Lao Shi

China is about seven weeks behind me and I’m back in Brooklyn, sifting through notes from students, looking at photographs, trying to organize all the bits and pieces and memories I’ve brought with me and finally be home. I have neglected this task for some time, in part because emotions still linger, in part because […]

My last day in China a colleague said to me: “I haven’t gotten a chance to read your blog yet, but I’ve heard you have a problem with Christians.”
Is that what comes across here, that I have a problem with Christians?
I don’t have a problem with Christians per se, and I stick by this. […]

Oftentimes cabs around the LQ refuse to pick up Westerners.
Specifically around rush hour, when the cabs race from the Zhang Jiang Subway Station to the Living Quarters and back again, they only like to take Chinese passengers. I’ve never been denied a ride across the river in downtown Puxi, where Western tourists and ex-pats are […]

As I write, my bathroom is in a state of utter disruption.
On Monday I received a call from Living Quarters HQ telling me workmen would need access to my apartment today (Wednesday) in order to make some repairs in the bathroom. Apparently my pipes are leaking through the ceiling of the apartment below. Didn’t seem […]

Thanksgiving Church sits on “the river,” which is actually a canal, along which runs a paved path that is my favorite place to visit in the walkable vicinity. A four lane road runs alongside the canal, so it’s not particularly quiet, and construction sites border it on all sides, so it’s not very beautiful, unless […]

I’m sitting at home full and happy and have to crow:
Just finished a delicious meal at Crystal Jade, a restaurant located in the trendy, tourist/no-bo (nouveau-bourgeoisie) oriented Xintiandi shopping area, on the edge of the French Concession. Xintiandi (shin-tian-dee) is a newly constructed mall and somewhat European looking alley of bars and eateries that is, […]

New Year’s day, 2007, came to Shanghai dreary and grey.

Dan, Aliza, Shauna and I celebrated by going to the Shangri-La Hotel to experience what is supposedly the best buffet in town. I believe it – the place was food heaven, a mini-maze of food stations presenting dishes from around the world that you could graze […]

Walking down the main tourist drag of Nanjing Lu, from People’s Square to The Bund, I expect to be jostled by crowds and bombarded by hawkers looking to push their wares – usually fake watches or the cheap trinket du jour, which for the past few months has been skates that attach to your shoes […]

Picture this: Sunday, late afternoon, cold but clear; you’re on your way home from the Shanghai Museum when you see it creeping over the tree line and heading towards you like some special effect from an apocalyptic disaster-of-the-week tv movie with a mind of its own: a billowing cloud of nasty black smoke.

After a brief […]

Grumble Grumble Warning – this post is a rant. Someone’s had too much wine with dinner tonight…
For those of you who have wondered what China in the winter is like: It’s cold!
I’m trying not to gripe too much, because when I get depressed and physically stressed sickness comes on, as it did two […]