When I left my house this morning my housekeeper, noticing that I was wearing sandals, let out a yelp! Never mind that it was 70 degrees outside, this was obviously not acceptable. I have heard it said that in the former Soviet Union there used to be a joke: “If you see a Bulgarian, beat […]
A Midnight Stroll
Recently some friends and I have enjoyed reading the book "Midnight in Peking" by Paul French. Here's the description of the book from the book's website: January, 1937: Peking is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, lavish cocktail bars and opium dens, warlords and corruption, rumours and superstition – and the clock is ticking […]
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I help people prepare for and navigate the challenges of cross-cultural living through writing, speaking, and training. Services offered include cross-cultural communication training, China briefings, and strategic networking. Training/Speaking Topics include: Cross-cultural Communication Cultural Adjustment Preparing for Work in China Contemporary China Language Acquisition Chinese Language Learning I have successfully provided training/consulting services for the […]
A Mountain of People, an Ocean of People
Ren shan ren hai is a Chinese 4 character idiom that means "a mountain of people, and an ocean of people." In other words, lots of people. And lots of people is something that this country has! Whenever I'm engaged in a conversation with a Chinese friend (or stranger, such as a taxi driver) about […]
National Day 1984
It's National Day here in China, the day that marks the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. China may be a several-centuries old civilization, but this particular nation is today just celebrating its 62nd birthday. It makes me fill a bit old when I realize that I was here […]
Below the Legal Driving Age, Perhaps?
The blog Shanghaiist today posted a video that is making the rounds on Youku, one of China's video-sharing sites, of a little girl driving a car. Although unbelievable, it does look to be real. Unfortunately, I haven't been ableto figure out how to embed the video itself into the blog, so go here to watch […]
