Besides going to mountains this winter break, I had another accidental theme: Seeing my students. I’ve been teaching for so long, and with such a large number of students, that it just figures they are now spread all throughout China and I’d bump into them from time to time. This
Farewell Tour of Zhejiang
With classes over and a few weeks remaining before I leave for the summer, I’ve wanted to see my friends one last time. I’ll be changing jobs, and moving to a new part of china so it’s time to start saying goodbye to everyone here. I’ve dubbed my month of
KTV — A Users Guide
I want to talk about a big part of Chinese nightlife culture: KTV. The chinese word for Karaoke. These places aren’t bars or a silly thing to do ironically, but a huge business and the place to celebrate any special event like a birthday, graduation or just for fun on
The Anatomy of Singing a Chinese Song
For our yearly traditional Christmas party, I decided to give my students a big surprise. You see, I have been teaching 2 classes for the past 2 and a half years. Ever since they were freshman (they are now juniors) I have taught them one or two subjects every semester.
Back from Kunming!
My month-long intensive Chinese class is over and I’m back from Kunming. I had an amazing time, without a doubt my best holiday yet (and I have had some awesome holidays). In fact, this is the first time where I wasn’t relieved to come back home. Usually, after a month
A Peek into Christmas in China
I’m not a scrooge or anything, but in many ways I enjoy missing out on the pressure of the holiday season back in America. But that doesn’t mean I miss out on Christmas. In fact, if anything, Christmas seems to be getting bigger and bigger around here. This holiday season
KTV'ing
I knew this day would come. I tried to avoid it as long as possible, but like going to the bathroom on a squat toilet it could not be avoided while living in China: I went to a KTV. KTV? I hear you ask. What is KTV? I’ll give you