Tag: Shanghai

What Does it Take For a Girl to Get a Passport Around Here? Adventures in Being Canadian Abroad
May 4, 2012

What Does it Take For a Girl to Get a Passport Around Here? Adventures in Being Canadian Abroad

I’m still Canadian. I say this with a certain degree of relief because, well, until yesterday my passport had been in the hands of the Canadian Consulate in Shanghai and I was getting a very strong impression that they were on the verge of revoking …

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Gardening in Shanghai and Other Indoor Sports
April 27, 2012

Gardening in Shanghai and Other Indoor Sports

Doug said this morning that he really wouldn’t put it past me if I started raising chickens in the flat.  I wondered if the neighbours would notice or care if I beheaded said chickens out in the shared hallway, between the lifts and the parked …

8 Comments
Mapping the Amorphous City: I Attempt to Plot a Walking Tour of Shanghai
April 16, 2012

Mapping the Amorphous City: I Attempt to Plot a Walking Tour of Shanghai

  One thing I have learned from two years of writing here (and from approximately 30 years of writing in general) is that I can be factual, accurate and interesting- but never all three at the same time. Most of my university career was spent …

15 Comments
Amber Roshay Moved Back to the US and Wrote About it (And Also Wrote a Book That We’re Giving Away Here)
April 12, 2012

Amber Roshay Moved Back to the US and Wrote About it (And Also Wrote a Book That We’re Giving Away Here)

Some of you might remember the lovely Amber Roshay from her interview last year. She was the one whose students had prepared an awesome and very emotional surprise party for her. She’s also a very good friend of mine- one who happened to leave Shanghai and move …

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Sunshine and Lollipops in Shanghai: I Do Believe It Is Springtime!
March 28, 2012

Sunshine and Lollipops in Shanghai: I Do Believe It Is Springtime!

We are now, improbably for March in Shanghai, on Day 5 in a wild streak of completely sunny, bright, warm days. Yesterday I went out in a light cotton Thai sun dress with a medium weight cardigan over my shoulders, not convinced that I could …

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Confessions of a Fauxmad: Notes on Really, Really Wanting a Home
March 14, 2012

Confessions of a Fauxmad: Notes on Really, Really Wanting a Home

In the past few decades, I’ve lived in approximately 8 cities in 6 countries on four continents. That tally doesn’t include the hundreds of hostels, sofas and floors I called home for most of my early 20s. In the past decade alone- my more settled, …

28 Comments
Nothing to Say Here (The Solutions Edition): Put A Shirt on That Pig!
December 31, 2011

Nothing to Say Here (The Solutions Edition): Put A Shirt on That Pig!

For today’s edition of my Shanghai photo series, I have a small task for you. You see, yesterday I saw something confusing. Something I hadn’t seen before in this city. I saw this. Yes, that’s a pig. And yes, she’s wearing her best quilted winter …

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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?

16 Comments
Nothing to Say Here: Shanghai Street Photos (Curing Winter Meats)
December 29, 2011

Nothing to Say Here: Shanghai Street Photos (Curing Winter Meats)

As you may have noted, my writer’s block is rather acute these days. Oddly enough, this dearth of things to say has coincided with an inexplicable increase in my impulse to take pictures of random things. Of course, these photos aren’t necessarily fit for human …

7 Comments
Top 4 Tips on How to Traumatize Your Parents When They Come to Visit You
December 13, 2011

Top 4 Tips on How to Traumatize Your Parents When They Come to Visit You

I’d call myself the prodigal daughter except I have yet to return home after my years away in the wilderness. Every year, with irregular clockwork, my kind, brave parents gird their loins, apply for visas, book astronomically priced red-eye flights and come to see me. …

17 Comments
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 …

19 Comments
How Not to Travel in China During the October National Holiday
October 2, 2011

How Not to Travel in China During the October National Holiday

For about a month, our conversations went something like this: “How about Thailand? If we fly in to Phuket, we could catch a ferry to X and go diving for 3 days…” “No, no- what about the decompression time after and before the flight? I’m …

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