China without Stick is strangely familiar. The children hanging on the hutong’s gate, waiting to see the foreign woman, remind me of the Yantai children, watching on the steps of my apartment and shouting to their friend when they saw me coming. I don’t know if word has gotten out that Stick and the protective […]

There is much more of an expat community here in Beijing than there was in Yantai, but I find myself in a weird no-man’s-land between looking for the best meet-market bar with the cheapest beer, and looking for the best preschool. I suppose I’d reach this stage of life anywhere, but China brings this, like […]

I just discovered that Simpson’s Paradox is listed on AllTop’s China blogs… along with Sinosplice, Imagethief, RConversation, Hao Hao, IfGoGo, CNReviews, OneManBandwidth and a list of other really amazing China blog. It’s awesome to be listed with the bloggers that I read when I was first adjusting to Yantai life.

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Meganlouise@gmail.com
Meg Stivison
Meg’s Teaching Experience
Spring Semester 2008 Beijing, China
21st Century Experimental School, AP Program
I taught English literature to 5 classes of high school students. My students were able to communicate in English, but needed to improve their understanding of literature, writing skills and grammar before applying to colleges in English-speaking countries.

Fall Semester 2008 Beijing, China
Yihai Primary […]

Stick’s new visa fell through at the last possible second. It was a dramatic disaster, but the short version is that apparently the school wasn’t quite as professional and aboveboard as we’d thought. His current visa expires tomorrow, so he is flying home tomorrow night.
I did my year in Yantai alone, and I really don’t […]

Often I hop into a Beijing taxi, only to get out again when the driver refuses to take me where I want to go. I thought this was a reaction to my bad Chinese but as I understand more and more, I’m stunned by the reasons the drivers refuse to take me.
When we lived in […]

Last night, Stick predicted that I wouldn’t get paid on time, because the new shift in the state holiday calendar has led to an increase in mei you frustration. The holidays were rearranged to break up the long Golden Week holiday and give out more 3-day weekends throughout the year, which is actually a nice […]

Hugo and Diana are coming to Beijing next week! I’m so excited! Hugo and Diana are our college friends, we picked our Amherst apartment mostly because we’d live across the parking lot from them. And Hugo was Stick’s roommate most of the time I was in Yantai. I love them so much that if I […]

Yesterday, we went up to Wudaokou to visit Sven. Wudaokou is a cool college-town area in northwest of the city, Propaganda is down the street, and a Pizza Hut, and an English bookstore. Our favorite Indian restaurant, Ganges, is just down the street. As soon as we got off the subway, I started to feel […]

I played Secretly Eating Pizza, an adverbs/verbs charades game with my teenagers yesterday and today. I put together this one for my Yantai drips, asa reward for all their hard work learning the difference between adjectives and adverbs. The game is quite simple, basically, you pick an adverb and a verb out of two bags, […]