Kaili is known as the "gateway" to the many ethnic minority villages around the province. We had a contact through the director of the Summer Language Institute who was willing to meet us at the bus station when we arrived. Having a person who speaks and reads Chinese with us when exploring is really wonderful. Wang Shan could not have been more gracious or kind... plus we just had a darn good time with him!
To get from Bijie to Kaili, we needed to go back through the capitol Guiyang and then continue east. The whole journey was due east. We did not know what kind of bus we would be on, but most of the buses are about 2/3 the size of our city buses and are open air vehicles. They can be very crowded and uncomfortable on a long trek. We were very fortunate to be on a modern cruiser type bus, with air conditioning, too! Most of the time, Chinese music videos were played on a small screen at the front of the bus. It was wonderful to hear the driver and the manager-type guy on the bus singing away with the songs.
The driver positioned Nancy and I in the very front seat directly behind his head. We didn't know if he was being generous and offering us a good view or if he wanted to keep an eye on us, but either way the seating allowed for excellent positioning for taking photos. It is fascinating to watch the rules of the road unfold as you ride on a bus here.
Our driver had one of the larger vehicles on the road, and I believe the painted line on the road is merely a suggestion. He wanted to keep moving, so he honked loudly on his horn every time he wanted someone or another vehicle to move out of his way. We frequently saw semi trucks and cars coming at us head on as he was moving into the "overtaking lane" of traffic to pass. There are also little pull offs every 1/2 mile or so for cars or trucks to escape into, if need be, when others are trying to pass.
The only uncomfortable thing on the bus was the smoking of the driver and his friends who hung out at the front. It was a very people-friendly bus up front for the driver, as one friend of his could sit in a pull out seat in the entrance ramp of the bus, and another could stand behind a little pullout bumper behind his shoulder. The driver talked long and loud and had many good laughs along the way with his friends. We were on the bus from 10 am until 5 pm by the time we reached Kaili.
What a wonderful city! It is truly the most friendly city I have ever visited. We arrived during Sunday Market, so the streets were crowded with people moving around the market and eating. It is not unusual at all to see little kids of four and five years old just roaming about on their own. The market is also a place where one can go to get shoes shined, get a haircut, or even have teeth pulled. Pliers are readily available for this minor operation. Most cannot afford dental care, so we see many smiles filled with teeth that are either crooked, missing, or browned. The smiles, though, are so welcoming and so contagious. I could live in this city, without a doubt.
Wang Shan wanted to treat us to some local specialty items... like the sour fish and the Yang Mei wine. We would never have been able to know about or find these specialties on our own because he knows the little tucked-away restaurants that prepare exactly what you want. He was determined that we try the sour fish and the wine, so we went to a little shop owned by a woman who brews the local fruit (a kind of red bayberry) into Yang Mei wine. She had a few 5 foot tall jugs in her storefront, let us sample two types, and then scooped the wine into plastic water bottles for the purchase. We preferred the fruity-er wine, as the other tasted more like ethanol. Then Wang Shan took us to another storefront where he picked out two fish. One of the fish jumped the net and landed on the pavement. Easily scooped back up. We were taken to a little private eating area up a very narrow , twisty staircase. Within minutes, a hot pot of sour fish was at our table.
More later... have to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Language Institute now...
After careful consideration, Nancy (teaching partner) and I decided to journey off to Kaili for a few days. There was some miscommunication regarding the start teaching date here at this remote site, so we had a few days to ourselves.
We decided not to spend it here. We had not had any water for over 18 hours, and there is no sign that it is coming back on anytime soon. The Internet connection was only printing Chinese characters as I typed and the mosquitoes had about worn out our fly swatters.
I also needed to strike out to see if there was ANY bathroom alternative. The squatter toilet is difficult enough to manage, but especially when we were without any water for flushing (use your imagination).
Creatively, I had rigged up a chamber pot for my bedroom. Part of me believes I was a singer and lute player during the Renaissance in my previous life, so the chamber pot didn't seem much of a stretch (although I haven't been in the mood to hum madrigals, I must admit). However, the chamber pot has alleviated several anxieties I was harboring once darkness fell. Mainly, I was frightened that if I used the squatter at night, I would be greeted by a rat that had swum upstream to check out the situation. I do wish I had a chamber maid to empty the chamber pot in the morning, but alas, I am she, too...
Speaking of squatters... I'm told that many of the tourists coming to China for the Olympics will be experiencing these kinds of toilets in Beijing, too. Well, good for them! As I become more accustomed to these squatters I am convinced that they assist in the development of strong thigh muscles, a sense of humor, and a sense of true accomplishment on a daily basis. Can you tell that I am developing an intimate relationship with waste matter? For those of you who know me, you know that I am not the least bit squeamish about talking about anything. For those of you who don't know me as well, try to become adjusted to my candor.
Anyway, we actually did encounter another type of toilet facility in and around Kaili. It's more of a trough, really, with about a width of 8 inches. No privacy here - you just find a spot, straddle the trough and squat. I have learned a strategy that the "best" position in the trough sequence is where the line begins. At the front end, which is slightly elevated, there is sometimes running water. This causes the waste matter to be moved to the lowest part of the trough... which is the end position. Think of living in a mountainous region. It is always advantageous to live at the top of the mountain, as everything flows downward. Just in case you wanted to know, there is no toilet paper anywhere. So, I carry little packs of Kleenex for occasions when I visit the squatters. Any tissue cannot be thrown in the trough or squatter, so there are always little buckets for people to deposit their wiping papers. This is another reason the squatters are so darn smelly.
I must admit, though, that the design of buildings and villages integrates these facilities in an excellent way, as they are always placed at the back of the village or train station, etc... We truly do have much to learn from Chinese practicality and design that simply makes good sense. Nothing is wasted here, and recycling is truly a way of life.
FYI: I think I have killed one hundred mosquitoes as I have typed this in the last few minutes. They are everywhere and now look like speckled wallpaper on the blue paint in this room. I beg forgiveness from my Aunt Dottie, who once kept a moth alive all winter by feeding it sugar water on a cotton ball. I do not want to kill these creatures, but they will eat me alive if I don't. Yes, I am taking my malaria medication and am grateful that I am on this regimen of pills. I now have a new appreciation for all those brave soul Peace Corps volunteers.
Because I am having some trouble sending longer blogs, I will construct a Kaili Blog in installments. Right now I need to plan a few things for tomorrow's first class. We meet our students and we will also be having a rather la-de-da Opening Ceremony with many of the dignitaries in the area. It is a good thing our apartment's laundry machine is up and running tonight. We checked to see if the water was on, first thing, when we returned from Kaili and our spirits lifted tremendously when that water shot out of the spout! We are now in the practice of filling up covered buckets with water when the water is actually working. The covers prevent mosquitoes from being privy to additional breeding grounds. We have been told that the water sometimes goes off for six or seven days at a stretch.
More tomorrow on our adventures in Kaili! Enjoy the cush of your Western toilet, the closeness of your soft bathroom tissue, the way the waste matter magically disappears, and the fact that rats are a lot less interested in sharing your bathroom.
It has been both a challenging and rewarding day in Bijie. The challenges are frustrating and overwhelming, and to be honest, left me in tears for a short time this evening. Here's what happening on the frustrating front...
1. We have only squatter toilets in our apartment.
2. The water keeps going out... about two hours this morning... and now for about the last eight hours.
3. When the water goes out, the squatter becomes very messy and difficult to use (use your imagination to picture this scenario).
4. It apparently rains a great deal here, and with the campus under so much construction, it is like walking through a huge mud hole
5. There are many flies and mosquitos
6. We are in a very remote site. Usually, there are weekend treks to attractions around the actual site, but there is nothing much within any reasonable distance to explore on the weekends. At other sites, the teachers are able to walk to town and relax after teaching, but the city proper is a 50 minute walk from campus, and walking at night is not advised.
7. The key to our apartment is very difficult to use, resulting in our calling the facillitator to help us when we returned from a walk this evening.
So, much is different than we thought it might be. On the other hand, there are some wonderful things happening too, which I will need to focus on to keep my spirit bouyant.
1. Our actual apartments are quite nice. I am staying in the apartment where the Peace Corps volunteers usually stay. It is well stocked with books, movies, and encouraging messages to us as the current Bijie volunteer workers.
2. Our facillitator, Tang Gang, is so very gracious and accomodating. He has many rules and regulations to follow, including getting us registered with the prefecture police because we are going to be here for more than 20 days. He worked very hard to get a computer and internet connection for me today, too. Unfortunately, the set up keeps switching to Chinese characters, so I am typing on Nancy's (my teaching partner) computer.
3. The head of the kitchen on campus spent a while with us today, asking us what we would like to have prepared while we are here. We asked for no fish, because it tends to be prepared in a very slimy fashion in this region. We also asked for less oil and no lard. We also asked for no dog or cat meat. He about rolled on the floor laughing when we made that request. Tang told us he may try to disguise the dog meat by cutting it up really small and passing it off as pork. We have a wonderful joking, bantering relationship with Tang, so we do a lot of teasing back and forth. As we tease, we introduce additional American idioms to him, terms like "pulling my leg" and "messing with my head." We all had a good laugh after he teased us about the dog meat as he told me, "I am messing up your head, yes???"
4. As we walked around campus tonight, we found a beautiful lily pad pond where students hang out, read, and study. We were approached by three young men who simply wanted to try their English out on us. They did a beautiful job, and they were so pleased that we understood their English. One of the boys told us we were the very first foreigners he had ever actually talked to. He was so excited that I thought he was going to jump right out of his skin. It took a great deal of courage for these young men to walk up to strangers and start a conversation. We are finding the Chinese people to be very friendly and very kind. The look of absolute joy on the faces of those three young men will, I believe, sustain me through all the challenging living details I chronicled above. Such joy...
5. The actual teaching is being delayed three days due to registration for students beginning a bit later than scheduled originally. Nancy and I felt that we might go absolutely stir crazy waiting to get into the classroom with our students, so we are planning an adventure. We will take the bus from Bijie to Kaili, which is the gateway to the many ethnic minoritiy villages in the Guizhou Province. The bus will be very cheap, but it will be a crampy and sticky 6 hour trek. Once we arrive there, a friend of the director's will meet us and help us navigate the villages within a 2 hour range of Kaili. This area is especially known for it textiles and handicrafts, so I will be in embroidery paradise.
6. My family in East Lansing is concerned about my bamboo saxophone purchase. They wondered at the folly of trying to pack a saxophone when my carrying space is so limited. However, this sax is basically a reeded recorder instrument that takes up very little space.
7. We had a phenomenal Opening Ceremony Dinner back in Guiyang before we left for Bijie. Lots of short speeches by dignitaries, followed by numerous toast with a type of "spirits" they call Mou Tai, a 106 proof liquor dating back to the Han Dynasty. This spirit basically looks and tastes like lighter fluid. It is served in a very tiny shot glass with a stem, and after the toast everyone shouts "Gan Bei," which means bottoms up. The wait staff keeps your Mou Tai cup filled throughout the evening as people propose one friendship toast after another. This is a peace-loving, bridge-building group of humans who are involved in this cooperative endeavor between China and the United States.
8. After the Opening Ceremony dinner, we we taken up the winding road of a mountain to a beautiful Tea House. The Tea House was actually closed, but one of our Ministers of Education made special arrangements for it to re-open late for us. We watched two young girls perform the tea ceremony, which has very specific parts. It was a lovely night atop a mountain that I will never forget.
9. Last night, in the pouring rain, we decided to wander out and explore the downtown region of Bijie. We roamed around the wonderfully colorful marketplace, which was alive with people. Some specialities here are a wide assortment of teas, potatoes, pig snout, huge slabs of lard, and chicken feet. We are a curiostiy in town, so wherever we go, people stare at us. It is funny to watch the first person in a group catch a glimpse of "the foreigners" - and then they quickly inform their friends by pointing at us and telling them to "look." For many here, we may be the first foreigners they have ever seen. A group of young girls followed us through the market, giggling and smiling back and forth with us.
The poverty here is impossible to describe and heart-shattering to see. The faces of the people in this area seem old before their time, as much of the work involves very demanding physical labor. Many families have a cement slab front to sell wares, and they live on the back of the slab with their families. They work very hard to sustain themselves day to day.
Since we will be traveling to Kaili in the morning, I may not have internet access for a few days. If the water doesn't come back on by morning, we will begin this journey unshowered. And so it goes... I will tell you about my Kaili explorations in the next blog.
In the meantime, I hope you will take a moment to think about what you have in your life that brings you joy, what you have that makes you grateful. We live in unbelievably plush circumstances compared to much of the world. The challenges we face as we are here will be challenges only for a few weeks. The people who live in this region live with these challenges every day of their lives. This is their home...
What a wonderful city! It is truly the most friendly city I have ever visited. We arrived during Sunday Market, so the streets were crowded with people moving around the market and eating. It is not unusual at all to see little kids of four and five years old just roaming about on their own. The market is also a place where one can go to get shoes shined, get a haircut, or even have teeth pulled. Pliers are readily available for this minor operation. Most cannot afford dental care, so we see many smiles filled with teeth that are either crooked, missing, or browned. The smiles, though, are so welcoming and so contagious. I could live in this city, without a doubt.
