In case you missed the announcement at the end of my last post and the fifty billion times I screamed about it on the Facebook and the Twitter, this happened on Sunday:  

I could pretend to be all surprised and, like, “Wow, I had no idea I would win.”

But I’m not going to [...]

Before we get this thing started, I should probably mention that I’ve never actually experienced the Chinese New Year in China.

But I have a pretty good feeling about it.

From what I’ve seen so far, Chinese New Year involves lots of shiny stuff.

And dragons. (2012 being the Year of the Dragon, [...]

Merry Christmas*, y’all.

Now I know that we said that we wouldn’t be getting each other presents this year. (We said that, right? Or at least I know I said that.)

But I got you something anyway!

Ta-da!

(Okay, if you’re reading this blog post on an RSS reader thingie or in an email, [...]

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in Wuxi.

Christmas wreaths and glittery Santa Claus wall decorations have popped up in the shops and restaurants around town.

The big grocery stores have been blaring Christmas songs in English for the past month.  (And, seeing as I’m usually the only native English speaker [...]

This weekend, I’ll be heading to Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, to hang out with an American friend I met in Japan. This is the only real trip I have planned for my whole summer, so I’m pretty excited about it.

I haven’t traveled with this friend before, but I have a feeling [...]