3 Short Scenes from the Chinese Classroom: Why I Probably Can Never Go Home Again

3 Short Scenes from the Chinese Classroom: Why I Probably Can Never Go Home Again

Scene 1.   ‘Happy April Fish Day, teacher!’ My students are knee deep in plastic snack-sized dried fish wrappers. It’s April 1st. There’s a huge grocery bag three quarters full of unopened dried fish packets under one of the rows of desks. It was a 

After thoughts: Notes on having settled whilst still unsettled

After thoughts: Notes on having settled whilst still unsettled

I was wrong. Last week, I declared with false confidence that I was settled and ready to stay in Shanghai for a few more years. Or maybe the better word would be ‘bracing myself’ or ‘girding my loins’ or ‘grudgingly acquiescing’ to staying put for 

School’s out for…um, Spring Festival (insert Alice Cooper tune here)

School’s out for…um, Spring Festival (insert Alice Cooper tune here)

Classes finished nearly two weeks ago but the final exam for my course was scheduled only for the very last possible time slot. This means I’d spent the first week off hauling my parents around town and drinking absurd amounts of coffee, sitting in the 

It’s MAO’s Annual Self Criticism Time, Shanghai Style

It’s MAO’s Annual Self Criticism Time, Shanghai Style

  I missed the new year deadline for resolutions by a few days but I was too busy drinking litres of  tea in bed and eating Doug’s Christmas gift of German chocolate covered gingerbread and posting endless photo spam of frozen mops and singing students. Sometimes one 

The Chinese Christmas Party Post! (Part 2)

The Chinese Christmas Party Post! (Part 2)

Remember how my students organized a Christmas party in a tea house at the side of an eight lane ring road, under the shadow of a spider’s web worth of overpasses? Where I feasted on *sigh* everything that features heavily in my almost-but-not-quite worst nightmares? 

My Students Gave Me Stuff for Christmas!

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:     

A Fine Excuse To Eat: The University Christmas Party (Part 1)

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 

Chinese University Students on Love, Lust, Dating and Marriage

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’ 

Helpful Household Tips from Chinese University Students

Helpful Household Tips from Chinese University Students

Do you want to know one of the fastest ways to wrap your head around a new country and culture?  Teach there.  Let me show you some things I learned today whilst marking my students’ process essays.     How to wash your hair First, 

(101 Things About Shanghai) Self-Medication

(101 Things About Shanghai) Self-Medication

I’ve had a bad cold for about a month now. I blame my students entirely. They have been coming to class with such dedication that the absentee rate is nearly nil and the cough-cough-hoark-hoark-sneeze-snort rate is very high. The desks and floor are littered in crumpled tissues, 

The Technological Graveyard: I Kill My MacBooks

The Technological Graveyard: I Kill My MacBooks

So in one fell swoop, I killed both of my computers over the course of one weekend. The newer one, the MacBook Pro I got back in Canada while freelancing for some St. Louis IT Companies in February, is technically still in a coma at 

Huh? Efendim? Ting Bu Dong: Opening Your Door to People You Can’t Understand

Huh? Efendim? Ting Bu Dong: Opening Your Door to People You Can’t Understand

In Istanbul, at the last flat I lived in before we left Turkey in 2008, my upstairs neighbour- a middle-aged woman in a house dress and slippers- used to ring my doorbell repeatedly at all hours. If I was in the shower, she’d keep ringing