Tag Archives: reading

Why Travel In China Is Like Being the Protagonist In A Fantasy Novel

Andrea just sent me a bunch of fantasy books and I’ve noticed a certain similarity between my reading matter and my life. Some of the reasons overlap with Sinoplice’s brilliant “Why China Is Like An RPG”. Travel in China, like … Continue reading

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Salvatore, Shakespeare, Stephen King

My cousin Andrea sent my a huge books of books! Mostly fantasy novels, because those are her favorite. I really like a lot of fantasy novel, as long as they’re light on the Renn faire accent. She also sent me … Continue reading

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Best Asian Diarist

I was nominated as Best Asian Diarist on the Asia Blog Awards! It’s awesome to see that people are reading and liking my blog and it’s not just Stick hitting refresh to inflate my counter and make me happy. I … Continue reading

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Extreme Teaching!

English summer camp started last week. I like my girls, and I’m glad that I have a job, but I still feel a little bit bad for these kids. They don’t really get a proper vacation, sincea break from regular … Continue reading

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Geography Lesson

The other day I was doing a unit on countries and nationalities with my Korean students. We’re using a British book about Pierre from France, Carlos from Spain, Ivan from Russia and so forth. I realized it wasn’t too appropriate … Continue reading

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Presents From Home!

Yesterday I was in the office and Will says “Meg! I have to talk to you!” Briefly entertaining fantasies that this conversation would involve my school-sponsored bar tab, I followed him. “Who do you know called Katherine?” he asked. I … Continue reading

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Six Years Later…

I’ve been corresponding with my old roommate, Ruth. She’s working in Washington, DC now, and she dropped words like “senator” and “security clearance” into her letters. She said something along the lines of “six years ago, if someone told us … Continue reading

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A Classical Education At Work

After a lesson on present progressive and some Slytherin vs. Griffindor verb charades, I dismissed my teenagers and came back to the teachers’ office. “Meg, did they have wheelbarrows in ancient Rome?” Jason asked. “I suppose so, they had to … 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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Three Months In China

On my three-month anniversary with China, it was time to renew my visa. This was complicated enough in the US, a system that doesn’t run entirely on bribes and connections. Dealing with UMass administration for five-and-a-half years of college was … Continue reading

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