I read a lot of different websites related to China and travelers in China and there have been some funny/interesting stuff that I thought you might enjoy. Strange News of the Week – echinacities.com collected some of the more offbeat stories of the week and put them all together in
A Peek into the Boy's Dormitory
Between my apartment and the classroom lies the boy’s dormitory. I go by it often, daily, and sometimes see my students waving to me from their balconies. “Get to class!” I always yell up to them. “You’re going to be late!” So the buildings are familiar, and yet, I have
The Dragon Boat Fairy
Today is Dragon Boat Festival, one of the few official holidays’ here in China. Curious at what that means? Well read this post that I wrote last year about the history and culture behind it. We are right in the thick of finishing up our final exams (Thursday will be
Playing Mahjong (and not by yourself on the computer)
Mahjong. You don’t get more Chinese than that. And yet, despite being here for almost 2 years I have only played once. Shocking! Enter Color, a student who told me he and his girlfriend found a mahjong shop near our school, and would we like to play? My first thought
5 Packing Essentials for Moving to China
At this time of year, contracts are being negotiated and signed, health tests are being done, and visa’s are being issued. Newbies are planning to come to China for the very first time and are probably thinking a lot about what to bring. Before I came to China I wrote
Cake Week
I have eaten more cake this week then the past year combined. It’s a perfect storm of birthday’s and end-of-year parties that had me shovel piece after piece into my mouth. Chinese birthday cakes are all thick sugary frosting and no cake, but then I’ve never been one to turn
Curious how the Chinese Gov't Works? Read on…
Thanks to my pals over at Raoul’s, I found this really interesting article about the workings of the Chinese government written by an American teaching at Tsinghua University (the top college in China). Let’s face it, understanding the inner workings of our own government is hard enough (quick, name the
A Chinese Wedding
Ever since coming to China I have wanted to go to a Chinese wedding. After all, weddings are such cultural markers, I was really curious to see what it was like. Fortunately, last week I finally got my chance! Wendy, one of the women at the international office finally had
Hangin' With my Homies
It’s spring time here and that can only mean one thing: class trip time! In China classes live, work, eat and breath together. On your first day freshman year you are assigned a class number, and you will stay with those classmates for the next four years. I have mixed
Instant Forest – Just Add Trees
Normally the front entrance of the school is filled with purple and green bushes crisscrossing and intertwining to make colorful lines from afar. One day a giant boulder showed up, stuck around for a few weeks, and the mysteriously disappeared. Then the green bushes disappeared as did the purple. The