Back to and from Yangjuan

Hello everyone! I just got back from Yangjuan yesterday morning and it was a wonderful trip. I had a lovely group to go with this time. I went with Barbara Grub who is a PhD student at the UW here researching livestock in Yangjuan, Fagun who is a girl from Yangjuan who traveled back from Chengdu with us because she had to start school in Xichang that week, and Andrea who decided to come along for fun. We got on the train on Friday night and arrived safely in Xichang the next morning. Then we took the bus to Yanyuan and Fagun’s brother picked us up in Baiwu to drive us and all our luggage to Yangjuan. This time when we arrived at the school all the teachers were back from break and it was much livelier than last time. There were baby animals everywhere too; water buffalo, pigs, horses, sheep, goats, dogs.

The first day I woke up early and did my test in the school kitchen. Then Barbara, Andrea, Fagun, and I hiked around to grazing areas where Barbara had set up enclosures to see what effect grazing was having on the grasslands. We sat around and chatted a little too and it was really nice to be able to hang out and talk to Fagun, who is one of the nicest and most inquisitive people I have ever known. That afternoon it was a little quieter at the school and I finished my outdoor air test. Then we went to Fagun’s for dinner because she was, unfortunately, leaving the next day for Xichang to go back to school.

The next day we accompanied Apu again herding sheep because Barbara wanted to see where he went. There was a lot of sitting involved again and I wandered around a lot which was nice. I climbed down into two sink holes (bigger ones, so I didn’t need rope or anything) and Apu got a real kick out of it. There seem to be more and more sink holes forming all the time. I think it is a combination of the limestone rock eroding underneath and the top soil eroding on top. We talked a little about the caves Matt and I had explored on our previous trip and I told them I would take them all there tomorrow if they wanted. I invited Apu too, but I couldn’t tell if he wanted to go or not.

Sometime in the afternoon, we all got a little restless from all the sitting around and decided to hike off on our own. So we left Apu and Ama and their sheep and hiked across the valley to HeiShan, the little mountain right behind the school. Apu told us there was a grove of sacred trees on the mountain that were not allowed to be cut. We found the grove easily enough, as the rest of the area is horribly deforested because of all the agriculture and over-grazing. Andrea kept saying “I just wish I could see it when it was completely forested.” The deforestation was even more noticeable now because the climate was so dry and dust was flying everywhere. The view from HeiShan was still beautiful though.

That evening we arrived back to find that Ma Erzi, a Yi man who is Apu’s son but also helped to build the school and is a colleague of Steve’s, had come to Yangjuan for a few days, which is cause for celebration. He had also brought new clothes for all the teachers and students. To celebrate, they killed a young pig and we had rice, soup, and pig meat for dinner. We, as guests, had to eat with Ma Erzi and the other important cadre men he had brought along, but at least the three of us were together. Barbara helped me get a much better picture of the Ma Clan family tree. The Ma Clan is the family clan that is centered in Yangjuan and almost half the people at the school are related in some way to the clan. The clan system is very important in Yi culture and is the main way people relate to one another within and outside of their clans. Apu is the senior member of the Ma Clan, along with his second (I think) wife Ama. He had nine children, ZheZhe, Ma Zipo, Ma Ahja, Ma Erzi, and some others that I do not know. Many of his children now have children but I don’t think he is a great grandfather, yet. Barbara told me Steve was thinking of buying Mormon genealogy software to be able to map out the complicated links everyone has to each other. It would be very interesting to get it all down on paper.

The next day Andrea, Barbara, and I left early after breakfast to check out the caves. We climbed around in them and it was really cool again, though not as fun as the first time. But it was really nice to be around some girls that weren’t afraid to get dirty. In China, I feel more of a tomboy than I ever have in the States. Then we walked to Baiwu to pick up some oranges, tea, and sugar. We also got some beautiful tin ware that Barbara is going to use in her house. I got a pretty bowl that has fruit and vegetables stenciled on it.

That afternoon we left again and hiked up the mountains on the north side of Abilada (the alluvial plain of the Gangu river that flows south through Yangjuan) and along a ridge path that Barbara had discovered before. The path led to a wonderful meadow between two mountain peaks where we sat and read books and looked out over the surrounding mountains, enjoying the sunshine.

When we got back that evening we went to Apu’s house after dinner to hang out with everyone. We found out that Apu really had planned on going to the caves with us and had waited in his house and not gone herding that day. Although he had been before and just wanted to accompany us, we all felt terrible and apologized effusively. I think everyone else just thought it was kind of funny. Aside from that, the mood at Apu’s was very jovial and there was one guy who was a little drunker than everyone else who would sing us Yi song’s and then want us to sing an English song in return. We sang “You are my Sunshine”, “Yesterday” (on request), “California Dreamin’”, and “the Star Spangled Banner”, among parts of other songs we could not remember all the words to. We decided next time we have to bring a song book. Even the little kids sang songs and it was a really fun evening.

The next day Andrea, Barbara, and I hiked again out Abilada and then followed a stream up the mountains south of the Abilada valley. We found another ridge path on the top of those mountains that led us back to HeiShan where we climbed down back to the school. That afternoon I walked back to Baiwu to pick up some more oranges and walked back along the palisades along the river instead of the road, which was really interesting.

I got back just in time for dinner, which I was actually hungry for. This trip we all backed each other up and refused food as strongly as we could while still being polite. We were often gone for lunch and would bring fruit and little snacks along on our hikes instead. For once in Yangjuan I was hungry for food every time I ate and it was nice to not feel so overly stuffed all the time.

The last day in Yangjuan ZheZhe accompanied us to Zala Shan, the mountains far behind the school that Steve, Matt, Fagun, and I had hiked to the first time I came to Yangjuan. We didn’t hike as far as we had gone the first time, but still hiked almost 1000m up to Yak pastures where we found some people herding sheep who invited us in for lunch. They had chickens, pigs, a dog and her two puppies running around the farm. Andrea and I kept trying to pet them but they were all scared of us and would run away. They are probably not that used to people being nice to them. They people who lived at the farm were ZheZhe’s husband’s older brother and his wife (as well as another older man, I don’t know who he was). ZheZhe used to live up in Zala Shan before she moved down below the school. Her husband, Lili, still goes up there regularly to tend the school’s Yaks. The hike was beautiful again and we got back to the school just before dark. We had eaten a late lunch and tried adamantly to refuse dinner, but they would not have it so we ate a little something before reading and going to bed.

The next day we drove into Yanyuan with Ma Ahja, Vuguo (ZheZhe’s daughter), and Liu Laoshi (another teacher from the school) because they had the day off. The previous day had been “Women’s Day”, March 8^th, but they had waited until Friday the 9^th to take the holiday so they could take a long weekend and come to Yanyuan. We took a new road into Yanyuan that none of us had been on before (I don’t know why). It was interesting to see the new scenery; we even passed a place where they were growing grapes, which I didn’t know they grew there.

When we got into Yanyuan we bought bus tickets to Xichang and then had about an hour to walk around before our bus left. I bought a woven backpack/basket that everyone wears hear (I’m going to give it to Virginia) and a really cool cow bell that has a really pretty sound and I thought would be fun for ski races. It seemed like a longer than usual bus ride back because there were three men in front of us chain smoking and a woman behind us who was car sick and started throwing up 2 hours into the 5 hour trip. I was happy to get off in Xichang. There we went to the hotel Deborah, Matt, and I had stayed at before and walked next door to pick up our tickets from Liu Ayi. We had decided to fly back because train tickets were IMPOSSIBLE to buy and in order to take the train we would have had to wait a few more days, which we couldn’t do. It ended up being pretty expensive to buy tickets for the next morning, but we didn’t really have a choice and it was fun to have the evening to hang out in Xichang.

I had paid for all three of the tickets because I had the cash, so our first destination after leaving Liu Ayi’s office was the bank. However, Barbara’s card wouldn’t work and may have been shut off by her bank and Andrea’s work hadn’t deposited her pay check yet even though her pay day should always be the 9^th. Oh, China. So after a frustrating hour of going to different banks and China Mobile to recharge Andrea’s phone, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice, relaxing, Western cup of coffee. We stepped into a really nice coffee shop where Barbara and I each had a cup of coffee and split a Banana Split. Andrea had a good Mohito and slightly more disappointing egg sandwich. I am always disappointed by Western food here, which is why I usually never order it. We sat and talked and it was really nice to recharge. Then we walked back to our hotel and met Fagun and a friend of hers for dinner.

We flew out of the miniature Xichang airport (one terminal) the next morning and arrived in Chengdu at about 10am. After about an hour cab ride home (the taxi driver got lost) I arrived home to find that my Internet doesn’t work, but it is still nice to be home. I went and played rugby in the afternoon and I feel like I’m getting better all the time. It was a lot of fun. I wore my Favre jersey in honor of him deciding to come back for another season.

Now it’s Sunday morning and I am getting ready to go get some things done before starting school again tomorrow. Among them, buy a new bike because my bike broke completely yesterday and I am sick of fixing it, if it can even be fixed. Plus go to the store, buy books for school, go to the Bookworm to use Internet so I can post this, and other regular stuff.

Keep me updated on news from the States, I’ve been thinking about you all a lot. Also, this is Andrew. I tried to take a picture of all three of us, but obviously it didn't work.
till next time… …