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China’s biggest (in)conveniences. – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2014/10/22/chinas-biggest-inconveniences

The best is yet to come. China’s biggest (in)conveniences. I really need to stop feeling guilty about taking cabs. I realize I’m acting stupid, muttering curses under my breath in Russian as I climb up six flights of stairs through a darkened alleyway (complete with clap on! Lights). Over the past few weeks, it feels as if I’ve been going out of my way to make life much harder for myself than it has to be. All the intestinal distress aside, living in China is supposed to be easy, right? I insist on worki...

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Gangs of grannies and my other adventures in the motherland – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2014/05/23/gangs-of-grannies-and-my-first-adventures-in-the-motherland

The best is yet to come. Gangs of grannies and my other adventures in the motherland. I’ve been in Russia for less than half an hour and I’ve already seen at least three kids with mullets. I’ve already been yelled at by an airport official (you can’t look at my passport and tell me it’s not mine just because I’m wearing glasses). I’ve already had a brief, yet hellish, encounter with the sandpaper that Russian airports try to pass as toilet paper. Welcome to the motherland. May 23, 2014. June 4, 2014.

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Maria’s New York – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/05/26/marias-new-york

The best is yet to come. Maria’s New York. The past two weeks have been a little frustrating, because I’ve been just too overwhelmed by the experience of being home, and as a result haven’t really been able to write about them coherently (and isn’t that the mark of a bad writer? Or maybe it feels off-putting to describe some things that used to be so natural as being novel. Oh look, a trash can! Over the past two weeks:. I spent about 44 hours on airplanes, receiving 5 TSA-approved pat-downs. I was miser...

sincerelyshalom.com

“Your wife lost a lot of weight.” – Sincerely, Shalom

https://sincerelyshalom.com/2015/08/05/your-wife-lost-a-lot-of-weight

The girl behind the blog 部落格的女主角. A day in Zhouzhuang. My story in Shanghai. Our tour in Nanjing. My Hong Kong song. Aug 5, 2015. 8220;Your wife lost a lot of weight.”. Middot; 12 Comments. One afternoon in August my husband arrived at the gym after me (he had to drop his clothes at the dry cleaners first), the woman at the front desk said to him, “I’m always seeing your wife working out. She has lost a lot of weight.”. What a pleasant reminder. 在八月裡的某個下午, 我先生去將要乾洗的衣物送洗後, 來到健身房與我會合。 My story in Shanghai.

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Reverse cultural shock or my first hours back in the U.S. – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/05/13/reverse-cultural-shock-or-my-first-hours-back-in-the-u-s

The best is yet to come. Reverse cultural shock or my first hours back in the U.S. 8220;For those of you coming home tonight, welcome home”. 8221;); and I got body-checked by a middle-aged Shanghainese man at the baggage carousel, because United makes you pick up your bags and drop them off again before connecting flights (even if that collecting flight leaves in just an hour and a half). A Starbucks that wouldn’t serve me coffee! I haven’t posted, or even opened my computer in a week. It&#8217...Going h...

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Bags of Beer and Skewers of Squid – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/02/03/bags-of-beer-and-skewers-of-squid

The best is yet to come. Bags of Beer and Skewers of Squid. Last weekend, for the first time in nearly four months, I saw a sky teeming with stars. Shivering and wrapping myself tighter in my plaid scarf the one that so closely resembles an afghan rapidly losing feeling my fingers (and for that matter, my toes), I stood on the third-floor landing of an apartment building, retracing the cusp of the Big Dipper that is so seldom seen in Shanghai. Pictured above: 1.5 hours of turbulence. Was it eating Uni (!

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Understanding China – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/02/23/understanding-china

The best is yet to come. At times, I wonder about my ‘legacy’ in China. At the end of the day, and the end of my time in Shanghai, though I may understand Chinese, I’m not exactly sure whether I’ll actually understand China. So I guess my question is, how do I treat my time here? As few years that I’ll be able to carry with me for the rest of my life, or as something that isn’t quite the real world, but a passing phase? February 23, 2015. February 26, 2015. 8 thoughts on “ Understanding China. Thankfully...

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The one where I take on Huashan Hospital (once more) and live to tell the tale – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/04/09/the-one-where-i-take-on-huashan-hospital-once-more-and-live-to-tell-the-tale

The best is yet to come. The one where I take on Huashan Hospital (once more) and live to tell the tale. Walking into a Chinese hospital is never a pleasant experience. We celebrated that midnight with shots from a Jack Daniels bottle in the Hospital parking lot — although I was still sick and in retrospect shouldn’t have been drinking. Since then I’ve done everything I could to avoid Asian hospitals, aside from that one time I went with T to get his ears drained. No I’m sorry, doctor. I rarely...8212;&#...

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My Morning Commute or “Ten Minutes on the Shanghai Subway” – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/02/05/my-morning-commute-or-ten-minutes-on-the-shanghai-subway

The best is yet to come. My Morning Commute or “Ten Minutes on the Shanghai Subway”. That’s the exact length of my work commute. That is, if don’t count stopping at the milk coffee-tea stall along the way). Of those forty-two minutes, less than ten are spent underground, passing two subway stops on Line 11 of the Shanghai Metro from Shaanxi Nan Lu to Jiaotong University (it’s actually closer to seven; I timed it on a particularly boring morning). I woke up at 7am and I still look. well, like. An Ayi whos...

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Why we become expats – Skipping Customs

https://skippingcustoms.com/2015/01/27/why-we-become-expats

The best is yet to come. Why we become expats. Encounters with strangers in Shanghai always come with difficult questions. For one, ‘why did you come to China? 8217; is one that has been asked each time I have met someone new and over time, it’s become more and more of a burden to answer it (seriously, being greeted with ‘which school did you go to? 8217; at an alumni mixer last Wednesday was almost a welcome change of pace). I’ve already written about some of my reasons for coming to China. But the main...