48 hours. Just 48 hours was all it took to turn the tropical paradise that is the island of Phuket into a head-first vomit trip towards the toilet bowl, violently throwing up everything I had consumed since morning (yogurt with granola, one small…
Coming home
I am not ready to go home. I don’t think I’ll be ready for a while. And that in itself is kind of frightening. I’ve been having a few internal crises about being here in China. I can feel that I’m already…
Fighting loneliness
I may write (mostly) about the silly and the inane, but sometimes life abroad get complicated. I go throughout periods of being so happy about my new life in China. It’s disorienting and enthralling (except for the poison water). But then,…
"Where are you from?" and other hard questions
“Where are you from?” This is such a simple question — one of the basic questions I’ve been getting from every stranger I’ve met in Shanghai (aside from ‘are you a ginger?’ which I’ve been asked twice — two more…
My last hours in Boston and encounters with complete strangers
I didn’t think my trip to Boston would end in tears on the stoop of a house at 5am on a Sunday morning. But there I was, mascara running over my red eyes, half in delirium from sleeping less than two…