Category: Blog

  • And so ends 2016 and onto 2017… again, and again, and… again

    It’s hard to believe that 2016 is over already with two Christmases done (Julian and Georgian calendars) and two of the three major New Yearses (sp?) are done and over with (again, Julian and Georgian calendars). All that’s left is the Lunar New Year, more commonly referred to as Chinese New Year or, here in…

  • A Bad Week Gone Good, Part 3: Sending Money Home

    Moving along onto the third part of the trifecta of disasters that all seem to occur within a one week period, I now introduce to you the complication of sending money home. I’ve been in Beijing for over two years now and, overall, I find it to be a good place to place. It works…

  • A Bad Week Gone Good, Part 2: Another Step into the Chinese Collective

    This post is a little late in its formation mainly because this “step into the Chinese Collective” actually began a few months ago, but I can say it made my life easier when I had my computer break down. If there’s a phrase that makes me simply smile, nod and walk away from anybody here…

  • A Bad Week Gone Good, Part 1: The Computer Breakdown

    To say the last couple of weeks were a challenge is to understate the little bit of anxiety that has crept up in the morning with full knowledge that as soon as I got up it would be go go go. There was one week in particular that was not very good but not entirely…

  • There will be snow

    The weather has turned colder and the air is noticeably more smoggy than a month ago. Not only are the coal power plants up and running, but farmers are also burning their straw which gives Beijing that “bonfire” smell, and all the associated respiratory problems. So not only have I bought a new face mask to…

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