In Beijing, reflecting...

I think I'm ready. Ready to transition out of the world of hello! hello! laowai! laowai! and into the world of good old-fashioned cat-calling and whistles. I want to blend in again. My family likes to repeat the line from My Cousin Vinny when the Brooklynites show up in the South and Marisa Tomei mocks Joe Pesci, "Oh yeah, you blend". Oh yeah, I blend. Sometimes I repeat this line in my head when I walk down the street and hear multiple people say loudly "lao wai, waiguo ren" meaning foreigner.  For some reason it's necessary to label the obvious. Oh right, I'm not Chinese. (In Chinese language, people use very specific labels to order, rank, and view society. My Chinese friends are shocked when I can't call my twin sister jiejie or meimei, older sister or younger sister. Sister and twin are not options.)

I might sound frustrated, but I'm not at all. Quite the opposite, I've loved living here and feel emotional about leaving. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to live in a country where life as I know it is tilted on its side. I've liked reorganizing and readjusting. Imagine a personal spring cleaning: I've consolidated important belongings, thought about what I want in the future and what I no longer need, and then there's some clarity.

In other words, life in China has felt like a blank slate, one on which to put forward the person I want to be. In a short period of time, I've built supportive meaningful friendships, tried many different jobs, worked with a wide range of ages, and had enough time to enjoy it all. Most of all, I felt really present this year. Every person and experience was an opportunity to engage with something new. Life was different because the setting was China, but also life was different post- student life. I had to re-greet the world that had no idea who I was; if I dare admit I had to find some labels for myself.

Now, New York is calling me. I want to be a different type of resident. I'm ready to come home to a place that I know, with a more self aware directed focus. I'm interested in health and maybe alternative approaches to understanding what health means. New York, with it's incredible diversity, seems like the perfect place to assess the wide range of possibilities.

So, yes I am ready to move on to the next stage. Friends and family in New York, I'll see you August 3rd.

Riverdale in Yunnan

There are way too many pictures. We even had a photographer traveling with us to capture the money making shots. Here are just a few pictures to show off the group and some of the people and places we had the privilege to interact with. I feel very fortunate to have gotten this opportunity to meet eight exceptional Riverdale students chaperoned by two wonderful Riverdale teachers and bring them around Yunnan and Beijing.

This trip exceeded my expectations. I was reminded of the power of travel; the experience of seeing a different life reality and beginning to question lifestyles we take for granted. It's all an exciting challenge. One that I believe develops our personal understanding and fosters a greater acceptance of difference in the world around us. But its not easy. Sometimes the students were completely engaged, wrapped up in teaching children beaming back at them with smiles and cheers. Other times, the students needed to retreat, enough China for a little while. This was all perfectly understandable. As a leader and observer, it was incredibly satisfying to see the students become engrossed in something new.

In particular, the Riverdale students were amazing teachers. While in Kunming, they spent Monday to Thursday studying Chinese in the mornings then the students split into two groups of four and taught at two different schools: one for children of migrant workers and one for children with learning disabilities. One day at the over-crowded under-resourced school for migrant worker's children, a permanent teacher slapped one of the students across the face for not standing up when a Riverdale student requested the class to get on their feet. It was both shocking and appalling to watch a young child receive corporal punishment for simply not standing. This New York high school student was not willing to accept this treatment. He asked for the group to talk about what he had witnessed.

The conversation that ensued was incredibly impressive. The real question was how do you go to another country and face realities you do not agree with. Everyone agreed the culture of outsiders, specifically Americans going into other countries declaring they know what's best is wrong. The question isn't about right and wrong, it's about learning how to communicate. We firstly, can be model teachers, who command student's attention without using violent tactics. However, the task involves time. We as foreigners were invited in for two weeks to bring new energy and knowledge to these kids, but it was only two weeks. The permanent teachers are in charge of classes with over fifty students and barely any resources. It would take us some time to understand the complexity of the teacher's reality. So maybe after friendships had been established, after we got to know the teachers and students, then we could better assess possibilities for change.

I am summarizing of course, the students were a lot more articulate and impassioned as they were talking. What amazed me more than this conversation was the students willingness throughout the trip to have discussions. Now back in New York, I know they are processing this trip somewhere in their mind or with friends and family. Gauging from the emails I've been receiving from the students, I know some will return to continue their education.

On Cangshan Mountain, outside of Dali:
KTV or Karaoke night:

Hanging out on the Great Wall:

Sitting up on the Drum Tower in the main square of Weishan:

Visiting the school in Weishan:

Picture time at the school for migrant worker's children:

Riverdale students with their home-stay brothers and sisters:

The piece de resistance?

I have exactly one week before eight Riverdale (my high school) students and two teachers (one former teacher of mine) arrive in Kunming. I am calling this the piece de resistance because since last summer this was the main focus of my China plan. While working for Minds Abroad, I pitched a Riverdale trip to China. After only a handful of meetings, it was a done deal. In summer 2011, I would be working with Minds Abroad to lead Riverdale students on a three week trip living in Kunming and traveling around Yunnan. I am now counting down the days.

Wellness Group

I have started a Wellness group here in Kunming with my Israeli friend Talia. (I know I come to China to find a friend also named Talia?) Most people immediately ask, "What the heck is that?" Well, it's a gathering of friends who want to talk about what maintaining health means to them. Each week an individual leads a lesson in a practice or a discussion about something of her or his interest.

This Wellness group is inspired by a class I took at Oberlin called Somatic Studies. "Soma" is Greek for body in its wholeness. This class gave us the opportunity to press pause on our busy lives and look at the way we operate: our posture, our stress habits, our sleeping patterns etc. Sometimes we move on autopilot and don't stop to think about the lifestyle habits we have created for ourselves. This class offered a forum to reassess, ask questions, learn from each other's experiences, and hopefully make positive changes. My professor, Deborah Vogel was an inspiration to us all. She gave us the tools and ideas to think about making healthy changes, but really she said prioritize your personal well being and the rest of your life will follow.

Two nights ago at the Wellness meeting, I was the facilitator. I shared a practice called MELT, created by Sue Hitzmann, who teaches at the Upper West Side JCC and is gradually starting a movement. MELT stands for Myofascial Energetic Length Technique. I interpret this as a formal self-assessment, realignment, and release technique. It targets the fascia, the connective tissue that covers our muscles, bones, organs, and nerves. In our daily lives we acquire tension in our bodies. Many times we are not aware of where and how these emotions and activities affect the body. One effect can be seen in our connective tissue; it becomes dry and inhibits full range of motion. We can't stretch fascia we can only MELT it (Sue would give me a lot of brownie points for saying that). MELT uses different sized rubber balls and foam rollers to rehydrate this "stuck tissue"

Sue's process involves assessing the body's capabilities by paying attention to the imbalances and just becoming self aware. "Be Curious" is what Deb used to say when we'd explore our emotional and physical capabilities. We ask ourselves the questions: Which leg feels tighter? What hand has more rotation? We must understand ourselves first before we can re-balance our bodies and dare I say our lives.

So I bought everyone rubber balls off the Chinese online shopping website and taught the practice to rehydrate the fascia in our hands and feet. Targeting the hands and feet helps to release tension in those specific areas but also brings more ease of movement into our lower backs, necks, and shoulders. People loved it, as did I.

Week-long Visa Trip

My visa trips mark my time in China in three month increments. I can't believe it has only been six months. That feels short, time moves so quickly here. For this visa trip I booked a flight first to Chengdu to visit my friend Becca and go to Chengdu's annual Zebra music festival. Yeah, this trip was a good one.

Then I flew to Guangzhou and hopped on a train directly to Hong Kong. It's amazing that from mainland China you can take a train or a subway ride to Hong Kong, yet Hong Kong is distinctly not China. I only spent two nights and one full day, so I can only give a 40-hr visit impression. The pace and expectations for daily life felt very different. No one seemed interested to engage in the cultural dialogue I meet every day living in China.

When I walk around the streets in Kunming or in other places I have visited in China, I am definitely living abroad. I've become accustomed to a certain portion of the Kunming city routine, but most times I am a waiguoren, a foreigner. This status is tricky business; it's easy to stay wrapped up in a foreign bubble of other expats and cafes. On the other hand, you can learn to be a 中国通, a China hand or someone who knows how to connect with Chinese people and understands the customs and culture. I am somewhere in between, though I strive for the latter. However, Hong Kong seemed disinterested- people were distracted by fancy electronics and endless high-end shopping. Everyone spoke to me in English. Maybe that's how New York City appears to visitors but I missed the inevitable cultural interactions that make life in China a daily learning experience.

Besides the lack of interpersonal bonding, I enjoyed my stay in Hong Kong. In the morning, I took the ferry to Lantau Island. Hong Kong's location is special because of it's proximity to beautiful islands and apparently in the New Territory area of the city, one can escape city life entirely and get lost in nature. Lantau Island, did indeed feel like another world. I rented a bike and explored the beaches and inland forest-like landscape. I ate a snack sitting on the rocks between a waterfall. Then I took a speed ferry back and walked around Kowloon, an area closer to mainland China just north of Hong Kong Island. Finally I ended the day by taking a tram up to a high peak in Central, the downtown area of Hong Kong. Although it was foggy and getting dark out, I looked down on a 360 degree view of this booming bustling city. Fortunately, I had a friend to stay with and although he was busy at work, at night we walked on the longest covered outdoor escalator and ate yummy food.

I left Hong Kong by subway to Shenzhen, then took an hour train ride to Guangzhou. I just had the afternoon, by the time I arrived, so I walked around a local park and neighborhood area. Guangzhou is a more industrial city than Kunming and Chengdu, but it felt nice to be back in China.

Certified

Officially a certified TESOL teacher. I just completed a TESOL training course: three weeks, six hours a day. This course was provided to me for free by the private school that I teach at. Only three teachers at the school took up this incredible offer. The three of us were the only foreigners out of a group of 14 people, mostly professional teachers. The course was great. I learned a lot about conducting a communicative interactive language learning environment. I am excited to continue teaching post this education.

A Recommendation

Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals

I was reading this book while traveling with my family and I couldn't resist the constant urge to share with them. I thought of it as sharing my excitement, they might say otherwise. I realized this book is a personal undertaking that I highly recommend for anyone who wants to further their education on food politics. This book has continued to help me think about eating more responsibly: an important conversation I believe we should continue to discuss.

Eating Animals is an incredible expose on the current state of our disconnected world that allows for factory farming. Factory farming in the U.S. accounts for 99% of our meat, including fish and eggs. Our land, animals, and living environment have become hidden wastelands for unnatural unsustainable grotesque food production. I know it's not just factory farming that jeopardizes the planet's livelihood for profit. There are too many corporations to count without feeling ill. However, this book struck me because I like to think about health. And let me say the over drugged, antibiotic-fed, feces covered animals we eat are not healthy. Not to mention that factory farming accounts for more energy consumption than all the transportation in the world. Just like oil, meat prices are artificially low which perpetuates the exploitive industry. According to Safran Foer, " taking inflation into account animal protein costs less today than at any time in history" (109). I would go on for longer if I still had the book with me but I've passed it on in hopes that it will keep moving.

It's easy to ignore these realities when our food shows up in the supermarket neatly packaged. Maybe we don't want to know, but I don't want ignorance as bliss. As an individual who wants to live mindfully and support politically and environmentally savvy sustainable groups, organizations, and companies, I vote for my friends and family to check out the evils of the factory farming industry.

Brooks-Salzman clan in China

Photographic overview of a special family trip---

We began in Beijing:

Kunming, Green Lake Park:

Overnight train to Lijiang, Yunnan:

Tiger Leaping Gorge: (Aramie, Dad, and I hike/climb by ladder straight down to the gorge)

Shangrila (Songzanlin Tibetan monastery) :

Back to Lijiang:

Shanghai, one hour boat trip on the Huangpu River:

Shanghai Dim sum:

Hangzhou with Mom: tasting famous Longjing tea

Wuzhen:

Suzhou, I.M. Pei designed Suzhou Museum:
Suzhou garden:

How lucky am I?

I have visitors in China!! At the beginning of the month, Eli came to Kunming to enjoy my life with me and next week my parents and sister are coming to China. We'll travel from Beijing to Yunnan to Shanghai. Then my dad and sister will take off and my mom and I get to explore the region around Shanghai for another week. I know this trip will be well photographically documented. Stay tuned.

Train ride to Dali:

Climbed Cangshan Mountain and spent the night at the top. The view in the morning:

Learning about the Environment in China?

I was asked by a friend if I could help edit a film sponsored by WWF, World Wildlife Fund for Kunming's bi-annual film festival this month. I enthusiastically replied yes without having any clue what she was really talking about. I went to the office of the movie editor, who doesn't speak a word of English and speaks with a heavy dialect. He showed me the thirty minute film with broken English subtitles and requested I fix it. He gave me the movie on a USB and emailed me both the English and Chinese subtitles.

It was only after I went home and started editing and researching that I realized what the movie was about. It's a short informational documentary on the importance of FSC, the Forest Stewardship Council and a successful case study in China. FSC forest certification is an important label for timber production enterprises and consumers who support sustainable forest management. Companies obtain certification only after they meet international standards of forest management. WWF has been working within China to promote FSC certification and as consumers we can help the cause by purchasing FSC certified products.

This was a thrilling experience for me to conduct myself entirely in Chinese. I was able to collaborate with the editor and partake in an environmental education product. Although I used many online resources to help me, I was successful in editing and translating Chinese into English.

Apparently in China I'm learning about important environmental practices. At the World Agro-Forestry Center, I used agro-forestry resources as reading comprehension material for the North Koreans and worked with the students to digest the information. Now after this editing project, I support a label that promotes responsible forest management. (http://www.fscus.org/)

Discussing happiness across cultures

‘It’s only reasons for happiness that we have, but not happiness itself.’ 幸福的理由和幸福本身

Last Wednesday I attended a Chinese symposium. It was under the guise of a gathering of friends come together to practice their English, but really it offered an incredible platform for discussion. I met Nick and Hannah, the Chinese couple that organizes and hosts this English corner at an experimental dance performance the weekend before. I found myself sitting next to Hannah during the performance and when we had to change seats to view the dance from another angle, we stuck together. (This dance performance is another exciting event and potential new community but for another post)

Hannah, shortly after meeting her extended the offer for me to join their English corner. Every Wednesday night, Nick thoughtfully and carefully plans a topic for discussion. I think it is helpful to repeat his principles to get a sense of the expectations for the evening: seek truth by relying and building on each other's perspectives; "use a kindly tongue"; seek unity in diversity, it is through diversity that we can enrich our thinking, and take action, words should bear fruit.

This week's conversation was on happiness: ‘It’s only reasons for happiness that we have, but not happiness itself.’ My initial impression of this topic lead me thinking about our attachment to people and things that make us happy, and those emotions our external world creates in us. We could afford to think about how to make our selves internally stable. For the past couple of years, I've been thinking about what it means and takes to find sustainable happiness. Why for some reason we doubt that possibility or treat the problems and symptoms but don't address a road map to finding joy. I've been trying to develop a lifestyle that seeks daily satisfaction, and here in China I found a group of ten Chinese people trying to communicate the same goals.

I was impressed by the way each individual articulated a positive ideology on life. Everyone spoke candidly and no one harbored a latent desire for material possessions to bring about happiness. Everyone agreed that external belongings were simply not sustainable. Health and movement were decidedly inextricable for happiness. We recognized that life is dynamic and in constant flux so we must be able to adapt and change ourselves and mindsets. I say this often, but we create our own reality and choose to see how changes can be positive. We discussed the power of connections with people and our environment; how we seek to feel bonded and close to our surrounding. There is nothing like feeling trusted, loved, and respected. And the power of giving back- it fills us with so much warmth and satisfaction.

I could continue to summarize but there is no way to succinctly put into words a two hour discussion. I just wanted to share a little of an amazing night and an important conversation that I regularly have with myself.

元宵节快乐!

I guess I didn't entirely miss the Chinese New Year. Tonight after dinner it sounded like warfare outside. Today is the Chinese Lantern Festival, celebrating the last day of the Chinese New Year with a full moon. The sky is ablaze with fireworks.

Yuan Xiao Jie kuai le/元宵节快乐!!! (Which ever you can read :) )

Chinese New Year in Thailand?

Okay it’s been three months, time to leave China. According to my visa, I can stay in China for one year as a tourist but I must leave the country every three months. I don’t quite understand the rationale behind this but I’m glad to live in a region of China where I can easily cross the border by bus. My first visa run happened to coincide with the Chinese New Year and since the entire country takes a vacation, I decided to take this same opportunity. I conceived of a vague plan that involved traveling over land through Laos into the north of Thailand, where I was looking forward to experiencing life in Chiang Mai before continuing my travels in Northern Thailand with Julie and Kate (two close friends from my study abroad in China, also featured in my previous blog post).

This was the first time I’ve truly traveled on my own in Southeast Asia. I liked it a lot. I felt all my sensory receptacles open alert and ready to receive the people and landscape around me. It was just me and them. For better or for worse there was no buffer to distract me. I could, of course, choose when I was ready for company and when I was in the mood to soak in the experience on my own. In fact, I controlled the entire trip but allowed myself to be equally available to the range of possibilities surrounding me.

I began on a night bus from Kunming to Jinghong, in the south of Yunnan Province. Jinghong is the capital of Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous region, home to Yunnan’s Dai minority people and China’s bio-diversity. I fell asleep in three layers of clothes and woke up to palm trees and a tropical climate. The bus arrived in the dark at a little before six A.M.. In China the whole country is set to the same time zone, so it would be at least another two hours before the sun actually rose. From my previous experiences on sleeper buses, I had hoped the bus driver would allow the passengers the last few decent hours of sleep to successfully make it through the next day. Unfortunately in my sleepy sweaty state, I was awoken and asked to get off the bus.

I latched on to a group of five Polish travelers also looking for a hotel to finish their sleep. We walked together to a nearby spot and I passed out in a single bedroom. When I awoke the sun was out; I was ready to spend a day walking around the city and plotting my next move into Southeast Asia. Many cafes in Xishuangbanna double as travel agencies to help visitors find treks in the area. I learned that the cheapest fastest approach to Thailand would be via the China-Laos border to a Laotian destination called Luang Nam Tha. From there I could take another bus to the Thai border, where there would be rickety wooden speed boats waiting to bring tourists across the Mekong River into Thailand. This sounds long and it was a lot of traveling but this route attracts many tourists and from Jinghong into Thailand I never felt alone.

From Jinghong to Luang Nam Tha, I found a friend Kevin from the US on a gap year before college. I had met Kevin at a café and we chatted for a little both discussing travel possibilities and the next morning we both were waiting for the bus to go to Luang Nam Tha. We had assigned seats on the bus and I ended up next to a young Chinese women, excited about embarking on an adventure in Laos. We really hit it off, so much so that every time she wanted to tell me a secret about someone on our bus she squashed me in my seat to get closer to my ear. That night in Luang Nam Tha I had options of friends to hang out with: there was Kevin and a German friend he made, and my Chinese friend and her posse. I ate snacks with the Chinese crew at the night market and then had a fresh mango smoothie across the street with Kevin and his friend.

At the Chinese border crossing with my bus mate:

The bus waited for us as we paid for our Laos visas:

Laos border crossing, slightly smaller than the Chinese one:

Luang Nam Tha night market:

The next morning, I connected with an Israeli couple from my bus from China and we piled into a minivan to the Laos-Thai border. Once in Thailand, there was one final leg, another minibus to Chiang Mai. Behind me in the van, I heard the lively sounds of Aussies and mentally decided they would be my go-to crew to find a guest house once in Chiang Mai. We arrived in Chiang Mai at night, but the bus dropped us off at the night market, where artificial lights allowed tourists to shop throughout the night. Coming from Laos, it was entirely overwhelming to arrive in a bustling outdoor shopping mecca. The four Aussies were feeling the same shock and they offered to find a way out. We all ate dinner together then found a decent hostel for the night.

View from Laos side of the Mekong River overlooking Thailand:

Boat driver across the Mekong:

I woke up that next morning ready to navigate the city on my own. I went looking for an inviting guesthouse and after settling into one, I began exploring. I was on my own in Chiang Mai for about five days before Julie and Kate came to meet me. In that time, I found a delicious vegetarian Thai restaurant with a female boss who taught cooking lessons. In the course of a long morning, myself and two other American women went to the market and learned how to make fourteen different Thai dishes. After such a phenomenal experience with this class, I signed up for a two day Thai massage class. Fortunately, the other students were three lovely German girls my age and together we studied the basics of an hour long Thai massage. Back in China I’ll have to practice these skills so I can come home with new valuable hobbies. Besides these classes, I explored the wats throughout the city and up on the nearby mountain, took yoga classes, and became acquainted with the local restaurants near my guesthouse.

Important lesson on peppers- these peppers are just vegetables the smaller more concentrated peppers are spicy and the staple ingredient for Thai foods:

Basic ingredients for all Thai soups:

Mushrooms called tree ears:

When Kate and Julie arrived I was ready to see more of Northern Thailand. The three of us, took off north to Chiang Rai, Mae Salong, a Chinese tea village, and finally stayed three nights in Pai. It was definitely different to share the company of two wonderful friends. All of the sudden, I could unload all my thoughts. Together we were non-stop chatting and laughing. My awareness had obviously narrowed but I felt lucky; I could experience new places with close friends. I'll use pictures to summarize some of what we did and saw:

Going down the rabbit hole....Mae Salong deserted tea plantation:

Wat at the top of the mountain, 718 steps to the top:

Our bungalow in Pai:

We biked to a waterfall and cooled down from the heat:

Thailand is a beautiful country but the culture feels much more transient than China. In China, when I say I plan to live in Kunming for about a year people’s nods convey how short they view my stay. Whereas in Thailand when I told people I was living in China for a year they were awed.

After eighteen days of travel, it’s comforting to return back to an apartment that feels like a home and a life that I am eager to continue. I flew back from Chiang Mai to Kunming on the night of the 15th. In a mere hour and a half I was back in Kunming and thirty minutes later I was snuggled up in my bed.