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Continue reading →: Chinese toilets, tainted water, and other colorful detailsThis morning I woke up, slipped my feet into a tacky pair of red and white, foam-filled slippers, and then promptly walked straight through our apartment and out the door. I crossed the dirty, dim hall space and ascended the narrow staircase beside a weird, pointless little sink mounted outside…
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Continue reading →: You will never guess what I bought the other dayI’ve made a lot of decisions in the past few months, and years, that would have probably shocked my younger self. But, I must admit that the older I get, the more I realize that being a hypocrite is a necessary part of growing up. There have been times in…
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Continue reading →: Do you know how to cross the street?A Chinese friend told us a great story the other day that has stuck with me ever since. Charles (his English name) had recently arrived for a summer program at UC Berkeley when he went for a walk in the neighborhood surrounding the school. He waited for the light to…
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Continue reading →: The gold bathroom, the house full of wine, sock cityYiwu is a business city located just 50 minutes by high-speed train from Hangzhou. Almost everyone I’ve met here who does business in China has heard about Yiwu. No, it’s not particularly beautiful. Nor is it the site of some special festival or touristy place. Instead, it’s famous for its…
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Continue reading →: Cooking in ChinaThere are two very cute French girls who sit behind me in my Chinese class. They look impeccable, they have wonderful skin, they wear chic things, and sometimes they are adorably pathetic at pronouncing tones. When my teacher explained that there are no tenses in Chinese, I could see the…
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Continue reading →: Clothing shopping in ChinaYesterday I spent the afternoon shopping for what I previously thought was an international clothing staple: T-shirts. When packing for China, I had to be ruthlessly discerning of my wardrobe–was my spring/fall trench coat worth the space? Would I really wear that layered miniskirt? And then there were the season…
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Continue reading →: The girl who’d never ridden a bikeMali is a 21-year-old from the Philippines with ‘Chinese blood’. At first glance, most people living here in Zhejiang province in China assume that she’s local. As I sat across the table from Mali and her two friends, Biyu and Tainu, the three young people discussed their ethnicity with mathematical exactitude.…
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Continue reading →: Airports, airplanes, and a hostel in ShanghaiThey say “it’s important to learn something new everyday”. I can safely say that travelling to the other side of the world helps me to live according to the adage! Since leaving Minneapolis on August 30th, I’ve gathered quite a few insights. If you don’t mind, I’d like to share…
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Continue reading →: Moving to China? BIG MISTAKEAbout a month ago a made a shocking announcement to the world: I’m moving to China. However, even more shocking than the news about my relocation were the outlandish warnings or “insights” that people felt obligated to share in response (because it’s just important that you know these things). Sometimes, it…
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Continue reading →: Former love poem
He did profess his love for meTwo sheets were lined and smallEncased within an envelopeWere words the whole world tall My eyes sat fixed with pleading stareUpon the purest scrollDespite the author’s clarityI could not read the letters whole They fell apart upon the groundAnd there they laid to restLike…
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mckenzie malanaphy 