Two full days of translation with Yang and it was done at midnight Wednesday, just in time for my bus to leave at noon on Thursday. I felt extremely lucky it was done though not without ample anxiety. Guessing people’s intention is the hardest thing, even though I finally believe he truly wanted to help,…

Saturday night, Kang introduced his friend, Yang to be my translator. What a savior! That’s one thing I worry the most about. I can’t go home without having all 30 hours of footage translated. Sunday morning’s planned trip to Ah-Che’s sister’s home didn’t yield anything. The son wasn’t home and I had to come back…

Saturday the 3nd of April. Light drizzle. Felt a bit anxcious because the translation is taking a lot more time than I thought. Texted Kang early in the morning for help. He’s been very busy as well. The wife was preparing to go down the field, leaving the three little ones home with Ah-Che. They…

Two days of heavy rain; and then the return of the blue sky. It was pouring Tuesday morning. I hesitated to go up but did so eventually. Ah-che wasn’t home unfortunately, he went down to have his handicap certificate done, physical exam, pictures, and all that. His left shoulder was broken a few years back…

It has been raining for two days now. I spent the whole day Saturday transcribing and contemplated on how to present the materials. It turned out to be quite a self-searching process, searching for my own intention, my own path. My thoughts swing back and forth like a pendulum between the ideas of tradition and…

Finally rained, but mostly sun shower. I went up early to film the storytelling and had some interview questions written down. Ah-Che was working at his workshop. He looked a bit spaced today, maybe from the tiring trip up the mountain village. I waited for the sister’s husband to come with the kids and the…

A colleague of Prof. Romero at CU introduced me to a music professor here at Kunming, who in turn pointed me to a retired local official with a lot of experience in Lisu culture. The contact came in handy as I’m just about to start the interviewing process, even though he won’t be available for…

Drizzled a bit in the morning. Nice mists half way up the mountain. When I showed up at Ah-Che’s house, the TV man made an unexpected (at least to me) visit. Yes, a TV man. He tuned the satellite dish while the little ones watched from upstair. A bamboo house and TV don’t seem to…

Loud music from a wedding down the street kept me up way past midnight. Woke up to another bright sunny day. The taxi mini-van I got on must have violated some rules, the traffic police beeped and horned at the poor driver, eventually got ahold of his license. He was let go evenutally, but without…

It rained a little bit last night. If I didn’t stay up almost all night, I would’ve never known. I contemplated the idea that real art has no purpose, no function, but a rapture to take one into a space, a void between thoughts. The whole debate about what purpose came up again and I…

It was another corn planting day yesterday, this time at a terraced field by the river. The mountains here are always shrouded in mist, one could never tell if that was fog or smoke from all the houses high up there. The crew with three little kids pasted themselves into that background. The little girl…

Got lots of information from the Lemo elder, who actually prefers to call themselves the Banis, even though officially they’re part of the Bai ethnic group. For those Banis who still practice traditional religion, they believe everything in nature has spirits. Whether that belief comes from fear because of lack of science or conscious judgement…

Feeling much better after a massive infusion of liquid, a whole watermelon, countless number of oranges, cups of water with a little bit of cold med. Later in the morning, I headed to the village. For those Christians in that village, no work of any kind on Sunday. The whole day is occupied with church…

I felt tired waking up, thirsty and a little bit of sore throat. Must have gotten too much sun the day before and not enough water. The bridge going to the village, a steal hanging bridge was wet as always. The morning mist still hanged by the mountain side so I stopped for a little…

Cool and sunny, the air was crisp after a windy night. The sister’s family was not there yet when I showed up in the morning. The musician was playing with a crossbow in the yard, a newer one he just made needed more tuning. He walked me up to the fire to have tea and…

After missing a day due to miscommunication between me, Kang, and the musician, yesterday (the 11th of March) I went up the mountain very early in the morning to catch the musician’s family before they head to the field. When I got to his house, he’d already back with a crossbow and a shoulder bag…