Entry Fourteen: Summer’s Dust

In June, something went wrong with my body. Life disappointments, work stress, birth control induced hormone imbalance, sleep deprivation – who knows what other factors – and I got slammed with the black brick bag of depression. The sort where you wake up with a body in crisis – a vacuum in your chest sucking […]

Entry Thirteen: 26 things I learned in my 26th year

Two years ago, in another blog, I wrote a post on my 24th birthday that listed 24 things I had learned in my 24th year. For this entry, I am to write 26 things I learned in my 26th year. This may break a little from my traditional “place” centered entry – but traveling has […]

Entry Twelve: Whole

What makes one feel whole? What will so deeply satiate one, enough so that their soul hungers for nothing? Bali, or the Bali that I saw, Ubud and Canggu, is spilling over with tourists who are hungry. Hungry for spiritual awakening. Hungry for white water. Hungry for beauty, fitness, quiet, parties, sex, oblivion, organic vegan […]

Entry Eleven: Communion

^^ Strawberries are SO melt-in-your-mouth SWEET this time of year! ^^ It has been over six months since I left NYC and moved to Ningbo, China. My first entry was entitled, “I travel alone, in love.” Yes, I love to be alone when traveling. I love to think and drink in the environment. But I […]

Entry Ten: Seas of Towers

For the Spring Festival, I went to Tianjin, Beijing, and Harbin. In Tianjin, I met family members that I’ve never met before – descendants of my grandmother’s cousin. I celebrated the new year with them in their apartment in the suburbs. In Beijing, I spent time in the art district, wandered around Tiananmen Square and […]

Entry Nine: Winter into Spring

One of my favorite parts of life is the end of one season and the beginning of another. I mean literally: summer into fall, fall into winter, winter into spring. It always seems to come at just the right moment. Just as I am craving hot tea and buckling orange leaves, the melting heat of […]

Entry Eight: A Year of Travel, A Year of Haikus

新年快乐 – Xīnnián kuàilè !!! Happy New Year!!! I just figured out that the Mandarin word for fast – 快 – kuài – is put with a word for happy – 乐 – lè – to make a wishing happy (like Happy birthday! Happy Christmas!) So a literal translation of Happy New Year in Chinese could […]

Entry Seven: Live for the Spark of Life

Three months in, twelve to go. I want to be the unattached Buddha that is ultimately present in every moment of the day – especially as here I am, in this adventure! – but it is difficult not to swell with longing for my family, for my friends that are like family, for the wild, […]

Entry Six: Do you get China?

This week’s writings are from a weekend getaway I took to Suzhou and a day trip I took to the TianTong Temple outside Ningbo. They are also infused with my consumption of NYTimes articles about China, Chinese films/books that are banned in China, and of course, my general day to day interactions with Chinese citizens […]

Entry Five: American Treasures

“As a writer, I know I carry all the accumulated moments of my life” – Natalie Goldberg, The True Secret of Writing, Connecting Life with Language The title of this blog resonates with me even more so when I am away. My dreams roam the blizzarding mountain passes we drove into the Rockies when I was […]