Kunming according to Mara

How does my partner describe Kunming?
warm: Kunming is like spring. There is no severe cold in the winter and no extreme warmth in the summer.

flower :

In Kunming are many flowers, for example cherry blossoms.

birds :

Seagulls spend the winter in Kunming.

food :

The food in Kunming is very delicious, for example the Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles.

minority :

There are 56 minorities in China, 26 are in the Yunnan province.

School life in Kunming
In Kunming there are approximately 50 students in each class, but the number of students in one class is different from school to school. The students have 14 course subjects, for example chemistry, physics and math, some of them only for a couple years. Their school day starts at 7:45 a.m and ends at 5:15 p.m, sometimes at 6:15 if the teacher decides to. During school the students have an one hour break. Usually the stundents take 2-3 hours to finish their homework, that's why they go to bed around 11:30 to 12:00 a.m. After finishing highschool there is an exam which decides which university they go to. An exception are the stundents with very good grades, they can go to an university without taking the exam. However, the stundents who didn't get into the senior highschool because of their bad grades can go to a professional school for 2-3 years and then go to work or to an university.

Tips for a student from Goslar exchanging in Kunming:


 * 1) The school days are longer and very stressful, therefore you always need to follow the teacher.
 * 2) Because of the long school days you don't have much freetime, so I suggest to have a good time schedule.
 * 3) The weather in Kunming is much warmer which leads to a more comfortable enviroment, that's why it's good to bring summer clothes.
 * 4) In Kunming, credit cards and cash are not preferred to use, mobile payment is more common.

A one-day excursion
The day begings with the students from Goslar taking the bus, subway or bikes to the Green Lake Park. In the park they can see many birds, for example, seagulls, but they can also go boating and enjoy the nature. After that, in the afternoon, the studens can either rest because it's really warm outside, or ride bikes to the Yunnan University. The Yunnan University is so interesting and beautiful, people even take pictures there when they get married. In the evening, at 5-6p.m, the students watch the sunset from the Western Mountain. If they reach the top of the mountain in the Western Mountain Park, the students can enjoy the view of a beautiful lake. To finish the one-day excursion, the students take the subway line 2 to have dinner, but also to go shopping.

How to make the one-day excursion greener?

 * 1) The students bring a reusable water bottle made out, for example, hard plastic, instead of buying many plastic bottles.
 * 2) They shouldn't feel free to pick any flowers.
 * 3) If the stundents see people throwing litter, they should advice them that the enviroment is important.

Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles
Ingredients: rice noodles, chicken soup, meat (pork or mutton), green vegetables, seasonings/other vegetables (garlic, onion and ginger)

Step 1 : Prepare the chicken soup

Step 2 : When the soup starts to boil, start slicing the meat. Step 3: Add the vegetables, the rice noodles and the other ingredients and seasonings.

Step 4 : Enjoy your Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles!

The meal can be seasoned with whatever you like. It tastes very fresh and it's colorful. But remember to pay attention while eating, it's very hot!

I think, the Rice-Noodles wouldn't be very popular in my city, people often don't like to try new things, they rather stick to eating the meals they're used to.

The Spring Festival
The Spring Festival is usually in february, sometimes in january. It is the symbol of the beggining of the new Chinese year. The evening before the festival, the familiy gets together and has dinner, play games and stays up very late watching the TV-show until midnight. The next days, the family stays together and eats the much food that was cooked.

On the 15th day of the festival, there is the „Latern Festival“, also called „Small Spring Festival“ by the elders. Some people send laterns to eachother: they describe something and the other one‘s have to guess it. There are also many festivals for different minorities. My partner, Jessy, enjoys it very much because of the winter break which she spends on the country.