Hard Words: Australia, Track and Field, Handsome.

Xiahe Day 3

7:30 Breakfast
8-11:30 Teaching English at a Middle School
12-2 Lunch
2-6 Bus, boo
6:30-8 Free time
8-9 Huanghe Visit
9:50 Train

We had to wake up pretty early for breakfast because we had to make sure we made it to the middle school on time. I still regret not getting up just a bit earlier to circumambulate the monastery with the pilgrims. So far this trip, that's my biggest regret.

For the first 45 minutes of class (8:10-8:55) we observed a Tibetan middle school's English class being taught. The teacher's accent was horrible, and at times the words were really wrong. It was also obvious that the kids really didn't understand much of what was going on, despite their frequent affirmative responses. It was fairly frustrating.

After a short break, we took over class (from 9:15-10). Our theme was Olympic sports and countries. I started out by taking several minutes to teach them some major countries and what to call people from those countries (which is significantly more difficult than just saying 中国人, think about it). Then the boys taught them some sports vocabulary (track and field was particularly hard to say) and after we attempted to play charades with the vocab. This went as well as could be expected, considering that Chinese classrooms are never interactive and the kids didn't know what to expect (plus charades is a hard game to explain if you don't really speak Chinese and your students don't really speak English - or Chinese. I really don't speak Tibetan, at all). For the last portion of class we broke into three small groups and just tried to chat with them. That's when we realized just how bad their English really was (despite their supposedly high level). We eventually had to give up on English and resort to Chinese conversation and showing them pictures and songs on Sean's computer. They loved it.

At the end of class the kids kept asking us to come to recess and play basketball with them. It took us a few times, but we finally agreed to 5 minutes (b/c we didn't know if we could stay). However, when word leaked out to the rest of the groups about what we were doing they joined us on the playground for about a half hour. The boys played basketball, and the girls had to join the Tibetan girls in a circle game that was similar to hot potato, but without the challenge. One person would skip around the circle singing a song that went something like "找，找，找朋友， something something " and then when we got to a certain part of the rhyme they stopped, turned to whoever they were in front f, shook their hand and said "你是我的好朋友， 再见！” When you said zaijian, they waved goodbye and that person became the new skipper. Basically the most boring game ever. I'm too competitive for it.

After the Zhao Peng You game the girls taught us a dragon game (I missed the full name of it - just caught dragon). Everyone lines up conga style and grabs the shirt of the person in front of them. These people are the dragon. There is one person who is it who is trying to catch the tail of the dragon, but the dragon tail avoids them while the dragonhead tries to catch them. It's like crack the whip - sorta. It was really fun though - a massive improvement on Zhao Peng You.

Then we tried to teach them some American games. Duck duck goose went pretty well, although it was exhausting - I'm clearly incredibly out of shape (and a favorite goose). Freeze tag did not go so well. That game is much harder to explain than one would expect. A few of them got it well enough in the end though. Playing with the kids was really fun and rewarding. I hope they continue to play the games we taught them.

We met up with B2 for lunch at the same place we went to the day before. It was so bad, though! Incredibly disappointing, considering how amazing that apple soup was.

Following lunch we embarked on a lovely 4-hour bus ride. It was relatively uneventful and uncomfortable.

When we arrived back in Lanzhou, Terra, Taylor, Reggie, Van and I went out for dinner. The boys got the beef noodles that Lanzhou is apparently so famous for (our tour guide Kiki/Candy is OBSESSED with food!) and we went with my old favorite: maladofu. After dinner we went on a quest for moon cake, since it was the mid autumn festival that day.

Got on the train around 9:30 after visiting the yellow river and this statue of a "graceful lady and a lovely lovely boy" that "represents China's relationship with the River." Note: Terra crowd-surfed in a bush here.

The train was more horrid than usual - I had a top bunk and discovered that I'm pretty badly claustrophobic, since I just freaked out and hyperventilated every time I woke up. Actually, I shouldn’t think about claustrophobia, because I can’t spell it, and I'm on the train now, and I'm starting to get pretty panicky just writing about it.

~L

So we like jumping on giant mushrooms...what are ya gonna do about it?

Xiahe Day 2

8am Breakfast
9-12 Grasslands
12-1:45 Lunch
2-3:30 Free Time
3:30-5 Burial/Cremation Visit/Hike
5 -> Free Time

The grasslands hike was absolutely beautiful. I took soooo many pictures. All the hills were covered in wildflowers, mostly these wicked pretty blue ones, although purple ones appeared near the top. It was pretty difficult to climb, mostly because of the altitude, but it as most definitely worth it.


At the top of the first ridge we climbed was a Tibetan prayer flag set. Each of the flags represents a different family. On the next ridge there was a set of huge arrows. Our tour guide did explain the arrows to us, although I didn't really underestand much except that during some holiday Tibetan men carry arrows up the mountain and drive them in while for 15 days the women can only eat one meal per day before sunrise.



The grasslands hike ranks as one of my favorite activities on the trip (along with tianshan and the camels). It was just so so so beautiful. There aren't really that many words besides breathtaking (which also applies quite literally, altitude makes things so much more fun - the oxygen pillows came out today).

For lunch I had the most delicious soup. It was mostly apple and really sweet, but it also had ginger, carrots and cucumber. Mental note: figure out how to make apple soup.

During our free time, most people took naps but I wasn't tired, so while yla slept I watched Chinese soap operas with subtitles (in characters of course) and no sound. But then, randomly, Kyla woke up, walked over to the TV, UNPLUGED it, and pluged in her cell phone. When I ave her a what-the-hell-was-that?! look, she just looked at me and said "I need to charge my phone" and went back to sleep. So I, clearly offended, decided it was probably time to go for a walk instead. I waslked about a mil up and down the street checkin stuff out. It was really hot, but nice to get out and move.

At 3:30 we met our grasslands uide again to walk up to a place where Buddhists are cremated. It was really sad. I can't imagine having my final resting place being in such a dismal lace. It wasn't particularly pretty, especilly for the are, and there was a ton of trash/litter all over the place. We also walked past a freshly burned area where our guide told us that some babies had been burned that morning. There was a skull in the pile of ashes, it was so sad. The only encouraging thing was a trail of white prayer flags leading from the site to the top of the mountain to help lead the souls to heaven.

A lo more encouraging form of burial that we learned about is called sky burial. In sky burial they pack the body under clay for 3 days. Then they break it out and cover it with ghee (yak butter), chop it into several pieces and take it to the top of the mountain. At the top they burn wood and incense for the protective smoke I talked about earlier, and then leave the body, after which eagles and hawks eat the body and in dowin so carry the soul to heaven. Besides the chopping part, I find this to be a bit alluring and very romantic.

After visiting the cremation site, a couple of us decided to climb up the neighboring ridge and we afforded a georgous panorama of the city and monastary. Labulengsi is huge! Terra and I found a small cairn on an outcropping, so we added to it - it felt appropriate.

Wen we got back everyone went on a mass shopping spree, followed by dinner on your own. I got several souveniers for people. I also got monk boots. How many people do you know that can say they have boots made for them by a tibetan monk? They look pretty ridiculous, but they're incredibly comfortable, and they have that sweet back story.

For dinner we went out for western food at this place called the Everest Cafe. My dinner was fine (and super tasty - I miss sandwiches like you wouldn't believe), but Savanah got yogurt with hair (copious amounts!) in it twice! When we complained, they informed us that it was yak hair (in yak ogurt) and therefor nothing to worry about. I can't really put into words how or why this was funny, but I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Afterwards everyone was oing to this "bar with performances" that the tour guides reccomended to us. We were supposed to leave at 8:30, so my dinner group made it just in time. It was only just across the street, thought. The bar pretty much blew. The performances included traditional Tibetan singing, which was more painful than impresive, and Kevin had his toenail ripped off, which was vile. We had to wake up early anyways, so I left fairly soon.

~L

Labulengsi and Yaks Galore

[[note: blogger is having pictures issues - the rest from this entry will be up soon]]

9/23/07
9:30 am Get off the train
12:30 pm Arrive in Linxia for Lunch
4:00 pm Tour Labrang Monastary
8:00 pm Buddhist Talk

Got off the train and onto the bus. Our tour guide IS Candy (in a few years) - it's absolutely uncanny.

We had lunch in the Hui Muslim capital of Linxia, at a restaurant called the Red Garden. We had a spectacular peppered onion and carrot dish. I also ate lilly root for the first time - not bad.

We finally pulled into Xiahe around 4. Something I should have mentioned earlier is that everything here - from Linxia to Xiahe is gloriously green and mountainous. The mountains themselves are covered with rice paddies and goats. For this reason alone, Xiahe is my favorite spot so far. It really is just absolute beauty as far as the eye can see.

We toured the Labrang Monastary for the afternoon (Yellow hat sect). We weren't allowed to take pictures indoors, so I'll have to see if I'm able to find some postcards because it really was quite incredible. Everything was amazing. Every inch of the interior of every building was absolutely covered in teh most colorful artwork imaginable. We first ent into a chanting hall. It had rows of carpets for the monks to sit and chant on. It also had statues of several Buddhas, including the living Buddha who founded the monastary, Siddhartha, the Buddha of Wisdom, etc. There were even a few statues made out of yak butter, to represent transience. They were incredibly detailed. And made of butter. Just think about it. I'll post pictures down below - by the new years statue paragraph. Connected to the chanting hall was a stupa room. It contained the remains of all the living BUddhas of the monastary, as well as some of the favored teachers.

Next we went into a hall that was filled with monks chanting. I think our guide said it was part of the medicinal college. Labrang monastary has served as a university (with several colleges) for thousands of years. The chanting monks were all wearing ornate headresses. In the back was a room containing a huge Buddha statue (the medicine buddha), some pictures of living buddhas associated with he field, and some medicinal mandalas (as well as the typical artwork and silks everywhere).

Next we went into a building containing another giant buddha, although no chanting hall. From the outside you would never expect that these buildings contained such beautiful, colorful and intricate art. This buddha was the buddha fo knowledge, and we were informed that students seek inspiration from him when they're having difficulty studying.

Next stop - a room filled with yak butter statues from each new year. They were in various stages of melting. Apparently a new one is made for each new year celebration. These statues are so intricate, you would never believe that they were made of butter! This picture is of BUTTER. It blows my mind. Luckily, we were allowed to take pictures there, so I can share this phenomenon with you.

We made a quick jaunt through a small museum and then went to watch the students have a "debate." This involved a group of students asking one or two others questions about sutras etc. If they got it right they would clap in their faces, wrong and then would smack them on the head. I have pictures and video.


Our last stop at Labulengsi was the home of a monk, where a former monk who used to live there and speaks English spoke to us about monk daily life. He also spoke about how he left the monastary for what he thought was love and then had his heart broken and now he eternally regrets leaving since he can never go back. It was really sad.

At 6:30 we headed off to a Tibetan home for dinner. The layout was much the same as the monks. They have a stupa in the courtyard where they burn wood each morning because they believe that the resulting smoke with protect inhabiting spirits.

If I wasn't aquainted with yak before this visit, I am now. On the dinner menu: Fresh bread and yak butter, yak milk tea, yak buttermilk tea (totally different), beef noodle soup (what?), yak meat dumplings, yak yoghurt, and this amazing stuff called somba. Somba is about 2 tbs. yak milk tea, a dollop of yak butter, 2 tbs barley flour, 1 tbs crunchy stuff [[I thought it was millet, but was informed later that it was yak cheese]], and a tsp. of sugar. You then knead this mixture with your fingers in a small bowl and eat the dough it produces. I really liked this dish, although the majority of our group did not.

After dinner we checked into our hotel which is amazing. It's like a glorified garage, and it's just so colorful! There's even art on the ceilings! I'll post some pictures but they will not do it justice. When we first checked in they draped white silk over our shoulders in the traditional form of Tibetan greeting (very similar to being leid in Hawaii, but with textiles and Tibetans). This happened to me several times in Xiahe.

From 8-9:15 we had a research expert give us a talk on Tibetan Buddhism. It was really quite facinating. Among the interesting things I learned: 1. Population growth can be explained by the fluctuation of the distribution of spirits throughout the different realms (spirit, half spirit, human, animal, demon, hell). Population is up because there have been good things, so spirits are being reincarnated as peple. 2. Mahayana looks down on Hinayana because they are individual and not group focused, and Hinayana doesn't accept Mahaana because they added more scriptures to what the Buddha originall offered.

I'm going to wake up at 7 tomorrow for my first hot shower in about 5 days, and a promised "western breakfast." I'll let you know if there's spam.

I love beautiful Xiahe!