After a much needed respite at home— relaxing, seeing old friends, celebrating the holidays and my 23rd birthday, watching movies with my mother, eating home-cooked (western-style) meals, and scrapbooking— I got back on board a flight headed towards Asia once again. (more…)

Coming home has been a whirlwind, and a good one.

I took a detour on my way back to the midwest. From Beijing I hopped a plane and found myself in New York with three of my favorite travel buddies: Nicole, Dan B and Dan R from my Taiwanese summer.  (more…)

My 4 months in Beijing are up.

December was a hurried month, I’m honestly not even sure where the time went. It was filled with getting papers written, flyby English teaching sessions, packing, buying presents, mailing presents, mailing stuff to Taiwan, figuring out how to afford Taiwan, figuring out how to afford  New York, seeing friends, saying goodbye to friends, figuring out where I stood on different situations and scenarios and what exactly it is that I want to do with my near future.

So you see, there wasn’t much time to realize that time was up.

But now that it is, I can look back and realize what I gained in China.
I learned a lot in Beijing. (more…)

I finally did tons of sight-seeing and played the role of a proper tourist in Beijing. I think I’ve hit just about every major spot in the city. There’s always other cool things to do here, but at least I’ve seen the “main attractions.” (more…)

So since I’m going to be moving to Taiwan (woot woot!), I need money. (more…)