That Wai Guo Ren Life

Story Time! A while back a couple of coworkers and I decided to do something special for a friend's birthday, which for mei guo ren (Americans) often means going to a restaurant that serves Western food.  You can totally find almost any American "comfort food" here in China (peanut butter, Nutella, Frosted Flakes, Pringles, Heinz Ketchup, notice how my list is basically all junk food...), but it does come at a price.  An expensive price.  As such I often don't buy a lot of imported Western food (which is probably also better for my health as well as my bank account), but when it's a friend's birthday, hey, why not for one night? But I digress... This particular Western-style restaurant was actually run by some foreign friends, so it's not knock-off versions of hamburgers and fries.  That night we came in sort of late, so we were the only three customers there.  We were just flipping through the menu at our table when the restaurant own...

Hello, all! Last weekend I was unable to post due to a business trip, but now I'm back and ready to get into the groove of things once again! Girls Team at pre-game warm-ups (shot on my phone) For those of you who don't know, I'm the Marketing Administrator at an American-style international school in Wuhan, China.  Most of my job involves making marketing strategies, researching, meetings (oh, so many meetings!), and even some graphic design, but last weekend I had the opportunity to try something new. I became a sports photographer. There are seven international schools in China that are run by the same organization (including the one I work at), and every year they have a variety of inter-school tournaments, fairs, and even Model United Nations.  Last weekend was the High School Basketball Tournament in Wuxi, and I got the go-ahead to tag along and take pictures for marketing purposes. And I was pretty nervous. See, I'm not a professional photographer...

This is not the first time I've been to China.  The first time I came was for five weeks in the summer of 2016 with an organization called ELIC .  After a week of orientation in Beijing, my six-person team taught two 10-day English camps for High Schoolers: one in Wujin, Changzhou and one in Changsha.  Now as I've returned to China for not even a full month yet, I've found myself already falling back into the habits I barely got comfortable with last summer.  Somehow it's just familiar enough to make the transition a little smoother. Never been to China before?  Going to China for the first time and curious as to what to expect culturally?  Here's a quick list of some habits you'll likely pick up (or be forced to pick up) in your first few weeks in country. 1.  How Do These Things Work?      This one's kind of a no-brainer.  The Chinese have been eating almost exclusively with chopsticks for thousands of years, so it...

Welcome to That Wai Guo Ren Life ! This blog is an expat (the "wai guo ren's") perspective on living in Mainland China.  It's a place where I can discuss my experiences of living and working in a culture and a country that's quite different from my own, with insights, funny stories, and anecdotes that are hopefully both intriguing and helpful for anyone who is considering visiting or living in China.  Even for those of you who have no desire to come to China I hope that you'll learn a bit more about the Chinese, their rich culture and history, and see the world with a new lens in your "worldview glasses" through reading this blog. New posts will be published once a week, usually on the weekends.  In the meantime, feel free to explore around in the About and Photos tabs, and please check back again! - Soli Deo Gloria! - Chrisi