Yunnan Stories 云南故事

2006 marks China’s 22nd Teachers’ Day. It is also my 12nd AND probably my most unforgetable one.

What I mean by" most unforgetbale" is that I experienced the most unique banquet here in Honghe No.1 high school. As usual, the teachers and staff could possibly recieve some good wishes or hand-made cards from sudents like everywhere else. And in typical fashion, we attended a celebration where schoolheads delivered some speeches and organised some programmes. That was nothing special and I expected that something different should happen here. This is Yunnan after all , and this is my first Teachers’ Day spent in a place which is famed for its richest minority cultures in China.

Sure enough, I saw a most spectacular teachers’ banquet in my life . When arriving at the site,we shanghai teachers were all awed and very very excited to see such a huge feast. It involved so many activities such as countless toasts and cheers plus dances and songs. Oh, I forgot to mention that the banquet was held on a basketball court. There were 50 tables in all， which were lined in order like a chessboard. Needless to say, the court was packed to the brim, for all the teachers and staff including the retirees and their kids plus some big guns from town. This was our own fetival, anyway.
            

Adotted on the aisles between the tables were the rice high piled in the bamboo-weaved baskets. We had 8-9 dishes per table plus baijiu and eveyone beamed. It was not only a physical feast but more like a feast for our eyes at that point. So without any imposed hints, Me and the other shanghai teachers understandingly fished out our digicams.
  
The most fun part was when some local teachers approched and sang us their folksongs . The voice was really touching and the liric was that moving. We were not so much intoxicated by the wonderful music as the irresistable hospitality.

Our school canteen rocks!

Totally diffrerent from that in Shanghai but it is suprizingly to my taste. 

In the morning, I would come with a large bowl of rice noodles. very tasty and cheap, only one yuan. As for lunch and supper, there is large room to select my favorites, ranging from pork,fish to eggplants and cucumbers. All are home-style dishes, so nothing special except that they tend to be spicy. I am not picky so Yunnan dishes are ok with me .

In front of the canteen is a basketball court and a big patch of green land. The students like to eat there due to the packed canteen hall. Eating in the air has its perks, one is the fresh air and one is a free watch of the basketball matches—baskeball is their best love here( I should remember to make an update about the crazy sport here). Apart from eating in the canteen hall, Sometimes I sit at a stone table or even squat. The more casual way of eating HERE reminds me of my childhood,and it hits the spot!

Half Jin of rice is 5 jiao and vegedish is 2.5 yuan while meatdish is much expensive, ranging from half yuan to one. It’s not unusual that many kids only eat 1 yuan’s worth of meal, still with a lot of combinations of the dishes. For many students here, it rules that you feel no hunger punch. It is good  that the school canteen searves noodles and dimsums all the year around, which adds to your already rich menu.

Ok, canteen time now. More later.

All the 6 Shanghai teachers live together in a bungalow, which is ideally seated on a secluded corner of the cumpus. We all have our own dorms and the northernmost end is mine, where I could enjoy the most sunshine thanks to the tree-free doorway

The school was considerate enough to get everything ready for us ahead of our arrival, even complete with an electric mosquito repellent heater. We were glad not to worry about drinking water and bath water. And the most satisfying is that we could have access to Internet plus an exclusive sitting toilet, which I supose sound a bit extravagant in some sense.

I take full advantage of the eletricity-powered heater, public and super convenient. There are two of its kind only several steps away from our dorms. I would treat myself to a hot shower whenever I  feel need to relax. Those who are familiar with me would take a double take upon reading this post  because I used to be such a lazy man when it comes to bath. More often than not, I would laugh at my extensive love in taking the scaldingly hot shower here. Maybe it’s related to one stuff. The small top window of the shower room is sweet, from where I could see the blue sky when looking up. I am excited to be immersed in the dual enjoyment—one is hot shower,the other is sunbath on a fine day.  I dunno whether the little window’s appeal really takes the upper hand. But there is no doubt that my old habit would resume back home.

At sunset, everything  grows horribly quiet, except for the chirring insects. Some things I find hard to tackle. First, it’s gickos,ants, moths ,rats or even snakes. They have been acompanying me dutifuly through many many sleepless nights. Then it is the butchery somewhere below my dorm,where pigs are gathered and butchered around 4am for the market.  lucky for me if I missed the punctual howlings which sound so unsettling and loud enough to awaken the dead. Suffocatingly silent as it is in the evening, I find myself  too busy to care about those annoying or distracting stuff. This is my dorm plus office, anyway. I am here not to waste time.

One thing for sure, I could easily handle the occasional solitide(if there is) in my own special way.  It involves a lot such as playing cards,  moving my desks and chairs around regularly, surfing  the web,  grading  testpapers and making teaching plans, writing blogs and so on.