Tag: Shanghai

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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Why, No, Red-Black is Not My Natural Hair Colour: How to Try to Look Half Decent in China
September 23, 2011

Why, No, Red-Black is Not My Natural Hair Colour: How to Try to Look Half Decent in China

I’m a rather low-maintenance kind of gal, generally. It takes me about two minutes to get ready for going to work, maybe five for going out. In Turkey, I succumbed temporarily to the subtle yet persistent societal pressure and for a while ringed my eyes …

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And Now For Something Completely Different: Impractical Shanghai Revisited
September 10, 2011

And Now For Something Completely Different: Impractical Shanghai Revisited

When I started this blog a year and a half ago, I really did intend to be at least vaguely useful in my writings about Shanghai. I think I mentioned one blind massage place (still excellent, by the way), a few Lanzhou la mian joints …

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Notes on Going Home Again
June 19, 2011

Notes on Going Home Again

One thing I’ve learned over the past seven years of blogging is to not post when you are sick, exhausted or pissed off. If you are sick or exhausted, it inevitably comes out in a strained, rather incoherent stream. If you are pissed off, the …

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Further Adventures in Chinese Baking: Chocolate Coconut Cookies
June 4, 2011

Further Adventures in Chinese Baking: Chocolate Coconut Cookies

  I think the Plum Rains have started. This has been the driest year so far since we arrived in Shanghai in early 2009, though the low lying grimness hasn’t eased up. When I first moved here, I lived in a 4-story lane house out …

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A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #14: Amber Roshay- Teacher, Writer, Traveller
June 1, 2011

A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #14: Amber Roshay- Teacher, Writer, Traveller

Welcome to the 14th edition of the expat interview series. This one is slightly different from its predecessors in that it comes from a woman who is actually a friend of mine here in Shanghai. Yes, Virginia, I actually do also exist in the physical …

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Baking in China (and other improvisational activities)
May 28, 2011

Baking in China (and other improvisational activities)

A few weeks ago, we came across a hand-me-down counter top oven on www.unclutterer.com and decided to test it. Not a toaster oven. Not a microwave oven. An oven oven. The kind that can, like, bake stuff and roast stuff and grill stuff. But I …

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14 Notes on teaching English in a Chinese university, in the middle of a quiet burnout and impending unemployment
May 14, 2011

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 of stairs I had to climb 8 or so times a day between classroom and …

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Breaking Free: The Karmic Irony Edition
April 30, 2011

Breaking Free: The Karmic Irony Edition

Somewhere out there, Alanis Morrisette’s lawyer is counting the number of times today I have muttered something along the lines of, isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? Somewhat akin to rain on your wedding day, or maybe finding a dozen forks when all you need …

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A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #9: Hector Lakemonster
April 20, 2011

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 while. My thought processes had been cloudy and dark for quite a while, stupidly …

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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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A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #7: Philip Johnson of The Philiad
April 9, 2011

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 for now, and rumor has it he’ll be heading of to NYU come September to …

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