If you’ve never been to China, you probably haven’t heard the term “American-Born Chinese.” It is a uniquely Chinese phrase used to identify people who live in China of Chinese ethnicity but were born abroad, often truncated as ABC (or BBC for British-born Chinese or CBC for Canadian-born Chinese, and so on). In America, we Read More
Category: blog post
I Am Not Charlie
Last week, the opinion page editor sent me an opinion article and asked me “should we print this?” I thought it was a strange request since what the paper does and doesn’t print isn’t up to me. However, when I discovered that the article was basically about how Americans are hypocritical in how they use Read More
Conversations on Adoption – Unwanted Advice
My boss was kind enough to surprise me and the other American copy editor at the newspaper with a Christmas lunch a couple of weeks ago. As usual, I get asked why I don’t have kids. The question “why don’t you have kids” is something I am asked almost daily in China. In China, it Read More
Throwback Thursday – On the Li River
Yangshuo, Guangxi Autonomous Region, about an hour from Guilin, is one of the most beautiful towns in China. We spent about a week there when we first came to China since that is where the Buckland Training Center is located. We’ve been there twice since. There are so many beautiful and interesting places to visit Read More
Conversations on Adoption in China
While walking to the subway with two of my coworkers yesterday, I had the following conversation: Sarah: Why do you live in China instead of Thailand? Me: Well, my husband and I are planning on adopting here in China. Sarah: Oh, is that very difficult for foreigners? Me: Yes. It is very difficult. It takes Read More
Throwback Thursday – Learning to Cook
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog and in my book, moving to China (especially to a rural area) meant having to relearn how to cook. At our first school, Lanjiang Zhizhong, three of our best students, Zoe, Arlene, and Jack, came over one night to help give me a crash course. Even 4 years Read More
Top 10 Posts of 2014
Well, I for one am happy to see the back of 2014. As much as I love living in Shenzhen, it is so much better than living in Changsha, 2014 was one nightmare of a year. But the blog and my writing career are doing much better, which is awesome. So, in case you missed Read More
The Housekeeper from Hell – Beware of Annie Law
This has been an extremely traumatic week, and I never thought such terrors would come from my housekeeper. In China, it is common practice for anyone middle-class or higher to have a housekeeper (or “ayi” as they are known here). Many ayis also work as nannies, even in expat homes. Usually, you will give a Read More
Throwback Thursday – Our First Christmas
Happy Holidays, Dear Readers! I thought an appropriate Throwback Thursday post would be a picture of our first Christmas in China. Christmas is not very popular here, and it is even more rare the more rural you get. In Lixian, the Christmas hats we are wearing are about all the Christmas things we could find. Read More
Netflix's Marco Polo – Review
My husband and I spent the last week binge watching Marco Polo, Netflix’s answer to HBO’s Game of Thrones and Starz’ Outlander. Marco Polo is about the son of an Italian merchant, trader, and explorer who was left at the court of Kublai Khan (the Emperor of the Mongols) around 1273. Marco Polo was the most expensive Read More