Tag: Shanghai
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What Does it Take For a Girl to Get a Passport Around Here? Adventures in Being Canadian Abroad
I’m still Canadian. I say this with a certain degree of relief because, well, until yesterday my passport had been in the hands of the Canadian Consulate in Shanghai and I was getting a very strong impression that they were on the verge of revoking my citizenship because… because… well, do they even need a…
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Gardening in Shanghai and Other Indoor Sports
Doug said this morning that he really wouldn’t put it past me if I started raising chickens in the flat. I wondered if the neighbours would notice or care if I beheaded said chickens out in the shared hallway, between the lifts and the parked bicycle. That awful 3-legged yappy dork-dog from across the hall…
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Mapping the Amorphous City: I Attempt to Plot a Walking Tour of Shanghai
One thing I have learned from two years of writing here (and from approximately 30 years of writing in general) is that I can be factual, accurate and interesting- but never all three at the same time. Most of my university career was spent writing wildly ‘factual’ papers that my professors deemed interesting enough…
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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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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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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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How Not to Travel in China During the October National Holiday
For about a month, our conversations went something like this: “How about Thailand? If we fly in to Phuket, we could catch a ferry to X and go diving for 3 days…” “No, no- what about the decompression time after and before the flight? I’m not keen on getting the bends. And my passport only…