The Best Sushi in Guangzhou: Sushiro
I like sushi. The best sushi I’ve ever had was in Japan, at a fish market in Tokyo. Two of my Japanese friends took me there, and even though I don’t usually prefer to eat raw fish, that one was perfect. We even had puffer fish which is poisonous if it is prepared...
What is traditional Chinese music like?
One of the advantages of being a university teacher is that I get the chance to see amazing performances. The other day, my roommate, Kendra, and I were out having adventures in the city (I’ll have to tell you more about those in another post). As we were getting on...
How to Motivate My Chinese Students to Talk
I often have colleagues complain that their students don’t talk in class—the good kind of talking. When I hear these complaints, I always feel a bit sad. I feel sad for the teacher because I know how frustrating that is, but I also feel bad for the students who don’t...
Understanding Ancient Chinese Poems
This semester, I decided to join one of my roommate’s Chinese classes. When she told me that one of her classes is Chinese Literature, I was pretty excited as that is a topic that interests me. Really, literature from any culture is interesting to me, but since I’m...
Food in Vietnam
My roommate has now spent three months (altogether) living in Vietnam with her friend’s family, and while she enjoys some of the food, her biggest struggle during that time was the food. For that reason, I had low expectations about the food as I prepared to go visit...
Phantom of the Opera in Guangzhou Opera House
I love watching live musicals, and Guangzhou Opera House is a wonderful place to enjoy them. Few of the musicals I've seen are as impressive or beautiful as Phantom. I love the costumes and most of all the music. The story is a bit frustrating. The first time I saw...
Another kind of traveling
When I used to teach IELTS speaking or just regular spoken English classes, I liked to have a travel lesson, and one of the questions I often asked the students (usually as a warm-up or introduction) was: How do you like to travel? With family, with a friend, with...
What to do when there is construction in your building…
I have realized that I need to be more thankful for the blessings in my life rather than allowing myself to wallow in pity parties. I’ve been reading Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic. If a man with no arms and no legs can be thankful, I should be able to be...
Fun things to do (and eat!) in Yunfu, Guangdong
Last week was super cold, at least for this area of the world with no central heating. The cold had seeped into my apartment, and staying warm was a bit of a challenge. So I was thankful that some friends and I planned to go to some hot springs for the weekend. My...
Hiking MacLehose Trail (Section 1)
On our quest to hike all of the MacLehose trail (100 km total!), Jaye planned another hiking adventure. This time, we planned to do sections one and three. I was a little hesitant about the feasibility of this plan, especially when Jeff did some calculations and...