So, last night, Lexi and I managed to get a thanksgiving dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and even stuffing! It was amazing, although of course not on part with Moline Thanksgivings. Still, it was better than nothing. We talked to this Chinese man, James, who was sitting at our table and he said he might bring us ice skating in Kunming, if our paths overlap. There were so many American men there with Chinese wives and little half-Asian kids running around everywhere. It's funny how couples are almost always an American man and a Chinese woman, instead of the reverse (except for Lexi, because she's the anomaly - her dad is Chinese and her mom is American). The hostess there was very kind, checking to make sure we were enjoying the food and we all took a group photo, which Lexi has and will hopefully make its way to facebook.
Now I'm at Mama Naxi's waiting for my breakfast. We leave for Kunming on a night train in a few days, and I've already pretty much finished with fieldwork and started writing my paper, which I think is coming along well. It's fun to write, I think, despite how interesting fieldwork is, writing will always be my favorite part.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Photos with Strangers
So since so many people ask for photos of me a day (yeah, I'm that good looking), I've decided to give them my email and ask them to send me the photos. That way I'll have a ton of photos with random Chinese people. So far I have the following:
Right now I'm at a place called Mama Naxi's (I moved from my previous hostel). This place is very homey; Mama Naxi really does take care of you. In fact dinner is going to be served in a few minutes, so that's all for now.
Right now I'm at a place called Mama Naxi's (I moved from my previous hostel). This place is very homey; Mama Naxi really does take care of you. In fact dinner is going to be served in a few minutes, so that's all for now.
Monday, November 8, 2010
ISP Starting in Lijiang!
Last, Friday, we left Zhongdian (aka Shangrila), leaving behind four brave souls: Ellie, Katherine, Richard, and Lauren (and DT, but he already lives there, so he doesn't count). I slept on the bus for a couple hours, occasionally mustering the energy to peer outside my window at the touring mountains and sheer cliffs. Seen it, seen it...
Anyways, we got to Lijiang for lunch (and, of course, to finally get rid of me). I managed to spill sprite perfectly on myself and Lexi - not one drop managed to actually hit the chair or the floor - and then back on the bus for a few minutes. Then the bus suddenly stopped, I gave my farewell speech ("I hate you all!"), hugged everybody goodbye, Xiao Zhou pointed in a random direction ("that's where old town is! bye!") and I was left, abandoned on the street corner with nothing but my suitcase, some money, and a random direction.
Haha, not quite so bad. I got a taxi to the old town and he dropped me off at the main entrance, which is good because that's the only entrance I'm familiar with (by the way, I totally didn't write a post for this, but we stopped in Lijiang for a few days on our way to Zhongdian, so I was thankfully already a little familiar with everything). I made my way to the International Hostel, which I found surprisingly easily considering how much I would get lost later on (the record of my wandering with no idea where I am has currently reached about four hours; the only marker for where I wanted to get back to, that I knew how to express in Chinese, was KFC. Surprisingly, it worked when I asked a little girl and her mother [didn't so much when I asked older people]).
Sooo, anyways Lijiang is a cool place. Here's my proposal if you want to look at it (there were separated paragraphs in the abstract before, but they kind of just disappeared on here):
I. PROJECT ABSTRACT
Minority women have been represented as exotic and erotic not only by the Han Chinese but also by minority members themselves, who are distinct players in the process of commodifying ethnic culture and are not passive objects (Schein, Chee-Beng Tan, Gladney, Blum, Swain, Walsh, Hui, Chun and Ying). One of the issues of tourism and cultural construction, as both Swain and Schein identify, is power structures. Minorities are generally not dominant in the process of cultural construction for the sake of tourism and development. The state generally exercises dominance over minority groups in many aspects, although the relationship between the state and minority culture has changed significantly over the last century (Blum). During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, ethnic traditions were derided and suppressed as feudal and backwards. Today, several years after the economic reforms of the 1980s and early 1990s, the government now promotes ethnic difference as a source of profit, a connection to the international community (Schein), and as an other against which Han identity can be constructed (Gladney, Schein). However, minorities also, “by allowing the objectivizing gaze of the state-sponsored media, establish their own identity and right to a voice in their own affairs, appropriating and turning, whenever possible, these objectivizing moves to their own benefit” (Gladney 117). Schein also identifies methods by which minorities resist against the commodifying gaze of the outsiders and the state. In her ethnography about the Miao, Schein describes situations in which photographers attempting to photograph or videotape Miao women encountered forms of resistance; the Miao women would claimed embarrassment and would not allow themselves to be photographed, or they demanded money in exchange for the photos. Either way, they took some measure of control, using the methods of resistance Richard Robbins might have described as weapons of the weak: the “subtle ways of resistance” used by people suffering from inequality (309). In addition, tourism aggravates economic inequalities, particularly between urban and rural areas (McKhann, Swain). In Lijiang, for instance, the tourism industry was based in the following areas, which thus received the most profit: Lijiang Town (Dayanzhen), Dry Lake Basin (Ganhaizi), White Water River (Baishui He), Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia), Lugu Lake (Lugu Hu), and a few towns, like Baisha and Longquan. According to McKhann, there are also fewer Naxi people actually living in Lijiang Old Town because they disliked the intrusive gaze of tourists and came into conflict with non-locals opening up businesses in the area. The departure of Naxi people and the commodification of their culture has led to concern over the ‘loss’ of Naxi culture. However, Tan Chee-Beng also made the argument that changes as a result of tourism are still part of culture. His argument is basically that the effects of tourism are less of a “loss” of culture than a change in culture, which was never static to begin with. Groups, like the Naxi of Lijiang, are simply responding to changing environments. Tourism also has a significant impact on perceptions of gender and gender relations (Swain, Walsh). For instance, Swain made the argument that tourism affected and subsequently changed Sani gender relations. According to Swain, “the Sani are not patriarchal but in order to participate in the global tourism economy they must often engage in consensual patriarchy of Chinese capitalism and the global economy” (136-137). Walsh uses the example of the Mosuo to portray changes in gender relations caused by tourism. According to Walsh, although Mosuo women are portrayed by outsiders as part of a matriarchal society, “the negotiation between tourist desires, outsider representations, and identity creation is forcing women into a position of working more than men for the sake of preserving ‘traditional’ culture on which their new wealth depends, a wealth that is often controlled by men” (119). According to a study implemented on Lijiang’ tourism industry, by the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences and the University of California at Davis, “issues of gender equity have been raised [in previous studies of tourism] regarding the differential social and economic impacts of tourism on male and female hosts (division of labor, control of revenues, health, and human rights)…special problems include prostitution (sex tourism), separate male and female economies, and relocation of resources in ways that put a disproportionate burden on women hosts” (Approaching the Jade Dragon: Tourism in Lijiang). Hathaway argued in 2007 that the anthropology of tourism, despite “connections to issues of acculturation, authenticity, identity construction, and consumption theory,” is still a relatively unexplored area. This proposed study would be an opportunity to expand on anthropological scholarship on tourism. Tan Chee-Beng argues for the significance of “how tourist sites and people are represented to tourists and how this representation affects local people” (2), because “ethnic tourism has a significant impact on the lives of minority peoples…it impacts on their self-consciousness and identity” (15-16). Understanding the impacts of tourism is very important because of how widespread the tourism industry is, particularly in Lijiang. Lastly, the issues of gender and inequality mentioned above are issues very relevant to not only developing tourist centers like Lijiang but all over the world, and therefore warrant attention.
II. RESOURCES
A. Okay, the citations turned into a mess here, so I took them out...
B. Zhao Xiu Yun (advisor)
Zhang Li Wei
III. METHODOLOGY
A. How does the Lijiang tourism industry affect the lives of Naxi women? How has it affected their social and economic status? How has it affected gender relations? How are Naxi women involved in the commodification and consumption of Naxi culture? How, if they do, resist the power structures of inequality imposed in the process of cultural and identity construction? How has the relationship Naxi women have with tourism changed over the years (how has their involvement changed? How have the effects of tourism changed)? B. I intend to use interviews (both structured and unstructured) with the aid of a translator and, in some cases, a recorder. A few of these interviews will be for the purpose of collecting life histories, as I am interested in the effects of tourism over time. My recordings I will then transcribe, code and look for common themes and points of interest. I also intend to use surveys, observe and if possible collect cultural artifacts (like pamphlets, photos, tourist goods, etc), and to use participant observation (spending time in tourist shops, agencies, attractions, museums, etc as well the ). I intend to take field notes to record my observations, which I will, like the interview transcriptions, code and look for themes.
IV. ITINERARY
A. Lijiang from November 5th to December 1st Kunming from December 1st to December 7th B. A 9-hour night bus (or train) from Lijiang to Kunming.
V. BUDGET ¥870 – lodging (30 per night/24 nights in Lijiang and 25 per night/6 nights in Kunming) ¥750 – food (25 per day/30 days) ¥300 – transportation (getting around Lijiang, Lijiang to Kunming) ¥300 – miscellaneous gifts ¥400 – translation fees ¥200 – miscellaneous items
VI. EXPECTATIONS
A. Language barriers will be a challenge as I do not speak Mandarin fluently and older inhabitants of Lijiang and particularly rural areas might not speak Mandarin fluently either. Another challenge will be the limited time I have available to conduct this study.
B. In order to surmount the language barrier, I hope to find the services of translator(s) who can speak English well and also, when possible, ask my advisor for translation help. Also, although my time will be limited, I believe that with the preparation I have already accomplished and with flexibility, I will be able to make good use of this limited time. Also, in case my proposed study is rendered completely impossible, I have a back-up study in mind. In this back-up study, I would analyze Naxi myths as they are presented by different groups of people (the Naxi themselves, non-locals working in the tourism industry, the dongba cultural institute, etc), what these different presentations mean to different people, and what the purposes of these different presentations are, as they are connected to identity and cultural construction, and commodification.
Anyways, we got to Lijiang for lunch (and, of course, to finally get rid of me). I managed to spill sprite perfectly on myself and Lexi - not one drop managed to actually hit the chair or the floor - and then back on the bus for a few minutes. Then the bus suddenly stopped, I gave my farewell speech ("I hate you all!"), hugged everybody goodbye, Xiao Zhou pointed in a random direction ("that's where old town is! bye!") and I was left, abandoned on the street corner with nothing but my suitcase, some money, and a random direction.
Haha, not quite so bad. I got a taxi to the old town and he dropped me off at the main entrance, which is good because that's the only entrance I'm familiar with (by the way, I totally didn't write a post for this, but we stopped in Lijiang for a few days on our way to Zhongdian, so I was thankfully already a little familiar with everything). I made my way to the International Hostel, which I found surprisingly easily considering how much I would get lost later on (the record of my wandering with no idea where I am has currently reached about four hours; the only marker for where I wanted to get back to, that I knew how to express in Chinese, was KFC. Surprisingly, it worked when I asked a little girl and her mother [didn't so much when I asked older people]).
Sooo, anyways Lijiang is a cool place. Here's my proposal if you want to look at it (there were separated paragraphs in the abstract before, but they kind of just disappeared on here):
I. PROJECT ABSTRACT
Minority women have been represented as exotic and erotic not only by the Han Chinese but also by minority members themselves, who are distinct players in the process of commodifying ethnic culture and are not passive objects (Schein, Chee-Beng Tan, Gladney, Blum, Swain, Walsh, Hui, Chun and Ying). One of the issues of tourism and cultural construction, as both Swain and Schein identify, is power structures. Minorities are generally not dominant in the process of cultural construction for the sake of tourism and development. The state generally exercises dominance over minority groups in many aspects, although the relationship between the state and minority culture has changed significantly over the last century (Blum). During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, ethnic traditions were derided and suppressed as feudal and backwards. Today, several years after the economic reforms of the 1980s and early 1990s, the government now promotes ethnic difference as a source of profit, a connection to the international community (Schein), and as an other against which Han identity can be constructed (Gladney, Schein). However, minorities also, “by allowing the objectivizing gaze of the state-sponsored media, establish their own identity and right to a voice in their own affairs, appropriating and turning, whenever possible, these objectivizing moves to their own benefit” (Gladney 117). Schein also identifies methods by which minorities resist against the commodifying gaze of the outsiders and the state. In her ethnography about the Miao, Schein describes situations in which photographers attempting to photograph or videotape Miao women encountered forms of resistance; the Miao women would claimed embarrassment and would not allow themselves to be photographed, or they demanded money in exchange for the photos. Either way, they took some measure of control, using the methods of resistance Richard Robbins might have described as weapons of the weak: the “subtle ways of resistance” used by people suffering from inequality (309). In addition, tourism aggravates economic inequalities, particularly between urban and rural areas (McKhann, Swain). In Lijiang, for instance, the tourism industry was based in the following areas, which thus received the most profit: Lijiang Town (Dayanzhen), Dry Lake Basin (Ganhaizi), White Water River (Baishui He), Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia), Lugu Lake (Lugu Hu), and a few towns, like Baisha and Longquan. According to McKhann, there are also fewer Naxi people actually living in Lijiang Old Town because they disliked the intrusive gaze of tourists and came into conflict with non-locals opening up businesses in the area. The departure of Naxi people and the commodification of their culture has led to concern over the ‘loss’ of Naxi culture. However, Tan Chee-Beng also made the argument that changes as a result of tourism are still part of culture. His argument is basically that the effects of tourism are less of a “loss” of culture than a change in culture, which was never static to begin with. Groups, like the Naxi of Lijiang, are simply responding to changing environments. Tourism also has a significant impact on perceptions of gender and gender relations (Swain, Walsh). For instance, Swain made the argument that tourism affected and subsequently changed Sani gender relations. According to Swain, “the Sani are not patriarchal but in order to participate in the global tourism economy they must often engage in consensual patriarchy of Chinese capitalism and the global economy” (136-137). Walsh uses the example of the Mosuo to portray changes in gender relations caused by tourism. According to Walsh, although Mosuo women are portrayed by outsiders as part of a matriarchal society, “the negotiation between tourist desires, outsider representations, and identity creation is forcing women into a position of working more than men for the sake of preserving ‘traditional’ culture on which their new wealth depends, a wealth that is often controlled by men” (119). According to a study implemented on Lijiang’ tourism industry, by the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences and the University of California at Davis, “issues of gender equity have been raised [in previous studies of tourism] regarding the differential social and economic impacts of tourism on male and female hosts (division of labor, control of revenues, health, and human rights)…special problems include prostitution (sex tourism), separate male and female economies, and relocation of resources in ways that put a disproportionate burden on women hosts” (Approaching the Jade Dragon: Tourism in Lijiang). Hathaway argued in 2007 that the anthropology of tourism, despite “connections to issues of acculturation, authenticity, identity construction, and consumption theory,” is still a relatively unexplored area. This proposed study would be an opportunity to expand on anthropological scholarship on tourism. Tan Chee-Beng argues for the significance of “how tourist sites and people are represented to tourists and how this representation affects local people” (2), because “ethnic tourism has a significant impact on the lives of minority peoples…it impacts on their self-consciousness and identity” (15-16). Understanding the impacts of tourism is very important because of how widespread the tourism industry is, particularly in Lijiang. Lastly, the issues of gender and inequality mentioned above are issues very relevant to not only developing tourist centers like Lijiang but all over the world, and therefore warrant attention.
II. RESOURCES
A. Okay, the citations turned into a mess here, so I took them out...
B. Zhao Xiu Yun (advisor)
Zhang Li Wei
III. METHODOLOGY
A. How does the Lijiang tourism industry affect the lives of Naxi women? How has it affected their social and economic status? How has it affected gender relations? How are Naxi women involved in the commodification and consumption of Naxi culture? How, if they do, resist the power structures of inequality imposed in the process of cultural and identity construction? How has the relationship Naxi women have with tourism changed over the years (how has their involvement changed? How have the effects of tourism changed)? B. I intend to use interviews (both structured and unstructured) with the aid of a translator and, in some cases, a recorder. A few of these interviews will be for the purpose of collecting life histories, as I am interested in the effects of tourism over time. My recordings I will then transcribe, code and look for common themes and points of interest. I also intend to use surveys, observe and if possible collect cultural artifacts (like pamphlets, photos, tourist goods, etc), and to use participant observation (spending time in tourist shops, agencies, attractions, museums, etc as well the ). I intend to take field notes to record my observations, which I will, like the interview transcriptions, code and look for themes.
IV. ITINERARY
A. Lijiang from November 5th to December 1st Kunming from December 1st to December 7th B. A 9-hour night bus (or train) from Lijiang to Kunming.
V. BUDGET ¥870 – lodging (30 per night/24 nights in Lijiang and 25 per night/6 nights in Kunming) ¥750 – food (25 per day/30 days) ¥300 – transportation (getting around Lijiang, Lijiang to Kunming) ¥300 – miscellaneous gifts ¥400 – translation fees ¥200 – miscellaneous items
VI. EXPECTATIONS
A. Language barriers will be a challenge as I do not speak Mandarin fluently and older inhabitants of Lijiang and particularly rural areas might not speak Mandarin fluently either. Another challenge will be the limited time I have available to conduct this study.
B. In order to surmount the language barrier, I hope to find the services of translator(s) who can speak English well and also, when possible, ask my advisor for translation help. Also, although my time will be limited, I believe that with the preparation I have already accomplished and with flexibility, I will be able to make good use of this limited time. Also, in case my proposed study is rendered completely impossible, I have a back-up study in mind. In this back-up study, I would analyze Naxi myths as they are presented by different groups of people (the Naxi themselves, non-locals working in the tourism industry, the dongba cultural institute, etc), what these different presentations mean to different people, and what the purposes of these different presentations are, as they are connected to identity and cultural construction, and commodification.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Last Day in Kunming
I’ve spent the last two weeks living with my host family; my host mom, dad, and little brother. Just like before, I had class in the morning, then Taiji, then more class…Only today was my last day. I had two tests this morning, turned in my Life History paper and the rough draft of my ISP proposal. Tomorrow we leave for, eventually, Dali, Lijiang, and Zhongdian and I won’t be coming back to Kunming for probably about a month.
My Life History paper was actually a lot of fun to write. I interviewed one of my friends, July (her Chinese name is Sun Manli). She’s a student from Sichuan studying English at Minzu Daxue. She was very eloquent in describing her life; her English is pretty fluent. More importantly, she was very open about talking about her life, telling me stories about living with her grandparents and, later, her parents. For this reason, I’m glad I picked a friend to interview. I don’t think I would have gotten such detailed responses without having already established a friendship. However, later on I will have to interview people I don’t know very well, although I’ll probably use a translator and hopeful that will help. My Chinese has improved so much, especially my speaking, but I don’t think I would be able to understand the answers to the kind of questions I’m going to ask people…
Speaking of asking people questions, I’ve picked out an ISP topic. I’ve decided I want to research ethnic (specifically the Naxi) women’s representation in the tourist industry. I’m wondering to what capacity they are involved in the construction of this representation and how it affects their lives. I’m going to be doing my fieldwork in Lijiang, which I’m going to in a few days as part of the group excursion. I’m excited to see the place I’ll probably be spending some of the next few weeks in, but I’ll miss Kunming.
My Life History paper was actually a lot of fun to write. I interviewed one of my friends, July (her Chinese name is Sun Manli). She’s a student from Sichuan studying English at Minzu Daxue. She was very eloquent in describing her life; her English is pretty fluent. More importantly, she was very open about talking about her life, telling me stories about living with her grandparents and, later, her parents. For this reason, I’m glad I picked a friend to interview. I don’t think I would have gotten such detailed responses without having already established a friendship. However, later on I will have to interview people I don’t know very well, although I’ll probably use a translator and hopeful that will help. My Chinese has improved so much, especially my speaking, but I don’t think I would be able to understand the answers to the kind of questions I’m going to ask people…
Speaking of asking people questions, I’ve picked out an ISP topic. I’ve decided I want to research ethnic (specifically the Naxi) women’s representation in the tourist industry. I’m wondering to what capacity they are involved in the construction of this representation and how it affects their lives. I’m going to be doing my fieldwork in Lijiang, which I’m going to in a few days as part of the group excursion. I’m excited to see the place I’ll probably be spending some of the next few weeks in, but I’ll miss Kunming.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Yunnan Exploration Project - Tengchong, Ruili, Wanding, and Mangshi
I started off the trip in not exactly the best state of mind and body–throwing my guts up on a ten-hour sleeper bus–but after a day of recovery in Tengchong, I was ready to explore and, of course, find some nice hot springs. Tengchong was relatively easy to get around and I did not find much difficultly in getting a feel for the town. Aili and I walked for hours all around the town, took one of the buses from one end to another, and hiked up one of the surrounding mountains to the pagoda that was visible from nearly all parts of town. Outside of Tengchong, we went to one of Tengchong’s Volcano Parks and the Rehai Hot Springs. Although the language barrier sometimes resulted in much confusion for all three of us, more so for Kalyn and I, we somehow managed to always get to where we wanted and enjoy ourselves despite difficulties (like finding the cheaper hot spring swimming hole, which we did find eventually). The hot spring was worth the wait and the trouble. Floating on my back in the warm water, all I could see was the blue sky and huge, green mountains rising up on the peripheries of my vision.
Ruili was very different from Tengchong and much more of a challenge for me partially because of the town’s large sprawling streets and lack of public buses (or so it appeared to me; I never saw a single public bus). Still, despite a lack of a strong tourist base, Ruili was interesting in its own way and I enjoyed being able to go to the Burmese border, where we briefly stuck our hands and feet over the border (“my hand is in Burma!”), and going out the one night we spent there (chewing on sugar cane and playing pool at an outdoor deck area). Ruili was definitely very different from other Chinese cities I’ve been to. I felt Burmese influence all around town, with writing in both Chinese characters and Burmese script, foods that I have not generally seen that much or any of in Tengchong and Kunming (like sugar cane and avocados!), and the many people I could easily see were not Han Chinese. I bought some avocados, actually, and made guacamole when I got back to Kunming, which disappeared fairly fast at the hands of myself and a few of the other SIT students.
After Ruilli, we went to Wanding, a small border town close to Ruili. We only stayed a few hours, looking at the shops full of jade, coffee, and baskets and doing a brief expedition to a nearby village, where the driver we hired kept warning us to stay away from the village dogs. As it worked out, Kalyn and I ended up leaving Wanding for Mangshi on an earlier bus than Aili. We both agreed that this was a good opportunity to handle things on our own, as Aili, being the more proficient speaker, was frequently the one handling hotel bookings and bus tickets. We both bought our bus tickets on our own, mine for that same day and Kalyn for the next day. I was pleased to be able to do this on my own, as even with Aili trying to give me the opportunity to handle things, I would invariable turn to her if there was a word I did not understand or a phrase I could not quite remember how to say.
Although throughout this trip there is much that I did not understand and was unable to get others to understand, I found myself able to communicate sufficiently to be able to efficiently (and relatively cheaply) do what I wanted to do and go where I wanted to go. For instance, in Mangshi, I took a taxi by myself to a nearby Bhuddist temple, as Kalyn booked a hotel room for herself and Aili. Upon arrival to the temple, which was a little ways out of town, the driver told me there would be no taxis or buses to take me back and he offered me his number so I could have a ride back. I had never talked over the phone in Chinese before, and I’ll certainly remember this first experience: I understood very little of what he said, and could only repeat over and over in Chinese that I was the foreigner from before who was at the temple and needed a ride back into Mangshi. When he did pick me up, he laughingly told me that my Chinese was very bad over the phone. Still, I had managed to make myself understood.
Ruili was very different from Tengchong and much more of a challenge for me partially because of the town’s large sprawling streets and lack of public buses (or so it appeared to me; I never saw a single public bus). Still, despite a lack of a strong tourist base, Ruili was interesting in its own way and I enjoyed being able to go to the Burmese border, where we briefly stuck our hands and feet over the border (“my hand is in Burma!”), and going out the one night we spent there (chewing on sugar cane and playing pool at an outdoor deck area). Ruili was definitely very different from other Chinese cities I’ve been to. I felt Burmese influence all around town, with writing in both Chinese characters and Burmese script, foods that I have not generally seen that much or any of in Tengchong and Kunming (like sugar cane and avocados!), and the many people I could easily see were not Han Chinese. I bought some avocados, actually, and made guacamole when I got back to Kunming, which disappeared fairly fast at the hands of myself and a few of the other SIT students.
After Ruilli, we went to Wanding, a small border town close to Ruili. We only stayed a few hours, looking at the shops full of jade, coffee, and baskets and doing a brief expedition to a nearby village, where the driver we hired kept warning us to stay away from the village dogs. As it worked out, Kalyn and I ended up leaving Wanding for Mangshi on an earlier bus than Aili. We both agreed that this was a good opportunity to handle things on our own, as Aili, being the more proficient speaker, was frequently the one handling hotel bookings and bus tickets. We both bought our bus tickets on our own, mine for that same day and Kalyn for the next day. I was pleased to be able to do this on my own, as even with Aili trying to give me the opportunity to handle things, I would invariable turn to her if there was a word I did not understand or a phrase I could not quite remember how to say.
Although throughout this trip there is much that I did not understand and was unable to get others to understand, I found myself able to communicate sufficiently to be able to efficiently (and relatively cheaply) do what I wanted to do and go where I wanted to go. For instance, in Mangshi, I took a taxi by myself to a nearby Bhuddist temple, as Kalyn booked a hotel room for herself and Aili. Upon arrival to the temple, which was a little ways out of town, the driver told me there would be no taxis or buses to take me back and he offered me his number so I could have a ride back. I had never talked over the phone in Chinese before, and I’ll certainly remember this first experience: I understood very little of what he said, and could only repeat over and over in Chinese that I was the foreigner from before who was at the temple and needed a ride back into Mangshi. When he did pick me up, he laughingly told me that my Chinese was very bad over the phone. Still, I had managed to make myself understood.
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