Category Archives: China

First Person Plural

I went to Jackie’s the other night with Will and Jennifer. (haha I have to make up new names now because someone in Yantai reads my blog haha). Jackie’s, the proud home of Loud Food and Spicy Music, is has … Continue reading

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Gamer Girls Are News In Yantai

I’m sure they wanted a picture of the foreign teacher actually teaching, but instead this is me playing WoW with Stick.

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Cherry Stones

Yantai is famous for cherries, and I think I’ve received at least my body mass in bags full of cherries from students. At one point I had three bags in my fridge and another one on the kitchen table. They’re … Continue reading

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Things that should be simple, but aren’t.

Part 1 of 10,000 What’s the first thing you learn in a new language? That’s right, numbers. Beijing-bound flights usually have at least one Westerner practicing yi, er, san, si, and so forth. We usually also working on the accompanying … Continue reading

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Dragon Boat Day

(Written on 6/1 but Dragon Boat Day is 5/31 so I’m backdating this) Once there was a Chinese poet called Qu Yuan (??). Depending on who you ask, Qu Yuan either jumped or fell into a river and drowned, and … Continue reading

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Asking for it

Yesterday, I got the worst haircut ever. Really. I’ve cut my hair myself and it came out better than this. I dyed my hair purple and no stage, as it faded back to brown, was as bad as this. I … Continue reading

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Long-Distance Call

Last night I realized that pictures of my kids are crowding out my pictures from home. It seemed symbolic and sad that class photos and favorite students are starting to cover my pictures of Stick. Actually, most of my bad-China … Continue reading

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Ji, what were you thinking?

Last week my boss Ji took my class of Demon Children when I went out with Fresca. The Demon Children, and not the homesickness or lack of hot water, brought me closest to going back to the states. I am … Continue reading

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Fresca Goes Back To Massachusetts

Fresca left yesterday and I’m very sad. I miss her already, especially because without Fresca wandering around naked and singing “If you’re happy and you know it, kick your friend!”, I have developed a lot of antisocial tendencies. I drink … Continue reading

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Mei you! Ming tien!

Although I only know a few Chinese words, I already have some I don’t like. My least favorite word is ??, which is pronounced “ma-yo” and basically means “have no. I can recognize it in short sentences, like “We have … Continue reading

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