Lao Shi

This past week my resignation officially became public news at the school.
In typical school fashion, my students heard the news through rumor and gossip before I officially announced it to them. I sent an email to members of the administration venting my frustration at this, as I found it distressing for students to learn […]

I wrote a short piece for the online magazine Gen Art Pulse about quality places to go and hang-out in Shanghai that are not overly touristy. If anyone reading this blog plans on visiting Shanghai, which you should, because, despite my frequent venting about the frustrations of living in China, Shanghai is an amazing city, […]

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 […]

An article in today’s NY Times on Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong Province in Southern China) reported on how the increase in the city’s wealth has brought with it a rise in crime, in particular from gangs on motorbikes. To fight the crime wave the city government has instituted a ban on motorbikes and motorcycles that […]

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 […]

We stayed at the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel in Beijing, located across from the Beijing Railway Station and a twenty minute walk or so from Tiananmen Square that felt longer in the cold. In general, we enjoyed our stay and certainly made the most of the breakfast spread; we cut costs by loading up […]

The Forbidden City is overrated.
When I visited in August, 2005 I walked away with this feeling, and attributed it to travel fatigue and Chinese architecture burn-out.
But after a second visit, I feel the same.
The compound is huge, surrounded by massive walls and made up of 9,999 rooms (only the emperor’s palace in heaven is allowed […]

One of the biggest differences between Shanghai and Beijing was the number of people we saw in Beijing who looked down-and-out. Of course there are homeless people and beggars in Shanghai – these seem to be two sad features of any urban environment – but in Beijing we encountered some aggressive people who seemed on […]

Beijing Christmas photos have been posted! Follow this link and check out the album on the top right column. More notes from the trip to follow soon…