Culture in the Blender

I’m homesick for China. I think anywhere in Asia would do.  Yesterday morning was rainy with a hint of fog, and I thought for a second that it was smog. I’m listening to Chinese music and wondering what’s in fashion. I want my morning bus to be one of the old Beijing buses with the [...]

My experience of attending school in Sweden was that the Social Democrats have a serious case of delusional thinking regarding what to reward and communicating that you have to work hard to get what you want in life. Conservative Swedes tend to agree, as far as I can see, but I was somewhat surprised to [...]

My local grocery store recently carried 油菜 (yóucài), which translates literally to oil vegetable. I have no idea what their English name is, if they even have one. I seized the opportunity and bought about half of them. Here, it is not uncommon that the checkout personnel do not know what various vegetables are, including [...]

This weekend, I was putting in some grad student time (which one might call overtime if one had a job) with a colleague and friend who is trying to have their thesis done in two weeks. Afterwards, we ended up going to fly a fish kite in an empty lot on a little hill surrounded by mostly [...]

China has been in the news a lot lately, and for some reason I’m missing 北京 (Běijīng) something fierce. I’m meeting a friend for drinks tonight, and I desperately want to go to 三里屯 (Sānlǐtúnr). I want to walk out into the 北京 (Běijīng) night into my safe, familiar third culture world. I [...]

If anyone is interested in integrating themselves into Sweden (Herculean task, I must admit), reading Mig äger ingen by Åsa Linderborg will tell you very, very much about the Swedish people. It is a very well-written book and Linderborg won ABF’s literature prize in 2007 for it. Mig äger ingen is her autobiography of her [...]

I wandered around Chinatown alone. I almost cried in the first store I walked into there, because it was almost like walking into China. I walked up Nob Hill by mistake. I saw the sea lions cuddle up to each other at night. I ate with friends across from The Stinking Rose. I had cappucino [...]

I’m back in Hotelland. I’m at a conference and staying at the conference hotel, the San Fransisco Marriott. (In line with being a typical TCK, I am becoming highly educated by getting a PhD in materials science and engineering.) Last night, I sat in the bar on the top floor looking out at the San [...]

I am visiting my parents at the moment, and while I’m here I thought it might be a nice idea of do some 太极拳 (tàijíquán) with my mother, since we learned in the same context. She bought some 太极拳 (tàijíquán) VCDs in China, and we were going to watch them and follow the instructions to [...]

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, is using her global, cosmopolitan outlook to both make the world a better place and money, says CNN Money. This woman is fantastic. Not only has she made it to the top as a woman of color/foreigner relative to the United States, she might get a US government post (Haha! [...]