Tag Archives: Stick

Undiscovered Powers

Basic Chinese is my new superpower. I’ve been making a lot of progress with vocab and the hellish tones, and I’m starting to feel like Matt Parkman on Heroes, magically given the ability to hear what people around me are … Continue reading

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Yanjing

My specs had a tragic accident today. After Sven helped me out at school with a superglue temporary fix, I went to the specs store to get new ones. We get Stick’s contact lens solution at a little glasses shop … Continue reading

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Slight Improvement

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 … Continue reading

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Selective Hearing

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 … Continue reading

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Essentials Of Life

The Beijing air grime that settles on everything has caused some issues with our DVD player, CD drives, laptop fans and probably our lungs, too, but they don’t give error messages. Stick’s CD drive has been extra tempermental recently, and … Continue reading

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Morning Commute

Saw this on my way to school today. On the way home, I’m on the bus for long enough to feel like I’m really a Beijing-ren (even if I’m a pasty pale kind of Beijinger), and I leave school early … Continue reading

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Nuren Jie

Yesterday, Stick and I went exploring at the famous Lady Street (Nuren Jie). They have some gorgeous flower stalls, manicure and massage places, and lots of clothes shopping. The shopping was kind of like a less pushy, more expensive Silk … Continue reading

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World War Z

From the people who brought you non-fiction Terry Pratchett: Naturally, Stick’s now the proud owner of this copy of World War Z, which is a novel about, um, when zombies take over the world. Subscribe to Violet Eclipse by Email

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Always Carry Tissues

This morning, some of my students pinned my chalkboard eraser to my desk as an April Fools. Unfortunately, when I touched the eraser and it didn’t move, I grabbed a tissue for the board, and ruined their joke! Mysteriously sticky … Continue reading

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Fengtai Scavenger Hunt

Sunday afternoon, Stick and I went out to find a list of fruits and vegetables for his class on food words. He was planning to bring in examples of the kids’ vocabulary words, to give the kids a break from … Continue reading

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