Getting Out of the Bubble

NOTE: All information is what have found out from my own personal experience. It is by no means a definitive look at contraceptive use in China. One of the things that China is best known for in the West is it's radical one-child policy. In the 1970's, with a surging population and stretched resources, China introduced a policy that meant family size was limited and most families could only have one child. The policy has seemingly worked and some estimate that over 200 million births have been prevented since the policy was first introduced, to put that into perspective that's somewhere around the number of people living in Brazil. China is still the most populous country in the world but it seems like the government was doing something right when it came to slowing the birth rate. With such a wide-spread family planning policy one would imagine that China has sophisticated range contraception available to it's people. But as I, and many before me, have f

我从来没去过纽约   I've never been to New York At the start of a new year it is traditional to make new years resolutions; promises to yourself to make the coming year better as you self-improve and reach new goals. Most new years resolutions set a goal, whether it be a positive gaining of a new skill, or the giving up a of a vice; and most new years resolutions (dare I say it) end in a loss of momentum and a return to old ways from the years before. Sure, they are a good impetus to make a change and a good way to look back on the past year and forward to the fresh start of a new one but in the rush of daily life these goals we set ourselves in the optimism of January are all too easy to put to one side once the holiday period is over. Here's to more of this in 2015 I do think that new years resolutions are a great idea, but as a serial procrastinator with a very short attention span they haven't really been something I've subscribed to in the past. But this ye

新年快乐 to everyone! That's Happy New Year to the English speaking world! I can't believe it's 2015 already, and I can't believe how quickly 2014 flew by. As far as years go 2014 was a transformative one for me. This time last year I was finishing off my TEFL course and preparations were in full swing for my 5th of February departure to start my adventure in China. If you had told me then that I'd still be in China a year later I would have called you mad, optimistic at best. And yet, here I am. Living in China, doing a job I love (most of the time), and surrounded by amazing friends that I didn't even know 6 months ago!  I feel like I've done a lot over the last year, and actually like I've achieved a lot. Even though coming to China wasn't all that scary for me, it's no small feat to pick up your life and move to a country you've never been to. Where you can't speak the language, you've never done the job you're starting a