How funny it is writing this blog. So many thing I write one time and expect them to just kind of fade into the vault. But life isn’t like that and one of my former blog posts is rising from the dead to teach me a new lesson. Three years
Why you SHOULD go to Paris in August
If you are like me and planning a trip to Paris in August you might feel pretty dejected. The constant advice you will hear from source after source is DO NOT GO to Paris in August. There are two reasons for that: Hot and too many tourists The city shuts
Following Hemingway in Paris
So I’m back from my 2+ week holiday in Paris where I wandered the streets, sat in cafes, ate as much bread, cheese and meat as a human possibly can (and cakes and ice cream) and even saw a few friends. Basically, my summer traveling was a total success. As
Writer’s Summer Holiday in Paris
Thanks to my super amazing job, I have 11 (paid) weeks of holiday this summer. Most of it I spent here, in Xiamen, as I organized and finished a badminton training camp for foreigners. (You can read a blog post–and watch a video–about it over here.) But I haven’t had
Back from the Paradise of Yangshuo, China
So I’m back from my summer holidays, and even though it’s a luxurious two months, it still seems to go by so quickly. I was in the small village of Yangshuo in Guangxi which is in southern China, studying Chinese. I’ll write another post about what it is like to
The Sunburn Chronicles: Turpan, the Second Lowest Point on Earth
Given my very public aversion to heat you think I’d avoid going to the hottest spot in China. A place that is the second lowest point on earth (after the Dead Sea) and below sea level. Just my luck, in the days leading up to my stop, they had a
Summer Reads About China
It’s summer, the season of reading, and I thought I’d recommend a few books you can bring with you on your travels. Now these book recommendations are for newbies about China. If you are a China enthusist you have probably read all of these long ago, but if you haven’t,
Summer Break Can’t Come Soon Enough!
So remember when I said I hate Xiamen? I hate it even more now. It’s SOOOOOOOOOO friggin hot. I walk around wearing a sweat band, and I don’t do it in an ironic Wes Anderson-type way. I wear it because my face sweats so much that if I try to
I’m Back *Exhales Deeply*
So I’m back in the big silly and it feels so good to be here. of course I’m at my new school in Xiamen, and as of yet I haven’t really met too many people (I’ve been dealing with jet-lag, setting up my new apartment and meeting my new bosses.)
Trying Not to Be THAT Person
I think we’ve all had a friend who went to England for the summer, and came back with a terrible fake accent. Or the totally white friend (who can’t speak another language and has never been out of the country) who says Puerto Rico with deep rolling R’s and a strong