Failing Better: A Memoir

Thinking of herself as a bold adventurer, 25 year-old Christina Brandon ditches her dull office job in Chicago and moves—with her boyfriend—to China to teach English. She's thrilled to start her new life in Anyang, a city she's never heard of. She isn't worried that she has no teaching experience or Chinese language skills. She'll figure it out. 

But as one of the only Westerners in a teeming city of millions she's forced far out of her comfort zone. She struggles to open her heart and mind to her students and her new home in ways she didn't anticipate. As she learns and adjusts her expectations, she deals with the growing disappointment that living abroad— living in China— is a different kind of adventure than she thought it would be.