Walking in Hangzhou the other day we noticed a gathered crowd. A crowd in China is nothing to get too excited about, sometimes even we cause a small crowd to gather when we eat dinner outside or go clothes shopping. But when we see a crowd, especially in a park,
A (Tiny) Phoenix Rises from the Ashes
Several months ago my credit card expired and I got a new one. That’s not a big deal except for the fact that in preparing for years of travel, I set up many bills to be paid automatically through the credit card and I had to remember the list of
Birth Control in China
Here’s a special entry for all you ladies of child bearing years living in China. (If that category doesn’t include you, please feel free to skip. I’ll be back to my chinglish/history type articles soon enough.) When I lived in America, I managed to talk my Ob-gyn into giving me
More Chinglish!!
I keep thinking I’ll run out of funny packages and signs at my university. But China seems to have an inexhaustible well as I keep finding plenty!
We Wuz Robbed
I’ll tell you the end of the story first. Our camera was stolen, from our apartment, and the thief got away. Unfortunately we only have the one camera and therefore I couldn’t take pictures of the hilarious night that ensued. So you will have to do with pictures I found
The Big Picture: China Edition
Over at Boston.com they have a feature called “The Big Picture” in which they showcase some dramatic/slice-of-life/unknown events through high quality photographs. This time they pointed their lens at China and I think there are some amazing pictures. All of these pictures were taken within the past few months. These
Sunday is the New Thursday
Foreign teachers usually have a hard time with the Chinese yearly school calendar, and not without good reason. The schedule here is crazy, complex and changes every year so that even the students and Chinese teachers have different stories. Take, for example, today. It is Sunday, normally a day off.
It's as hot as….
This past week was hot. Damn hot. I would come home from teaching 4 hours of class with a shirt so wet with sweat it had salt stains all over it when it dried. And I wasn’t the only one who suffered, the poor students did too. In writing class
The Crazy First Emperor
Quick, name the two most famous tourist sites in China. Yep, you got it, the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors. Believe it or not the two were the mastermind of the same guy: the first emperor. If you’ve seen the movie Hero, then you know who I’m talking about.
In the Snack Aisle
There are plenty of weird things in the snack aisle, but this is a new product that just began showing up everywhere. Of course I had to try it. I figure I’m a fan of the cucumber chips so why not? The verdict? Not bad. The chips were nice and