The (Asian) Education of Miss 爱美丽

So you thought you knew about materialism, about that controversial value system that infects so many Americans, keeps our credit cards hot and fills our homes with name-brand stuff, and a whole lot of it. I definitely thought I knew about materialism and the kinds of internal battles I would have to fight when faced [...]

Our six hour “Land Between Tour” on Friday provided more reasons why living in the New Territories of Hong Kong (instead of on the island with most of the westerners) might be one of the bigger advantages of our program. We hear from people all the time- both from expats and locals who’ve lived in [...]

Another amazing development in the cheap streetfood scene: noodles in a bag.
 
Sure, they may sound (and look) a bit unseemly. But I took my cues from the dozens of teenagers lined up at this Japanese-like noodle stand in the heart of Mong Kok, Hong Kong’s densest neighborhood, and followed en suite. Linda and I decided [...]

Hong Kong residents have to be some of the nicest, most generous and open people I’ve ever met. I have been particularly impressed with the students we’ve met so far. The semester hasn’t started, but we’ve been lucky to meet some of the campus’ strongest student leaders, through our orientation program and our dorms halls’ [...]

 
 
These northern Chinese treats combine delicate broth, salty pork and chive mixture, and perfectly steamed dough into one amazing explosion in your mouth. A phenomenon that anyone who’s dined at Joe’s Shanghai in New York’s Chinatown can attest to, these babies are addictive. Xiao long bao are actually somewhat of a rare find in this Cantonese-heavy [...]

 
The Hong Kong Institute of Education, my new place of work and residence, is situated in some seriously green hills in Tai Po, an old fishing village that is now the the center of the New Territories. By public transportation, we’re actually a solid hour away from the Island, and halfway to Shenzhen, China. Being [...]