Author Archives: Meg

Cranberry Sauce

Some of my students asked me about Thanksgiving, and I tried to give them a good description of the holiday’s history and it’s current incarnation, while hoping they wouldn’t equate Thanksgiving with their foreign teachers singing bits of Livin’ On … Continue reading

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Foreigners’ Blogs Talking About China

I just came across this Chinese site about foreign blogs. ?????????Foreigner’s Blogs Talking about China ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Talk Talk China ?????, The Vortext, Sinosplice, Shanghai diaries and Mask of China are all mentioned. Of course, I’m most interested in what “Violet … Continue reading

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Why Did the Lao Wai Cross The Road?

Today I was crossing the road in front of my school (in a crosswalk — old habits die hard) when a taxi honked at me. The honking barely registered until the driver pulled a U-turn, blocked traffic in both directions … Continue reading

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Born In The USA

It was awesome having Pseudo-Thanksgiving with my Yantai friends. Ron and his wife brought their new baby so in some ways it really was like a family. A crazy dysfunctional family, with a lot of alcohol and trashtalk, but still. … Continue reading

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It’s All True

I wrote this a few days ago but I made it sticky to faciliate the flame war make it easier for folks coming over from Sinosplice. One thing that about learning Chinese that makes me crazy is that there seems … Continue reading

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Yantai Museum

If you find the drop spindles underwhelming, there was also a dusty jawbone of a whale, and a preserved seaturtle. The weird exhibits are arranged around a courtyard with a garden and a temple. The garden was impressive, even in … Continue reading

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How Can I Leave?

Yesterday, I was handing out new schedules in my Drips class, thinking about how great it is to be at a school with actual schedules. “This class is becoming too big,” I told my kids. “Starting Saturday, there will be … Continue reading

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Lost In Translation

The other day, I picked up the first season of Lost at my local DVD shop. I watched it in Mandarin with English subtitles. Sometimes I do that to improve my comprehension, it’s very passive learning but it does help … Continue reading

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Pepero Day

Today all my Korean kids came to class wearing traditional Korean dresses and eating this amazing candy called pepero. Pepero is a Korean version of a chocolate-covered pretzel. Or chocolate-pretzels are the Amewrican version of pepero. Either way, pepero is … Continue reading

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Red Fire Fire

Red Fire Fire is a local BBQ and beer shop. Even though it’s just down the street from my house, my co-workers Debra and Junie had to introduce me to it. It’s famous for 3 kwai beer, cheap barbecue and … Continue reading

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