Long Time No Blog

Why has it been almost the entire month of February since I last wrote? Well, there is really just one reason: and that is that I have been sick. Generally my blog is the place where I get to brag about how much fun I have been having, how much I am learning and experiencing everyday, and how phenomenal and thought-provoking China can be. Unfortunately, when you are sick, life is slightly less exciting. I spent a week lying around, watching movies and sleeping 18 hours a day, annoyed by my own weakness and sickness, but feeling unable to do anything about it. After a week of gastro-intestinal distress, I finally faced the fact that I would have to make a scary trip to the scary China hospital. I don't know how many details of that trip my more squeamish readers can handle, but I will just say that America has a pill based medicine culture, and China has a needle based medicine culture. Another important cultural difference is that Americans value privacy, wanting to see their own doctor in their own private room, without five or ten other sick strangers standing over them. China is not this way. In China, there are too many people to care about privacy. All sorts of doctors were touching my tummy and asking me about my poop (which I can now discuss in Chinese!) in the middle of crowded rooms.
But I survived! I am feeling much better now, and I promise that my next blog will not be about Chinese Hospitals. In other news, I have started class at the Kunming College of Eastern Languages and Culture. My class is every morning from 8:30-10:10 and has five students. Three of the students are Japanese men in their sixties and seventies. There is one women who is kind of from Canada, but originally from Egypt, who is in her thirties, I think. Then there is me. It is a very interesting educational environment. My job is also going well, I am not sure if I have bragged about my bilingual business cards yet, but they are sweet, and make me feel like a big kid. My daily duties generally range from running errands to making photo copies and organizing readings that will go into collections for semester and summer programs. Soon, I will also start screening homestay families, which means going to the homes of Chinese families, having dinner with them, asking questions about the family, and answering the questions that they have about Dragons and hosting foreign students. I am excited to start meeting families. I am sure it will be really good for my Chinese. Although, the Kunming accent is really hard for me. I am not used to it, and I have made silly mistakes like not understanding numbers and giving a shopkeeper 3 yuan when he just told me I owe 12. On top of the accent, Kunming also has its own language which involves saying "ga" a lot. That is about all I understand right now.
After not really being able to eat for a week, I am pretty excited to start delving deeper into the amazing world of Kunming food. So much good food. Tonight I ate Xinjiang (Muslim influenced region in Northwestern China) noodles for the first time and they were amazing. Some other local specialties are deep fried red beans, stir fried broccoli and goat cheese, and spicy mashed potatoes. There are a lot of ethnic groups in Yunnan Province, and this means lots of interesting food that is very different from the rest of China. And, since it is warm and sunny all the time, the tropical fruits and fruit juices and the spicy cold noodles dishes are amazing and refreshing. I can't wait to feed my brother, who is coming to China in less than 3 weeks!