-
Latest Post
Taking the Long View
Like cool water for a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
All Posts
-
Taking the Long View
If I had first moved to China in the digital age, the face smack emoji would have punctuated many of my communications with people back home as I experienced a culture quite different from my… Read more
-
Losing Face
Before he retired, a dean at my university in China used to warn incoming freshmen, “To learn a foreign language is to lose face.” His intent was to inspire new students to persevere in spite… Read more
-
Kindred Spirits
As I headed for China in the pre-digital days of the 1990s, one of my greatest fears was that I would not have enough to read. Books, words, and learning had been protagonists in my… Read more
-
Bundled up in Belonging
When I first moved to China in the 1990s and began teaching at a university in my Chinese home, I obviously did not belong. In my appearance, language, behavior, and worldview, I was a 外国人ℹ️… Read more
-
Sheltered in the Heart of China
In local lore, China is shaped like a chicken, its head formed by the northeastern provinces and its tail the westernmost. To an American, the word “chicken” conjures ideas like “cowardly” or perhaps a favorite… Read more
-
About Water for the Weary
Hi and welcome to Water for the Weary. I’ve spent most of my adult life living and working outside my home country, primarily in an out-of-the-way and economically depressed region of China. When I first… Read more
Follow
Receive posts by email
Water for the Weary 