I remember, during our time at the Elmhurst, one of the reasons A and would get along so well (aside from our penchant for late-night Moscow Mules and long-winded heart-to-hearts on the fire escape at odd hours of the night), was the fact that I…
Reverse cultural shock or my first hours back in the U.S.
“For those of you coming home tonight, welcome home”. I had told myself I would be emotional during my ‘grand’ return home, but somewhere along the way, I started chocking back tears when my flight took off from Pudong airport (those being tears…
Life Abroad: What I expected and what really happened
Living in a foreign place never turns out the way you would have thought it to have turned out. And right now, I’m panicking. Hard. In about two weeks, I’m flying back to the U.S. for the first time in almost a year. It’s…
What exactly would be an “authentic Shanghai experience” be?
My Dad left this past Saturday. Since he’s flown back, I’ve just regained my sense of a routine (if being trapped in bed for two straight days hopped up on all the DayQuil that he had brought from the U.S. could count…
The 30-day Countdown: One year later
In June 2014, a few days after coming back from Russia and just a month before departing for Shanghai, I wrote a blog post about counting down the days in the last month, but I decided against publishing it. I’m not…
How to drink coffee in China
Like many things in China, the Shanghainese coffee culture is a little.. off. Drinking coffee in China is a rather bizarre experience, and I’m not quite sure whether it lags behind or somehow surpasses its US equivalent (probably the former). Below are some of…
4 reasons it hurts to sit down and other ways to get fit in Shanghai
Picture this: you’re in a dimly-lit room and German techno is thumping through the speakers. There is a woman in spandex in front of you and she’s illuminated by a lone floodlight (eerie and unnecessarily dramatic). Her shadow is almost…
The problem with living in China aka "Thoughts on Housekeeping Part II"
One of the problems with living abroad is, that after a while, life in a new city can begin to lose its initial thrill or its sense of excitement. You become immune to the shock of only buying fruits at…
2014: The year in brunch
I think 2014 was the year I re-discovered brunch. Now okay, that’s a sweeping (and honestly kind of stupid) statement, but it’s kind of true. Brunch is not one of those meals that we need to eat (like breakfast is supposedly, but for…
Thoughts from Tea Bottle Caps
In lieu of posting today, I’m reprinting an entry I wrote for my old (now long-gone) blog on 10-21-2010. A little glimpse at my life as a 19-year-old in New England Two nights ago, at Blue State Coffee on York, as…
Things I'm Not Used To
I’ve missed home so much this week. And since I’ve been at work for about 18 days in a row now, in lieu of posting today, I’m reprinting an entry I wrote for my old blog on 2010-14-12. A little…
Chocolate, Chess, and the Elmhurst
This weekend I saw a side to Shanghai I hadn’t seen before. It was raw, crumbling, boarded-up, and really quite visceral. Saturday was one of those perfect afternoons where things just seem to go right (except the weather, nothing ever goes…