Things you will always see on a trip to rural China: A snake slithering inside your village hotel. A snake’s head snapped in half in front of a crowd after it was found inside the village hotel. Girls going up hiking trails wearing…
The Shilin Night Market, a pork-belly-shaped stone, and other things you can only find in Taiwan
The plastic sheet doors bring a cool air and tanks of giant crabs softly scraping at the edges of the water, abalone, mollusks, spindly lobsters, sweet shrimp, tiger shrimp, giant shrimp, geoducks, mussels, oysters, and coral-colored fish. It’s dizzying and intoxicating and I want to eat all of it.
Freedom
“Foreign girls are so brave. Your parents cut you off at 18 and then you’re left on your own. I wish people in China did something similar.” I nod, silently wishing that I could still spend the rest of my manicure finishing…
Shanghai Summer
The bead of sweat forms at the nape of my neck and travels to the small of my back. We breathe in the warm air, gulping sea water in the Shanghai humidity. My shirt sticks to the back of my…
Things I'll miss about Russia and things I've missed about Shanghai
Not having to confront my mortality every time I cross the street..
So you're taking your American boyfriend to meet your Russian grandmother
You will cut down an apple tree. You will saw apple wood for barbecue, eat the barbecue chicken straight off the skewer outside, and drink vodka for lunch because it fits the occasion. D is with me visiting my grandparents…