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Published: January 2nd 2007
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Holiday Gatherings
Anne and I having dinner with one of our teachers, his wife, and some of their relatives. Happy Winter Holidays to All! Greetings from the cold and filthy city of Xining.
This week, I’m wrapping up my semester at Qinghai Normal University. It has been a terrific jumpstart to my learning motor and I feel much better equipped to spend some time in more remote places again. Next week, I will travel into Golok and after visiting a few friends in their hometown villages, I will head to Houngyon, a Tibetan town in Sichuan province. This is the home of the Lama I was studying with in Beijing, and I will work with him again for the whole of my winter break. These days I am feeling encouraged about my language progress. I’m actually able to understand Tibetans speaking on the phone, which a short time ago was out of reach. Everytime the phone rang, I’d kind of cringe, because I knew that as soon as I answered, a whole bunch of language confusion would ensue. It’s much less frightening now, though I'm still not out of the water.
The winter holiday season in Xining is an experience, to say the least. I think that most Chinese people do not have any particular religious faith, yet
Shom chega!
Means "Really dressed up!" Here are Anne, Hamsa and I at our school's Christmas party. strange, scrawny plastic Christmas trees and the world’s wimpiest rainbow colored garland decorate the stores and streets. Santa looks ok, but the elf hats in the stores are practically see-through and don’t actually fit a head; I know, I tried a few on. I’d hoped to get into the holiday spirit by decorating my apartment, but I came home empty-handed, and sort of deflated. There are Christmas carols blasting over loudspeakers, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - all sung in Chinese. And I guess the Christmas Carols that the garbage trucks always play as they drive down the streets have a different feeling this time of year… OK, maybe not.
My school held a posh Christmas party for the foreign students, school officials, and members of the local government. Other than my two friends Anne and Hamsa, and I, it was basically a room full of mostly atheist Chinese people, and about 100 Christian missionaries from western countries. There are many westerners in Xining, but except for a handful, they are all missionaries. They are known for their rather aggressive tactics used to convert Tibetans, who they believe to under demonic oppression - it’s true,
Together, after Centuries Apart
Romeo and Juliette resting peacefully they think this. I’ve read some of their correspondence.
I held a small Christmas fete, a dinner of yak meat and all the trimmings. We were just five people - from the US, Belgium, and England. It was a mostly western spread, and we had brownies for dessert - made from a mix that my American friend’s mom had sent from the States. Wow, I never truly appreciated the full glory of a brownie before. Yak meat is quite tasty, much like beef, and far less exotic than some of the other things I eat here - everything from yak tongue to duck intestines. Yak tongue is actually delicious. You’d never even know it was a tongue, except that you have to choose it off of a tray of tongues in a restaurant before they prepare it for you. It looks like a tongue for sure. I haven’t tried dog meat yet, and quite frankly, I don’t think that I will.
Juliette, the French cat, is doing well except that she was tortured by loneliness for her babies. She would wander about my apartment howling, looking everywhere for them and it was breaking my heart. In a moment
Giggles
Two of the girls enjoying some bedtime reading. of pure insanity and desperation for a night of quiet slumber, I broke down and went to the pet market and bought her a kitten. It was love at first sight. She mothers him, cleans him, and lets him nurse even though she no longer has any milk. They run wildly around the house, climbing drapes and tearing the foam off from underneath the couch. They wrestle violently, happily screaming and biting, taking breaks only to kiss and cuddle. It is really quite endearing. And what do you think that little boy’s name is? Why, Romeo of course! (Don’t blame me. That was Anne’s idea. She is from Belgium, so I don’t hold it against her.)
I imagine my next entry will arrive from Golok or Sichuan. The 30 little girls are still in Sichuan studying traditional painting and I am looking forward to seeing them. My very generous friend Julia Smillie arranged for many hand knit hats, scarves, gloves and sweaters which I will deliver next week. Thank you Julia! Stay tuned for more pictures and upcoming information, as the project seems to be taking all sorts of exciting turns.
Happy New Year!
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