Thanks to my super amazing job, I have 11 (paid) weeks of holiday this summer. Most of it I spent here, in Xiamen, as I organized and finished a badminton training camp for foreigners. (You can read a blog post–and watch a video–about it over here.) But I haven’t had Read more…
I’m still not totally used to living in a tropical climate. I’m used to seeing flowers in winter and melting in the summer I’m still surprised every year when I see tropical fruit growing on the street. Xiamen has mango trees everywhere, and this time of year the fruit is Read more…
Remember those students I call “my babies?” The ones I taught for four years and watched them grow up? The ones who stayed with me when I was in the hospital 5 years ago? The one’s that sobbed into my shoulder as they graduated and said goodbye? The ones I Read more…
This semester I have been focusing on polishing my book and finding an agent, so I’ve been spending a lot of time at Starbucks. I know, I know, I can hear you groan from here. “Starbucks, really?!” Especially as Xiamen has a lot of amazing cute little cafes all over Read more…
Expat Jimmy is the latest book from blogger and writer Travis Lee. I will start with an apology because I’m a total jerk. Travis sent me the book ages ago, and I read it, and then I completely forgot about it and never wrote about it. Total duh moment. Expat Read more…
I’ve had a lot of repeated questions about China and while many are based on stereotypes (no, most people don’t eat dogs and Chinese animal activists are making sure that the small little villages that still do cease forever) some are actually good questions I thought I’d take a moment Read more…
Western Women who date and marry asian men stick together. I’ve mentioned it a few times but I’m a member of a group called WWAM and I have met many, many amazing women over the years from it. Since becoming online friends I have met several in real life and Read more…
Us China expats are an arrogant lot. Succeeding in China is rough and long-term expats see many friends over the years who can’t handle it, or hate it, and leave. That gives us a sense of that we are “survivors” and when new expats come we can dazzle them with Read more…
In my writing class I asked my students to write a letter to Santa. “Tell Santa if you’ve been a good girl or boy and ask Santa for something you want,” I said. While my students all know about Santa they obviously have never written a letter to Santa like Read more…
If you don’t follow my badminton blog then you haven’t heard the good news yet! I was featured on NPR’s Only a Game this month! Listen to the 8-minute interview here! For those of you that don’t know what NPR is it stands for National Public Radio in America. It’s Read more…