Parting Shots...

Well, as I head out of China, and into Africa, I thought I'd use the camera to tell a bit of the untold story so far. Please forgive the atrocious formatting... I was trying to get creative, and blogger and I had a difference of artistic opinion. Hopefully it's ok now... Last week a group from BIPAI came to Kunming for the purpose of conducting some training and for hashing out the details of our proposed collaboration. By now, you probably all know the upshot. The situation isn't really ready for the project we'd initially proposed, hence the departure for Africa. It's been a bit tense with all the intrigue, and certainly a hassle. After spending the last 5 weeks finding a place to live and furnishing it, we've now spent the last week revoking our leases, selling our furniture, and eating at lots of farewell banquets. Of all of us, Ella has been the least frustrated by developments, remaining blissfully unaware of the politics and intrigue. She'll be flying with Hyunjoo to Korea for about a month to visit family before joining me in Lesotho. We've also spent the past week taking pictures, documenting the things that we hadn't yet had the chance to document. The big building on the right is where Hyunjoo, Ella,and I lived--on the 13th floor (less unlucky in China than in the US). We were above a big department store, which made for a fair amount of noise, but it was a fun location. Here i am with my mighty steed. Although looks can be deceiving, this is NOT a girls' bike... really... With all the stop-and-go biking and dismounting that goes with it (the bike lanes are insanely crowded and nobody obeys laws or common traffic courtesy), the Chinese prefer their bikes to have limited potential for genital trauma, hence the low cross-bar. This is the bike parking lot for our building where my bike found its home during our brief time together. Despite the limits on religious freedom in China, there is certainly a lot of evidence of religion. Kunming is a much more Christian place than one might expect, with lots of foreign missionaries (unoficially, of course), and a lot of local Christians. This church was just across the street from our building. I also saw a number of mosques, as Kunming has a pretty sizable Chinese-muslim population. This doesn't imply unlimited religious freedom, but there is a certain degree of tolerance for sanctioned religious groups. We also spent the past week catching up on many of the things we had planned to do after settling in--trying to live all the fantasies we'd had about what our lives in Kunming would eventually be like. For Hyunjoo, this meant getting some very inexpensive massages and hiring someone to entertain Ella for a few hours. For me, I had always been looking forward to spending more time at Cuihu (pronounced tsway-hoo), aka Green Lake, Park. Cuihu is the place where old people congregate to do the things that old people do--exercise, drink tea, play Mahjong or card games... ...and most of all perform. Cuihu is kind of a gigantic open mic amateur night for all the elderly people in the city. The old folks come with their instruments, their microphones, and their very powerful amplifiers... while leaving their sense of shame, embarassment, and privacy at home. Like any open mic night, the results are mixed, from the truly inspired to the truly horrific. For all these reasons, this is my favorite place in Kunming. It's great for people watching, and for the fact that everyone is just doing what they enjoy without worry of what others may think. The photos of the following performers are just a few examples of what makes Cuihu great. Working on his raspy country-blues vocal cords? Although this is primarily a place for older folks to perform, this girl was certainly the cutest performer. Did I mention none of these performances are done for money. There aren't any jars or hats passed around. People simply get together out of camaraderie and a love of performing. Often a love that exceeds talent, but that just makes it more charming. We also bid farewell last week to the HIV treatment clinic in Kunming. Despite our relatively minor role in the clinic, we were sad to leave some of the people. This couple are a formerly-retired husband and wife team of doctors who came out of retirement to work for this clinic, caring for HIV/AIDS patients. They are so loved by their patients that they are continually invited to weddings, funerals, graduations, and even to preside over separation of property when their patients get divorced... I think I'll stick to my slightly more Western limits to the physician-patient relationship. Finally, here are a couple of the younger doctors at the clinic who are also following in the mold of their older mentors. Although I'm eager to go somewhere that I'll actually be able to see a meaningful number of pediatric patients, I'll definitely miss this group, and hope that they're successful in their HIV/AIDS treatment efforts in Yunnan. The province needs more dedicated doctors like these, not to mention the political will to make their work as successful as it can be.