Tag: Mops

What I’m Talking About When I Talk About China
August 21, 2014

What I’m Talking About When I Talk About China

A few weeks ago, I was randomly contacted by someone working for an expat relocation company. He wanted me to write a guide for Suzhou, a city I spent a total of one afternoon in several years ago, interviewing for a temporary job doing localization …

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Notes on Getting the Hell Out of Dodge: Oh, Hey, Bali! Nice to See You Again!
January 27, 2013

Notes on Getting the Hell Out of Dodge: Oh, Hey, Bali! Nice to See You Again!

On the morning we left Shanghai for Bali, I was sitting on my bed sometime around 8am, huddled under a few layers of duvets, toes numb, feeling  quite out of sorts. I was barely recovered from a four day tummy bug in which I failed …

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Strangled Gasps of Creativity (or Why I’ll Probably Never Be a Published Author)
November 5, 2012

Strangled Gasps of Creativity (or Why I’ll Probably Never Be a Published Author)

  When I was 10, I was already the proud author of approximately a dozen unpublished novels. By unpublished, I mean, read only by myself- or perhaps by anyone who managed to sneak into my bedroom, haul the stacks of notebooks out from their not …

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A Totally Impractical Guide to an Emotionally Stunted Weekend in Hefei
September 24, 2012

A Totally Impractical Guide to an Emotionally Stunted Weekend in Hefei

The first time I went to Hefei,  the glorious provincial capital of ayi-central Anhui, about 3 or 4 years ago, I stepped off the D-train after four squishy hours onto the platform and was carried along in the swarm (because really, in China, in the train stations, it …

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Nothing to Say Here: Shanghai Street Photos (Mops!)
December 30, 2011

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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I’m Nothing if Not Versatile. PS Dear Shanghai, I Don’t Hate You Any More
November 19, 2011

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 …

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Hello, Dalian! A Totally Impractical Guide to That City up by Korea
November 3, 2011

Hello, Dalian! A Totally Impractical Guide to That City up by Korea

And by impractical, I really mean it this time. I have absolutely no information that might be of use to you here, unless you get sent up for work at the very last minute, as I did, and need to know where you can get …

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Notes on my Supposed Unemployment: The September Edition
September 30, 2011

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, well, I lied. Kind of. I am unemployed, by the day-job definition of employment. At …

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Notes on the First Anniversary of my 7th Blog
April 18, 2011

Notes on the First Anniversary of my 7th Blog

Origins I started this blog near the end of last April, impulsively, after I read the words ‘ephemera and detritus’ in a comment on a blog I’ve long since lost track of.  Possibly from Salon’s now defunct Broadsheet. Rather than just noting it down and …

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Meat and Mops- My Parents’ Journey to Qibao
January 22, 2011

Meat and Mops- My Parents’ Journey to Qibao

So we went to Qibao yesterday, our first grand excursion in a week or so, as I’d been busy with stupid school stuff and having my jaw sledge-hammered, and my mother was battling her semi-inevitable post-flight cold. Doug and I had gone there about two …

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Shanghai is Tropical, Part 2
January 1, 2011

Shanghai is Tropical, Part 2

Remember that delusional law that says every city south of the Yangtze River is Tropical and therefore needn’t have, say, indoor heating in public buildings or properly insulated flats? Yes, that one. I would like to take a moment to show you a few scenes …

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(101 Things about Shanghai) Mops and Kibble Buffets
October 18, 2010

(101 Things about Shanghai) Mops and Kibble Buffets

It’s Monday evening and I’m tired from a semi longish day trying to persuade my  students to engage in the learning process so I’m offering another instalment of Mops of Shanghai. This first set of mops is from just at the entrance to our building. …

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