Culture in the Blender

While watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica that had originally aired on Australian television, I recognized the song they used in the trailer for the next episode. I couldn’t remember who sang it, but I remembered the name of the song – Spaceman. A little YouTubing later, I remembered it was by Babylon Zoo and [...]

I’ve been spending some time reading and commenting on posts at TCKID and since I started, for some reason, every time I’m in the shower I feel like I’m in Beijing. The showers don’t look alike. Nothing changed about this shower. But evidently, something about showering in a certain state of mind apparently makes me [...]

Recently, I asked my grandmother for a cookie recipe that I really like. They’re very crisp and tender, and the closest cookies I’ve had like them are those “Danish butter cookies” you can buy in tins. Of course, store-bought is never as good as home-made, and the tins (at least here in the US) are [...]

This was the first year that I didn’t travel anywhere for Christmas. I stayed home with my boyfriend. Although I’d been making Christmas dishes for a while, I really realized how much I associate the third culture with holiday celebrations on Christmas Day, the day we chose to celebrate. Feeling connected to many parts of [...]

Now that it’s November, the holiday season is approaching. Yesterday, I was slightly late for a workshop in another building, and walked there briskly. Breathing in and out in the cold air felt familiar and invigorating. It reminded me of walking home from school in a snowfall in the dark. It reminded me of lights [...]

My mother sends me an email stream of articles from various news media almost daily. Today’s single article was about public libraries and respect and love for books. Since both of us are avid readers, I thought that was why she sent me the link. However, at the end I realized she had double motives: [...]

Yesterday, I was outside late at night. Some lights were reflecting off the water of the pool. It reminded me of the pool in 重庆 (Chong2qing4). I would go swimming at night, so that people wouldn’t stare as much. The neon signs would reflect off the water surface in neverending color patterns, and standing on [...]

I recently attended a concert by the National Philharmonic of Russia, conducted by Vladimir Spivakov. The highlight of the evening was Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. I played that piece as a second violin in an orchestra that was a fusion of professional and student players, and it was a [...]

I’m in a cafe, doing homework, listening to the same drum and bass I’ve been listening to on the bus and walking around buildings. When I listen to it, I feel like the world is different. When I listen to techno, the world is moving forward together. We – generation e – are growing into [...]

Something even expats seem to have trouble grasping sometimes is that every place on Earth is real. Rather, I’m not saying that people think that some places are made up, but it does seem like many don’t understand that everything they hear about, the news they see, it’s right in front of someone. If they [...]