China
One Year of Travel
I know I’ve been a bit quiet on this blog due to badminton (and my badminton blog. Please check it out if you haven’t yet!). But it isn’t only badminton that has kept me busy. In the past 53 weeks Read more…
China
When a Major International Conference Comes to Your City
The acronym on everyones lips in Xiamen these past few weeks is brics. It stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Why and how these five random countries decided to team up is anyones guess (because I don’t Read more…
Traveling
Walking 10,000 Steps Everyday for a Year
I can’t believe I forgot to write this post. Way back in March of 2016 I wrote about walking 10,000 steps everyday for six-months and how I was really going for a year. I wrote about the hardships, getting my Read more…
China
Summer Holiday Time Again
A few blog posts ago I was talking about the semester beginning, and now here I am talking about the ending. For the past month I have been free, with more than 2 months left in my holiday. (Usually my Read more…
China
When You’re Really, Truly, “The Foreigner”
Let’s talk about speaking Chinese. These days about 70% of my life is lived totally in Chinese with people that can’t speak English. (Take my classes out of the equation and you get closer to 90%.) I am not a Read more…
China
Thousand Character Chinese Classic
Like I do at the end of every year, I have my students in speaking class become teachers. Their final exam is to “teach class” for 15 minutes. (Not a presentation, but actually teach.) This is always super fun. Students Read more…
China
Parsley & Coriander — Italians in China
So I just finished reading the newly released English translation of Parsley & Coriander written by Antonella Moretti and wanted to recommend it to you, my dear readers. While fictional, the story will ring true with many expats in China Read more…
China
You Know You’ve Been in China A Long Time When…..
Three years ago I wrote a post called 10 Signs You’ve Lived in China a Long Time. It was a post about all the culture differences I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. At this point I’m so used to Read more…
China
Tutoring Kids in China
I’ve always taught college kids because I don’t like to teach basics. You need to understand English fluently for me to want to teach you which pretty much rules out any child. Until Lion. My friend moved away from Xiamen Read more…
China
Is Xiamen the Most Bike-Friendly City in the World?
Recently Xiamen has been getting a lot of attention from the world because of a new bike path. Not just a bike path but the world’s longest elevated bike path. It’s almost 5 miles long and built like a little Read more…