Do With It What You Want

There are hundreds of thoughts streaming through my head during the last few days. I feel like there is enough information in my dome to write a book. A book about what? I have no idea. I just sense a flood of thoughts and emotions. These thoughts contain a wide spectrum of topics including: society, [...]

Is This Still China?

Some remarkable things are happening in China. I think we can all agree that China is changing at break-neck speeds. However, today was one of those days that took me by surprise. I woke up this morning confident that this is still the China of olden days, but now at the end of the day [...]

I Know My Name

Dear Random Chinese Person,
I just want you to know that i know my name. I know that my name is Laowai (foreigner). Therefore, since i know my name, please understand that when you see me walking down the street and you call my name i always know you are talking about me. If you think [...]

Teach

Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

— Vladimir Lenin

Loyalty and Integrity - you decide

Which is more important — Loyalty or Integrity?
Ready… Set… GO!

Let the Wind Blow

Sometimes during this time of year the wind will blow very hard at night. As a matter of fact, the other day was a very smoggy, gross day and by the time night fell the wind was really beginning to pick up and blow pretty hard. I had to give a lecture that night so [...]

How to DIY a Jet

This story comes from the endless archive of stories i have from teaching in a Chinese university:
Last Tuesday in my writing class we were discussing process paragraphs. A process paragraph is when you write a paragraph on how to do something. As a brief exercise i had the students write a simple process paragraph. I [...]

They Are Beautiful People

After spending less than three days in Laos i can easily tell you that i fell in love with another culture and another people group. The people of Laos are beautiful people in every way imaginable. Their easy-going attitude is a sharp reminder that us Americans are far too uptight. Their smiles and laughter is [...]

Turbulence

As i process my time in Laos i have a few stories to tell that aren’t really related to my actual time in the country. The first story is about turbulence:
I hate flying. Most people know that about me. The anxiety and sweaty palms and racing heart is all so draining for me physically and [...]

Laos - ready or not here i come

I have a flight bright and early on Wednesday morning headed for Vientiane, Laos. My flight will take me through Kunming first and then down to Laos.
If everything happens as scheduled then i’ll arrive in Vientiane at about 2:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. My flight back to Beijing is Friday afternoon at about 2:50 p.m. I’ll [...]