Category: Nebulous Items
-
Gerald the Bear is accepting freelance blogging opportunities now!
I just wanted to take a moment out of your presumably busy day to introduce you to my new co-blogger, Gerald the Bear. Gerald joined me late last week, thanks to an introduction from my thoughtful students at the university Christmas party. So far, Gerald has proven to be a thoughtful, insightful bear, filled not…
-
My Students Gave Me Stuff for Christmas!
This is going to be a very short post. I just wanted to show you my haul for this year, from my students. First, the big one: And then two smaller gifts combined: And finally, the slightly crumpled gourd-y ornament: Oh, and the three apples. I gave one to the…
-
Christmas Day Odyssey in Shanghai: A Quest for Doug’s Destiny
So remember how I said my next post was going to be all about the Christmas Party at the tea house, and how it would contain all my much-better camera photos rather than my crappy, grainy phone photos? Yeah. I lied. My bad. Unfortunately, we went out today. And when I go out, I tend…
-
A Fine Excuse To Eat: The University Christmas Party (Part 1)
I think I have two narratives here so I’m pre-emptively dividing them up into two posts. The taxonomical sorting process is based on two things: crappy phone camera vs. real camera, and food vs. performance and festivities. It’s Christmas morning and we’re heading out soon for a fine feast at Wagas (scrambled egg and gouda…
-
Nihilism in Shanghai: Everything Dies. Everything.
I’m a very optimistic person in spite of all my references to key words like ‘bleak’, ‘grim’, ‘awful’, ‘miserable’ and such. My character leans toward the melancholy but not in a depressing kind of way. I actually like rain. I like solitude. I like somber. I find them very calming. But can I tell…
-
Another Series of Unrelated Photos (Part Trois)
Remember how cold and sick and coughy I was at this time last week? How dim and grey and grim the city was? How my toes would not warm and my bark continued to bite? Yeah, well, this weekend is much better, thank you. Look! Sunshine! Blue skies! Invisible pollutants! I’m not working this weekend,…
-
I’m a foreign woman and I bought shoes in Shanghai
Just so you know, I’m a tall girl with size 9 feet. That’s about a 7 in the Uk, 39 in Europe and apparently 40 in China. Most shoes for women stop at size 38 here. Just so you know. From a tiny boutique in Tianzifang, the artsy alleyway complex off Taikang Lu, I present…
-
Welcome to Tropical Shanghai. Today’s temperature will be -2 degrees.
According to official Chinese government regulations, if a city is located south of the Yangtze River it is considered tropical and therefore does not need to be heated in winter. Shanghai is located about one millimeter south of the Yangtze River, as can be seen from this map, stolen from the Wikipedia page on it.…
-
Chinese University Students on Love, Lust, Dating and Marriage
ETA December 14: Now with more love, lust and dating! Added quotes! Part 1 in the series (Helpful Household Hints) was here I originally typed this up sometime last week, back when I still had the energy and wasn’t consumed by a great big ol’ ball of sickiness. I’m currently consumed in a non-tubercular way…
-
Nibblies, cookies and crepes, oh my!
Today I stocked up on my coping-stash at work. The weather has turned frightfully cold after the loveliness of the weekend and it was quite difficult to haul myself out of the warm flat and out into the streets to go to work. I knew I needed some sort of incentive to deal with sitting…
-
A Series of Unrelated Photos (Part 3)
Part 1 is here and part 2 is here. It’s a beautiful day today. Sun is shining, skies are blue. Scarves are too hot, a coat is nearly too much. Sunglasses are needed. Birds are singing, crowds thronging, babies squatting with split trousers, dogs in summer booties, veggie vendors out in multitudes. December? Nay, I…
-
A Series of Unrelated Photos (Part 2)
For Part 1, go here This blog was left negligently unattended for much of November whilst I diverted myself and my energies with that blasted novella about goats and monsters and such. However, that doesn’t mean I neglected to use the camera on my phone. No, I’m still compulsively intruding on people’s privacy and documenting…