9.4

Pretty quiet night in Maolan. Sometimes it's nice when nothing weird happens.

9.3

Back from Lincang with some very important purchases: Chinese Camouflage Jacket and a loaf of (中国味道) bread.

9.17 Minutes From an Unnecessary Meeting

(A note to the reader. The Chinese government has a knack for holding extremely long, extremely boring meetings with extremely long, pointless speeches. As a teacher, I am employed by the Chinese government, and am required to attend some of these meetings. The following account was recorded during a weekly staff meeting held on a Friday afternoon. Most of the speeches were in the local dialect or poor Mandarin, so I had to use my imagination for some of the part in this record. All names have been translated into English)

4:17 Mister Teacher opens the proceedings.

4:17:30 (Proceedings not thoroughly opened, brief chaos reigns for 5 minutes)

4:22 An eruption of gurgles and half sentences in thick dialect from Mr. Teacher formally opens the proceedings. An in-depth summary of Yunnan's educational system enthralls the audience of this weekly staff meeting.

8.31

A sport I don't think I'll ever understand. Old men spinning large granite tops.

8.30

Nervous-looking kids and their dads sign in at registration unter the big tree in the courtyard

8.29

Little old ladies at a Buddhist temple after dinner in Maolan.

8.28

Strangely stunned that China has home makeover shows on TV.

8.27

The Shaojie girls arrive, we all make spaghetti.

8.26

First day of cooking at Maolan- at least our handwriting is still good.

8.25

Our bee hive problem and our dinner problem get solved in one fell swoop.

(full story below)

8.24

Watched "The Room" with Lucas and 2 bottles of Lancang Jiang beer.

8.23

A lesson in Sino-American economic relations

8.22

Families keep shops open by candlelight during power outage in Maolan.

8.21.2010

Power and water out in Maolan, returning to Yunxian for a big CEI shindig, feels like going into NYC

8.20.2010

Beautiful ride back from Yunxian with our appliances in the back

8.19.2010 Hospitality!

First day in Maolan- we're told people here don't like strangers. They throw the bodies in the river.

8.18.2010 Deer's Blood Soup

Our principal: Everybody try the deer's blood first!