A glorious walk
I went for a walk this evening, and it was glorious! This is the most at peace I’ve felt in a long time and oh, am I thankful!
A middle of the night trip to the emergency room in China
Lately I’ve been feeling the need to write again – to write my own stories, not just “work” writing. Several ideas have come to mind in the past few days, but I think it’s time to tell you a particular story: the night I went to the emergency room in China in the middle of…
My recipes for homemade Chinese dumplings
In this post I’m sharing my own recipes for six different dumpling filling recipes, which I’ve developed over the past few years.
A visit to a Chinese doctor
Yesterday I visited a Chinese doctor, and since that’s a local experience not many of you have had I thought I would share the story with you.
Neighbourhood walks
Going for walks around our neighbourhood is helping me. It helps calm my mind. It helps stretch my body. It helps ground me, and give me a sense of connection rather than isolation.
Blue sky days
Recently Beijing had a full week of truly blue skies – amazing! Blue sky days bring hope to the grey days. Blue sky days are a reminder that grey is not the way life should be.
Sometimes expat life brings out the worst in you
“Your worst You is coming”… I remember the very moment this hit home for me. I’ve decided to tell you the story. It’s a story that most people enjoy – except me! … This wasn’t my worst “China day”. This was my worst ME day in China.
Different names for Chinese
A list of seven names for the Chinese language in Mandarin, and decoding them all! I thought this would be a nice way to ease back into thinking (and writing) about Chinese language and linguistics.
Simple pleasures: grocery shopping
Grocery shopping yesterday was relaxing. So I decided to deconstruct what made it nice. I succeeded in being a local member of my community, for a few minutes on a sunny Monday morning. Time to celebrate a small success!
Infirmity and Identity, part 2
How do I create forward momentum in my life when that provokes physical pain? I don’t know who I am, so I want to do something, but doing makes me sore, and pain stops me doing, which I feel emotional about because who am I if I can’t do anything?? It’s such a vicious cycle.
Bringing my worlds together through food
I cooked a feast of “normal” home cooking style food. This is comfort food for me – the flavours of local Beijing. There was something so special about sharing the taste of home with the people who are my new home. I felt homesick and at home all at once. It’s been a good day.
China’s One Child Policy – changes in policy and attitude
This latest change allows for each couple to have two children, something most couples were already permitted. It is certainly not a “scrapping” of the policy, as many headlines have screamed. And after decades of the government telling people they really don’t want more than one child, not everyone wants to take advantage of the latest change.
Stories From Tanya 