This morning at about 10:00 a.m., air raid sirens started wailing. I was on campus at Southwest Forestry University, and all around me the Chinese students were carrying on in their normal ways, so I didn't worry too much about it. In the meantime I went to my basic Chinese speaking class on the 6th floor of my Classroom Building A--known on campus as "Potala Palace"--and the siren was wailing from directly overhead. It had to be have been 20 minutes. It was eerie. No conversation could take place, nothing could be heard except for the screaming lament. This was deafening. I mean louder than China normally is. The teacher looked annoyed.

Later I found out that today is the 75th anniversary of the Manchurian Incident, or known in China as the September 18th Incident. On 18 September 1931, around 10:20 p.m., a mysterious explosion was heard on the railroad track near Mukden (today's Shenyang). The explosion, nothing major, only damaged about 1.5 meters of track. However, this 1.5m led to a massive Japanese invasion and the almost immediate fall of Manchuria. Over the next 14 years, millions upon millions of Chinese would die brutal deaths in total war, including six weeks of hell on earth in Nanking. That's all I have to say about that.

I have also been here for the 30th anniversary of Mao's death, but that was pretty low-key. I did see his portrait hanging in a bar above two long-haired Chinese guys in AC-DC T-shirts playing Nirvana songs on amplified guitars. A sudden banquet ensued, which I was invited to, and laughing and merriment lasted well into the night. My ability to speak Mandarin greatly improved, so it seemed, if only for a night.

Today was my first day of teaching, in my life! It was pouring rain all day. Remember, this is the tropics, and the end of monsoon season. There are palm trees around. On my door this morning I received a note from my colleague Marietta, wishing me a "Happy 'first' day of teaching. Glad you are in Kunming." I dressed up in my Sunday best, and was prepared to take on 39 graduate students for an English Writing class. I got there and the door was locked to my classroom. I went down to the Foreign Languages Department and someone showed up eventually to let me in. At long last, 10 minutes after the class was to begin, about four students trickled in. Then, about 45 minutes into the class, four more appeared. That was it. Eight out of 40 and one girl wasn't even supposed to be in the class (what was she doing there? I never figured it out). Halfway through, I was told that the central government had just decided this morning to postpone graduate courses by another week. Welcome to China!

Overheard at an English department meeting:
Chinese professor: "...And that's the ridiculous part of China."
Another professor: "Oh, you found that part?!?"

Most of my friends here are around 60 years old. It seems that expat life is very cross-generational. On Saturday I went out to eat lunch with three women of that age group. We must look very strange to the Chinese! One was Marietta, one was named Nora (she's a Catholic nun from Cork, Ireland), and the other was a former school superintendent from Vermont named Janet. I got to hear a unique perspective on the recent history of the city. It is amazing to think that 10 years ago, the tallest building in the city was the Yunnan University Hotel (seven stories). Now there are skyscrapers everywhere. My neighborhood is undergoing a serious bout of hyper-construction. There is an endless parade of blue cement trucks and donkey carts pulling building materials, cranes, jackhammers, dust. In fact, I will be moving to a new building in October...as soon as it's completed. I've never seen buildings go up and down so quickly (I've only been here three weeks).

Janet is a very interesting, focused person. Her husband passed away about six years ago, and she came to China on a conference, and never left, except for brief visits. Now she teaches at Yunnan Normal University, a teacher training college. She has given seminars all over the country and does a bit of scholarly writing. I received a top-notch intensive course on the art of teaching English to the Chinese ("take it easy!") and she lent me a couple of books, including a collection of short stories by the Chinese writer Ha Jin (the book's called Under the Red Flag, stellar, bizarre).

Today being my first class, I asked the students (who were actually there) what they wanted to learn. This is a very different approach from the traditional "banking system" of education prevalent in Asia. I had some really interesting results. These students are college graduates from all over the country, very highly motivated, although having greatly varied abilities in the English language (their majors are horticulture, environmental engineering, forestry and such). From the small sample I had, they mainly want to write English research papers and scientific articles and then continue their studies in the U.S. Many of course want to know about life in the US, who my favorite pop stars are ("Michael Jackson?" "Whitney Houston?" "Michael Bolton?"). It seems to be a very rewarding and interesting semester...as soon as it begins and people start showing up. I am definitely excited.

Last Friday, I walked into an English speaking competition for the Foreign Languages Department and found out that I was to be a judge. I had no idea. I was also told to ask questions based on the speeches (which I have never heard before), and that the Q&A section was 30% of the score. The three winners would advance to a school-wide competition, then provincial, then national. Sometime next year the winners will be shown on CCTV International. The topic was "Unity and Diversity." Tough. The speeches were very good, except for one person I couldn't understand and another who read off a sheet of paper (they were supposed to memorize the speeches). I was amazed at the language ability of some of these students, who have probably never left China, who have probably never have known a native speaker. This is their one big shot to show the world who they are. This eagerness I find in China (along with the wildness) is one thing I really like about here. I have a feeling that the Beijing Olympics are going to be incredible.

Now I am past that initial three week shock. Now things are beginning to make sense and I am able to use my rudimentary Mandarin skills somewhat effectively. I also want to talk about other things in the past week: my new Vietnamese friends I'm taking the Chinese classes with, getting a bike (no comment on my first experience riding downtown...whoa...), recording a promotional video, the eating at a packed Brothers Jiang restaurant and sharing the table with a startled family, but I must stop here. I need to sleep once in a while.