Xi’an Wanderings
November 24, 2013
Last weekend, I took my first overnight train in China to the ancient city of Xi’an. My friend Aly, who has lived in China for 4 years now, is a huge fan of train travel. It was her birthday weekend, and her only request was to take an overnight train somewhere for 14 hours. I happily tagged along. As someone…
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Lantern Festival at Yuyuan
March 17, 2013
Lantern Festival was a few weeks ago, but the event was such an interesting part of my China experience thus far, I figured writing about it is a better late than never endeavor. Lantern Festival (元宵节) is something that I vaguely remember celebrating as a child. Mostly, my mother would make delicious 汤圆 (glutton rice balls) and we watched some…
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Bookworm in Shanghai
November 23, 2012
I love books. In my childhood in Taiwan, I loved going to bookstores, libraries, etc. and spending hours reading books without paying for them. So far in Shanghai, I’ve been surprised at the lack of bookstores. In Taiwan, they are kind of like Starbucks – all over the place. I suppose the whole culture revolution might have something to do…
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Shanghai Calling
September 28, 2012
I haven’t been this excited, yet simultaneously anxious about anything since I decided to join the Peace Corps. This is the story on how I decided to move to Shanghai on the day that I moved to Washington, DC. A little over a month ago, I decided to move to DC. My reasons were to be closer to a tight-knit…
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