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,...

If you are an American child of the 80’s like me, one of your earliest exposures to China might have been the Sesame Street Special, “Big...

“Return Slowly” sign at The Hermitage Community Last week, I heard a story. There was once a group of Western scientists that wanted to...

This summer, I spent some time in the U.S. getting to visit lots of family and friends.  I spent time in Michigan and went out on a East...

My Chinese class just finished reading an essay about emperor Kangxi, one of China’s greatest emperors.  Somehow in our discussion,...

I currently have a six-month visa that can’t be renewed in Beijing.  In order to get a new one, I had to take a trip to Hong Kong.  Since...

After our beautiful day in Jiuzhaigou, we took a 9+ hour bus ride south, through the area where the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake was,...

This week I fulfilled a 9-year old dream: to visit Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan Province, China.  I’ve been hearing about this...

I had visitors this week, and I took them to the Great Wall Wednesday.  There are several portions north of Beijing, and the one we went...

Writers pay attention; they notice things.  This was one of my takeaways from Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Writing.  I want to...