Speaking of that miraculous man, Jeremy has totally out-blogged me lately! His latest: Our friend Beth in Washington D.C. went to an exhibition at the Smithsonian yesterday which featured a Yunnan cultural extravaganza. Pretty cool. She was especially excited because she’s planning on visiting us in August. They even had Pu’er tea!

Jeremy also has a nice story about how he caught a pickpocket. Very dramatic.

Yesterday, my friend Jessie introduced me to a secondhand clothes market here in Kunming. I hesitate to mention it, because everyone I tell seems to be totally grossed-out by the notion of secondhand clothes in China. Even (maybe especially) Chinese people. Anyway, I recommend it. It’s very similar in quality and cleanliness to most thrift stores in the US. It’s set up as a cluster of small storefronts. Everything is on hangers and organized by style or size. Mostly out of style, slightly strange clothing. The best part, though, is that it has a surprising amount of Western brands and (more spectacularly) sizes. I have Western hips, and so it can be frustrating trying to find a good fit. But really it was not an issue at this market. They even have some vintage stuff, which is fun! Prices are incredible. A few stalls had a pile of clothes for 1 yuan: “Yi kuai maaaaadness!” A lot of stalls had racks of clothes — skirts, shirts, jeans — for 5 or 10 yuan.

How do you get there? Hmmm… northeast of the intersection of 人民西路 and 二环西路, it’s on 茭菱路 (jiao1ling2 lu4) just west of the slightly smaller drag 近华浦路 (Jin4hua4pu3 Lu4). It’s on the 85 bus line. I think the bus stop is called 丰宁小区 (Feng1ning2 Xiao3qu4).

Visited the Golden Temple 金殿 with my class this weekend. More photos here.

I used Skype to give the family a call on Thanksgiving. My grandma’s 80th birthday was the day before! It was so nice to hear everyone’s voices. Makes me miss home so much. Still trying to figure out how my parents can visit us here. Plane tickets are so expensive.

I bought a bike a couple weeks ago from Johnathan (johnathaninchina.com). It’s a racing bike and a little too big for me, but it’s really great to be more mobile. It’s yellow.

Wikipedia is still completely inaccessible. “Host Not Accessible” when you type in wikipedia.org or wikipedia.com.

However, now I can access blogs at blogspot! Here’s my friend Angel’s blog: http://angelissima23.blogspot.com/

Transformers. More than meets the eye.

Another movie brought to you by Jeremy Productions. No children were (physically) harmed in the making of this film.

Apparently this is called “水步行球” or “Water Walking Ball” and a popular activity this holiday season. So if you’re in Kunming (Yunnan Province, China), be sure to swing by Green Lake Park and invest your 10 kuai ($1.25 US) for three minutes of fun.

This is footage from a student presentation we stumbled into. October 1st is National Day, so this is, um, celebratory. The music happened accidentally, but it works so well. Enjoy!

We poked around the loft area a little after dinner. There were several galleries/bars/tea houses that had a crowd — primarily local, from the looks of things. The paintings were not overwhelming, but it was really exciting to see art happening in Kunming. There were some really cool spaces — converted old buildings — and lots of nooks and crannies with very colorful, comfortable-looking courtyards. I would really like to explore the area more during the light of day.

Anyway, it was great to play after a brutal week of classes. The expectations at this level are a lot higher. I’m writing tons — both practicing characters and I have two essays due next week. Whoah! I was so exhausted by the end of classes on Friday, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I need to learn how to pace myself. I totally neglected to study for my Friday classes so I was embarassingly ill-prepared — which of course made even more anxious during class. Bah. I think it’s surmountable, but I need to get my act together. Thank god I have the weekend to regroup.

Jeremy had a potluck dinner with his classmates last night. He prepared jambalaya with little shrimp (a New Orleans dish) as well as a treat for Roshashana, apples and honey. How very ethnic. That, of course, was the name of the game — everyone brought food from their home country. Sounds like it was an incredible feast! Jeremy especially enjoyed Caroline’s contribution of cheese and French bread. Sounds heavenly.

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.

It’s a lovely night, if a little warm. Oddly enough a guitar-playing foreigner has parked himself outside the dorm and I can hear him now. How nice. He was out earlier in the day, and now again. He must have just arrived. Pretty cool.

On another artsy note, my teacher told me about a hangout not far from here that I’m going to check out. She said there are both Chinese and foreigner painters, musicians, and things. Sounds cool and only a short bus ride away.

My roommate hasn’t returned from the hospital yet. But I asked my suite-mates and they don’t seem very concerned. She hasn’t called. To be honest, I’m a little worried, but I suppose we know she’s not alone so that’s ok.

I went to the Auto Expo with my teacher this afternoon. I think she was pretty disappointed. There really weren’t that many people, and we were both too intimidated by the fancy ladies in sequins to actually even sit in a car. But my teacher did point out that some of the cars were available for a test drive if you had held a valid license for longer than 1 year. She’s had her’s for 4 months, so no test driving. (Wouldn’t that have been crazy? Racing around in a BMW in a Chinese convention center?) I could tell she was a little disappointed — the crazy singers/dancers did not really appeal to her and she couldn’t find any of her friends. So, I bought her some delicious ice cream. I think we both felt better after that! Yum!

Tomorrow I’ve been invited to a woman’s home for a language exchange session. I’m pretty scared. I know she has a 2-year-old, so I picked up some english/chinese picture books. Maybe I’ll bring some exotic western food too. I’m really intimidated… I hope I don’t make a complete ass of myself. My teacher introduced us, and I don’t want to embarass her either. How stressful.