I keep hearing people talk about things “going back to normal” soon. Spoiler alert: I don’t think we’re going to back to normal. I...

There’s a question I’ve come to dread in my life: “Where are you from?” I’ve been asked this question many times by many people, in...

A couple weeks ago, I read “Never the Stranger” by Kate Kooyman on The Twelve blog about not just offering, but receiving hospitality. ...

There’s a metaphor in cross-cultural training that goes something like this: your home culture is a yellow culture and has yellow ways to...

The day I enjoyed the tulips, I also saw something that made my heart heavy: a “marriage market.”  I’d heard of this phenomenon in China,...

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  I love the memories from when I was young and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered...

On my last trip to the Great Wall, about five minutes after I arrived at the top of the wall, a kid (maybe about 12) mustered up the...

Matchmaking is alive and well in China.  Not through an official matchmaker, but through everyone’s efforts, especially those over 50....

This post is a reflection on what living in China is teaching me about Lent—the six weeks when the church remembers the suffering and...

Foreigners in China have a phrase, “this is China,” sometimes abbreviated T.I.C.  It is usually used to describe situations that don’t go...

Visitor: Is that our bus honking the horn? Experienced with China Friends: (with a shrug of their shoulders) Maybe… Visitor: (trying to...

When you rent an apartment in China, you can never be totally sure of what might not work properly, what problems might crop up, and what...

A fun thing about living in China is pineapple season!  Pineapples aren’t grown in Beijing, but they appear for sale everywhere in the...

Back in December, I learned about a new (to me) band called Eine Blume on the Velvet Ashes blog.  Their newest album is called Farewell...

This weekend, I finally mustered up the courage to get a haircut in Beijing.  That’s right, I went over six months without getting my...

Happy New Year, everyone!  The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, and today is the first day of the New Year.  (Note:...

During Advent, I spent time with two of my favorite Biblical characters: Zechariah and Elizabeth.  This was an ordinary Israelite couple...

When I was preparing to move, people kept telling me I’m really brave.  I don’t think of myself as brave.  I don’t feel brave.  When I...