by Alison | Apr 8, 2026 | Blog, Just Life
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...
by Alison | Apr 1, 2026 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture, Just Life
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...
by Alison | Mar 25, 2026 | Blog, Just Life
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...
by Alison | Mar 18, 2026 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture, Just Life
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...
by Alison | Mar 4, 2026 | Blog, Travels
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...