“You are as pretty as Nicole Kidman,” said the choreographer with a huff. It took me a moment to realize she was talking to me. “But you have no idea how to move your body. You could look so pretty if you just relaxed. Be more sexy! Flirt with the camera! Get into it!” I love the criticism-couched-in-a-compliment technique. Crafty….   …read more.

When I left the first round of Mama Mia, I thought it was over and done with. I mean, a television shows is a vacuum of self-centered focus. All the employees involved have been sucked in for so long they don’t even realize they’re living in a vacuum bag anymore. Any doubt of your complete devotion to their televised reality…   …read more.

China Daily’s rationale for the unlikely matrimonial combination of Asian male, non-Asian female (like ours) was based on 8 stereotypes. Funny thing is: I think I’ve just discovered the problem here: I am a stereotypical Chinese guy.

A week ago now, footage from a national Chinese television show “妈妈咪呀” was aired in households across this populous nation. I was one of the featured “artists,” or should I say “mamas,” as the show was about mothers first, talent second. Tomorrow, another episode will air and the episode featuring my family and me will be archived. In Chinese, the…   …read more.

Newsletter Final Thought: May 2014 My daughter is away for the week and it’s just me and my infant son, Paz. Their daddy is doing gigs out of town. Their grandma (nainai) is the one who took Echo back to the family’s hometown. It’s officially the second time in my experience of motherhood that I’ll have been separated from her…   …read more.

This blog is the winner of the 2014 Lotus Blossom Award! The plaque says: “IN APPRECIATION OF THE WAY YOU ADVOCATE AND CELEBRATE CROSS-CULTURAL LOVE.” This is an award put forth by a great website called My Chinese Love. Thanks so much for recognizing blogs like mine! I’m so excited. This is the first time that anything I’ve ever written…   …read more.

Why is Beijing’s air quality more atrocious with every passing year? Everyone must breathe — rich and poor, weak and powerful alike — so everyone is affected by this situation. This, in and of itself, should push authorities to quickly restore order to this urban bubble we all live in. After all, their families are here too. Everyone is breathing,…   …read more.

When we got back to Beijing, I went to our local police station to register our return as per instructions. The woman there processed both mine and Paz’s (my son’s). This is a little household registration paper that has to be re-printed every time I return to Beijing. Basically, it’s so they can keep track of us! Now that my…   …read more.

I started this blog because I got pregnant for the first time and I had no end of questions about the foreign experiences my body was undergoing. Then, dealing with that in a foreign country meant I was multiplying this foreign experience twofold. I thought I could retire this blog after I had my first child, but then I got…   …read more.

Birthing a baby in Canada and then bringing the baby back to China comes with some paperwork headaches, especially if you’re planning to take the full 30-day postpartum month and you can’t go outside or give the tasks to your non-English speaking husband. In other words, I was caught between agreeing to adhere to his cultural traditions and being the…   …read more.