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 natural language learner. In fact, I would say I was
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 freak out when I assign it to them, but then
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 as Antonella drew from her real life experience of quitting
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 China I’m not really sure what I do differently anymore.
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 about a year ago and asked me if I wanted
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 bike highway with exits and entrances along the path, all
Medical Tourism– a Review of Bumrungrad Hospital
(This post got a little away from me but I wanted to be thorough for people going there. If you read my blog cause you’re interested in China, feel free to skip this one.) In my last post I kinda hinted that I was in Bangkok for a special reason
Where in the World was Becky?! (Yes, past tense. I’m back now)
I hate when people do “sorry I haven’t blogged for awhile” posts because they quickly become outdated. Someone who reads this blog even a few months from today won’t even notice the break in days unless they specifically look at the date. That being said….sorry for the thin content here!
Shanghai Disney– A Review
So this winter holiday, I spent a week in Shanghai visiting an every growing number of friends. But what I was looking forward to the most, was visiting the recently opened Shanghai Disney (Sorry friends). And it did not disappoint! Just so you know, while I don’t like “Disney” as
Using Courage over Comfort
I’m gonna start out with a bold statement: I lead an inspiring life. But I doubt few agree with me. I’m the kinda person that once I make up my mind to do something, I do regardless of how hard, or weird, it is. I’m not afraid to take risks,