Kunming according to Pauline

## How does my partner describe Kunming?

*clouds*

In comparison to the bigger cities in China, Kunming is free of smog in the air and you can see pretty, white clouds when you look at the sky.

*warm*

Kunming is also called "Spring City", because it feels like spring all year long. The always mild temperatures cause a lasting spring-like feeling, even in the winter.

*strange*

Yihan describes Kunming as weird, because the cars are faster than the trains. Since Kunming has a lot of mountainy regions it's hard to build rails for the trains and the people prefer going by car as the roads are better and easier to access.

There's also a few sayings, saying that Kunming is a strange city.

*colorful*

Kunming is a very colorful city. There are lots of colorful flowers, the people wear colorful clothing and the various cultures create a "colorful" environment.

*tasty*

Unlike Germany, which only really offers two different types of mushrooms, Kunming has a wide variety of different mushrooms. You can eat most of them and they add to the tasty flavour of Kunming.

There's also a chinese dish called rice noodles, which my partner describes as very tasty.

## School Life

***Students in one class***

There are about 45 - 55 students in one class. Yihan's class has 53 students.

***Course Subjects***

There are 13 different classes Chinese students have to take. The course subjects are: Chinese, math, English, physics, biology, geography, music, art, politics, history, PE, information technology and chemistry.

***A typical school day***

The typical day starts at 7:20 a.m. and ends at 5:15 p.m.

There are 9 classes in one day and every class is about 45 minutes long.

The day starts by the students handing in their homework from 7:20 - 7:35. The day continues with classes and short 10 minute breaks after every class, until the students have a 20 minute break between the secod and third class. In the break the students often do eye exercise or morning exercise outside to help them focus better for the rest of the day. From 12 to 1 the students get to take a lunch break and eat something, only to have a nap fo 45 minutes after. Most students don't use nap time to nap though, it's a good opportunity to already work on your homework so you have more free time after school ends.

If there's a special exam coming up, the school days sometimes last until 6 p.m., so the students can prepare better and get better grades.

***Homework***

Homework usually takes my partner an extra 1 or 2 hours after school, but you can already do some of it in school,

***Options after graduation***

If you want to go to college, you have to pass an important entrance exam with good grades first. If you fail you have to wait for a year before taking the exam again.

If you don't want to go to college, you can just start working without further education or you could study abroad.

### *Three tips for a student from Göttingen exchanging to Kunming*

1. Never procrastinate on your homework. You'll have to spend a lot more time on school than you would in Germany, so always do your tasks right away or even do them in the breaks while you're still at school.
2. Plan ahead. Since you'll spend so much time with school, plan how you want to spend your days and always stick to that schedule. It'l be hard to find time for yourself otherwise.
3. Make sure to eat and sleep enough. The long days at school take much energy, especially if you're not used to it, so make sure you eat well and never skip meals. It's also important to sleep enough, so you can pay attention and focus well in every class.

## An excursion to Kunming

***First activity: Green Lake***

Our excursion in Kunming starts in the center of Kunming, the Green Lake. We'll meet at 8 a.m and take a walk around green lake to look at the beautiful scenery and the different shops.

***Second activity: Luhan's House***

From 9 to 11 a.m. we'll spend our time at Luhan's House. It's a history museum and belonged to one of Kunming's leaders. It's an old house in a gothic style and we can learn important things about Kunming's past and history.

***Third activity: Lunch***

After our trip to Luhan's House, we'll have lunch in a nearby restaurant around 11 am. My partner recommends the crossing the bridge rice noodles, which are very popular in Kunming. It won't take long to get there, so we'll have a short walk and enjoy our lunch after.

***Fourth activity: Colorful World***

The rest of the day will be spend in a amusement park near Dian Lake. After driving there by car, we'll have a lot of fun with the different attractions or look at Western Mountain, which is also close to the park. After learning so many interesting things about Kunming we can have some time to lean back and do other fun things, until we go back home around 7 p.m.

As my partner worded it: "the morning is for learning, the afternoon is for having fun."

### *How to make the one-day excursion greener?*

1. If you have any trash, take it with you and get rid of it the proper way so you don't just leave it laying on the floor. You should also tell the people around you to not litter.
2. Try to avoid fast-food as much as possible, especially in the amusement park. Eat lunch and dinner in local restaurants.
3. Bring your own snacks and drinks. To avoid unnecesarry trash you can make snacks for yourself at home and bring a reusable bottle.

## Food

### *Crossing-the-bridge noodles*

***Ingredients:*** hot chicken soup, rice noodles, vegetables, meat

***Colour:*** chicken soup is yellow, rice noodles are white and the different vegetables add lots of other colors.

***Taste:*** a little sweet, depending on what you add

***How to cook crossing-the bridge noodles:***

*Step 1:* Cook a hot chicken soup. You can add pepper or mushrooms to your liking.

*Step 2:* Prepare the vegetables you want to add to your soup, for example lettuce or tomatoes.

*Step 3:* Prepare raw pork or meat. If you like you can also add squid.

*Step 4:* Add quail eggs and thin sheets of bean curd.

*Step 5:* Add the chicken or pork slices.

*Step 6:* Add the vegetables, meat and eggs to the hot chicken soup.

*Step 7:* Add rice noodles to the soup.

*Step 8:* Enjoy your food!

### *Will crossing-the-bridge noodles be popular in Germany?*

I feel like the food will be quite popular, since German people love to try food from different countries. The food may be a bit to spicy for German taste, but since you can adjust the flavour and add whatever you would like to eat it could be a big hit in Germany.

## Festivals in Kunming

### *Mid-Autumn Festival*

When: On the 15th day od the 8th month in the Chinese lunar calender

On the Mid-Autumn Festival people in Kunming have a day off and can relax. You spend the day by eating mooncakes or chestnuts and admire the moon with a telescope at night.

The admiration of the moon is based on the legend of Hou Yi and Chang'e. Hou Yi lost his wife because she drank the immorality elixir he had gotten to save it from a thief. Chang'e ascended to the moon and Hou Yi started to admire the moon and prepared a feast every year on this in hopes of seeing his wife's shadow.

Some people also use the Mid-Autumn Festival as an opportunity to have a big family reunion and eat lunch or dinner with their families.

At the evening, there are lantern shows in the city. The people let lanterns with traditional chinese poems fly into the sky.