Re-entry is hard, in many ways even harder than living overseas. In re-entry, you are trying to sort out a massive change in identity,...

There’s a question I’ve come to dread in my life: “Where are you from?” I’ve been asked this question many times by many people, in...

“Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown’d” –“In Memoriam A.H.H.” stanza 1, Lord Alfred Tennyson Love clasping grief as I said goodbye to...

One way I’ve been dealing with my re-entry shock and our isolation is by experimenting with cooking Chinese food. I didn’t cook Chinese...

There’s a metaphor in cross-cultural training that goes something like this: your home culture is a yellow culture and has yellow ways to...

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  I love the memories from when I was young and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered...

On my last trip to the Great Wall, about five minutes after I arrived at the top of the wall, a kid (maybe about 12) mustered up the...

One of my favorite memories from the time I was in the U.S. this fall was teaching several groups of people to make Chinese dumplings....

Every time I post about my attempts to cook Chinese food, American friends who have lived in China ask about The Green Beans.  This dish...

One of my favorite summer drinks is an iced chai latte, especially from Panera, especially when combined with a cinnamon crunch bagel...

I ate chicken feet (okay, a chicken foot) in my own apartment.  Chicken feet are on my list of things I’d rather not eat because of their...