I’m quoted in USA Today, in an article about the pre-Olympic security measures and visa restrictions. The article talks to disappointed Beijingers — Chinese residents, long-term ex-pats and tourists — about their pre-Olympic experiences. It’s worth reading, although it’s a sad look at my dear Beijing. And it seems to confirm my worries that due […]

I’m still in Beijing, but I’m getting into an East Coast sleep pattern already. It comes from lying in bed wondering exactly what I’m going to do with myself next, and then waking up to an anxious countdown of time left in China. Four days, three days, two days.
I’m leaving for the US tomorrow. I […]

Cup of Cha’s post called Goodbye Foreign Visitors describes my feelings on the new visa regulations, only more eloquently than I’d put it. This week involved saying goodbye to expat friends, Sven from Tennessee and Christina both left on Saturday.
Any foreigner living in China now will tell you that something weird is going on. Our […]

My friend Hugo likes to laugh. I mean, he really likes to laugh. He can’t tell a joke because as he’s telling it, he thinks of how funny the punchline is, and laughs too hard to keep talking. He’s a professor’s dream student because he always laughs out loud at the semi-funny jokes classicists […]

After Saturday night KTV with the CNReviews crew, on Sunday Stick andI met up with Heather and Will. They’ve been living in our complex since the fall, although we hadn’t met. We know some of the other teachers in their school, in fact my old TA was transferred away from me to Heather’s school.
But I […]

???, I just wanted to let you know that I do have a copy of a certain novel, whose heroine shares my name. I’ve got The Thorn Birds right here!

I’ve got Scarlett on the other side to keep my laptop in ideal typing position. Oddly enough, they’re exactly the same size.

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My reading has improved to the point where I’m no longer tormenting Stick by reading numbers and compass directions from signs. Today we passed one with the combination ??, so I sang “It’s electric! Boogie-woogie-woogie!”
Sometimes I wonder how Stick puts up with me.
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Let me explain how Saturday morning works in our house. After I’ve been up for a few hours — and I am not an early riser — I try to get Stick moving. I offer him coffee, I remind him of the things we had planned to do today, I ask him what he wants […]

The day that I’ve been dreading since we first arrived in China has finally come. Part of me knew it was going to happen, all the signs were there, but I was hoping I would have at least a few more months before the dreaded event occured.

The old Herbal Essences have been replaced.
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I wasn’t going to post this because it makes me look a little, uh, dumb. But then I thought, maybe you did something slightly dopey today and if you did, this will make you feel all better.
I thought I’d be thrifty and catch the bus home from the high school. I got on in the […]