For those who were unaware, the past six months or so have been a bit of a challenge. Work has been hard to come by, especially as someone looking for entry-level type work without the benefit of experience. My savings have been steadily depleted, leaving me with stress and worries. It seemed that ever since… Read More New Day Rising
So as most people were last aware, I was well and on my way to Taiwan to begin my second stint as a foreign English teacher for the children of Asia. In honesty, my head was filled with all sorts of thoughts and trepidation about the impending journey and how I would deal with it,… Read More Return to Anarchy
In the time since I have returned home, inching now towards a full month, I have been keeping busy, or at least shifting locations a lot. As I write I am sitting in a friend’s house in Seattle, where I am whiling away days in the city and working my way through the visa application… Read More It Keeps You Running
I’m interrupting Tori’s writing on the rest of our time in China in order to get recollections on Vietnam down before they fade too far from my own memory. Hopefully an unfaithful chronology will not be a deterrent. We got into Hanoi early in the morning, following an interesting night by train from Nanning that… Read More Once more unto the heat
So after repeated requests from my mom and brother, I find myself writing an entry in this blog from an internet cafe in Saigon. Let me just warn you: 1. The appeal of being a blogger has always been lost on me. 2. I don’t do well sitting at a computer for long stretches of… Read More I’m not feeling clever and Zak would just make fun of me anyway
The last few days have seen me exploring parts of Shandong Province, which may be most famous for its Tsingtao Beer, but alas I did not make it out to the port city of Qingdao where it is brewed. Instead I had to settle for drinking it in Tai’an, a city set at the base… Read More Stairway to Heaven
I am seated at an internet bar in the former Chinese dynasty capital of Kaifeng, which was the home of long-running series of dynasties up to about a thousand years ago. The legacy of this is mostly seen in a few very old remnants laying about town, such as pagodas, a couple gardens, and some… Read More Oh, the Congestion
Time is winding down rapidly as the school year (or at least the portion I am contracted for) peters out. As of next week, our finals will be past and from here on, be freed from work and duty obligations. So that has also meant a flurry of recent activity trying to maximize my time… Read More Helter Skelter
I have been slow to wrap up the trip, distracted by a series of events in Shenzhen and around China that have conspired against my efforts to keep a timely log of activity here. Nevertheless, I am pressing onward, picking up the thread of the story from Luang Prabang, where we dropped down on an… Read More Move Along Home
The three of us set out by foot from the roadside, sharing a backpack between us and lugging over a dozen liters of water for the two-day jungle trek. Our guide, Pen, a young Lao man, led the way up the dirt road on into the jungle, informing us at the first little river crossing… Read More Stepping Back in Time
Zak Abroad 