Merry Christmas and Return to Kunming

I know it’s been a while since I added an entry. My parents came,
and I was spending a lot of time with them, traveling and just hanging
out. Afterwards, I’ve been blizzarded with papers that I have to write
in Chinese.

But I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least
for this semester. In less than a month, I’ll be leaving Nanjing and
the University. And I guess that’s most of what this email is about.

But first, I should update yall. Tomorrow, I’m supposed to be getting
a Dvd copy of my performance on the game show. I’m guessing some
people weren’t able to get through all the Chinese and get to see my
performance.

A few of yall might be interested to hear that, while I was with my
parents in Hong Kong and Macao, I happened upon a little bank called
Banco Delta Asia. It’s a small bank that’s only in Macua. What makes
it special? This bank was at the center of a problem that brought us
closer to nuclear war than at any other incident in this decade. This
bank was part of North Korea’s laundering operation printing amazingly
good counterfeit dollars. During discussions on denuclearizing the
Korean peninsula, the Bush administration froze all of North Korea’s
counterfeit money inside this little bank, and Korea threw a
diplomatic fit. To make a long story short, the North Koreans tested
their first nuclear weapon, making it the ninth nuclear power,
partially because of this bank. Anyways, I got a picture of the bank
and asked them how I could open an account (they said I had to do
something evil before I could open an account).

But enough about that. Yall may remember that after my semester here
at Nanjing University, I have a semester doing an internship. I
finally got my assignment. I’ll be returning to Kunming. I guess yall
probably remember, this was the first place I lived in China, in 2006.
I had a good time there, and am happy to return, even if it wasn’t the
first place that I have chosen to live, it was the second or third
place on that list.

What will I be doing? It may sound a little strange at first, but I
will be working with a company that makes exhibits for museums on
China’s ethnic minorities, particularly the minorities around Kunming,
in the province of Yunnan. Other than that, I am still not sure
exactly what they will have me doing.

You might wonder, “Why the heck are you doing that?” Well, in fact, I
had done some stuff with ethnicity while working on my master’s
degree, and I’m considering doing more work, down the line, on Chinese
nationalism and Chinese nationalities. So, this is actually a really
cool opportunity to look at what Chinese people think it means to be
Chinese.

That work won’t start until later in February, after the Chinese New
Year. Until then, I’ll be, not surprisingly, traveling some. Right
now, Lisa is coming out to visit me and we are going to the
Philippines for three weeks. After that I’ve still got about two weeks
before I have to start work. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing during
that time. I may go and hang out with a friend for Chinese New Year or
I may take off to Laos for a little while, since Laos is so close to
Kunming.

I guess that’s about it. Don’t want to bore yall for too long.

Merry Christmas