When you travel in a city for more than a day it is almost always worth getting a local subway card. They are usually nominal in price and they make traveling around so much more convenient. The simple fact you don’t have to stand in line at the ticket machine
The Benefits of the Expat Life
How funny it is writing this blog. So many thing I write one time and expect them to just kind of fade into the vault. But life isn’t like that and one of my former blog posts is rising from the dead to teach me a new lesson. Three years
Why you SHOULD go to Paris in August
If you are like me and planning a trip to Paris in August you might feel pretty dejected. The constant advice you will hear from source after source is DO NOT GO to Paris in August. There are two reasons for that: Hot and too many tourists The city shuts
Taking the Blog to the Next Level
OMG y’all I’m a vlogger! That’s right, I thought it was time to take Badminton Becky to the next level and start a vlog. After all, sports is very much a visual thing and while I love, love, love writing, some things have been harder to express without visual help.
Why I Can’t Watch Crazy Rich Asians in China
Unless your still using dial-up internet in the backwoods of Montana, you must have heard about the new movie Crazy Rich Asian. Based on the book by Singapore-American Kevin Kwan, it is the first all Asian cast in 25 years and is a big step for diversity in Hollywood. By
Following Hemingway in Paris
So I’m back from my 2+ week holiday in Paris where I wandered the streets, sat in cafes, ate as much bread, cheese and meat as a human possibly can (and cakes and ice cream) and even saw a few friends. Basically, my summer traveling was a total success. As
Writer’s Summer Holiday in Paris
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
Mangoes, Unlike Money, DO Grow on Trees!
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
Chinese Wedding (with video!)
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
Starbucks in China
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