on teaching first grade (never again!), being a spinster, auntie life, good friends.
yes, we're still teaching in masks . . . My grandma taught first grade for over thirty years, most of it in Antioch, California at a very low-income school. Cringing, I can remember using her as “senior experience” in high... Continue Reading →
*goes on a trip to a foreign country and comes back wanting to show you pictures of the cats she saw* "What's up, I'm Rachel." I haven’t been in a serious relationship with something besides a bread recipe or tv... Continue Reading →
making ALL the new friends and being super normal. An ex-marine, a PE teacher slash rugby player slash crossfit star, a documentary film-maker coming from the front-lines of Ukraine, a gorgeous gay farmer from Oklahoma, a Barbie-looking tv producer from... Continue Reading →
finally got to change this!!!!! Day Two https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ZXc7Ofu3ZNZY5OBJe42tX?si=514f7dac18e54d3a I went into my classroom this week to regroup and set up for a return to face-to-face learning for the first time since January 13th. It made me sad to clear away... Continue Reading →
we love a fancy dress! It’s a crisp 65 F in Hong Kong. Locals are in puffy jackets, boots, scarves. The sidewalk carts roasting chestnuts over an open fire (a phenomenon which, before I moved here and witnessed in the... Continue Reading →
literally crying of happiness to leave the hotel at midnight, come what may. You know how when little kids lose it, they go limp noodle, swing their arms around like they're boneless, and look up at the sky and just... Continue Reading →
Having one Qtip jammed up into my brain and then another one scraped against my esophagus by a stranger dressed in a hazmat suit while I am locked inside a hotel room was decidedly not how I expected to celebrate my four year anniversary of moving to Hong Kong, but here we are. Thanks, Covid.
Last summer, the two weeks quarantine upon arrival were in my apartment, which was hard for a laundry list of reasons, but I gotta hand it to the HK gov’t - they know how to make things much, MUCH harder! Luckily (I guess), after a year of going nowhere, even with the mandated hotel quarantine, I was desperate to get home so I took the plunge. In a way, I was almost looking forward to the adventure of returning to Hong Kong and trying out the new system. If nothing else, some character building and a good story, right?
100 percent you don't have to count the last year of your life if you don't feel like getting older. The pandemic has stolen a lot from us: I'm inclined to agree that it was a wash of a year,... Continue Reading →
We saw dolphins in the surf on the second night, and I sprinted into the ocean to try and make friends (if I recall correctly, I did an Ace Ventura impression. It did not work but by golly, I felt alive). I shivered on the walk back to the dining commons, made two trips to the pasta bar, and then by silent, mutual consent, the group decided running was hard and pasta was good, and sporadic dolphin chasing missions were more fun and probably counted as cardio.
Updating the 20-something tips I wrote a year ago about surviving the "new normal." (honestly, if I never hear that phrase again . . . )
Sunglasses Always Fit 