Got back late last night from my trip with 我的男朋友 Masa. Amazing trip. We saw near abandoned villages, hiked around mountains, drew under peach trees, ate good (but basic) food, used hideous hole-in-the-ground country bathrooms, didn't shower and basically lived outdoors for four days. Wow. Back to Beijing reality...

Random village view from the bus.

爨底下(Cuandixia village)


Temple at 爨底下.

The owner of this home made a delicious stew with frozen tofu. She had one of the cleanest kitchens I've seen in China.

Brushing my teeth outside of my landlord's home. (She's on the right.) The owners of the house next door raise bees, so they were constantly buzzing around this area. (I bought very inexpensive honey.)


Home at 白玉 (Baiyu)

Abandoned home at 白玉. This room had some cultural revolution memorabilia on the dressers. Everything was dusty and untouched.


Donkey.

Peach blossoms in the mountains.


This woman, like many local villagers, has opened her home to tourists and provides a place to sleep for 10RMB a night (around $1.40)

Dinner at a home restaurant in 爨底下. Mantou, corn cakes, Cucumbers with vinegar and sesame oil, spicy donkey with peppers and whole little fish. (which were sweet and salty)

Very curious boy. He ran around with my camera taking pictures.

Mother of our landlord with her grandson.

Mountain lake by 珍珠湖. Masa and I found an abandoned paddleboat.

金鑫 (Masa) wading in a river.

Mountain view near 珍珠湖.

Train to 西直门, a subway stop in Beijing. Everyone else boarding this train were fishermen.

learning guitar

Dinner at Ruby's

warm feet

hutong nap

Today is the warmest it has been yet in Beijing; 83F. The sun is as bright as it is in Miami during summer, and everyone is out in short sleeve shirts and the Korean girls are in hotpants. It's literally 10 degrees hotter today than it was yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm finally leaving the city for a few days with my friend Masa, so no e-mail or posts until Monday. We're going to a small village built entirely by one family in the Ming dynasty called Cuandixia (爨底下) then some mountains, pretty things... Pictures will follow.

I've got proofreading work today. I have to check some exhibition notes for a show on Chinese shadow puppets that will be up during the Olympics.

Also: Thanks Isa! I got your package yesterday complete with coffee paraphernalia and apple butter.

I'm sitting on Silvia's bed grading papers thinking about getting ready to meet a potential student for lunch. It's a bright day today with lots of various allergens dancing in the air. Yesterday I bought a very tiny azalea with small, bright pink flowers... it's nice to really be able to feel the seasons. (This is fairly literal, since my chest is congested and I'm allergic to nearly everything outside, I think.)

A few nights ago Masa and I saw the movie 东 ("Dong") by贾樟柯 (Jia Zhang Ke) at the Italian Embassy and also sat through messy translations of the director's responses to questions from the audience. Zhang Ke is possibly the most acclaimed mainland director among a more arthouse crowd, and has made movies such as "Xiao Wu," "The World" and "Unknown Pleasures." 东 follows the travels of an artist, 刘小东 (Liu Xiao Dong) as he paints migrant workers and prostitutes while he tries to defend the idea of the artist understanding "common people." Dong seems to trap himself in this classic, stereotypical artist dilemma: an attempt to understand which eventually leads to self-delusion. Worth seeing.

Beijing is literally blanketed in pollen. (Video from Silvia)

Toby making comics

Toby's battery-powered fan

Picnic

strawberry

My apartment building

Saw traditional Mongolian music Sunday night at 愚公移山 (Yu Gong Yi Shan) that was quite incredible. I've never heard throat singing in person before, and it literally sounded like this guy's voice was bouncing off of every corner of the room, complete with flute-like voice inflections, melody and complexities that I couldn't imagine coming from a single voice. I really want to go to Mongolia. Also heard some very tender, rather melodic indie-folk from this musician Ramona Cordova.

I'm planning a trip with Silvia and two friends and we'll leave in a week or two. Just a weekend trip, but I'd like to go to some secluded mountain village with some abandoned temples scattered about.

Thank you mom, dad, Billie, Grandma and Aunt Linda for all your incredibly sweet cards, letters and gifts. It makes me feel very loved. Also, thanks for the posts and e-mails!