A very important milestone occurs today: I haven’t seen my mommy in a year! This is the same person who I saw every day for the first 16 years of my life and who drove 2.5 hours each way every month to see me at high school and college, just so she could take me […]
Spring — it’s happening, finally. The mornings are still cool and crisp, while mid-afternoons can actually be hot if the sun is beating down on you. It’s been fairly windy recently, which means it’s cooler than it could be, but also clearer. Not-too-chilly, bright blue sunny skies … only one thing could make this time […]
I love pandan. There, I said it! I’ve loved it since I was a tiny little girl. It was one of those things that would appear into my life as some delicious jelly or steamed cake and I’d be reminded of how much I liked this mysterious green thing. Then, just as quickly as it […]
Exciting time for China right now, with the annual two sessions kicking off today. Here are loosely related tidbits of news, which I hope will form a composite of modern China for you: The National People’s Congress, one of China’s two legislative bodies (i.e., the ones that are meeting right now), is a shining example […]
So I baked cupcakes over the weekend! The cupcake craze landed in Beijing right about the same time I did, way back in 2009. Now, there is a gourmet cupcake shop near my office, two bakeries that deliver cupcakes to your door, and a trendy cafe that specializes in cupcakes. Like everywhere else in the […]
Winter. It’s boring and cold, especially in Beijing, which turns into a giant windy freezer box for a good four months. I blame the cold for everything, including my disinterest in writing. But I have actually been up to stuff, such as: Looking for an apartment. Man, what a hassle! Especially in the cold. After […]
There is a food shortage going on right now in Beijing. I went to three different restaurants for lunch today and they were all out of food. Restaurant 1: Wild Honey Boyfriend and I sit down, ready to try something new. It was 1 p.m., admittedly on the late end for lunch, but the small […]
Sometimes, you can read a really interesting and informative post about China that takes a more nuanced approach to figuring out what exactly China is and isn’t. For an example, see this blog post about the slew of punishments handed out recently, over the holidays, to political activists. It argues that China isn’t necessarily cracking […]
Insight into the decline of America’s heartland in the Atlantic by Stephen Bloom, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa: An interesting sidelight to the outflow problem is the rapid influx of Chinese students at the University of Iowa. The university vigorously recruits Chinese undergraduates, and has even set up an office in Beijing […]