Easter Sunday, we did waterfalls and beers. Be jealous. We spent large parts of the car ride bonding with Owen over fart jokes and song choices. I won the song choices game with “Middle” by Maren Morris. Owen declared it a fun song. I also taught him how to do Read more
This is only my second time to Portland, but I remember it being weird and fun. It has not disappointed so far. One of the first things we encountered yesterday on our first morning here was a man wearing a marijuana-leaf-print outfit smoking some very pungent weed in a city Read more
I’m in Portland for the next 13 days. Some of it is for work and some of it is for play. (More on that later this week.) I think of Portland fondly, even though I’ve only been here once, years ago. It was for a beautiful friend’s wedding way back Read more
I’m sitting in the Air Canada lounge at the Shanghai airport. There are free cocktails. And mini muffins. Also free. But it’s hot in here. I’m seriously considering using the last of my RMBs to buy myself a t-shirt so I don’t have to wear this sweater anymore. I’ve got Read more
It’s pretty amazing what a difference a month can make. Last month, four weeks ago, when I went to Beijing, I followed Yang around like a lost puppy and burst into tears at least twice trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I’ve now been in China Read more
I am sitting on my (hard Chinese) bed drinking room temperature sake straight out of the bottle and eating these weird saltines with lime filling. Why? Because I didn’t go to the grocery store that has wine and snacks. Why? Because in order to go to the grocery store that Read more
Learn Chinese with me! It’s easy and fun! Let’s start with the basics: Hello Nǐ hǎo 你好 Thank you Xièxiè 谢谢 This should get you through your first few weeks in China if all you’re doing is walking around with people who speak Chinese and talking to lunch ladies. That Read more
Ever since I got here, people have been telling me I need to try hairy crab. Kunshan’s hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake are famous all over China for being magically delicious, and it’s late autumn, which means they are in season, particularly the females. Today, my ship full of hairy Read more
I’ve been trying really hard to deny it, even to myself, but I’m going to go ahead and say that I’m well and truly homesick. The two-week point is where this usually happens. So last night and this morning I was pitiful and weepy. I thought about staying in my Read more
We had a team lunch today where we decided to head off-campus to a local farm-to-table restaurant. We had a bit of an adventure finding the place, but got to walk through a beautiful farm/park while we found our way. The restaurant was part of the Fairmont Yangcheng Lake resort, Read more