China Doll

My last semester at Hohai, I went a little crazy. I taught lessons that would have gotten me kicked out of school. Hey, I knew I was leaving! What's the worst they could do, fire me? I had already covered eating in restaurants and going to the doctor...

Surprise! Or maybe not surprise. But I'm home.
That home. That American home. I'm back!
Being in America is as awesome and strange and happy and depressing as I expected. A lot of people have been asking me why I moved back, and as always, the answer is complicated. First, I missed my family and friends. I've lived away from home for seven...

Qingdao is the oddest little city. It's got a lot going on: first of all, it was occupied by the Germans (and then the Japanese), who imported European architecture, religion, and of course, German beer. Second, it's an important port city, where the...

It's almost November, which means it's high time I finally posted about my summer vacation... Mongolia!
Armed with nothing but a train ticket and the phone number of a random family in a small town near Lake Khövsgöl, I set out for Mongolia on my own via the Trans-Mongolian train, which goes from Beijing to the capital city. It was definitely one of the...