My Routine in Kunming

I know it’s been a while, but better late than never! So what have I been doing everyday here in Kunming? There is lots to do here—as evidenced by the fact that I don’t make time to write my blog. I am studying at the Keats school, it’s Chinese name is Ji Ci Xue Xiao. The school specializes in offering one on one instruction to foreign learners of Chinese. I live at the school which is located near downtown Kunming. Now I want to make it clear that Kunming is a large city of about 6 million. Folks claim there is a downtown, but I have yet to grasp the idea of a city like this having a “downtown.” To me, is seems like there are a few districts, all with their own mini city center. Kunming is a sprawling city, and a recent visit to the City Museum of Urban Planning showed me how ridiculously large it is. The school occupies about three floors of a 20 story building. My dorm room is on the 15th floor and my classes are on the 16th.

Every morning I wake up at 7:00 and draw the shades to let in the morning sun (just kidding). When I wake up the first thing I do is turn on my computer with the hopes that a family member or friend will call me on Skype! Since there is exactly a 12 hour difference between Kunming and the U.S. East Coast, the crucial hour between 7:00 am and 8:00 am is my time to connect with those I love. Most of the time I am doing the calling, trying to track down a familiar voice….hint hint.

I’ve become addicted to instant Nescafe coffee with creamer. I’ve been experimenting with my levels of dependence and my teacher, Ms. Huang, now assigns a recurring homework assignment (in Chinese): “Every morning, you should drink coffee.” “每天早上你得喝咖啡” You can guess why. I opted to eat three meals a day at school, so I eat my first at 8:00. It is pretty consistent, a fried egg, rice porridge, sliced apples and mangoes, mantou (rice bun), fresh warm soymilk, and other assorted Chinese pastries. I eat my meals with about a half a dozen other students at the school. We make small talk, exchange Kunming stories and discuss out latest DVD finds.

At 8:30 I report to class. For four hours my teacher and I review new vocabulary words, learn one or two new lessons in my text book titled “Speed-up Chinese.” I love have one-on-one instruction because the classes are specifically tailored for my needs. It can hard (the days I stopped drinking coffee because I thought I was becoming dependent) sitting in a 9x7 foot room (a little bigger than a cubicle) every day, learning a foreign language. That is why I love my teacher! She makes class exciting. My favorite activity is role-playing different scenarios. She loves it when I pretend to be a difficult American, which isn’t hard. Case in point the lesson titled, “At the Restaurant.” She drilled me on four different ways to communicate that I don’t eat meat. At first I thought it was excessive, but I soon realized why she stressed that I be able to communicate my dietary needs using varying levels of politeness.

Ordering food in China
Step one: Ask for a menu and ask to see the section with vegetables and fish. Point to each dish I am interested in and ask if it is made with meat. If not, proceed with ordering.

Step two: Before the fu wu yuan (server) places the order say the following, “I do not eat meat, I only eat vegetables, fish and eggs.” Server will most likely open the menu again and point to a dish that is truly vegetarian (so you think). You both settle on a more appropriate dish.

Step three: You tell the fu wu yuan, I do not eat beef, pork or chicken. She/he nods in acknowledgement and leaves to the place the order.

Step four: Inspect the dish. You see ground pieces of brown stuff over the dish. You pause and think is that tofu? You use the chopsticks pick up the stuff and smell it, can’t tell if it is meat or not.

PAUSE—Do you call the fu wu yuan over to ask or do you taste first to discern the ground up brown substance? Hmmmm. What does Anita do? Anita takes a bite—it is meat—I presume ground beef (niu rou). I ask the server 这是什么, ”What is this?” She says 猪肉, ”It’s pork.” I smile, shrug, pick up my chopsticks and chow down.

My friend from California later told me, in “For Chinese, if it doesn’t look like meat, it is not considered meat.” I always said I didn’t eat two legged or four legged animals, when the ground pork came to my table that day it had no animal like features whatsoever! Hey I’m in China I can’t complain! I told my teacher the story, and she made me write out a full paragraph in Chinese (of course) explaining what I eat and what I don’t. She had me stuff it in my wallet to have on hand for my future restaurant adventures. I obliged, but I have yet to use it.

After class I report to lunch at 12:30 (the photo to the right of the food is a typical lunch--delicious) and after lunch I usually take a walk around the city. The rule the first month was that I travel a new direction or new boulevard everyday. The first few weeks I was obsessed with DVD shopping. You can’t beat 90 cents a DVD right? That got old really fast. Now I am exploring street markets. It seems there is a market hidden in every alley, nook and cranny of this city. I love it. I return to my dorm by 5 to take a rest and report to dinner at 6:30. After dinner I watch CCTV and do my homework.

Please view my photo albums at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38875&l=3e1ef&id=811464465

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36853&l=78292&id=811464465