Crawling Out of Kunming

There’s a lot swimming in my head these days. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more English than Chinese going on.

Just read an article via the DailyKos that the administration was monitoring domestic calling well before September 11, 2001. Surprise, surprise. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how they can spin that, eh?

Yesterday, I went on a day trip to the Western Mountains (西山). Mari, an American woman I met recently, asked me along. Although it was crawling with tourists, it was a welcome change in scenery. The mountains were really stunning and the main attractions, namely the Dragon Gate, paled in comparison to the natural beauty. It rained on and off, with the sun appearing every once in a while. A very pleasant hike.

Mari is really an interesting person with such varied experiences. She’s currently in an anthropology grad program and plans to study the Hmong people in the region just south of here. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know her. I mean, I’m so grateful to have a friend here. But I think I’ve been blogging less as a result! Ha!

I’m struggling with my English tutoring and language exchange activities. I’m feeling like they are less and less worth while. I feel like I’m spending entirely too much time thinking about English rather than Chinese. Also, I’ve begun to feel resentful of people dragging out our meetings often in the name of hospitality. I just need to put my foot down.