Tag: China
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Amber Roshay Moved Back to the US and Wrote About it (And Also Wrote a Book That We’re Giving Away Here)
Some of you might remember the lovely Amber Roshay from her interview last year. She was the one whose students had prepared an awesome and very emotional surprise party for her. She’s also a very good friend of mine- one who happened to leave Shanghai and move back home to the US at the beginning of this…
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2nd Tier City, 1st Class Hotel: A Totally Impractical Review of Hangzhou Oakwood Residence
As you may know, my Super Secret job with the linguistic CIA sends me all over China to do covert linguistic operations. If I told you more about what I do for a living, they’ll kill Noam Chomsky. We can’t have that. What I can do, however, is to use my extensive experience and critical…
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Sunshine and Lollipops in Shanghai: I Do Believe It Is Springtime!
We are now, improbably for March in Shanghai, on Day 5 in a wild streak of completely sunny, bright, warm days. Yesterday I went out in a light cotton Thai sun dress with a medium weight cardigan over my shoulders, not convinced that I could shed so many layers before the month was out. I…
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Confessions of a Fauxmad: Notes on Really, Really Wanting a Home
In the past few decades, I’ve lived in approximately 8 cities in 6 countries on four continents. That tally doesn’t include the hundreds of hostels, sofas and floors I called home for most of my early 20s. In the past decade alone- my more settled, grown-up 30s- I’ve lived in 3 cities in two countries…
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A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #17: Edna Zhou
You know what I haven’t done in yonks? Interviewed someone, that’s what. I’m not sure why I re-start the series when I do. It keeps popping up again at odd intervals. I think it may be due to a peculiar combination of my own writer’s block and an annoyance (or impatience) with what I’ve created…
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Hey Zhou: A Totally Impractical Guide to Hangzhou and Fuzhou
I’ve been on a bit of a ‘zhou bender in the past month, flitting around the Eastern seaboard of China with two 4-day stints in Hangzhou and one down in Fuzhou. Given this, I should be writing a top ten list of places to visit, delightful things to see, local delicacies to sample, cultural curiosities…
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Nothing to Say Here (The Solutions Edition): Put A Shirt on That Pig!
For today’s edition of my Shanghai photo series, I have a small task for you. You see, yesterday I saw something confusing. Something I hadn’t seen before in this city. I saw this. Yes, that’s a pig. And yes, she’s wearing her best quilted winter PJs to take the pig for a walk. I had…
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Nothing to Say Here: Shanghai Street Photos (Mops!)
You know what Shanghai is? Shanghai is MOPS. Period. Screw economic prowess, massive deconstruction projects, shiny buildings and nouveau riche bazillionaires and their homicidal spawn and their ¥10,000 bottles of moutai in garish clubs. This city is all about the mop. See?
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Nothing to Say Here: Shanghai Street Photos (Curing Winter Meats)
As you may have noted, my writer’s block is rather acute these days. Oddly enough, this dearth of things to say has coincided with an inexplicable increase in my impulse to take pictures of random things. Of course, these photos aren’t necessarily fit for human consumption as they focus mostly on mops and meats and…
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Top 4 Tips on How to Traumatize Your Parents When They Come to Visit You
I’d call myself the prodigal daughter except I have yet to return home after my years away in the wilderness. Every year, with irregular clockwork, my kind, brave parents gird their loins, apply for visas, book astronomically priced red-eye flights and come to see me. I repay their loving parental support by allowing these visits…
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I’m Nothing if Not Versatile. PS Dear Shanghai, I Don’t Hate You Any More
As I sink deeper into my hermit-like faux-unemployment and entertain myself with the delusional quest to make flatbreads out of every conceivable noodle dough, I find myself somewhat at a loss for words here. I mean, this is, in theory, a blog about Shanghai. An impractical guide to Shanghai but still, a blog…
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Hello, Dalian! A Totally Impractical Guide to That City up by Korea
And by impractical, I really mean it this time. I have absolutely no information that might be of use to you here, unless you get sent up for work at the very last minute, as I did, and need to know where you can get really good sushi (*hint hint* the Grande Teda Mercure hotel…