Victory!

I did indeed move on to Liuku today (one day late, as I had to get thesis proposal stuff squared away.) And the internet cafe at which I am now seated does not seem to have the issues the one in Lanping had. Which means: voila! I can blog now!

I don't have the time or energy to write a long entry now (it's been a long day), but suffice it to say that I got off the bus today in Liuku and immediately made two friends, not even of my own volition. Later this evening I went to a Chinese college/university where I read English aloud to much oohs and ahhs, saw a Chinese dormitory, and was serenaded with Nu and Lisu welcoming songs (by some pretty shuai ("handsome") Chinese boys, I might add.) Also I met a Dulong girl, which is cool only in my anthropologically dorky mind (I read a book about the Dulong people before I came here... there's only about 5000 of them in China and I thought they all lived in the next valley over, one of the most remote places in all of China. But I guess not.)

So here I am, cautiously hopeful. Expect long updates in the next few days