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…
You may have read recently about how China leads the world in mobile payment. How people are giving up their bills and change for their more convenient smart phones. How even Chinese airports are striving to become the first cashless airport where you can’t even use cash if you have Read more…
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 I have gone to six different countries. A record for Read more…
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 care enough to Google it) but as the presidents from Read more…