Laolao's Travels

How It Started Almost 16 years ago, I was practicing law and teaching paralegals at a small, for-profit school. I loved teaching, but disliked the school and its business practices. We parted ways over some of those practices. About that time I was working with a client who was a philanthropic venture capitalist who happened to be working with a joint Sino-American university in Henan Province in Central China. The university was in the process of getting their English language law program approved by the provincial ministry of Education. He suggested I would be a good fit. I thought long and hard about applying - for all of about 30 seconds. The months of waiting were hard. OK, it was about 3 weeks, but it felt like months! I think I checked my email about every 10 minutes. The email with the job offer and accompanying contract arrived while I was at work. I remember screaming "I'm going to China!" at the top of my lungs and dancing a jig all around the office while my c...

 Welcome to Laolao's Travels!  Who or what is a Laolao? Laolao 姥姥 is Chinese for Grandma, specifically a maternal grandmother. Chinese has different words for every kind of family relationship. When I'm in China, my Chinese friends' children call me Nainai 奶奶, the word for a paternal grandmother. That's the polite way for a child to refer to any older woman.   Who is this Laolao? Hi, I'm Les! I'm a Laolao with 6 grandchildren ranging in age from 2 to 22. A little more than 15 years ago, I ditched a law practice and took a job teaching in China. A crazy decision? Most definitely! One of the more insane decisions I've made! Since that first mad decision, I've had the great good fortune to teach Law on 3 continents, plus teaching everything from Mandarin Chinese to Canadian History. Currently, like most Americans, I'm home - isolated and itching to pack my suitcase and take off. What's the plan for Laolao's Travels? Well, travel of course! I...