(Due to recent Internet connectivity issues in China, this blog entry was posted on Annaliese De Vita's behalf.)
Hi from my host family’s porch! Although it is October the Kunming weather enables me to take full advantage of this beautiful city. As I wrote in my first post SIT’s programs have a strong research component. However, this is mostly involved in the last month of study, culminating in an independent study project. However, we have many smaller research projects to be done in preparation for our field work. I find this to be extremely helpful because I have never conducted interviews in Chinese, so getting some practice in is for sure needed.
Our first interview is with anyone we would like, about how the changes in China are demonstrated in their own life. We are to conduct an interview then choose a certain part of their life to write a small report on how their life emulates the larger general changes in China. The first problem for me is always fulling understanding what people mean by their answers. It is hard to fully understand a deeper meaning when you are struggling to understand the general idea of the answer they gave. Further, it is sometimes difficult to culturally understand what is inappropriate to ask. Although, language and culture classes have aided in this process immensely.
This is a hard first step to the field work process. Living in a second language is exhausting, doing new things can be frightening, and getting discouraged at signs of failure is inevitable. However, what I have learned, is trying means a lot. Step one is always to take a deep breath, and remember everyone struggles sometimes. Then, try again, differently. Everyone I have talked to, or have tried talking to me, is very patient with my seemingly endless amount of clarifiers. People have been understanding that the language is difficult, and do their best to help me. My language also improves quite quickly because of their efforts. I have learned you have teachers everywhere, if you are willing to try, fail, and try again.
This is all in preparation for my volunteer work with Tibetan Medicine and also shadowing a Lama in LiJiang. I am nervous because this presents other challenges, including people’s health, and a secondary language barrier because I have not been learning Tibetan. However, my experiences in conducting interviews thus far have given me more confidence in my ability to figure it out along the way with help from the locals.