Well, it would seem that LiveJournal is now blocked by the Great Firewall. Not a big deal because I have a great working VPN, but it's frustrating, because the whole reason I dusted off my LJ was in order to have an easy way to make quick posts without having to use a VPN ( Read more... )

So I've been promising to write a report about the trip I took with my friend, Aiden, to Mudanjiang and the Jianpohu Underground Caves, and today I have a stack of work that I need to get done but don't really want to do, so of course now's the time to waste an entire afternoon and evening writing a trip report instead of grading students' papers. ( Read more... )

It's been a while since I posted anything here, and I just wrote a great entry elsewhere about my run this morning, that I thought worth sharing. Just like my run, I intended to just write a little bit, and it kept getting longer and longer...

( Come, run with me! )

I've heard it all my life. I've even said it myself. This demand on immigrants that if they're in my country, they should learn my language. And then I became a teacher, and my perspective changed ( Read more... )

Sometimes, it seems like drivers in Harbin think that their car can't stop of they don't hit the horn. And some of them even think that their car won't stay standing of their horn isn't working: "Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....ooooooooonk! Oh, green light! ZooooooOOOOOOOOM!"

I like Ikea. I go there at least once a month. The food is tasty, and the deals are great. Especially, Ikea prices are ridiculously cheap in China! It's just a shame that I had to wait until I moved to China to finally go to an Ikea ( Read more... )

Tomorrow is the start of Tomb Sweeping Festival (清明节, Qīngmíng) here in China. It's a public holiday, so for us Americans that pretty much means, we get a couple extra days off, sort of. We have to make up Friday's classes on Sunday. I don't know what happens to Thursday's classes, but we don't have to make them up. So, whatever. Pretty much ( Read more... )

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a language make sense? At least a little? The most common use of hen (很, hěn) is "very" as used with 好, hăo, "good." But look at the meaning of words that rhyme with 很, including one that it's the same tone, 佷, which had only one small stroke difference as written, and it means "on the contrary," probably with ( Read more... )

What would summer be without barbecue? I guess it's a good thing enforcement moves at a glacial pace in China.

Harbin to Ban Outdoor BBQ this Summer?Last week, Heilongjiang province announced its intentions to strengthen policies on the prevention of air pollution and cleanup of urban spaces in 2018. Unfortunately however, it looks like our ( Read more... )

The phrase, "it's been a long day" takes on new meaning when you become an international traveler. When I traveled to Germany, heading back west always resulted in adding about nine hours to my day ( Read more... )