Kunming according to Lilien

## ***How does my partner describe Kunming?***

Climate:

The weather is warm all year long- 15 degrees in average. That is one reason why Kunming is called a "Springcity"

Biology:

You can find many endangered animals there, about 50 kinds of fish, plants and over 300 types of birds. One of them would be the seagull, that comes all the way from Sibiria- Russia to rest in Kunming while winter time. Additionally, this year in october there will be the COP 15 where many people come together to talk about the biodiversity and environment.

View:

At Green Lake Park you can find the seagulls with their red beaks which were mentioned earlier.

The Dian Lake is a large and beautiful lake in Kunming which tourists like to visit because of its nice view.

Looking at the Western Mountains from far away you can notice the silhouette a sleeping beauty.

Food:

Very common noodles are rice noodles- which are made out of rice like their name lets guess already- and there are many different ways to use and cook them.

Another typical food for Kunming is the flower cake, a sweet desert made out of roses.

Comfortability:

People in Kunming tend to live "slow" and comfortable. Also, there are many kinds of flowers every season, that is another reason for calling it "Springcity".

Now in April/May you can see beautiful purpe/blue sections of flowers from far away.

## ***School life***

1. There are about 40-55 **people** **in** **one** **class**

2. The main **course** **subjects** are: Chinese, English, math, physics, Others: biology, geography, history, politics, PE, music, art, elective classes

**3. Schedule and activities** 7:00-19:00

one class lasts 40 min- followed by a 10 min break afterwards

There are 5 classes in the morning and 6 in the afternoon

* 07:00| handing in homework, reveal by themselves
* 07:30| reading class
* 08:00| start class
* 10:30| 20 min rest

Mondays: flag raising ceremony

Tuesday/ Thursday: run slowly around the playground

Wednesday/ Friday: doing exercises- for example rope skipping

* 12:10| Lunch time
* 12:40| biology, geography (19th June: academic test)
* 13:30| Nap time
* 14:00-18:45| classes
* 18:45| summary of the day

**4. Homework** takes about 1-2 hours

**5. Options after graduation:**

* keep studying : 1. university

                            2. technical school: train scale\*skills

                            3. study abroad

* find a job:  1. work outside

                      2. join the army

**6. Three tips for a student from Göttingen exchanging to Kunming**

1. Because of the amount of time you spend in school you should always have a good plan for how and on what you want to use your freetime.

2. Don´t procrastinate with doing homework or other tasks

3. The long school days and big classes can be very stressful. Be aware of that and perhaps get enough sleep.

## ***A one-day excursion***

In this section you can read through an one-day excursion Alina has designed.

The day starts early at

8:00. Using the subway you will get to the Western Mountain which you will climb up. On your way to the top you visit the Huating Temple and the Longmen Grottoes where you can see a lot of art work and buddhist culture showcased. Approximatly at

11:00 you reach the 2000m high top from where you can see most parts of Kunming and the lake next to the mountain. Up there you can breath the fresh air and enjoy some sunlight. From all that you will probably be hungry so the next activity will be having lunch. At

12:30 you will be able to taste bridge rice noodles which are a famous symbol of the city. The rice noodles are served in a very hot soup and additionally people usually put lettuce, meet or vegetables in it, using the high temperature to heat them up aswell. Afterwards the

whole afternoon will be spent in Guandu Ancient Town. That is an Area with many streets and interesting small shops. There you can try out the Black-Copper and Silver crafting, which is an tradition in Chinese culture. Taking shared bikes at

19:00 will lead to having a flower feast for dinner, which is a meal made out of flowers because -as we know- Kunming is famous for its flowers. And lastly in the

nighttime you will use dad´s car to get to the biggest flower market for fresh ones where they are also a lot cheaper.

***Suggestions to make it greener:***

In my opinion it is already pretty green planned, since you will walk to some places or use shared bikes. Maybe it is considerable to use a public transportation a second time instead of dad´s car, if there are the right traffic connections.

## ***Food***:

***1.rice noodles***

Ingredients: rice noodles(made of rice but looks like noodles),

chicken soup

choosable: chicken, lettuce, eggs(from a smaller bird, raw - use the hot chicken brew to heat it up),fish, vegetables, carrots, yellow flowers to decorate it, spices, some kind of oil,

Tastes: at first very hot--> wait long time, a little bit sweet,up to what you add: spicy, sour

Color: chicken soup: yellow

how to make it:

1. wash lettuce cut it up
2. cut chicken
3. make chicken boil the chicken soup over 100°(is sometimes cooked the whole night)
4. cook the eggs
5. put the other ingredients in it, one by one
6. put rice noodles in and enyoj:)

***2.Mushrooms***

Mushrooms from the wild are a big thing in Kunming. There are many different colorful kinds and people collect them in dark and wet places, for example from mountains. The best time to find them is while the rain periodt from April-June.

Ways to eat them:

1. Mushroom Hot Pot
2. the type Tricholoma Matsutake can be cooked /baked with butter
3. Eat them raw with soysauce

**!**Some mushrooms in the wild are dangerous and yearly there are a few death because of eating poisonous ones, but people in kunming usually take the risk.

Sometimes you can overcome the poison by heating them up.

Would it be famous in Germany?

Not all Germans are into too spicy food but since you can decide what you want to put into the soup or how you want to prepare the mushrooms, I think both the rice noodle soup as well as the mushrooms would be hyped here in Germany.

## Festivals in China

The second biggest festival Alina celebrates with her family in China is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It first happens on August 15th but it depends on the lunar calender therefore it varies in the date (often between Sep-Oct). Around that event you have a three day holiday and people hang out red lanterns as decoration.

In the evening the complete family gathers together to have a big dinner and eat a mooncake; a special dessert filled with ham and eggs( and also sweet) At night everyone goes outside to watch the moon. You may be asking -why though-? and the answer to that is: because the moon on that day is almost the biggest and brightest. On that day people enjoy each others company, have happy conversations and just share joy. Some might also go to the Mid-Autumn Gala where they either dance or watch a performance.

***Alina´s best memory of it***

While watching the moon, Alina used a telesocpe to get a closer view and her camera to caption that amazing moment.