So one night I was minding my own business wandering uselessly around in the park, when I got a message from parklady.It was a photo. I have discovered that she is a member of the Tuijia ethnic minority. The costume that she and the others are wearing is the Tuijia traditional dress.
The message translated as "Hey I am in the stadium singing, wanna come and play?". I have said it before but I just love how the Chinese use the word 'play'. It just means 'hang out with' or meet. Just such a lovely word and one I will take back to England!
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A woman I now know as Wan Sanhong, me and the guy from the office next door to mine at school! |
When I got toe the stadium, I said my hellos to parklady who ushered me over to Wan Sanhong. Wan Sanhong spoke English. We chatted a while. It turns out she had only been in Jiangkou a month and is actually from Zunyi county, the same county that Star is from. Coincidences happen even in a place as big as China!
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Another one of me and Wan Sanhong. |
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Me and the majority of the Tuijia singing group |
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The tuijia group getting ready to go on stage. |
It is at times like this that I wish I had my big camera with me so I could zoom in and photograph what was happening on stage! However, when I packed for China there was a weight and size limit on my baggage so unfortunately it was essentials only! Anyhow, at the end of the night, parklady wanted a few photographs... and so did a few other people! I obliged, but standing front of stage, even after the show was not my most comfortable experience!
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Me, feeling slightly awkward, posing for a photo for parklady whilst a singing group was still on stage!! |
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Me and a Tuijia man in traditional dress. |
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Me and 'someone' and parklady in traditional Tuijia dress |
Eventually the evening came to an end, and I started to walk home...but Wan Yi caught me. He saw the Chinese flag in my shirt and insisted in taking photos! The poses where what he wanted...not my choice!
Day 2
Day 2 was slightly more problematic. I had been told that it was invitation only. SWAT were on duty. It was invitation only. They were amicable but I could not get past them. The only way was to get a teacher from my school to come from inside and chaperone me. I had no telephone number of any teacher so that wouldn't work. I took off my hat and pretended to run past the SWAT guys. They were not amused.... in fact tehey had no idea what I was doing and just smiled quizzically. *note to self "don't try that again!" After refusal, one of the SWAT guys said I could go upstairs and watch. I did. After a while al lot of students came from my school. They had been recruited to wave the flags at appropriate moments. We messed around a littele until we 'got a look' from SWAT. We then behaved!
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some of the guys from school. Cheeky one just besides me! |
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...another of the guys from school. |
The competition eventually finished and representatives from teh winning team came on stage. They were wearing the same outfits as my friend! I was just about to ask, when I got a text saying her team had won! Excellent, a local government team were the winners!
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representatives of the wining team outside the stadium. |
I hung around a while and noticed that SWAT were doing a team photo. I asked if I could be in their photo and gave my phone to the photographer! There I am. I even got a souvenir Chinese flag badge off the shoulder of one of the guys!
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Me and SWAT!.. and a couple of kids from my school in the background wearing summer uniform. |
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My souvenir badge! |
After all this, Sherrie took me to the courier and set up my new postal address (see Chinese packages posting) and I tok her and her husband out to dinner. I then went and played in the park and walked home. On the way I passed my local beef noodle restaurant. The guy had just finished some axe work! He was quite happy for me to photograph it!
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Axe handle foreground, cows head, bowl of bloody water and cows limbs in the steel bowl in the background. Food hygiene? Not a problem???? |
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