My final post for Esperanza I have been writing for this blog for just shy of a year, and my words here have been the first that I’ve really let go into the universe. Writing on the internet is scary; anyone (anyone!) can read it, love it, hate it, comment on it, ignore it, shar
Authentic videos for learning Chinese What is it? Yabla Chinese is a site aimed at helping learners of Mandarin improve their listening proficiency through watching “authentic” videos. Often, listening comprehension tools are based on scripts that sound unnatural and contrived, and th
On the other side of the canola harvest This past weekend, my friend CJ and I went on an adventure to Luoping, which is about a 3.5-hour train ride away from Kunming, in Yunnan province, China. Luoping has several scenic tourist spots but is best known for its canola fields, which sna
Trusting myself to take less When this post gets published, I’ll be in China! The countdown is finally over. And along with all the excitement and nerves and last-minute errands of the past few days, I made the startling and liberating discover that I can travel light. A few wee
Urban adventuring is my favourite kind of day trip I leave for China in about two weeks (!), and it’ll be my biggest trip in three years. Three years without a major trip feels like a long time, but in the past couple of years I’ve enjoyed a different kind of travel: the urban m
Why don’t I speak French? When I travel and people find out I’m Canadian, I often get asked if I speak French. And when I say no, I’m often met with disbelief or puzzlement. How can you not speak French?—it’s a official language of your country! How can I not speak French? IR
The Inspector Chen Series What is it? The Inspector Chen books are a series of detective novels by Chinese poet and writer Qiu Xiaolong. The eight-book series follows Chief Inspector Chen Cao, a police detective, as he solves murders in present-day Shanghai. Who is it for? Anyone who
Questioning the language of escape Last week I went on a short trip to Boston to attend a wedding. I was excited about the trip for many reasons, including that I was travelling sans computer. I recently wrote about travelling without a camera, but the last time I left for the airport
Can I go to China without a camera? A close friend of mine recently came back from a few months in India, and during our hours-long catch-up one of the things we talked about was taking travel photos. It seems like such an integral part of travel: bringing a camera, sending home pictu
Things to do when you’re in love with language I like Valentine’s Day. I know it has a dubious history and is probably the most commercialized holiday after Christmas. But setting heart-shaped chocolates and saccharine advertising aside, I think it’s quite lovely to
