As I rode the slick new escalators up the side of the mountain in the Xiamen botanical Gardens, I hated myself a little. Why was I here, supporting the destruction and abuse of this gorgeous natural mountain? I mean, is there anything lazier than taking an escalator up a mountain?
Walking with Pikachu
I’m not sure how it started. Maybe I just thought it was cute the way my Taiwanese boyfriend pronounced Pikachu (pi-ka-que), but for the past five years, every time one of sees a Pikachu doll, toy, game etc we have to talk about it and point it out, and end
Here We Go Again!
Bored, playing around on my computer the other day, I started looking through old bookmarks on my browser. Since I have been an Apple user for a long time, whenever I get a new device or computer, it copies everything over automatically and I have bookmarked websites I haven’t looked
100 Years of the CCP and All I Got was This Lousy Light Show
Okay, I click-baited you with that title. It wasn’t a lousy light show at all, it was quite spectacular but “…and all I got was this spectacular light show” isn’t how the t-shirt goes, so there you have it. So yeah, July 1st was the 100th anniversary of the founding
The Dragon in the Solar Eclipse
I remember my first solar eclipse when I was quite young. I was in elementary school and it was a big deal. I remember our teachers talking about it for days ahead of time and we all made little DIY devices (like pinholes through cardboard) to look at it. It
The Year of the Bullet Journal!
Sorry for a New Years post a few days after Jan 1st, but things have been a little rough over here in the Becky household. I ended up going in and out of the hospital the last few weeks of the year and I was too tired to do anything
100 Years of a Chinese University
This past weekend my school, Jimei University, celebrated it’s 100th anniversary. Chinese universities don’t need much of an excuse to have a big celebration and this is a worthy milestone, so for months the school has been preparing for it. My school was started by a guy who was basically
Mangoes, Unlike Money, DO Grow on Trees!
I’m still not totally used to living in a tropical climate. I’m used to seeing flowers in winter and melting in the summer I’m still surprised every year when I see tropical fruit growing on the street. Xiamen has mango trees everywhere, and this time of year the fruit is
When Putin Comes to Town
The acronym on everyone’s lips in Xiamen these past few weeks is BRICS. It stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Why and how these five random countries decided to team up is anyone guess (because I don’t care enough to Google it) but as the presidents from
Is Xiamen the Most Bike-Friendly City in the World?
Recently Xiamen has been getting a lot of attention from the world because of a new bike path. Not just a bike path but the world’s longest elevated bike path. It’s almost 5 miles long and built like a little bike highway with exits and entrances along the path, all