There’s a new super mall across the street from where I live in Kunming, China but I’ve never been inside. Why? I’m more enthralled with the old China with frog mongers and temples than the one that looks like was imported from Peoria. But this mall definitely wasn’t from Peoria, even if this mallwalker looks like the guy from the […]
Chinese Mega Malls
WAITING FOR PAPERWORK
Living overseas means there’s always new laws that cause for a new stamp in your passport. This week, I had to go to Bangkok to jump through a few hoops, only to have those hoops change. After a week of sitting around and waiting for needed documents, my employer sent me home before I ran out of clean underwear. […]
Hey—what happened to China?
When my husband and I got off the plane and landed in Kunming, China in 2010, we did not know what to expect. We were met by the only two other white people in the airport at 3 am in the morning. They loaded our two hundred pounds of life into their tinny van (that priceless booty consisted of […]
When Life Gives You Buttbeans
Copi Luwak or butt bean coffee seemed like the perfect way to drown my sorrows on that anything but Good Friday.
What 70 元 buys
So, I spent 70元 pronounced quai (just over ten bucks) at the grocery store today in Kunming. So exactly did I fill my bag with? First, the shopping bag (it was an unplanned trip). Cost: 1 元RMB 6.67 cents Next, Flower flavor yogurt. Buy three, get one […]
And So the Red Tape Rolls
I have a legendary story about how I got my first job in advertising. I wrote a letter seeking advice regarding what to do with foam rubber sumo wrestler. I hoped that my letter–or at least picture of this monstrosity– would lead to an interview. It didn’t. The letter lead to a job offer at an agency bigger than wrestler’s […]
Sharpies
It was like cleaning out a junk drawer before a move. It was the last few boxes of our storage unit containing the remains of our marriage. But instead of rubber band balls and expired coupons, it contained fragments of my life that I could not part with or bring with me to China. Diaries. My grandmother’s China. My purple […]
Beijing One Layover at a Time
Once in college, I took a weekend road trip to Wichita. Friends and I drove seventeen hours each way and back. Thanks to a few super chugs of coffee, managed to stay awake both driving and during the Monday morning class. But I can’t do those marathon trips anymore –even when flying to China. I mean, you can’t stop anywhere […]
Thank you, TSA
If security opens your box, do they have tape for you to re-tape it? The answer is yes. But I have to ask, who inspects the work of the TSA? I thought my belongings were gnawed at by a group of hamsters. Items were squirting out of the sides of the box like excess jelly on a P&J. […]
What the F@#K say?
Yeah! Yesterday was my last day of school. Make that YaWei. It was year to be remembered for many reasons, a lot of classes spinning out of control, making me wonder if I made a difference with the spinners, those born in the Chinese Year of the Entitled Child. But YaWei, my youngest student, helped me put things in perspective. […]