Tag: China

Who Needs A Comfort Zone Anyway? Building Character Abroad: The Employment Edition
October 12, 2012

Who Needs A Comfort Zone Anyway? Building Character Abroad: The Employment Edition

Back when I lived and worked in Canada, employers generally expected me to be qualified for my job. They wanted the certification from year-long+ accredited courses, plus, say five years of verifiable, solidly referenced on the job experience. This was difficult when I was 19, …

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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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A Totally Impractical Guide to an Intellectually Dirty Weekend in Nanjing
September 14, 2012

A Totally Impractical Guide to an Intellectually Dirty Weekend in Nanjing

I often (well, once every few months, which is technically often in geological terms) get emails from people asking me for advice on what to do in, say, Random Chinese City I Mentioned Once In a Post. Although I feel slightly honoured that someone actually …

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What’s my Age Again? 11 Notes on Age and Decontextualization of Travel and Expattery
September 3, 2012

What’s my Age Again? 11 Notes on Age and Decontextualization of Travel and Expattery

In a few weeks, I’ll be on the wrong side of my mid-30s. You know, the over the hill and halfway down the other side end. The one with the great big pile of Sisyphean boulders stacked carelessly at the bottom. The unfashionable end.  The …

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Things You’re Not Allowed to do in Canada: A Photo Essay
July 10, 2012

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 around him, everything that was being said. Then he had to leave. What he had …

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On Identity and Decontextualization: Notes on Going Home (again)
June 23, 2012

On Identity and Decontextualization: Notes on Going Home (again)

I’m home again. As a travelling sage once said, if it’s Tuesday, I must be in Belgium. Or in my case, if it’s somewhere near the end of June, I must be in Canada. Vancouver Island, to be precise.   I’m in a much better …

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Notes on working in China (the bossing-teachers-around edition)
June 3, 2012

Notes on working in China (the bossing-teachers-around edition)

As you may have heard, I have changed jobs. By this, I mean I am no longer unemployed. Or at least, unemployed in the technical sense. I have a day job now, and it isn’t teaching. Nope, I’m back in the director’s chair again.   …

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Saying Goodbye AGAIN: The annoying heartbreak of being a teacher that nobody warns you about*
May 28, 2012

Saying Goodbye AGAIN: The annoying heartbreak of being a teacher that nobody warns you about*

*I was going to title this post Apostrophe to the End of Term (or, Isn’t it Byronic, don’t you think?) but decided it would be way too obscure and nerdy and not even all that clever. The cleverness factor would have been bumped up several notches, however, …

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I May Have Just A Wee Bit Too Much on My Plate
May 14, 2012

I May Have Just A Wee Bit Too Much on My Plate

It’s just after 7:30am on an inexplicably cool morning. Shanghai is invisible under the fog. It’s just as well as I’m still in bed, under several layers of duvet, strong, lightly milked coffee in hand. I may or may not be staring at the wall …

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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 …

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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 …

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