COVID-19: Then and Now
Over the course of this pandemic I had the pleasure of being interviewed twice for the Fancy Face & Friends podcast. Our first conversation took place while I was traveling for Lunar New Year in eastern Europe. At this time, the virus was still being referred to as a novel coronavirus. Our second conversation took place after I’d returned to…
How Much Does it Cost to Move Abroad?
I originally came to China in 2019 on a four-month contract. Although I don’t love China, I opted to renew the contract for an additional year. The job didn’t suck, and the city wasn’t horrible. I figured another year wouldn’t kill me. I bet there’s a coronavirus joke to be made in there somewhere… Even prior to the onset of…
Teaching in China During COVID-19
Teaching in China this spring has been quite the experience. The semester began, as scheduled, on February 10th. Instead of physically returning to campus after the month-long Lunar New Year holiday, we started teaching online. The epidemic prevention period in China, AKA “Coronavirus Lockdown” was already a few weeks old by then. From late January until just recently, all across…
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: Bucket List Gem or Radioactive Hellscape?
I’m pretty sure just reading the words “Chernobyl Exclusion Zone” instantly conjures images of death, destruction, and nuclear contamination. This April, it will have been 34 years since the meltdown in Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. Despite the scale of the disaster, the official death toll is just 54, which doesn’t include the…
Using the Internet in China…the Frustrating Truth
If I’m honest, there are quite a few things that annoy me about living in China. The Chinese don’t understand my need for personal space. They stare at me ALL OF THE TIME. Don’t even get me started on the spitting… I could go on, but I won’t. But by far the biggest frustration has been the internet. There hasn’t…
How to Visit the Three Gorges Dam Without a Tour
Scroll down if you only care about HOW to visit the Three Gorges Dam on your own. But keep reading if you’re curious about WHY I even bothered. It is no secret that I have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with travel within China. I don’t like crowds, something very difficult to avoid in a country of 1.3 billion people.…
Black and Living in Asia
Here’s the conversation Nicholas “Fancy Face” Harris and I had discussing our experiences living in Asia as Black people. He lives in Taiwan. I live on the mainland. Although we technically live in the same country, in a lot of ways our experiences have been vastly different. You can read more about my experiences living in mainland China below: teaching…
What You Need to Know About International Pet Travel
International travel with a pet can be a complex process depending on where you’re going. I’ve taken my dog, Mia, to three different countries so far and while the basic process is the same, the depth and complexity have varied quite a bit. My hope is to arm you with enough information so that you know where to start and…
