Hey, Shanghai, I missed you, y’know?

Hey, Shanghai, I missed you, y’know?

  I wasn’t sure if China wanted me back. The fact that I managed to set the Contagious Disease Carrier detector off at immigration at Pudong Airport was a moment of concern. I had casually strolled through, feeling robust and healthy, albeit tired from having 

It’s been a while, Shanghai

It’s been a while, Shanghai

  Well now. Shanghai. Yo. I’m flying in to Pudong International sometime tomorrow afternoon, after nearly four years away from China. I don’t tend to return to cities or countries I’ve lived in: It’s been nearly ten years since Istanbul and seventeen since Cape Town. 

I Like My SUVs Dipped in Gold and My Skies Tinted Milky Grey: Let’s Talk About New Money and Bad Air in New Asia

I Like My SUVs Dipped in Gold and My Skies Tinted Milky Grey: Let’s Talk About New Money and Bad Air in New Asia

  This is not a rant. This is an open question/discussion prompt. A week or two ago, one of my former students (now grown up, married and somehow happily living in Saskatoon, Canada) from my previous existence teaching high school English in the middle of 

Insert Coherent, Concise, Astute Title Here: Notes on Starting the New Year with a Question Mark

Insert Coherent, Concise, Astute Title Here: Notes on Starting the New Year with a Question Mark

  One of the downsides to writing every three or six or eight months is that all of the half baked ideas that might have made up a dozen different posts all burble to the surface and battle it out to be the opening line. 

Are We Better Yet? Notes on Writing About Normal

Are We Better Yet? Notes on Writing About Normal

When I decided to reopen the cobwebbed vaults of my semi-abandoned online hiding space, I first looked into the drafts folder to see if  there were any false starts in there worth revisiting and finishing. Here are a few of the titles from the past 

Greetings From my New Expat Bubble

Greetings From my New Expat Bubble

Hi. You might remember me from such posts as that one six months ago, back when we were still living in Hanoi, in a long, narrow railroad flat perched five floors above the reeking, oil-slick, sewage-milky, belly-up fish filled Truc Bach lake. Like many things 

How to be Happy in Denmark (and Vietnam): Notes on Getting it All Wrong Again

How to be Happy in Denmark (and Vietnam): Notes on Getting it All Wrong Again

I’ve been sick for the past two or three (maybe four?) weeks. One of those fun, persistent malingering malaises that morphs from one form to another, then back again, sometimes overlapping in comical yet debilitating ways. I currently have twin ear infections that have swollen 

The Skies Are White, If Nothing Else: Christmas in Hanoi!

The Skies Are White, If Nothing Else: Christmas in Hanoi!

Christmas is back in Hanoi! Those creepy, hip swiveling robot Santas are playing their saxophones outside occasional pho joints and unexpected Christmas trees are popping up in lobbies and windows around town. At the overpriced expat grocery stores you can now buy the world’s tiniest 

A Totally Impractical Guide to Changing Everything All At Once (Again)

A Totally Impractical Guide to Changing Everything All At Once (Again)

I should be studying right now. Four units into the first module of a master’s degree in applied linguistics, I’m painfully wrapping my head around the idea of a lexeme’s paradigm (not to be confused with a gangsta’s paradise, though I will admit that I 

John McCain Crashed His Plane Just Outside Our New Flat

John McCain Crashed His Plane Just Outside Our New Flat

It was a few years ago (1967), but still- he ejected just over there- you can see it from our living room window.   About two weeks ago, we moved house. Again. I may have mentioned the reluctant need to uproot, yet again. The construction 

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (and Living) in Ridiculously Humid Climes

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (and Living) in Ridiculously Humid Climes

  A month or two ago, my third external hard drive in three years decided to just stop being a functioning external hard drive. It was only a year and a half old when it died and took all of my laptop’s back ups with 

Just Like Starting Over: Hanoi 2.0

Just Like Starting Over: Hanoi 2.0

Can I tell you about our early days in Hanoi? Back in October?     So many months ago. The weeks when we lived in a stuffy, cramped hotel room in a curious neighborhood that would have been more curious if it hadn’t been hemmed