lotus flowers of shaoshan

shaoshan is famous as the birthplace and former residence of chairman mao zedong. he had his humble beginnings in this modest town, which now serves as an important site for people from all over china who are intent on pledging their dedication to the communist party. i imagine that shaoshan may be akin to a sort of permanent, peaceful political rally in the states, though being somewhat of a recluse when it comes to matters of state, i wouldn't know firsthand.

i generally occupied myself taking photos while in shaoshan, many of which include the gorgeous lotus blossoms i have seen from afar, but hadn't yet had an opportunity to see closer up. they do indeed make wonderful subjects for photography!

the last 2 images are of a stone wall, which i photographed because i like stone walls...

the education of little erin, or how i discovered that i had no idea places like this existed on earth - welcome to zhangjiajie

i have just returned from a whirlwind weekend, which included giving a guest lecture about community health nursing in the u.s.a. at jishou university in hunan (i do not, in fact, suffer from the delusion that i am an expert in the subject, or an effective speaker!), followed by tours of the south great wall and a riverside town, fenghuang. after these outings, i was invited to "go look at some mountains". well. i had *no idea* i would find myself in a Chinese national park, and a world heritage site to boot. so, imagine my surprise to find myself in a place of such natural beauty, i felt as though i was dreaming the entire time. the cloudy weather today contributed to this ethereal feeling, as you'll see in some of the photos. yesterday's weather was dry, but humid, so i looked and felt like a drowned rat for most of the day, soaked in sweat from hiking to and fro amongst these peaks. but it was worth it. so worth it.

did i mention there are monkeys living in this park?! i kept my eyes peeled all day yesterday on the trail, hoping to spot a tailed local within the trees. no one showed, until this morning, when a bold individual joined us on the stairway down from the mountain tram. i was so pleased that i couldn't manage my camera and my excitement simultaneously, and managed to take blurry photos only of the monkey's backside (which did not make the cut here, sorry to say). though he wasn't especially cooperative, either. while i was just gaping in glee at him, he was happy to stay put. as soon as i remembered i had a camera and began pursuing my new friend, the furry one scampered further up the stairs. cheeky little blighter.

i have done my utmost to edit these images first, rather than enthusiastically and hastily post them for your viewing pleasure. hopefully, these images will do a bit of justice to the actual landscape.

 
 
 
 

chinese countryside for the dragon boat festival

this was a busy week. i discovered my inner-karaoke self while belting out 'karma chameleon' at a karaoke salon called partyworld, in celebration of a successfully-defended PhD dissertation. not mine, of course, but i was invited to join in the celebration and did so...for 5 hours...of singing. who knew?! typically, the mention of karaoke would terrify me, and the thought of singing in chinese blew my mind. but, there were some english selections (see above...i do feel bewildered by what fragments of america, or britain, make it overseas...) and so i reluctantly agreed to sing. i also met a chinese college student who attached himself to me a discussed everything under the sun with me in english: presidential nominees and who my preference is, religion and what my preference is, race relations in the USA. he gave me his chinese name, which i can't remember because...his next sentence threw me into a fit of laughter...he told me i could call him by his "english name jackie, just like jackie chan, superstar!" i hadn't anticipated encountering the word
"superstar" this summer, but it has now become everyday lingo for me and my chinese friends.

i also saw the olympic torch trot through changsha. i attended the event with several nursing students (my security detail!) and it was very exciting. there is a lot of nationalism within china from what i can tell, and a tremendous pride to be hosting not only the olympic games, but all of the visitors who will be attending as well.

i received notice that the internal review board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects has approved my research protocol, so i can proceed to the survey portion of my reminiscence research. we had another focus group on friday, which lent itself nicely to criticisms of the wording and content of the survey tool i'm using (reminiscence functions scale), so i may have to think some more about adapting the tool to be compatible with this population, in a linguistic and cultural sense. this is so important when conducting research, and i am not at all discouraged by the feedback we elicited with the focus group. i feel like a real researcher now, encountering real obstacles and problem solving!

and, i have just now returned from the countryside! i am unequivocally a country girl, and returning to a rural setting was fabulous. and the scenery is stunning. i went with a nursing student, he ying, to her family's home north of changsha. this weekend was the annual traditional dragon boat festival, to commemorate well-loved poet chu yuen's death by suicide, as he jumped into a river because of his despair over his country's occupation by foreigners. i believe this took place a few centuries ago... the story goes that, to dissuade fish in the river from devouring the poet's body, local people threw leaf-wrapped sticky rice (zonzi - very good, if you ask me, but i haven't encountered any food yet that i don't like...) into the river to tempt the fish away from chu yuen. and the dragon boats came in to the tradition as a rescue party for the poet. to this day, dragon boat races are held to celebrate the festival. though i did not see any races. i saw one boat, as i was on the bus to he ying's home, but wasn't able to observe with any great detail.

so, i am now going to share my photos from the countryside! i have limited blogging capabilities so unfortunately don't think i can label photos...which may be really annoying...sorry :( but i have become quite fascinated by rice cultivation , and many of the images capture rice. i also managed to make it back to changsha with a large bag full of loose, full-leaf tea, hand-picked and dried at the source. this is the real deal. i gave the family a gift of vermont maple syrup and a picture book of fall foliage in vermont. i hope i explained maple syrup's uses properly (i have gone through similar scenarios in russia and mongolia, Lord only knows how the syrup ended up being eaten, if at all...).