Stuffy nose, sore throat, overall body ache and chills. Yep, in this winter of 2009 it could only mean one thing: the dreaded swine flu. Tell my cats I love them and when you come to my funeral don’t cry…I want you to remember all the happy times we’ve had.
Lazy Susans Are Too Much Work
Back home in every Chinese food restaurant there is a lazy susan. You know what I’m talking about; The big round glass thing on the center of the table so when there are a lot of dishes everyone can spin it around to get to each dish. Well, here in
Home Sweet Home
I’ve showed some photos from around the campus but I haven’t shared any from our little patch of paradise. So here it is in all it’s glory: our little apartment. On the initial ride from Shanghai to the school our friend Zhu told us that we had the nicest apartment.
Dragon Well Tea
Despite living near Hangzhou for the last two months, I have yet to buy some of the local specialty: Dragon Well Tea. (Pronounced Longjing Cha here in China.) Longjing is not only a famous local tea, but it is one of China’s most famous teas period. In fact, it is
Chinglish: More Funny Packaging
I love the peanuts here. They taste different then American peanuts, (it’s hard to explain how they taste different, maybe less sugary?) but I keep a bag in the house at all times. (I mean really, for 30 cents a bag how could I not?) And of course, my favorite
Halloween in China
Experiencing my first big “American” holiday out of the country has been interesting to say the least. Halloween is not celebrated in China, but they know enough that it is an American holiday, and a good excuse to have some fun. I was invited to a ‘Halloween Party’ by the
Our University
The University we teach at is called Zheijang Forestry University and true to its name, there is a lot of forest and natural beauty surrounding it. The campus is landscaped and planted, and trimmed and some spots are amazingly gorgeous. We spent the first several weeks just exploring the campus
Back to Class
So, the 8-day National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival is over and now it is back to the grind for us. We don’t have another day off until the end of the semester, so we have 3 solid months of work ahead. I don’t mind, after all it is what we came here
Photo Tour of Hangzhou
The other day Ryan and I went to Hangzhou to explore the tea fields. After all, I am a tea lover, a tea drinker and a tea reviewer, yet I’ve never seen tea actually growing in a field. To be honest, I didn’t even know what a tea plant (bush?
Chinglish: Chinese Packaging Edition
When you live in another country, one that you can’t speak or read the language, you notice everything that is in English. I find myself reading people’s English t-shirts, or reading small signs on a bus that happen to be translated such as no smoking. It’s like I’ve become hyper