Haha I heard there was going to be press, and I didn't want to look washed out all over the internet, so I specifically went and purchased some fancy eyelashes for the occasion. I bought some slightly subtler looking ones to look all demure and proper for the Brits, haha but I couldn't stand it and ended up adding on a second layer of huge lashes. I mean, he's a prince after all, so I gotta look my fanciest.
I was aiming for a selfie with him, but that didn't happen :( I was so sad. Stupid security guards.
They wouldn't allow any pictures, but they didn't take away people's cameras during the security check, so OBVIOUSLY everyone had their phones out the moment he walked in hahaha.
I didn't get any pictures myself, but my mom has been combing the internet collecting them. It's too bad my face isn't on the back of my head in these, eh? Haha I'm sure a good face one will turn up eventually -- there were SO MANY cameras pointed at us.
Funnily enough, this has actually really helped improve my relationship with the local Dai communities. I was a little self-conscious about being an outsider wearing a Dai dress for Prince William’s visit, especially since everyone kept thinking I was a local Dai girl, but I was hoping that I was mostly exonerated of cultural appropriation since every bit of my outfit was a gift from local community members and they were very excited to see me wearing it on TV.
Yi Kang, my Dai field assistant, told me that the local Dai community has been talking about me all day. Some thought that I must a Dai tour guide from XTBG, and those who met me already were quick to say, “No, her name is Lily! She is an Canadian/American working here with Yi Kang, etc etc.” Then others would chime in to say that they recognized me attending the recent village wedding, etc.
I also got to bring Yi Kang to the fancy dinner at the 5-star hotel, and she was so excited and told everyone about it. It was so cute! This is us at the pool (before I took off my clothes and jumped in completely).
I'm really pleasantly surprised by the
positive PR effect this has had for me, especially since I've been really
stressed out this week because I'm facing my first bit of community resistance
to my research at my next study village.
The big problem for me is that new Holy
Hill protector for this village won't let me do my plant surveys. I've been
visiting this community since 2011 and I'm good friends with a few of the
residents, and I've done Holy Hill plant surveys here previously in 2011 and
2013 with no problem. But the previous Holy Hill protector who let me do
everything passed away a few weeks ago (may he rest in peace), and the new one
is not as flexible. He's worried that having me in the Holy Hill will anger the
gods that live there so that the gods will punish the village. He found some
string from previous plant plots (likely mine...) and said that he threw it
out. He said that removing the string helped restore some good fortune to the
village. He said that if anything bad happens to a villager during my field
surveys and the gods get angry, the gods will punish the villagers and then the
community will hold the Holy Hill protector responsible.
He also said that according to reason,
women should not be allowed to enter Holy Hills, but society being what it is
now, he will ask the village head if I can enter as long as I’m not
menstruating at that time (according to Buddhist beliefs). Sigh...
I decided that I wasn’t going to get any
further that day, so I said thank you for his time, and that I understood and
respected the enormous responsibility that he has for protecting his
community. I also gave him a present I brought from Canada. He
seemed pleased and sent me home with a bunch of bananas as a gift, which I
think is a good sign for a budding rapport.
In the meantime, I'm going to move on a
start my plant surveys at my next Holy Hill site. I'll be back to this
community and trying to work on my relationship with the local leaders (which
is still rough sometimes when I'm a young girl in a patriarchal society). And
who knows? Maybe after a few months of getting to know me, things might change
later on. I can only hope! Besides, as my wonderful committee members have told
me in response to my panicking emails, this might actually be a really great
opportunity to gain some important insight on local community politics and how
these interact with outside forces.
On the bright side, leaving some of my
plant surveys for later is a welcome break too. Managing a field
team is really hard! It's quite an adjustment dealing with the Chinese way of
scheduling, because it's literally impossible to plan in advance. Plans are
typically not confirmed until the night before, and even then they might change
in the morning if there is rain or something else comes up, etc. And this is
quite something to deal with on the fly when who and how many people can come
completely changes what kind and how much data can be collected that day, which
of course also changes what equipment to bring and how much food to provide,
etc. Plus many of my field assistants are borrowed from other labs, so they can
be called away at a moment's notice if their boss needs them. Right now I've
got a rotating roster of main field assistants, plus secondary field assistants
I call if I'm missing someone. But it's hard and time-consuming to train people
over and over again, so I try to stick to the same people if I can.
In any case, I'm really excited for the
chance to really focus on my ethnographic work -- which I started when I first
got here, but have been neglecting a bit lately for my plant surveys. I was
also learning Dai language, which is a blast, but I need to keep practicing to
improve! Haha and mainly I think it will be wonderful because I'll only need to
think about one person's schedule at that point (the beautiful and wonderful Yi Kang), and her main priority is accompanying me.
Ok, that’s it for now! Sorry for the long delay again. I’m off to a
hot springs tomorrow to celebrate International Women’s Day! It’s a pretty big
deal in Dai communities, which I think is so awesome. The village committees
organize a performance, and most women just got out on fun trips or go out
shopping, or whatever else is fun and relaxing :)
