I spent last Saturday dedicated to fashion.  Yes, me and fashion.  We held hands, whispered in each other’s ears, and just giggled all day.  The thing is, we hadn’t seen each other in a while. You see, we used to be much closer, but then I bought a place.  And well, fashion turned into a new garbage disposal for the sink, HOA fees and so, you get the point.  We grew apart. Now, within this blog, I may have mentioned several thousand times how things just aren’t convenient here.  For instance, I really want a bulletin board to hang things…

Today was a beautiful day in Shekou. My friend and I had lunch outside and the sun on my face felt phenomenal.  The air has been terribly polluted lately.  Try to imagine about 1,000 buses with smoke pouring out of exhaust driving in circles around your neighborhood all day – bingo, you are in Shekou.  Well, we had some rain, clearing out the smog and on top of that, the temperature has just dropped.  It’s surprisingly cold, but great to wear winter clothes!  It’s a wonderful way to start winter break. I’ve now been here for about six months and…

People assume that I know a lot about cameras.  It’s a reasonable assumption as I have a website dedicated to my photos and I love to take pictures.  However, there have been many times when I haven’t been able to get the photo I wanted because I don’t know how to work my camera.  And now I have a fantastic camera with a great lens and I thought, it’s time to face a long-standing fear – the mechanics of a camera. Look. Numbers, mechanics, logic… not strengths. I have learned to work around and even become more logical, mechanical, and…

I miss my family and friends.

‘You kick defenseless puppies?’ Well, no I don’t but since I have told people that I am not traveling this Christmas break, the reaction is about the same.  You see; it’s really easy to travel here.  I am going to Bangkok over the Chinese New Year and the cost was about $221 US round trip.  Not bad. However, I have decided to stay in Shenzhen for Christmas, as there are several things I want to do and see around here.  I am taking a couple of photography classes in Hong Kong, plan to visit Macau, and a couple of friends…

My landlord and a worker just left my apartment. It’s been about four months since I got here and I am now just putting up my photographs.  I would have liked to have put them up myself but apparently in Shekou, something about the walls, one needs a worker to hang things. I still have a couple of items I want to get but overall, my place is starting to feel like home. Right now, I am trying to decide if I want to go anywhere over the holiday break.  I mean, such a tough decision… Bali, Istanbul, Beijing.  These are…

The headscarves threw me a bit at first.  I am simply not used to seeing so many in one place.  I had never traveled to a Muslim country, but there I was in Malaysia surrounded by hijabs (google it).  Now the interesting thing about Malaysia though is that there are other religions happening there, so it’s actually quite diverse. However in every hotel, there was an arrow on the ceiling pointing towards Mecca, and I did hear the call to prayer a couple of times. I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Per usual, Westerners tend to stand out in Asian countries,…

Super excited.  Going to Malaysia in like, 36 hours…  so of course, I have to get my hair done.  Well, it turns out there is a woman in Shekou that does western hair.  I went to her tonight and I am loving the do!  At this salon, it costs extra to get it styled, but I paid because it’s worth it.  In case you didn’t know, my hair takes about 162 hours to blow dry.  I am not really kidding.  It’s pretty thick and if I want it to look effortless, I put in a lot of effort.  Some days…

I recently downloaded Kanye West’s new single ‘Monster’.  Due to the content, I would never play this song at a family gathering or in my classroom.  However, as an adult, I do enjoy his music even though he is probably an egomaniac in real life. I digress. The other day, I woke up from a fantastically restful nap and as I looked out of my window onto China’s South Sea, I thought to myself, now what?   I mean I worked so hard to get here.  I completely changed my life, uprooted myself, interrupted others’ lives and there I was, stretching…

I am a teary mess.  I can see my parents boat from the Star Ferry as I put-put my way towards the terminal.  Mom, Dad, Aunt Judy, and Uncle Patrick had just arrived a little more than 26 hours ago and it’s goodbye all over again. It’s so strange to find us all in China. They are cruising the Far East on a luxury liner.  Let me tell you, that is where the living is easy.  It’s wonderful to think of them enjoying themselves comfortably while they tour the world.  The weirdness for me is that two years ago, I…