When To Get a Translator

on June 8, 2011
I will start off this post saying that I have never felt more convinced of the adage, “When it rains, it pours.”  May was a month of personal tragedy for Matt and I, and blows have kept coming.  We have found ourselves dealing with a lot, and just this weekend I received more sad news [...]

Bargaining at the Pearl Market

on April 6, 2011
At some point, you will go to the Pearl Market, and you will find it full of loud sellers, hocking their wares with persistence that I personally envy a bit. This was where I found myself the other day after a nice morning walk through the Temple of Heaven.  It might have been that I [...]

Salt Panic in Beijing

on March 25, 2011
We all know about the devastation to hit Japan two weeks ago.  There has been talk in the blogosphere about how admirable the Japanese people have been in dealing with the crisis, especially in the eyes of the notoriously face-based Chinese culture.  ChinaSMACK wrote about this admiration, and it got us thinking about the similarities [...]

Laughing at What Drives You Crazy

on March 16, 2011
As I sat at the bank the other day, I could feel the tension rising in me.  I pretty much hate the way Chinese banks are run.  The inefficiency drives me crazy, waiting an hour (or two) to pay a bill that will take two minutes.  It hadn’t been a great day to begin with, and [...]

5 Tips for Dealing with Being Sick in Beijing

on March 4, 2011
No one likes being sick, but when you move to a foreign country, it’s almost inevitable.  Very rarely do you get to avoid the food poisoning that gets those with digestive tracts unaccustomed to Chinese food, and sometimes you even get that experience on your birthday, two weeks into your life here.  Whenever it hits, [...]

Spring is Here

on February 24, 2011
If you thought the seasons changed when the weather changed, you were mistaken.  It’s supposed to snow this weekend?  Doesn’t matter: spring is here now that Spring Festival has come and gone. There are a couple things to keep in mind as spring approaches (er…I mean, now that it’s here). Most of us will lose [...]

How Expats Survive in Beijing

on February 15, 2011
Late last week, my daily reading of random articles about China brought me to this article. Beijing Today interviewed different people about their experiences in China as expats, and as I read, I found myself comparing my experiences with theirs and wondering what you, dear readers, would answer.  So I’ll answer the questions for myself, [...]

The Rise of China (and Snowfall in Beijing)

on February 12, 2011
After 108 days without any precipitation, Beijing got some much-needed snow on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. It was the longest drought in over 60 years for Beijing. Many people don’t realize that Beijing is actually sort of in the middle of a desert. Despite recent attempts to increase rainfall through synthetic means, Beijing still [...]

The Martha Stewart Corner: Saucey Stuff

on November 8, 2010
Over the past few weeks, I have been working on starting my own freelancing business, a topic I will be blogging about much more in the near future.  To get a taste, feel free to visit my website.  I especially recommend checking out the piece I read on air for a radio program in Eau [...]

Why is rent so high in Beijing?

on August 11, 2010
In April I went out looking at apartments thinking that maybe we could find something closer to a subway stop or something just a little nicer. There are hundreds of new housing complexes that have recently been finished and hundreds more currently under construction. Currently it may be as high as 1 in 4 urban [...]
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