It's mid-December in Kunming and the cherry blossoms are blooming. Other leaves are changing colors. Nature is in a state of confusion. One of my students, from the cold, cold north of China, remarked that she didn't even know what season it was. It's Christmas season, and there are a few Christmas trees in the shops, some tinsel here and there, and pictures of Santa. But Christmastime in China is very low-key, and I like it that way. I spent the past two holiday seasons working in big-box consumer electronics retail, clocking in at 4:00 the day after Thanksgiving for that 6 o'clock mad dash of greed, stacks of cash, and thinly veined accusations that I was actually hiding that product that we claimed to be out of stock. The pressure to sell extended warranties on "anything with a current passing through it." The same songs over and over on Muzak. Sleet and snow and stress.

Here in Kunming, it's palm trees, sunny skies, and highs in the upper 60s. It's like a Corona commercial but no beach (no, Lake Dian doesn't count). I've been invited to a few Christmas parties--most students I've talked to seem eager to celebrate Christmas with foreigners, so I'll do my best to bring the yuletide Christmas cheer. No eggnog this year.

During my speaking class yesterday, Bruce, the Foreign Language Dept. secretary, ran into my classroom in a state of panic. "It's an emergency!" he shouted. I stepped out in the hall as he ran down the FedEx guy. My package had finally arrived. My aunt and grandmother had shipped me a box of treats last week from Iowa. Thanks! It made it to Kunming in three days, but promptly got shipped back across the country to Shenzhen. The tracking information on the website said, "Clearance Delay." My grandmother was worried that the customs officials were eating my chocolate.

I got a call a few days later from a Ms. Lai, I assume from FedEx. "I have a box of commodities for you. The customs declaration says it's coffee and chocolate. Are these commodities for business purposes or personal use?" I told her it was for me, because those two items are like gold here in Bailong Village. I wasn't going to sell anything...but perhaps I could use it as a bribe to get my students to talk in my English Speaking classes. She promptly informed me, "Then please fax us a copy of your passport and a statement saying so." So now I have a box of Christmas sweets in my apartment, coffee, a hunk of fudge shaped like the great state, and a pile of chocolate packaged as an "Iowa cow pie." I opened this box in my class and taught my students some new vocabulary. And no, Grandma, the customs officials did not eat anything.

Last Friday night I stopped by my local for a quick beer and a chat with the owner, a Mr. Xiao Ma (Small Horse). There were some musicians setting up, and I ended up getting fed and sticking around for a night of Chinese death metal. Three bands, and one was quite good. The drummer was a girl from Beijing named Rosa Lee and she played a mean double-bass drum. There was some excellent shredding on the guitar, flashy keyboard skills, some head banging, but fortunately no moshing (too small of a venue). I've heard some great Chinese rock since I've been here: if you can find it, check out Muma, Zi Yue ("Confucius Says"--at first I thought it was Primus singing Chinese), Zhou Yunpeng, Bu Yi Ding, Zuoxiao Zuzhou (like Nick Cave/Tom Waits), Badhead and Modern Sky Records. I've also heard some very cheesy Dongbei rap, cheesy enough that I'm gonna have to buy it.



On Sunday I went to Cuihu Park with my good friend Định of the Forestry University of Vietnam and a Chinese girl named Panda. I think they have some sort of budding relationship, but, alas, he's now in Hangzhou studying bamboo and rattan and such for two months. Along with the rest of the population of Kunming, we saw thousands of beautiful Siberian gulls (Larus heuglini) who are wintering here in Kunming. They (the birds) will catch a piece of bread tossed into the air, midflight. We also saw seemingly thousands of beggars.


I am jealous how quickly the Vietnamese students are picking up the Chinese language. The two languages are from different language families, but China has strongly influenced Vietnam for thousands of years (I'm often reminded that Vietnam was a part of China longer than Yunnan Province has been). Much of the vocabulary is the same. Vietnamese and Chinese are both tonal languages. There is significant overlap of cultural cues. Vietnamese names are readily made into Chinese characters (as the entire language was formerly written), but mine is a clunky Sino-fication of "Ryan." Etc. Over the past three and a half months, I have learned much more Chinese (and Kunming-hua) than I expected to, but I am frustrated to have so far yet to go.

Another fine Sunday, I met a Chinese Lily and a Japanese Daisuke at the 1200 year-old Yuantong Zen Temple. We arrived in time to watch part of a service. There were thousands of practitioners in brown robes singing and chanting melodic hymns, bowing simultaneously, praying in front of a statue depicting the Bodhisattva of Compassion Guan Yin (Avalokiteśvara/Kannon/Gwan-eum/Quan Âm), thick clouds of incense blowing in the breeze, monks ringing bells, turtles and carp and goldfish swimming in the moat, arched bridges, fruit and red envelope offerings, the works.

We had lunch up the hill near Yunnan University. There are many foreigners and places catering to foreigners in this area, resembling a typical Eugene, Oregon Saturday Market if it suddenly became a global village and dropped into SW China: the scruffy-looking backpacking type "on the way to Laos or Chiang Mai or wherever," Frenchmen with dreadlocks, Italian punks, goateed-shaved head-pierced-&-tattooed Americans, Chinese hipsters smoking expensive cigarettes. Nobody seems to speak much Chinese in these parts. However, there are a couple good spots in this area including an English language book bar that stocks smuggled Beer Lao (both light & dark flavors).

I am hoping to get my online magazine up and running soon. Things have been really busy lately as the semester will conclude in about four weeks. Right now I am trying to get caught up on correcting all the papers from my composition classes (about 150 assignments coming in on a weekly basis and I'm seriously behind), teaching a group of 12 year-olds once a week, teaching a group of 5 year-olds once a week, writing lesson plans, teaching grad students 16 hours a week, taking Chinese classes whenever I can, popping in on a third-semester Japanese class conducted in Chinese (now that's tricky), running a weekly film club, tomorrow I'm giving a thematic lecture to the English major undergrads on the Great American Road Trip and the Allure of the Open Road (in pop culture and personal experience), Saturday morning I'm participating with the Foreign Languages Dept in the school-wide Sports Day, and hopefully tomorrow afternoon I'll have some time to do some weightlifting with one of my students named Earth. I still have time for a three-hour siesta each day. Some Chinese people expressed concern that we Americans don't typically have a rest in the middle of the day. Also they are concerned that we drink ice water even in winter.

I am missing something in my routine. It's called music. Also I am very excited for Yuka to come next month, and possibly Mariko. And as always, I enjoy hearing from all my friends and loved ones!

Thank you and goodnight.