Fight the Power
I’m on Instagram!
Impractical Shanghai
-
I’ll See Myself Out: Notes on That Time I Square Danced to Chinese Punk Music in the Park
09 May 2013 3:07 PM | 5 Comments -
I’ll See Myself Out: Notes on Stuff, Self, Place and Ridiculously Sudden Life Transitions
25 April 2013 11:56 AM | 13 Comments -
I’ll See Myself Out: Notes on Being a Tired Hermit With Possibly Unrealistic Expectations
15 April 2013 12:27 PM | 17 Comments -
I’ll See Myself Out: Attempting Shanghai Nightlife (for Burnt Out Recluses)
19 March 2013 1:36 PM | 18 Comments -
It’s Beginning to Look Not Even Remotely Like Christmas: Faking Festiveness in Shanghai
25 December 2012 4:41 PM | 13 Comments -
Notes on Not Running Away Again: Dealing Sensibly With a Shanghai Winter
30 November 2012 2:25 PM | 18 Comments -
You look very terrible, Miss Mary: Unsolicited Advice for the Laowai
19 November 2012 4:44 PM | 15 Comments -
Managing Your Plague in China: Brief Notes on my Stupid Cold
15 November 2012 1:09 PM | 8 Comments -
Strangled Gasps of Creativity (or Why I’ll Probably Never Be a Published Author)
05 November 2012 10:58 AM | 28 Comments -
The Grass is Always Less Hazardous on the Other Side: I’m Cheating on China in my Head Again
29 October 2012 12:27 PM | 22 Comments
-
Categories
Language Learning Archive
-
Dear Language, I Guess I’m Just Not That Into You: Notes on Being the Worst Student Ever
I’ve got a cold and I’m cranky. With my hot, cotton-wool stuffed head expanding outward through my eye sockets and nasal cavity, and my sad little lips fever burnt and…
-
Things You’re Not Allowed to do in Canada: A Photo Essay
A few years back, I read an article about an expat who lived in Greece until he became so fluent in Greek that he understood everything that was going on…
-
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…
-
Notes on my Supposed Unemployment: The September Edition
Remember how I’ve been going on and on for months about being unemployed? How it felt weird to be so suddenly unstructured and aimless after decades of chronic employment? Yeah,…
-
Kandy: Whoa, I Think I May Have Entered a Parallel Universe By Mistake
I was going to title this post Kandy Says, but I doubt anyone would get (or favourably appreciate) the Velvet Underground reference. But you know what? I have no clue…
-
Not a Top 10 List: My 7 Favourite Posts
It’s a funny thing about going home again after a relatively long absence (a year and a half this time), even if it’s only for three weeks: Everything is…
-
14 Notes on teaching English in a Chinese university, in the middle of a quiet burnout and impending unemployment
1. Two weeks ago I renewed my gym membership, which I had let lapse about six months ago. Sometime last Autumn, I had figured that the five flights…
-
A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #11: Liv From I Eat My Pigeon
Welcome to the eleventh instalment in my infinite expat interview series. I really hadn’t expected it to last this long (I didn’t think anyone would respond, to be honest) but it…
-
A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #9: Hector Lakemonster
Welcome to the 9th interview in the series. It’s been an interesting ride so far, and a good excuse for me to step back and let others take over for…
-
A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #8: Heather of 2Summers
Welcome to the 8th instalment in my expat interview series. Today you will meet the lovely and interesting Heather, who is in Jo’burg, South Africa. It has been an interesting…
-
A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #7: Philip Johnson of The Philiad
Welcome to episode 7 in my infinite series of expat interviews. Today I bring you the eloquent and witty Phil of the brilliant Philiad (pa-dum!). Phil lives in Guadalajara, Mexico…
-
A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #6: Fiona Reilly of Life on Nanchang Lu


























