Mission Accomplished!

On August 7th the High Altitude Motorcycle Repair Shop opened in M Village. Villagers celebrated the occasion with fireworks, watermelon, and speeches. Two days before, T Bear arrived with tools and parts for the shop. While the building still doesn’t have any furniture besides a few shelves, the shop is open for business and has already had many customers. In the end, the project took us just under two months to complete, and the overall cost was less than we had anticipated. We plan to leave some of the leftover funds for future mechanic training. In the winter the mechanics will return to X County to complete additional training in engine and electrical wiring problems. The rest of the funds will be used to support future Pentok projects related to girls’ education and community development.

During our last week in Xining, we worked hard to complete the new Pentok website at http://www.pentok.org. Although not all the content has been uploaded yet, we finalized the overall theme and layout. We taught Mama S, T Fishy, and T Bear how to upload content to the website so they can finish and maintain the site after we’ve left.

At KTV

To celebrate the success of our project and the new friends we made, we threw a party at the Pentok office where we introduced beer pong to Qinghai. We also took our friends out to dinner at some of our favorite restaurants. On our last night, we had a group dinner with Pentok staff and interns, before heading to KTV (karaoke). In a small room with disco lighting, a huge TV, and lots of beer and snacks, we all sang English, Chinese, and T songs late into the night. Of course the only song everyone knew was I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys!

With Pentok staff and volunteers

On August 14th, we boarded a train for Beijing loaded with two backpacks apiece and a bucket of KFC for the trip. We were sad to leave our adopted home for the last two months, but were looking forward to spending time with Sara’s family and pigging out at our favorite restaurants in Beijing. It’s now August 22nd and Sara leaves for California tomorrow (sniff, sniff). David and Jesse will stay in Beijing for another week preparing for the road ahead. On September 5th, David will begin graduate studies in international affairs at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in China. Sara and Jesse will both return to Portland to enter the workforce!

Prayer flags over Qinghai Lake

Building Construction

On July 31st, two skilled laborers and a volunteer crew of 10-12 villagers began building the motorcycle shop. Construction took seven days, thanks to the expertise of the skilled laborers and the hard work of 30-50 villagers.

A skilled laborer stacking bricks

Skilled laborers putting up the cement brick wall

After the door and windows have been installed

Elvis's father hard at work

Elvis's father and a skilled laborer adding finishing touches to the roof

Painting the interior

The shop's two mechanics

Volunteers outside the completed shop

Moving Forward

From July 27th to July 31st, I lived in M Village with Elvis to finally begin the construction of our motorcycle shop. At three in the morning, I found myself climbing over the fence of the housing compound I was staying in to go meet Elvis and the jeep. Afraid of being noticed by curious townsfolk or the gonganju, I hid behind a tree until Elvis arrived. When the jeep showed up, I was pleasantly surprised to see Elvis, his little brother, and one of our motorcycle trainees, Hochip, jump out of the jeep to usher me in. The trucks, carrying the majority of our construction materials, had left an hour earlier, and we planned to eventually catch up and offer any help that might be needed along the seven-hour journey that lay ahead.

Our trucks and jeep crossing the river to M Village

We left in the wee hours of the morning for two reasons: to avoid the watchful eyes of the local authorities, and to drive on the road when the conditions were best. For the past three weeks, the roads between M Village and X County have been non-existent. Summer rains have led to flooding, turning roads into mud baths. Floods destroyed a bridge on the route we had taken earlier in the summer, so we now drove through a longer, steeper, and more treacherous road. Two days earlier, the truck Elvis and his father rode in almost slid down a ravine into a river. Unlike most of us in times of crisis, T's tend to pray rather than shout out foul language. As the truck struggled to race up the ravine, Elvis bruised his shoulder because of whiplash. Thankfully, driving in a jeep was not nearly as precarious as a truck, but I was still wary. Not to mention, it was pitch black at 3 am and our driver had probably not slept at all.

Truck stuck on the edge of a hillside

Three hours into the drive at 6:30 am, I woke up to blue skies and steep slopes. Our trucks were slowly laboring back and forth down switchbacks along a mountainside. We watched wide-eyed as one of our trucks began to inch off the road and down the mountainside. Elvis and the rest of the passengers immediately jumped out of our jeep and ran down the road to pile large rocks in front of the wheels of the truck to prevent it from sliding further forward. The truck was stuck and could not go into reverse. The nomads used shovels to dig out rocks and dirt that blocked the truck. After an hour’s worth of trial and error, much tire screeching, and a lot of digging, we finally managed to clear a path. We continued our road trip and only encountered two more minor delays while crossing a river and driving up another mountainside. At 10:30 am, Elvis announced that we had officially entered the limits of M Village.

Volunteers - Unloading, shoveling, and stacking

At 11:30 am, our caravan finally rolled into the village center. Elvis immediately hopped out of the truck to greet old friends and relatives hanging out at the local stores. In less than 10 minutes, Elvis gathered 10-12 volunteers to help us unload the bricks, wooden beams, bamboo, roofing tiles, and bags of cement off the trucks. With the help of the volunteers, it took under an hour to unload and stack all the construction materials. Their reward for volunteering was a lukewarm bottle of pepsi and a picture with the white boy.

Villagers load sand onto a truck at a riverbank

Throughout the construction process, Elvis portrayed a knack for recruiting volunteers. His ability to gather village support has been fundamental to the success of our project. Besides the construction materials we brought from X County, there remained many other materials within the village that had to be collected and transported. Over the course of my stay, we collected and transported 800 blocks of cement and two truckloads of sand. On each occasion, villagers would eagerly hop on the back of the truck or follow on their motorcycles whenever Elvis announced that we were leaving to collect some materials. After I left and the construction was underway, many nomads continued to offer help and support for our project.

Villagers sip Pepsi after helping unload the construction materials

Motorcycle Training

Once the unloading was finished, I had some time to catch up with Hochip, our trainee, about his experiences with motorcycle training in X County. Our goals had been to teach the trainees how to fix basic motorcycle problems and to establish a motorcycle parts supply chain between X County and M Village. The training was largely a success. Everyday, he and the other trainee would work at the shop from 7:30 am to 7 pm, with a short lunch break in between. During their training, they fixed problems related to broken rearview mirrors, flat tires and lights, and made oil changes. The head mechanic of the shop was pleased with their efforts and progress.

L-R: Volunteer, Hochip, and David riding on the back of a truck

Although the training went well, two problems remain. First, the trainees are still unable to solve engine and electrical problems. The shop owner said with time and more practice, the trainees would eventually learn how to deal with such problems. Second, Hochip does not know how to price his services or the motorcycle parts he will sell in M Village. Without a profitable pricing scheme, the shop could go out of business in the near future. Next winter, the trainees may need another training session.

Summer Pastures

During the summer time, the villagers lock up their houses and spend about a day moving all their livestock and many household supplies to greener fields located 1-2 hours away by motorcycle. While the nomads are in the summer pastures, the grasslands around their winter homes have time to grow lush and green again. After talking with Hochip, Elvis's friend dropped us off in Elvis's summer home. His summer home is along a small river in a beautiful valley. Eagles circle the air looking for scraps of meat while hundreds of yak and sheep from different nomadic families graze along the green pastures. The valley is peppered with white tents belonging to Elvis's family and many of his relatives.

Summer pasture where Elvis's relatives and livestock live for two months of the year

The nomadic tents are made of simple cloth and are held up by a few wooden poles and yak hair rope. Upon entering Elvis's tent, I was surprised by the sudden change of temperature. In the middle of the tent sat a large stove emitting lots of heat and boiling water for jia (tea). Pots, bowls, water jugs, and other household items surrounded the tent. Facing the stove was a large makeshift bed composed of large flat rocks stacked on top of each other. The rocks are covered with carpets and blankets, making it extremely comfortable to lie on. The tent was deceivingly big, able to comfortable fit about 6-9 people. A small solar panel sat outside the tent, powering a single a light bulb and a yak butter-making machine. All in all, living in the tents was exactly like living in the winter homes, except more water was prone to leak in when it rained.

Inside a tent the villagers live in during the summer

First Motorcycle Ride

On July 28, 2010, I had my first motorcycle ride with a T nomad. I was stoked, to say the least. But, it looked quite uncomfortable to sit on the back of a motorcycle as you drove through rocky roads, bumpy grasslands, and shallow rivers. I hopped on the back of Elvis's uncle's motorcycle, the better driver of the two, to go buy cement blocks from the local cement merchant.

David learning how to ride a motorcycle

Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (a book that all of you who are reading this blog should read immediately), is right about riding a motorcycle. It’s not like you’re watching TV through the windows of a car. Instead, one's senses are suddenly aware of the surrounding environment.

David with the village monk in the village center

The wind blowing into your face, the water splashing against your legs, the grunts and chirping of the animals, and the glorious and pervasive smell of yak dung are all pronounced. Never mind all the dangerous rocks and potholes on the road, and never mind the fact that we weren't wearing helmets, riding a motorcycle is amazing. I felt a huge rush as Elvis's uncle sped up and down hills and through shallow rivers with the utmost confidence. It was all so romantic... and badass, of course.

Cement and Jabba the Hut

In X County, Elvis and I decided to buy cement blocks in M Village instead of X County because it would be cheaper and safer to transport them in M. The cement maker in M Village is ethnically Han and lives in X County, but he has a T representative who deals with all transactions in M.

Jabba's son eating homemade bread

As we approached the representative's house, it was obvious from the two large solar panels, two satellite dishes, and neatly stacked rows of cement blocks sitting outside his house that this family was among the elite in M Village. I entered the house to find an old, bald nomad sitting cross-legged on a bed with T scriptures, receipts, and a calculator laid out in front of him. A young lady (who could’ve been his daughter, but I think she was his wife), with an adorable two-year-old boy, was serving him tea and baking bread on the stove.

For some odd and unexplainable reason, the cement baron immediately reminded me of Jabba the Hut. It may have been his relatively lavish but dark and rustic house, or his young wife serving him food and drink that reminded me of Jabba. We went through the traditional T custom of refusing all the tea and bread Jabba's wife pushed under our noses. The day before, Elvis and his uncle bargained down the price of a single cement block to 4.3 RMB (about 70 cents). We thus paid a total of 3,440 RMB for 800 blocks and arranged to pick up the blocks the next day.

The cement baron of the village

Aspects of M Village

Later that night, the village monk, a respected figure in the village and a strong supporter of our project, and Elvis described the wealth gap within their own village. According to them, there are two classes: a rich and a poor class. The rich own lots of livestock and have grasslands on which the lucrative caterpillar fungus grows. In contrast, the lower class has relatively less livestock and caterpillar fungus is scarce on their small plots of grassland.

Elvis claims that many of the elites are the more traditional nomads in the village. These traditional nomads do not send their children to school, especially their daughters. As a result, many young men from richer families remain illiterate and uneducated. While their wives cook and clean at home, the men spend their days riding their motorcycles to the village center to eat, drink, and chat with friends. Boredom is endemic among most of these elite nomads, leading to gambling and other unproductive activities.

The wealthy class has political clout within the village that allows them to hoard any government-sponsored benefits or development projects offered to M. Thus, villagers from the poorer classes often do not receive any of the limited government aid. Elvis and the monk both emphasized the importance of implementing projects for the poorest families in the village. The Yak Loan and Girls’ Education projects, initiated by Elvis and Pentok, were successful in directly targeting poor families that could not afford to send their daughters to school or raise enough money to support their family.

Skilled Labor

On Thursday, July 29, Elvis and I waited in the village center all day for the skilled laborers to arrive. Earlier in the day, T Fishy called us to say that her uncle and the other skilled laborer were on their way and would begin construction the next day. At 6 pm, T Fishy called to deliver bad news. The laborers were a mere two hours away, but they were making the 5-hour ride back home because their motorcycle could not cross a river that blocked their path. Elvis and I were furious.

Before I left X County, T Fishy and I had agreed to give the laborers an extra 500 RMB to hire a jeep. In an attempt to pocket the money, they decided to ride their own motorcycle over the treacherous roads to M, only to be turned back by a river. Elvis exclaimed that a jeep and even an experienced motorcycle driver from his village could navigate those waters. We told T Fishy to convince the workers to stay in the nearby township of L, so Elvis could call a friend to pick them up the next day. A few minutes later, T Fishy called to tell us that they agreed to stay one night in L Township. Relieved, we drove home satisfied with the thought that construction would only be delayed for one more day.

Wolf Encounter

On a happier note, that night I saw an actual wild wolf of the Qinghai plateau! Elvis and I were staying at the winter home by ourselves because it was closer to the village center. The responsibility of cooking dinner (bread and instant noodles) fell onto the two of us. We had run out of water, and I volunteered to walk the 50 meters down to the stream to collect more. Elvis said, "Wait, there are wolves out there, I must go with you." On our first trip to M Village, T Fishy confided to us that she had been terrified of going to the bathroom outside at night because Elvis's parents insisted that wolves wandered around the nearby hills after dusk. Of course, the wolf howls that T Fishy heard in the middle of the night came from Elvis's mother. I was determined to be less gullible, and told Elvis that I knew of his parents’ trickery. Elvis gave me a bewildered look and said, "No, there really are wolves out there. I’m coming with you. Let's go."

We picked up the water jug and headed toward the nearby stream. As we approached, Elvis suddenly let out a war cry, picked up a rock, and threw it across the stream. And there, standing by the water’s edge less than 20 meters from us, was a gigantic black wolf. Its eyes glowed a fiery red, and it froze in the light of my headlamp as it watched us cautiously. Elvis gave out another war cry as he threw a second rock. The wolf slowly retreated and Elvis quickly filled up our water jug. Meanwhile, I jumped up and down by his side, holding three stones at the ready. Once the jug was filled, we raced back to the house. I was extremely excited to have seen such an intimidating animal in the mountains of Qinghai.

Later that night, I desperately had to go relieve myself. With a stone and toilet paper in hand, I went out to the back of the house. Before I got to business, I carefully did a 360-degree scan of my surroundings for any wolves. It was the most frightening and adventurous poop I have ever taken in my life. When I finished, I told Elvis how terrifying my bathroom outing had been. Elvis, preoccupied with writing something, asked, "Do you really believe that you saw a wolf tonight?” I replied, "Of course, you saw how big that thing was." Elvis sighed and said, "It was actually a really big dog. Wolves are gray or yellow, never black. And, they keep to themselves in the hills far away from our house." I was shocked, deflated, and angry all at the same time. That little jerk put on a great show! So much for not being gullible...

More Skilled Labor Issues

Friday, July 30, the day construction on our motorcycle shop should start. Elvis and I woke up early and rushed to the village center to arrange for a jeep to pick up the skilled laborers. We called the laborers to find that they were already on their way home. They told us that they tried to hire a jeep, but the driver asked for 800 RMB ($120). Elvis and the monk were pissed. Elvis could've easily gotten a friend to pick them up for 100-200 RMB ($15-30), but the laborers didn't bother to wait around. Again, we called T Fishy and she said that we might have to find different skilled workers. The construction process could be delayed for an indefinite amount of time. Elvis and the monk were particularly frustrated because they had spent the past week searching for volunteers to help on the first day of construction. Now, volunteers were showing up with nothing to do.

Villagers calling to find other skilled laborers

When the volunteers arrived, Elvis, the monk, and the volunteers made a flurry of phone calls on their cell phones, trying to find drivers or other skilled laborers. The calls were all in vain. But, instead of moping around, we started to tear down the roof of the old building. Hochip, the monk's little brother and one of our trainees, had experience with construction work and took the lead. Roofs in M have five layers: dirt on top, then tarp, a layer of bamboo strips, another layer of long thin bamboo poles, and finally, 6-7 wooden beams. We began by climbing onto the top of the roof and shoveling off the first layer of dirt and sand. We then systematically removed the remaining layers until only the large wooden beams were left. Hochip took it upon himself to walk along each beam and carefully remove them. In less than 45 minutes, the roof was completely removed and all that remained were the brittle adobe walls.

Hochip deconstructing the old building's roof

At the end of the day, we received some good news. T Fishy managed to convince two skilled laborers to take on the construction job and come to M. Elvis arranged for his father, who was in a nearby prefecture, to pick up the skilled laborers on his way back to M. The skilled laborers would arrive late in the evening and construction would finally start the next day. We got on the motorcycle and went back to the winter pastures with one of Elvis’s many cousins.

A LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

It is now July 29th and you may have noticed we haven’t written about the project in several weeks. This is because for the last three weeks we have been delayed due to record rainfall and severe flooding in Qinghai. In fact, flooding was so bad that it destroyed the massive concrete bridge that travelers must cross to reach M. Needless to say, the poorly maintained roads to the village were completely impassable under such conditions.

Thankfully, about a week ago we began seeing blue skies and sunshine. Now Qinghai is in the midst of a heatwave, with summer temperatures reaching highs of over 35 Celsius. The roads are dry enough so that trucks and jeeps can reach M. While the drive is much longer without the bridge, we are finally able to proceed with the project. Thus, four days ago David and T Fishy traveled to X county town to meet Elvis and his father.

There they purchased building materials, contacted skilled laborers, and hired two trucks to transport the supplies. They also checked in with the future shopowners, whose 30-day motorcycle repair training is now complete. We were all excited to find them in high spirits and hear from their teacher that they are both enthusiastic and dedicated students. For the duration of their training, they worked from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm every day. One of the two returned to M with David and Elvis to help with construction. They now both have extensive knowledge of basic repairs, and have some experience with fixing engines and electrical wiring. Their teacher believes that with time and practice, they will be competent mechanics with a successful shop.

As of now, David is living with Elvis's family in their summer pasture, waiting for the skilled laborers to arrive. All construction materials are already in M and are being stored at the building site. Once the construction workers arrive tomorrow, they will begin tearing down the old adobe building and erecting a new brick shop. This will take 7-10 days depending on weather. M men have also offered to take time off of herding to help with building.

You might be wondering why only David returned to the village. The answer is a combination of practicality and the need to keep a low profile. In terms of practicality, finding transportation, food and lodging is much easier for one of us rather than the three of us. We did not want to burden Elvis's family since this visit would be much longer than the last one. Also, the summer pasture is a 45-minute motorcycle ride from the building site, and it would be difficult for all three of us to commute.

Because of the attention we drew last time we were in X county town, Mama S and T Fishy both advised that Pentok and our project would be safer if only one of us returned to M. We are much less conspicuous in Xining where there are many foreign teachers, students, and missionaries. We were disappointed when we realized two of us would have to stay behind, but decided that David should be the one to go back. As a male he will be safer traveling in the village, and since he can speak Chinese, he blends in with the locals much better than Jesse.

For the rest of our time in Xining, we will organize logistics for the project. We will buy a solar panel and tools for the shop, and with the help of the mechanic we will order enough motorcycle parts to start the shop. We will arrange for these to be in Xinghai county town when David and Elvis need them. We are also continuing to edit proposals and redesign the Pentok website. We have been working on various themes and layouts with our friend Scot from One Earth Designs, who was a computer science major at MIT.

We hope to have the project completed by August 10th and to leave Xining by August 15th. This will give us two more weeks in China before we are scheduled to return to the States. We hope to use this time for traveling, visiting Sara’s family in Beijing, and working on our final project report. However, our schedule was recently complicated by some good news. We (Sara and Jesse) will be starting work in Portland on September 1st, as part of a business research startup. It is an exciting opportunity, but we will miss David while he attends the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for graduate studies in international affairs. We have vowed to have weekly Skype conversations, even though he doesn’t know that yet!

MONKS, MONASTERIES & MENTORS

On July 14th we visited Xining’s well-known Daoist Temple, Bei Shan Si. Like most temples in the area, it has burnt down and been rebuilt several times during its history. As a result, it is difficult to know how much of the current structure is original. Regardless, located in the hills surrounding Xining, the temple has an unparalleled view of the city and features beautiful artwork and architecture. Spending our afternoon hiking the peaceful trails of the temple was a much needed break from the crowded and busy streets of Xining.

Bei Shan Si overlooking Xining

On July 18th we took a longer overnight trip to Repkong, a town about 200km southeast of Xining and famous for its highly skilled painters and craftsmen. Repkong artists are especially famous for their Thangka artwork, which is highly sought after by Buddhists and art afficionados from around the world. A Thangka is usually painted or embroidered, and typically depicts one or many Buddhist deities in incredible detail.

This monk has been painting Thangkas since he was 9 years old.

We arrived in Repkong in the early afternoon after being delayed by freeways closed for the annual Tour of Qinghai Lake cycling race. This major event attracts some of the top international cyclists each year, despite being held during the Tour de France. Needless to say, we were eager to explore Repkong after spending three hours sitting on the side of a freeway, and we went straight to Long Wu Monastery near the center of town. There we ran into Andy, an ETP student who we met several weeks before in Xining. Together we explored the monastery, and were forunate enough to have great weather while we surveyed fantastic buildings and watched a monk debate.

Sara, Jesse, David and Andy outside of Long Wu Monastery

A philosophical debate about Buddhist scripture. Monks pair up, with one partner playing devil’s advocate (standing) and posing questions to test the faith and knowledge of the other (sitting). Monks usually pair with partners their own age, and content of their debate varies depending on their age. The debates are a daily occurrence in big monasteries, so monks are encouraged to cultivate a healthy balance between faith and reason.

On our second day in Repkong we visited one of the nearby villages where many artists live. Upon our arrival, one of the monks gave us a tour of the local monastery. He told us that the artists, who are known to be quite devout, donate much of their income towards maintaining and refurbishing local monasteries. They also use their skills to create elaborate Thangkas for the shrines. Thankga painting is a lucrative career, with each piece generating anywhere between 500 and 100,000 RMB ($80-$15,000), so the monasteries are very well-kept. From the monk we also learned that Repkong is linguistically diverse, with influences from several minority groups. As a result, villagers communicate in a unique hybrid form of Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese, and our guide even spoke some English. After our tour of the monastery we walked through the village stopping at the homes of various Thangka painters. They happily welcomed us into their (very elaborate) homes, and showed their work. We learned that there are certain guidelines Thangka painters must follow. Specific deities have their own color schemes, poses, and attire. The surrounding designs and details are determined by the individual artist, making Thangka painting a balance between creativity and adherence to traditional structure.

This Thangka took around six months to create, and will sell for 30,000-40,000 RMB ($4,500-$6,000).

When we returned to Xining we visited Kumbum Monastery, one of the four most important monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism. It’s also the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Yellow Hat Sect. We were impressed by its size and diverse architecture, but unfortunately, it was crowded by the waves of tourists.

We weren’t the only ones traveling during the peak tourist season. Keith Dede, Qinghai expert and head of the Chinese department at LC, was here for a conference. For almost twenty years (almost as long as we’ve been alive!) he has been researching the local dialect. We were excited to talk to with him about Qinghai culture and history. Xining is a melting pot of many minority groups, and in our time here we have perceived subtle tensions between these groups. Over several dinners with Keith, we learned that despite its diverse population, Xining’s residents have lived in relatively peaceful coexistence throughout most of the city’s history. It was enjoyable, especially for Sara and David who got to know Keith at LC, to spend time with him in such a different setting. Keith has been one of our biggest advocates throughout all stages of this project. He was eager to hear about what we have done so far, and he helped us refocus and plan the next stages of our work. Thanks Keith!

Sara’s mom Annie also paid us a visit, and her timing couldn’t have been better. With David gone, we were beginning to get restless and burnt-out from working on the Pentok website. It was great to take Annie to some of our favorite restaurants, and to have her expert opinion while souvenir shopping. She also gave us lots of helpful advice and encouragement about our project. We can’t wait to see her again in Beijing!

Finally, we spent some time with a cool group of high-schoolers traveling through China with a program called Where There Be Dragons. They started in Kashgar, in the far northwest of China, and are working their way back towards Beijing. While in Xining the Pentok staff (and their three foreign assistants) gave the group a presentation about Tibetan culture and etiquette. All of them were engaged and excited, and it was really fun to spend a few hours with such a different crowd.

Stay tuned for a project update.

Stupas at a village monastery outside of Repkong, each representing a great achievement of the Buddha.

Back in Xining

It’s now July 7th and we returned to Xining from X county town a week ago. T Fishy stayed to introduce the trainees to the mechanic and to buy construction materials for the shop. While we had hoped to be involved in this process, practical issues got in the way. Our presence in X county town, a small town that rarely sees foreigners, attracted considerable police interest. We collectively decided that it would be in the best interest of our project and Pentok for us to return to Xining where we would be less conspicuous. T Fishy returned yesterday, and while training is underway, construction is delayed due to rain.

We plan to return to the village as soon as the training is completed, but for now we are helping Mama S and Pentok with other projects. We have been drafting and editing proposals, writing web content, and communicating with donors. We are hoping to learn more about fundraising, web design, and grant writing in the next few weeks.

We are also getting to know other foreigners who are here doing research and nonprofit work. On Monday we to our friend Catlin’s apartment for the unveiling of a new solar cooker prototype created by One Earth Designs, a small environmental and health NGO based in Boston and run by young people like us. Our group of American and T students gave constructive feedback on the new prototype, which is designed as a cheaper and more portable alternative to the concrete solar cookers currently used in many villages. We were surprised to meet three Reed students at such a small gathering. Reed is one of several American colleges that has a long-standing relationship with the English Training Program (ETP) at Qinghai Normal University. ETP is not technically affiliated with the university, but offers English and development classes to approximately 40 T students each year.

Burgers and pizza to celebrate Independence Day

The Offering

On June 26^th, we were fortunate enough to attend an offering ceremony, which occurs once every lunar month. The men of the village gather around a tower of prayer flags built on top of a grassy hill (as guests, Sara and T Fishy were also allowed to attend). Everyone brings some sort of gift, such as grain, cloth, or food, which is then burned as an offering to the mountain gods. The offering ceremony also serves as an occasion to discuss village issues, so it was an ideal time for us to begin talking with villagers about our project.

Elvis’s cousins

Amidst a crowd of curious and engaged men, we met with village leaders, Elvis's father, and Chozan. Chozan previously trained with a Chinese mechanic, where he gained motorcycle knowledge, so he was the ideal candidate to run our shop. We discussed tools, parts, common mechanical problems that occur in the mountains, and potential obstacles to the success of the shop. We also learned that every household owns at least one motorcycle. With 300 motorcycles now in the village, bikes have replaced horses as the standard mode of transportation. While we didn’t hammer out all the logistical issues, we were pleased to finally meet Chozan, as well as so many other helpful and excited people.

Discussing the motorcycle shop with men from the village

The next major step in implementing our project was to decide on a building site. We went with Elvis's father to the center of the village, where he owns one of the ten or so brick and adobe buildings that stand there. Since land is at a premium in the village center, and since Elvis's father was willing to lease the building for free, we felt that we had found a good location. Our options were either to renovate the old building that Elvis's father owns, or to tear it down and build a completely new shop. Elvis's father recommended building a new brick and cement shop because the current adobe structure was unstable and leaky. We took measurements using a coil of rope borrowed from an onlooker in order to estimate the amount of materials we would need. The measurements and pictures we took would later be given to a skilled worker from T Fishy's village, who would use them to buy supplies. With introductions done and a construction site in mind, we moved on to management and training issues.

Bright and early the next morning, the four of us woke up to find a respected village monk sipping tea and chatting away with Elvis's father in the other room. Embarrassed to keep him waiting since he had come here to meet us, we hurriedly pulled on clothes and scarfed down our tsamba. Soon after the meeting began, it became apparent that the monk’s vision of the shop differed significantly from ours. The monk hoped that the shop would benefit the village by providing parts at an equal or cheaper rate than available in X county town. Unfortunately this plan required us to pay yearly salaries to the mechanics, since they obviously would not be making much money. While we understood his wishes, we hoped to establish a shop that could be self-sustaining. We hope that its location would still make the shop a cheaper alternative, even if its services were not so discounted. Right now, if a motorcycle breaks in the village it must be towed to the nearest repair shop. This trip is time-consuming and expensive. Eventually the monk and Elvis's father agreed that a profitable and self-sustaining shop would be better. This would ensure that the mechanics would both work hard and not seek other sources of income.

Our second difficulty arose during discussions about training. The monk hoped to have the training completed in the village, but we wanted the shop mechanics to train in X county town where they would gain more hands-on experience fixing bikes on a daily basis. While the monk agreed with this in principle, the summer is an especially busy time since most villagers are herding or digging caterpillar fungus. At this point we also had not discussed this with the future mechanics, and all of us agreed that the decision was largely theirs. We realized that further discussion was impossible without Chozan present.

Three hours later, we learned from Chozan that because of family commitments he was unable to give up herding to run the shop. We all felt a little deflated. Luckily Elvis's father came to the rescue. Over the course of the afternoon he searched throughout the village for replacements. This was tough because we had all agreed on a strict set of criteria for potential mechanics:

1-Young

2-From a large family (so they would have fewer obligations towards herding)

3-Doesn’t drink, fight, gamble, or smoke.

4-Literate

5-Interested in running a shop!

At the end of the day Elvis's father returned triumphantly with Zhou La (age 26) and La Jie (age 21). Both are from respected families in the village, and fulfilled most of our criteria. Most importantly, they were enthusiastic about running the shop and grateful for the opportunity to train in Xinghai. We quickly arranged the terms of their training:

1-Training in Xinghai lasts for 30 days.

2-Living and food stipend (850 RMB/$120 each) will not be spent on alcohol, cigarettes or gambling (T Fishy was adamant about this, and the men nodded obediently).

3-Upon successful completion of training, approved by the T mechanic we selected, each will receive 500 RMB.

They agreed readily to these terms. We also discussed the possibility of donating a percentage of the shop’s profits to fund scholarships for girls in the village. Pentok has already established this project, and has sent several girls to school. We hope that this is another way the shop can benefit the community. All present were supportive of the idea.

In the end we were surprised that our most important meetings of the trip took less than two days. We settled on a building site, decided on construction materials, found interested trainees, and determined the terms of the training program. Elvis's family was getting ready to move to their summer pastures, so it was time for us to return to X county town.