It was so rainy that day, but at least it was mostly a steady, manageable sprinkle. An umbrella would have been great. Instead of that, I had a light purple, quick-dry, button down shirt (my favorite for excursions), a pair of thin all-purpose black slacks, Chaco sandals, and hair pulled back so the raindrops couldContinue reading “Jagalchi Fish Market”
Category Archives: travel
5 Albanian Foods to Try
Albanian food is good, first of all. It’s heavy on meats and cheeses, but with Greek food alongside to balance things out. The nation Greece is just to the southeast, which explains the presence of giros as pretty much the only available “fast food”. (Hey, none of us are complaining!) This also means that GreekContinue reading “5 Albanian Foods to Try”
Top 5 Places to See in Korcë, Albania
Korcë may not be a large town, but it is quite well known in Albania. Its mountainous climate is noticeably different from the lower Mediterranean areas, making the winters snowier and the summers cooler. People from the capital of Tirana like to come up to Korcë for summer getaways. This town has so much toContinue reading “Top 5 Places to See in Korcë, Albania”
Culture Shock
Have you ever been homesick? Maybe you were young and away at summer camp, and started missing your mom (or her cooking). Maybe you were older and away at university, and started missing your dog. Or your friends from your hometown, or just having a sofa and a fully stocked fridge instead of bunk bedsContinue reading “Culture Shock”
VPNs and the Great Firewall
For foreigners, life goes on as normal until a national holiday or politically sensitive anniversary rolls around. That’s when the VPNs stop working. I never could get used to how eerie that felt – you think the VPN is the workaround, the sneaky backdoor around the Great Firewall, but then you find out they canContinue reading “VPNs and the Great Firewall”
What’s Suzhou Like? (Part 2)
The last post discussed Suzhou in very general terms, so here’s the good stuff – inside details on where to go, what to do, and where everyone hangs out on the weekend! (The focus here is on places that are maximally accessible to non-Chinese speakers like myself.) Suzhou Center is so obvious it has toContinue reading “What’s Suzhou Like? (Part 2)”
What’s Suzhou Like? (Part 1)
Suzhou has long been renowned in poems and proverbs for its beauty, which is largely derived from its many canals and traditional Chinese gardens. Not for nothing has Suzhou been called the Venice of the East!
Taking Anxiety on the Road
Like Po in Kung Fu Panda, who sees that the scroll is blank, please understand that there is nothing so fundamentally wrong with you that you can’t show up as yourself and succeed.
Seoul’s Quarantine Experience
In late June I flew from the tropical, U.S. military-laden, coronavirus-free island of Okinawa to Seoul, capital and largest city of South Korea. You know, the place where all the planes fly in. I spent the next two weeks in a non-optional, government-designated quarantine facility, as did everyone who arrived in South Korea on aContinue reading “Seoul’s Quarantine Experience”
Diving In
Oh, man! The first few months in China were chaotic, and therefore a rousing good time. (Those are ducks in the picture above, by the way.) My definition of a good time, mind you, is sheltered and quirky and rather skewed, and if you haven’t met me, now is probably the time to warn youContinue reading “Diving In”
Grace in the Wild 