Heading off to Dali this morning
But just wanted to recount an interesting conversation I had over breakfast. There was a woman sitting at the same breakfast table with me. I committed the ultimate faux pas of asking if she was German. She gave me a look - understandable given that she is Danish. *sigh* It turns out that she's in Kunming for a meeting but for the past 10 years she's been living in a mountain village outside of Kunming working with a tribe of local minority people.They only have a population of about 2000 and they have their own language and the relief organisation for which she works helps with education, agriculture and that sort of thing.
She said that last year the government changed its policy and so now children can attend school for free - last year it cost RMB100 a year which was very tough given that the tribespeople only make about RMB300 a year. I can't even comprehend that. RMB300 a year is AUD50 per YEAR, approximate USD34 per year!!!!! Those annoying little brats who hand out discount cards can make RMB300 a month, a waitress working for a big restaurant in Kunming can make RMB700 a month, the guy working in Yibin airport makes RMB1,000 - RMB2,000 a month and hell my RENT is RMB2,500 a month. It's a really sobering thought.
The work she does sounds interesting although she says it's very difficult for them to persuade the families to allow their children to go to school. The teachers are usually able to convince the parents to let them attend grade 1 but there is a high drop out rate after grade 4. Also, if they want to pursue higher education ie highschool they have to go to a school on a different mountain, and then after that it's down to the city where a lot of them feel cut off and isolated because they don't know anyone and don't speak Mandarin.
She says that what they are doing now is that they have set up a preschool where they start teaching 3 year old children how to speak Mandarin! This is because at 3, the kids are too young to start work so the parents don't think that it's a 'waste of time' for the kids to be school instead of working. Also, at that age they can pick up language quickly so it's a good foundation. That means that when they get older they can at least communicate with other people because presently they go into the cities and can't speak Mandarin and are completely isolated.
As a contrast I am now in the business centre and there are these American guys with really slow Southern drawls who keep talking aloud to themselves. "My computer's not working, come on now, any time now, yeah that's right, ok you can start just about now, yeah where are you, that's right, ok it's about time to appear now". It's a bit distracting :)
In other news, the outbreak of swine flu appears to be getting worse. Definitely no pork for me for the near future..... It's scary when you read headlines like Symptoms in Sichuan China Resemble 1918 Flu Pandemic.
The strange illness body present blood stains whole body becomes dark the reason unclear network people sigh - the science forever is backward.
The strange illness condition change is rapid, at the beginning of when the high fever there is vomiting, continues presently, the shock symptom. But has the patient family member discloses, sees the dead whole body becomes dark, on the body has the red spot.
It sounds like the bloody bubonic plague!
She said that last year the government changed its policy and so now children can attend school for free - last year it cost RMB100 a year which was very tough given that the tribespeople only make about RMB300 a year. I can't even comprehend that. RMB300 a year is AUD50 per YEAR, approximate USD34 per year!!!!! Those annoying little brats who hand out discount cards can make RMB300 a month, a waitress working for a big restaurant in Kunming can make RMB700 a month, the guy working in Yibin airport makes RMB1,000 - RMB2,000 a month and hell my RENT is RMB2,500 a month. It's a really sobering thought.
The work she does sounds interesting although she says it's very difficult for them to persuade the families to allow their children to go to school. The teachers are usually able to convince the parents to let them attend grade 1 but there is a high drop out rate after grade 4. Also, if they want to pursue higher education ie highschool they have to go to a school on a different mountain, and then after that it's down to the city where a lot of them feel cut off and isolated because they don't know anyone and don't speak Mandarin.
She says that what they are doing now is that they have set up a preschool where they start teaching 3 year old children how to speak Mandarin! This is because at 3, the kids are too young to start work so the parents don't think that it's a 'waste of time' for the kids to be school instead of working. Also, at that age they can pick up language quickly so it's a good foundation. That means that when they get older they can at least communicate with other people because presently they go into the cities and can't speak Mandarin and are completely isolated.
As a contrast I am now in the business centre and there are these American guys with really slow Southern drawls who keep talking aloud to themselves. "My computer's not working, come on now, any time now, yeah that's right, ok you can start just about now, yeah where are you, that's right, ok it's about time to appear now". It's a bit distracting :)
In other news, the outbreak of swine flu appears to be getting worse. Definitely no pork for me for the near future..... It's scary when you read headlines like Symptoms in Sichuan China Resemble 1918 Flu Pandemic.
The strange illness body present blood stains whole body becomes dark the reason unclear network people sigh - the science forever is backward.
The strange illness condition change is rapid, at the beginning of when the high fever there is vomiting, continues presently, the shock symptom. But has the patient family member discloses, sees the dead whole body becomes dark, on the body has the red spot.
It sounds like the bloody bubonic plague!