Adventures in Asia

I hate exercise. I had heard about the traumas of working-out-in-front-of-an-audience from fellow expats. I was not interested in going to the gym in China. But I love my husband and he wanted to and it’s healthy so I went anyway. Here’s what it was like for us! One of the signs in our gym - gotta love the English, lol. We visited three different gyms before committing. The first one was super small, technically a sports club, located in a hotel. The price was a little steep, but there wasn’t a membership fee. The owner made us tea and kindly answered all our questions. The second one was big, hot, and loud. Unintelligible club music thumped through the whole place. Rows and rows of machines were occupied by young adults who, of course, stared at the weird foreigner (me). My husband and I started sweating during the tour. I was not impressed. The third gym was on the tenth, top floor of a building. They had a lot of space and were more affordable. I liked the yog...

Vacation is here! School’s out for summer, school’s out forever! Woohoo! A few weeks of no class means I’m States-side for the first time in nine months. The following is a list of things I keep having to remind myself now that I’m home in midwest America and not in northern China. 1. Strangers are going to talk to you. A lot. And it’s going to feel weird, because (a) they can speak fluent English (what the heck?), and (b) it’s a lot of small talk that you aren’t used to. In Asia, conversation at the checkout or with a waiter is brief. In America, strangers are friendly and will talk to you more. And you’ll probably accidentally end up telling them you just returned from China. (How does that even happen?) 2. Public restrooms will have western toilets (not squatty potties), furnished with tp and soap. You no longer have to keep your bag stocked with tissue and hand sanitizer. Isn’t it great? 3. Clean up after yourself at Starbucks, McDonalds, Panera, Moe’s, and al...