The three words silenced my room: “What the hell?” They weren’t from a junior high student, because the utterance would have been in Chinese. The slip of the tongue was from a second grader. From the same kid who doesn’t know his sight words. I looked at a coworker, who heard it too. While I was thinking about school policies […]
You Care Too Much
Smoke
There is a famous Chinese proverb: 不到长城非好汉. He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man. And after he visits the Great Wall, he picks up a pack of cigarettes. Smoking is huge in this country, even with doctors, including my “no chicken, no OJ, drink broccoli juice” acupuncturist. Before the young doctor light his cigarette, […]
Take two ping pong balls and call me in the morning.
We looked like m&ms tumbling from the plane as our chutes opened in the sky. Below us was a bounty of trees more colorful than a box of Crayolas. It was October, it was college, and I was suffering from a temporary bout of insanity. I had signed up to go skydiving. Despite hours of instruction, I didn’t bend my […]
吃货 (chī huò) Foodies
Huǒ guō or hot pot, is to Kunming, China what deep dish pizza is to Chicago. It’s a combination between a meal and a game of Truth or Dare
Snow Day
Nothing motivates a child more to read than the opportunity to throw a snowball at their teacher.
Flying the Coop
Hash Harriers Fundraiser Red Dress Run
Never Pick a Cool Name
Bilingual book for Chinese children learning English
Marshmallow men
The trip from the USA to China is usually long and filled with bad movies and meals covered in aluminum foil. But during COVID? The 24 hour odyssey turns into twenty one days. That’s enough time to hatch a baby chicken. The route? From DTW to SF to PVG in Shanghai to finally, KMG Kunming, the little quaint village of […]
China’s Secret to Beating Covid
And the fries were cold.
Crazy China TV
OK. I am half way thru quarantine but my body is still in time zone purgatory, which means I am up all hours of the night. Good thing China has a lot of bad TV. The infomercials put the Sham Wow guy to shame. Here is a quick spin through the channels at one AM.