I’ve noticed that Beijing is really low on graffiti. There are exceptions — names and dates scratched into the Great Wall or dust-signatures on cars — but there are almost no spray-painted tags or the type of graffiti I’d expect in a large city. TikiChris has noticed the same thing about Shanghai graffiti:
Generally speaking, graffiti […]

I heard a rumor at school today that the Tous Les Jours bakery was picketed by anti-French groups (who apparently don’t know that Tous Les Jours is owned by a South Korean company). Anyone know if this is true?
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“So Much Depends” with Chinese characteristics.
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Tags: mail, with Chinese characteristics

I thought that I was familiar with the demo class as a shady recruitment policy, but my current school’s plan for a demo class might actually be a record for sketchy Chinese ESL policies. Basically, the parents are going to be invited to watch a class in December. The reason we know about it now, […]

“Stick, I need to get on your computer to print my skit for class.” My skit is a brilliant adaptation of The Emperor’s New Clothes, with Chinese characteristics.
“Right now? I’m in an instance!” That means fighting WarCraft bad guys on a Very Important Mission. “Just connect the printer to your computer. Here’s the USB cable.”
“Ok.”
“NOOOOOOOOOO! […]

Today I had my first lesson with my gifted kids. This was sprung on me in a typically Chinese fashion, it was once mentioned in passing that I’d be team-teaching English club with Christina. When I got the details a few hours before the class would begin, I found out there were actually 2 sections […]

When I took this photo, I was mentally composing a moving post about watching the change of seasons on the Yantai beach, and the weather returning to the winter weather that I saw when I arrived, and how I’ve had almost a year in China. I was going to tie it into the weird dual […]