The bulk of my time has been spent teaching students and yet I haven’t really talked much about it. The semester is just about over and all in all, I feel like it has been an huge success and I am looking forward to teaching another year. In fact, the
Pale and Proud
The sun is shining, the birds are singing and there are little white fluffy clouds sailing slowly across the blue sky. And yet, outside, there are umbrellas as far as the eye can see. You see, in China umbrellas are not just for rainy days, they are for the sunny
Yang Mei Berries
The fruit here is amazing. I’ve already written about pineapple, but every day it seems like there is some new exotic fruit at the fruit stands. The latest addition is the yang mei berry. This fruit has no American counterpart and is roughly translated at ” Chinese bayberry,” which doesn’t
In Search of a Hamburger in China
I have been searching high and low for the past three months for a hamburger. Nothing special mind you, just a plain unsweetened bun with a ground beef patty in the middle. I’m even willing to skip the lettuce and tomato (thought it would be nice) and settle only for
Dragon Boat Festival
When I first signed my contract I was intrigued by this part. “The party employed is entitled to the following holidays and festivals in China: New Years Day, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, May Day, National Day and Dragon Boat Day.” Well, I’ve lived through all of them except one, the
In Memory of Upoko — The Best Cat Ever
We got some sad news today from our tenant. He said that our calico cat, Upoko, died during the night. He said that she wasn’t showing any signs of sickness beforehand and that she died peacefully, curled up like she was sleeping. This is the worst case scenario of when
It's Chinglish Time Again!
Here are a few more Chinglish gems that I’ve run into during my daily life.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream!
When you hear the metallic, slightly creepy jingle of a child’s song playing on the breeze every kid in America knows what to do. Grab some money and follow that sweet sound to the ice cream man. Here in China they have the same thing but instead of running towards
Happy Birthday Ryan
Last weeks was Ryan’s birthday. We didn’t do much to celebrate it because it was on a Wednesday, and that is the day we are both very busy. But, I had to do something so I secretly ordered a cake. With the help of some students I went to a
2-Year-Old Newborns
When I asked my students how old they were I got a lot of different answers: 20, 21, 22. I found that odd. These kids are all in the same grade, sophomores in college, how could they be such different ages. And a lot of them at 21? That seemed