kaili. I was sleeping at the time but Erin nudged me to take a shot of this landscape.

 At this point we had already left Kaili and on our way to Xijiang. This picture was taken when we started entering actual Miao country. Miao people build their houses out of wood. You can see here that the houses on this cliff, over their rice paddies, are wooden. This is the type of architecture I would be seing from this point onward.

 This little Miao village we stopped at on the way to Xijiang was on the river bank. Here you can see where the villagers planted rice and corn for the season.

 This is Erin. She is my boss and the person that invited me on the trip. I picked up that she is not from the Miao minority, but she did grow up in a very small village. She told me how she would work on the far all the time and how she lived her life in the village. She said she did not like that life style too much so she almost scored perfect on the Chinese college entrance exam and went to a great school. From there she came to work at GFC and now, at the end of the semester, she is going off the Chengdu to work for a big cooperate company.

 This is another view of the first Miao village under the sunset.

 The waterfall is the same as the one in the picture with Erin. This water fall was really interesting. It feeds the river that the village uses. Also, it does not come off of a slope you can really see. It has the illusion of just appearing like magic.

 This is the entrance to Xijiang. From the entrance it is a 5 minute car ride to the village itself. People can walk, but on a hot day it seemed better to take a car.

 This is the main street of the village. The village has become quite a large tourist attraction these days. I feel like this took away from the experience since it felt like there was less culture involved in the village. You can see more wooden houses built up the mountain side.

 This was the view from my hostel window. The hostel was the highest point on one of the mountains in the village. It took 15 minutes to climb there since there were no roads that cars could drive on. There were only little gravel and stone paths that we had to climb.

 This is another view of the village at night. All the lights are from houses in the village. This is only one village, one very large village.

 Morning time came around and this is what I woke up to. It seems unreal to me, even the picture looks like it came out of a fairytale. The fog was rolling off of the other mountain side and the sun was just rising over the mountain range. You can also see a good view of the houses in actual light here.

This is Don. Don and I shared a room for the night. He was relaxing in the morning taking some pictures for himself.

 Erin enjoying the sunrise. She was just as amazed as I was. I have to note that these pictures do absolutely no justice for the actual scenery. The landscape and everything in it was not something to just be looked at, but rather stared at for a long time to be able to soak in even a little. I could have just stared at everything for hours.

 As we left the hostel, the sun came out again and hit the valley.

 On the far side of the village was the farmland. The mountain in the distance and more past it have been turned into rice paddies. It is literally a jaw dropping landscape.

 Throughout the thousands of acres or paddies is this little stope pathway that forks off. This pathway is how the farmers get to their own little paddy and then further on leads to the mountain.

One last pictures of the farmland as I walked away. It really only settled in when I thought about it on the drive back to Kaili for the train.

The next series will come soon with pictures of what we did.

Interns' Night Out

Tonight, after having dinner with my friend Ben Brew for the last time before he heads home, us interns went out to have a good night in Huishui. Also this weekend I will be going off with some people to visit an old Miao minority village and bathe in the hot springs, so I won't be able to post until I come back. However, many pictures can be expected.

 As we left campus, this was the sunset over the mountain.

 This is just another perspective of that sunset. The colors are a little blown out for dramatic effect, but either way it was still a beautiful sight.

 This is how bbq is done here in Huishui. All the bbq here is street vendor type. You pick the vendor that seems the best to you and then get an empty tray. They you pick your poison. This lady has everything laid out to just pick up. Everything is cooked with something called numbing spice. It is a spice that absolutely burns going down, and kills coming out. It tastes so good though. The spice is meant to kill all the bacteria on the meat and vegetables.

 This is our Czech guy, David. He is eating a stick of spiced snails and washing it down with a cold beer. Nothing compliments this Huishui spicy bbq like a cold beer.

 After bbq, we all went to a little bar to hang out. The serve free fruit tea that you can see in the picture. The tea was naturally sweet.

Nothing hits the relax jackpot like a cold beer on a cool night with some friends. Especially after a week full of grading tests, listening to presentations, and temperature over 34 degrees celsius (94F) . Cheers to all.

Student to Teacher

           This is just a group of students and interns I caught outside of the mini mart. I am not sure if you remember, but I mentioned Sunshine and Misery, the cute little couple. I finally got them in a picture. The student in the striped top and white shorts is Sunshine and then guy hiding behind her is Misery. It was a very hot day so everyone was enjoying some nice popsicles and cool drinks. 
           There is another story, not related to this picture, that I want to tell. Two days ago, in the morning time, I went to the mini mart to buy a drink to take to my class. While I was shopping around, I ran into a student. She wasn't my student, but a room mate of one of my students. I met this student when I went to their room while I was walking through their dorm with other interns. Anyways, that morning when I left the mini mart the girl ran up behind me and tapped on my back. When I turned around she was holding a drink called "Yakult". It is a very sweet drink in a small container, it has about the same volume as a shot glass. The student was holding it with two hands offering it to me. I rejected it because she had bought a pack of only three and I didn't want to take it away from her. After I rejected a couple time and she kept on insisting, she finally just shoved the drink into my hands. It was very kind of her, but what really hit me was when she said thank you to me and then bowed. That's right, she bowed to me. I of course thanked her greatly and told her that she didn't have to bow. She said that she must thank me because I am pushing her room mate to study harder which makes her want to study more. She gestured to me that I could leave by using her up-turned palm to point toward the lecture building, she bowed again walked away in the opposite direction. I stood in that same spot for a while absorbing everything . I want to recognize that girl for her kindness. I also want to note that I have not treated her room mate any differently than any of my other students.

Bonding Time

Today I didn't have classes so I decided to walk around campus and talk to students. Even though I have been getting along with students I don't feel like I have been spending enough time with them. Also, even though GFC does have free Chinese class, I prefer to learn from my students. I feel like it gives me an opportunity to learn real colloquial language and also gives me another way to bond with my students.

 This is Student Dorm C. Even though it says "student dorm", this is where the administration puts volunteers and interns when the volunteer center fills up. Luckily I was one of the last ones to get an apartment in the volunteer center.

 I realized that I have not posted many, if any, pictures of the main campus. This is the road between dorms C and B. It is actually very nice to walk though, it has a city like look , but also has a feeling of solitude since there are no yelling people, beeping cars, nasty sewage, and the works. I think it is very beautiful.

 This is the main lobby of the Volunteer Center. What is not shown is a very large kitchen and a very very large dining table that sits 20 people.

 This is Ann and Lacie. Ann was cooking in Lacie's apartment and the smell of the food blowing up brought me down one floor. I was able to bum a couple bites of food, but I didn't stick around long and left them to their dinner. Ann is an amazing student. She is one of the better English speakers here. I used to be the TA for her Internet Marketing class before I was transfered to the HTC class to teach there instead.

 Today was a friendly soccer game between China vs. World (volunteers). Here is Caleb from England, and David from Prague, the two new guys. Not sure who won. No one was keeping score, we were just playing for the fun of the game.

 Mr. Ben Brew about to take a shot on goal.

 Ryan is the soccer coach for GFC and a heck of a shot.

 Today we invited many people to play, not just GFC students. This guy right here is from Huishui High School. He came all the way to have some fun too.

 The end of the game came around when people started stooping, then sitting and laying down on the turf. It was terribly hot today the game. David and William shake hands at the end of the game. It was a sweet way to finish.

 After soccer and dinner, I went back out again with my camera. I have been given the task by the administration to take pictures so that they can update their photo bank on their website. I took the opportunity of the wonderful evening to get some decent shots and talk with some students.

 I hung out with this group for about 30 minutes. Conversation is a little hard because of the language barrier, but they help me with my Chinese, which I get laughed at for, and I help them with their English.

These two seemed like they were having a little moment so I didn't bother them too much. The girl in the picture is in my Hotel Management class. 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

http://www.forerunnercollege.com/NewsInfo.aspx?id=1195

Guess whose photos were chosen to be on the college's website! This kid! Not many people submitted, but I still get a whole page of just my pictures. YAY!

Dragon Boat Festival in Huishui

Yesterday I went out to HuiShui to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with my colleagues and some of my students. 

 Throughout the city these red balloons were put up. Red is the color of good fortune in China. These people are standing by a wall about 20-30 ft above the river. There was a barrier placed 1 meter from the wall which was guarded by police men. This was to stop people from getting too close and being pushed over or slipping over the wall. The barriers were placed all around the river. People were also not allowed onto the river bank.

 The city was absolutely packed. Entire roads and bridges were blocked off from motor vehicles so that people could walk freely. The crowd on this bridge was small compared to what I saw about 45 minutes after. I swore that the streets of Huishui were more packed yesterday than the streets of Shanghai.

 These older women are from the Miao minority. Their outfits are one of the many minority outfits that people were wearing throughout the day.

 This was the first race of the day. Only two boats competed in this race. The set up is kind of like crew rowing except the rowers work to the beat of the drum placed at the bow of the boat, there is also one guy that controls the rudder in the back of the boat. Watching theses races are fun; people get excited like it is a horse race or something of that nature. Which also means it is a good time to have a friendly bet. I won a stick of peppered snails from another volunteer because my boat won.

 Each boat is decorated with a dragon head on the front and a tail in the back.

 Here you can see an entire boat. Every time the drummer strikes, the rowers row. This race was against a squad from the Chinese military, a group of doctors from a hospital, and a group from the automotive department.

 That is me in the middle with two of my best students on each side. We are sitting on a VIP booth on the river bank. People are not allowed onto the bank or even near the river, but these 2 students asked the police officer if we could be admitted since they wanted to be good hosts for their foreign guests. The police officer asked his boss, who asked his boss, who then asked his boss. After seeing all this happen infront of us we were quite sure we were going to be rejected, but the boss of all the bosses walked over, shook all of our hands, and said "huan ying huan ying" which means welcome welcome. Chinese hospitality is second to none. The other volunteers I was with and myself walked in happily.

 This was the boat of soldiers that was left out of the other frame. Who won? Well, these guys did of course.

 Rain, Lincoln, Will (SEWANEE!), and Ben (SEWANEE!) pose for a group picture as another race takes place behind them. On the other side of the river, up the wall, is where everyone else has to stand. When I was on that side of the river, the crowd was so packed that I could not even see the water from where I was standing.

 This is the boat of doctors passing by. They came last.

 This is the new tattoo of our head chef at GFC. It says "ji dan chao fan". If you think that is some great Confucian proverb, stop thinking so deeply. It means "egg fried rice".

 When foreigners walk around in Guizhou they get stared at. Guizhou province and especially Huishui county does not see many white people. Foreigners are treated like celebrities here. People always want to take pictures with them, but this woman took it up a notch and wanted to dance with one. So in the great mood of the Dragon Boat Festival, Tom had a little fun with the locals.

 Here are some more interns. When we walk around people always point and say "lao wai" (foreigner) or "lao wai ni hao" (hello foreigner!) or "lao wai hen piao liang" (pretty foreigner). While we were crossing the bridge we caught these officers saying "pretty foreigner" to the girls, so they wanted to take a picture with the officers. Unfortunately the officers said they are not allowed to.

 This was the first lantern I caught of the night.

 As the night became darker, more lanterns started filling the sky. People buy the lanters for about 6 kuai, 1 USD, and write wishes on the side before they send them off.

 While we were assembling our lanterns, this guy was about 5 feet away from us sending his off. He is one of the Huishui locals.

 Alicia is seeing if hers is inflated enough to push off. She was having a little trouble so the hands you see are the guy's in the last picture who offered to help.

 My hand sending off my lantern. We realized that blowing helps it rise; it gives it a little extra puff of air and also makes the fire burn a little harder for a second.

 This is Gabi, one of the newer interns at GFC. She was ecstatic about doing this since she has never seen anything like it before. This day was jam packed full of really incredible new experiences.

 A young girl in the distance sending hers off.

The river that runs through Huishui is also the river that runs past GFC. The name of the river is Bai Niao He. I have no idea what it means. This is the main bridge in Huishui and those little orange lights in the sky are lanters flying up.

The night ended with an amazing display of fireworks. There were so many powerful fireworks that I saw a window from a store blow open. It was a really amazing way to wish us all a happy festival.