This past weekend, I made the trek all the way to Tongzhou, an eastern Beijing suburb about an hour outside the city center. A few friends and I were getting together at one of their apartments. The weather was pretty dreary all day, with overcast skies, and everything was all damp. But it was good […]
After announcing last month a plan to curb air pollution by banning outdoor barbecues, which was appropriately met with much derision, Chinese officials seem to have stumbled onto something that might actually go toward fixing the air problem: Ordering companies in heavily-polluting industries to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2017. The new rules appear […]
On one of my first weekends in Beijing, I was invited to go out to Sanlitun by someone else who was also new to the city. It was the first time I had heard about it, and needless to say, he gave me shitty directions: “It’s near the [subway] stop either before or either the […]
I’m still catching up on my China reading that I missed while I was in the U.S. Here are a few articles that stood out to me: “China’s Ethnic Song and Dance” in the Times, about China’s relationship with minorities: “Chinese officials like to paint a picture of China as one big happy multicultural family. […]
Boyfriend is on his own visa run for the next few weeks, so that can only mean one thing, besides soul-crushing loneliness: I CAN EAT ALL THE MUSHROOMS I WANT! I love mushrooms. They should be in everything I eat. When they aren’t, I feel sad. Boyfriend can’t stand the sight of them, like I […]
I wrote most of this post while I was in the U.S., waiting for my new visa. While I had an idea of what I wanted to say, it took a lot of reorganization and editing so that it wouldn’t just be rambling. It still is mostly rambling, but if my dad can read it, […]
What a month. It started off with a friend’s wedding, then quickly followed with visits from friends and relatives, an excursion out west, and finally an impromptu — but welcomed — visa run to the U.S. (while friends and relatives were still visiting.) With that said, this post is simply a placeholder of sorts for […]
There’s a common vegetable here that I love, 丝瓜 (si gua), which is often found in soups and stir-fries at restaurants. It is commonly translated in menus as “towel gourd,” though Google prefers to call it “luffa,” which is derived from its scientific name (apparently it turns into loofahs when it grows older). According to Wikipedia, […]
I hadn’t planned on making so much stuff over the weekend, but once I get started cooking and making, it’s kind of hard to stop. The start was breakfast. I thought about making the usual scrambled eggs and toast English muffin, but why take the easy way out? The week before, I had caved in […]
You know how when something goes wrong, something else also goes wrong? And something else goes wrong? And then before you know it, everything is basically wrong? In China, this rule of life manifests itself as a string of breakdowns. Something breaks or stops working or your landlord raises your rent, forcing you to find […]