Yangtze River Headwaters Volunteering Day 2 长江源志愿工作第2天

This is a series of journals recording my days in the Yangtze River Headwaters volunteering project. I will try to update every day but there might be delays in the days I work in the wild without the internet. I’m also trying to write bilingual if time allows. Like it? Follow my Instagram (@anar.chica.yichenguo) for updates!
这是我参与长江源志愿工作的一系列记录。我争取每日更新，但在野外工作没有网络的那些日子会有延迟。在时间允许的情况下，也会尽量使用中英双语。喜欢的话，关注我的Ins账号(@anar.chica.yichenguo)获取更新吧！

I woke up at half-past seven and made my bed as required by the organization. This is really good training for me who usually don’t remember to do that at home. But the more important thing is that working here is a great opportunity to practice minimalism. Since the temperature varies greatly on the plateau, I have to bring clothes for all seasons, and plus a thick sleeping bag for working in the wild. Therefore there wasn’t much room left in my baggage for other things. Everything I brought here are carefully picked necessities. One thing important in a minimal lifestyle is ‘less is more’. When everything redundant is removed, every remaining has to be delicate. For example, making my bed now can be Zen.

In the morning as requested by Tudan, some volunteers and staff set off to the mountain more than 5000 meters above sea level to install a camera and the solar panels that provide electricity to facilitate that camera. It is really hard labor to climb mountains at such high altitudes with heavy panels. But our WeChat working group is full of joy and amazing pictures they took standing at the height. What a bunch of cool guys!

Except for the short while that I read in the glass sunroom, I spent most of my day today in the post office. During the day it is quite busy. There are people coming to pick up their packages or send new posts, and sometimes tourists come inside to visit as well. It is also one of the volunteer’s responsibilities to be on duty in the post office. Whenever someone gets the package, our volunteer would always remind that ‘to protect the environment, please dispose trash properly!’ There are some souvenirs being sold in the post office to support the conservation center, for example, T-shirts of ‘protecting bar-headed goose’, bags with patterns of white-lipped deer or Tibetan antelope. A group of tourists from Jiangxi bought many T-shirts at once, wishing to support our work. One of the women handed out a hundred RMB bill. Our volunteer thought she has eyed on the bag hanging on the wall, but the good woman says, ’No, I don’t want anything. I just want to give you some money to improve your meals.’ We are all touched.

The only sad thing today is that one of the fellow volunteers came together with me is sent back to Golmud. Since it’s his first time on a plateau, his body can’t adjust well and he has given himself too many negative thoughts, therefore his high altitude sickness never gets better. I heard there were two volunteers went back due to the same reason in the program before us. I think I’m really lucky for that. Captain Duoduo and volunteer Xiao Cai brought banners and speakers with them when they drove him to the train station, so they can propagate ’no trash on the ground, more beautiful plateau’ to all the passengers getting off at Tuotuo River station. Since they do this very often, once the station staff sees them, they know exactly what they are up to. I heard there’s a tourist from Xining who listened carefully to the whole little lecture from Duoduo today. This gives me hope that the popularisation of environmental protection is possible. 

I watched training videos and documentaries about Yangtze River Headwaters for the whole afternoon. The little female cat Mo Jiecao then slept on my legs for a whole afternoon. Finally, let me conclude my current life with what Mr. Yang Xin’s friend says to him in the video:

You have blue sky above your head every day,
breathing the cleanest air,
doing your favorite thing,
and it’s best for society.
You’re the happiest one in the world.

七点半醒来，按照组织要求收拾床铺。这对于我这个在家通常想不起来叠被的人来说是一个挺好的训练。但更重要的是，来到这里工作是实践极简生活的大好时机。首先因为高原温差大，一年四季的衣服都得带着，为了野外项目还带了厚厚的睡袋。那么行李箱剩下的空间就很少了，所带物品都是经过精挑细选的必要品。极简生活中很重要的一点，就是少而精。生活去除冗余，留下的每一件事都要做到精致。比如叠被子，也成了一件充满禅意的事情。

上午应吐旦站长要求，几名志愿者和工作人员开拔至海拔五千多米的山上安装监控摄像机以及为其供电的太阳能板。背着重重的板子在这么高的海拔爬山，真的是体力活。微信工作群里却充满了欢乐以及他们在高处拍摄的美景。真是一群很酷的家伙！

我今天除了一早起来在阳光房看了会儿书，大部分时间都在邮局里。白天的邮局还是比较繁忙的，拿快递的、寄件的人络绎不绝，还时不时会有游客进来参观。在邮局值班，也是志愿工作的一部分。每当有人拿走快递时，志愿者都不忘叮嘱一句：“保护环境，垃圾别乱扔哦！”邮局里有一些义卖的纪念品，比如守护斑头雁的T恤、印有白唇鹿或者藏羚羊图案的单肩包等等。一群来自江西的游客想要支持保护站的工作，一口气采购了好多件T恤，其中的一位阿姨给了一百块钱，志愿者以为阿姨是看中了墙上挂着的包包，谁知阿姨说：“我不要包包，我就是想给你们点钱改善伙食。”全站感动。

今天唯一一件有点小伤感的事，就是一起来的小伙伴中的一个被送回格尔木了。因为是第一次上高原，身体不适应，又给了自己太多负面的心理暗示，以至于高反一直没有好转。听说上一期有两个志愿者因为高反回去。我觉得自己还是挺幸运的。多多队长和志愿者小蔡送他去火车站的时候带了宣传牌和话筒，在站里号召所有到达沱沱河的旅客“垃圾不落地，青藏更美丽”。因为经常在火车站进行宣传活动，站里的工作人员看到他们便知道来意。听说有西宁的旅客很认真地听完了多多的小讲座，这让我觉得，环保的普及，还是有希望的。

我看了一下午的培训视频和长江源相关的纪录片，小母猫漠节操就在我的腿上睡了一下午。最后让我用视频里杨欣老师的朋友对杨欣老师说的话感慨下现在的生活：

你每天头顶着蓝天,
呼吸着最好的空气，
干你最喜欢干的事，
而且对社会最有益，
你是最幸福的人。