I know New Zealand is all the rage for Middle Earth, but wouldn’t this Karst in Yangshuo make an excellent Mordor set? No CGI or foam sets necessary! (And yes, I fully understand that I am outing myself as a geek here.)
The Fully Sick Rapper
Okay, this has nothing to do with China, or writing or anything I normally talk about. But I love this guy and I had to share. His name is Christiaan VanVuuren and he caught tuberculous while traveling in South America. He was initially quarantined, but was released because they thought
On Becoming a Tutor
As a native English speaker and a foreign teacher living in China you will constantly be bombarded by tutoring requests. Sometimes it is from the students themselves (young people approach us regularly and ask for our phone number. “Uh, why?” we ask. “Because I want to be your friend!” is
Another Blog Carnival
I’m not such a big fan of carnivals in real life (they’re expensive and kind of depressing) but I sure do like a good blog carnival. And what makes a good blog carnival? Why, one that features me of course! 🙂 So go check out this great carnival hosted by Travelogged. This
RIP Granny D
Last week one of my heroes died. Her name was Granny D and she was 100-years-old. You can read her obituary on BBC or on Huffington Post, but the only thing you really need to know is what a great lady she was. In 1999, after her husband of 60+ years
Carnival of Inspiring Travel–Monthly Roundup
I am pleased to announce that I am part of the inspiring travel blog carnival this week! It is my first carnival and I am excited to be a part of it. If you have found this site because of it, welcome! Please take a look around and if you
File This Under Genius
The paper the students use for class is very low quality. It is more akin to newsprint then actual paper and is quite see-through and rips easily. (In fact, all the students use tape as white-out. Because the paper is so cheap the tape pulls off the top layer which
My Most Embarrassing Travel Moment
I was recently reading this blog entry about a very embarrassing travel moment. If you have traveled anywhere you have one (or many) of these. In fact, we all have embarrassing moments in our lives, but somehow doing something stupid in another country is even worse because you know you
Welcome Back Gifts
Have I said yet how nice my students are? They have just returned after a month and a half long break and many have brought us presents. Of course this being China the gifts are not what you might expect. No paperweights or apple magnets with a little cute saying.
The Weird and Wacky Arhat's
China is known as a non-religious country but it is home to many amazing Buddhist temples. While traveling we got to see these temples and learn about Arhats. What’s an Arhat you ask? Well allow me. According to Buddhism an Arhat is a person who has reached enlightenment (nirvana) and