CALENDAR!

Well, despite being able to blog, I can not post pictures yet. I don't know why that is...but I will try to get that up and going asap. I figured, though, that being able to blog with no pictures is better than not being able to blog at all. :)

On the 7th, the Overseas Dept. arranged another fieldtrip for us. It was alright, though. Not too grand. We visited an ancient town here in Chengdu called: Huang Long Xi. Hmm...not too much to say about this though...there was a bridge, and some horses. Other than that...alot of it was very "tourized. " Well, despite the lack of anything really interesting...I got to spend some time with my friends...made new friends...and kept myself busy on a Tuesday afternoon.

We have been told of this, even before Steve left for UW. Susan Jeffords, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at UW came and visited us on Tuesday the 14th. We were supposed to give our presentations the day before. However, her flight back to Chengdu from Juizhaigou was delayed and then canceled because of the weather. We each gave a 10-15 min talk about our research so far. Not many of us are really far, especially for those of who are doing things over at Yangjuan. We had a great time with Jeffords and Patricia Butterfield. It was nice seeing UW faces. Besides talking about our research, we also gave them a short summary of the things we have done outside of academics. Also, me and Sarah promoted Yangjuan Calendars. :) For anyone else who is interested in buying one of these calendars, please! contact me! I know that I havent done my PR over blogger yet...so I will do it here.
The village that I do my research at is called Yangjuan. Prior to Steve's and a couple of other people's help, there wasnt an elementary school in that area. The nearest elementary school was a 40 min walk away. Imagine walking to and back...sometimes in the dark with no street lights or anything! Let me tell you, walking in the dark there is frightening. You only have the moon to provide you any light. Anyways...so since this elementary school was built, alot of the kids dont have to go too far to get to school. However, since alot of the parents there are farmers and rely on harvests to provide them with a living, money isnt easy to obtain. And education in China isn't free like it is in America. So, often times, if a family doesnt have enough money for their kids to go on to middle school, they lose the opportunity to learn. So, what a couple of UW students started doing was selling calendars to fundraise. Every year, pictures taken from Yangjuan are compiled into a calendar. They are selling for $20 each this year. All of the money then goes to Steve who takes it to Yangjuan every August. Scholarships are made and based on academic standings, children and parents are given some help with paying for middle school. I personally attended 2 of these scholarship ceremonies the last time I was there. They were deeply emotional for everyone. Last year, calendar sales made around $3000. That's 24,000 RMBs toward these kids' futures. So, if anyone is interested in helping out...there are several ways. Tell people about this fundraising...we would love to have help in the PR department. Also, if you want to buy one of these calendars, e-mail me: sungd@u.washington.edu I can order one for you and then have our coordinator email you when they are ready to be picked up. Thanks everyone...this really means alot to everyone involved in this project...but especially to these kids and their parents!

What have I been up to these last few weeks? Herb Market for one.

Oh man. I am quite a few weeks behind. But I guess there really isnt anything to write about...well, besides the sea of bamboo. Hmm...I take that back...that's the only topic I have pictures to accompany. So, let's begin shall we?

*pulling out my planner*

Oh, btw, if anyone is looking for good Chinese music, there's this artist named Wang Fei who's really popular here. She has some really nice songs...so yeah. Look into getting some of her songs.

:) Glad I pulled out my planner because I just remembered I forgot to blog about my trip to the herb market.

**Haha...sorry for all of these extra side notes...but I won't be able to put in as many pictures as I would like here because of my firewall issue. So...I will post all of my pictures over in Yahoo in due time. Check there for more photos...**

SW China's Largest Herb Market
This is absolutely the place for people who love traditional medicine of all sorts. Early Saturday morning, I rode my bike to North gate and met up with Sarah and Andrea. The three of us then rode our bikes for about an hour and half up north. The north is very different. It is literally a span of area full of people carrying outrageous things on their bikes. For example, we were biking behind this guy with 6 or 7 huge, huge electronic boxes. People also carry things like televisions, several at a time. They tie these bags or boxes to themselves and then off they go. It's quite the scene to see. The north is also where you would find things sold in bulk...sort of like Costco...but a alot more things and alot more crazy. Like, there's a shop full of small, medium, and large sized towels. The ride went by fast though, mostly cause we just had so many things to see. We finally arrived at the herb market...and this place was definitely worth all of the biking. Huge sacks of...well...pretty much everything! Let's see...there were antlers cut into pieces, slices, or ground; dried deer penises, scorpions, beetles, centipedes, ants, snakes, geckos, etc. There was this one sort of thing that was just absolutely fascinating. It's only found in, I think, 2000 or 3000 m above sea level. It's this small catepillar that had been infected/germinated? by a small plant. Thus, as this grass grows from the catepillar, the catepillar dies without ever turning into a moth. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen. What I kept on wondering about though, when I was there...was whether or not everything I was seeing there really "real". Cause these grass catepillars are supposed to be really really rare...but I saw them everywhere here at this herb market. Tons and tons in jars. *Shrugs* Well, it is the largest herb market in SW China...so maybe they have alot.
We just walked around and took in as much as we could. The place was too big though for us to walk through it all. However, alot of the vendors were selling the same things...so I think we covered most of the items. After our tour of the market, the three of us headed on over to the tea market. We spent around 2 hours here tasting and chatting with the owner of a pu er tea store. Man, there's so much to know about tea. I'll try to remember what I learned...or rather, what I know. Alot of the stuff about tea I already knew...just from traveling around China and visiting all of these tea houses...so here I go.
Pu er tea is a special sort of tea. Rather than many of the other teas you drink, such as green tea, pu er tea leaves comes from a tree rather than a bush. These tea trees can be over a 1000 years old. Pu er can come in the "raw" form which means that nothing was done to it except that it was sun dried and then packaged. There is also the "fermented" kind which most people know about. They cook the tea a bit so that it becomes....well, cooked. The taste and color of these two sorts are very different. The raw pu er has a lighter color to it...and tastes alot more earthy. Cooked pu er is a rich reddish brown color and has a smoother taste. Pu er is also one of those teas where you can reuse the tea leaves several times. Alot of the other sorts of teas can only be reused 5-6 times and usually leaving these tea leaves in water overnight makes the tea not exactly drinkable...meaning that the taste isnt too good...but also drinking this tea might not be too good for your body. Pu er is not like this though. You can reuse pu er tea leaves up to 20 times...and it's safe to drink it again even after leaving it out overnight. Tea culture is really amazing. So, there are several components to having a good cup of tea. First, you have to have good tea leaves. Much like wine, tea becomes better with time. So, if you can get tea that is several years old, you are getting aged tea...good thing...well, only if it's really been aged that long. Second, you need a good tea pot and cup. Ones most commonly used are those made from a material called "sai". I am not exactly sure what this translates to in English. It is brownish in color. Third, you need to get the temperature of the water right. Some require boiling water, some are better if you dont heat the water too hot. Fourth, remember to toss the first pot...usually, the first time water touches tea leaves, it acts as sort of a wash. Drink the 2nd pot. And lastly, you must have a frog. :) I'm not kidding. The shop we went to had a frog made from "sai". He's sort of a guardian for tea. You pour a cup of tea for him everyday. Tradition.
Sarah and I each ended up buying a "disc" of cooked pu er. Pu er usually come in cubes, bricks, or these discs. Having tea leaves at home has definitely made the past few cold Chengdu days better.

List of Movie Recommendations

Since pirated DVDs are so cheap here, I think I'm going to start a list of Chinese movies I would recommend...give a lil summary, all that jazz. So, for anyone interested, esp. those who like Chinese films and want to practice their 听力, be my guest.

**Movie titles will be given in English...I will try to provide their Chinese names in a timely manner.**

1. A World Without Thieves
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes "organized crime." The plot involves this couple who are, you guessed it, thieves. After a steal and escaping to Tibet, they board a train and starts heading back east. On their ride, though, they meet a group of professional thieves...and the plot thickens from there! One comment though about Chinese movies, for those who don't usually watch many, Chinese stories don't really ever end "happily ever after." I feel they are more realistic...just my opinion.

2. The Banquet
For those ZhangZiYi fans out there, here is her latest movie. The movie takes place in the Tang dynasty...and the plot follows pretty close with that of Shakespeare's Hamlet...with of course, Chinese characteristics. I thought the movie was okay, but again, Chinese style ending. This movie and A World Without Thieves were directed by the same person.

3. An Inconvenient Truth

4. My Sassy Girl (Korean)

5. The Game of Our Lives

6. State of Mind

7. National Geographic documentary on Marco Polo and Zheng He

8. Grave of Fireflies

...testing 1, 2, 3.

Well, this is the first time I have been able to get into beta blogger since I dont know, 3 weeks now? I am still unsure as to what's going on. The great Firewall of China finally got to me. I can access all of my other sites fine...but just not blogger. Thanks to David though, I have been able to find a way to overcome this obstacle. The only concern I really have, though, is whether this will slow my blogging process *mainly posting pictures* even more. Anyways, anything is better than nothing and I'm just glad to be back. Quite a bit has been happening lately. But, I should post pictures with them...so, this entry is just a test run. I can run through a couple of updates though.
Midterm week was this past week for me. I think I did alright with my exams and my one paper for history. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in this topic...but I wrote it on the monastic origins of the Chinese pawnshop. Pretty cool stuff. Let's see, ah..all of us UW students are preparing our ppt for Jeffords (UW provost) this coming week. Most of us already made a ppt for Steve spring quarter of last year...and so we have a basic outline. We just need to add on our new discoveries and progress. I'm sort of conflicted as to how I should approach my presentation. There's the provost...but we also have an audience of SU faculty and students. And I'm talking about the Cultural Revolution. I mean, is it appropriate? I may have to work around it. I feel so silly being here sometimes. You always have to do things on tiptoe, making sure that what you say or do don't offend them. Honestly, it's not like I'm out there throwing profanity in their faces or even doing much that affects them. Yet, I find that it's always me who's having to be careful about everything that I do. People need to accept that there are some things that are just facts of life, things that can not be erased from history, memories and identity that can't be erased from people. It's a shame to still see so many people putting on a facade during their daily lives. Argh, passive aggressiveness.
Anyways, moving on. Today is pretty much a kick back day, working on my presentation. Tomorrow, a couple of us are going to head down to a bamboo forest, something they call "sea of bamboo." Heard it's a really nice place...nice to get out of the city and daily rituals of life in Chengdu again. Alright, gonna go ahead and publish. Let's see if this thing works.