China Expat Life Archives - Page 5 of 19

Addie’s Ashes – cremating our dog in China

It’s been a handful of days now, and both Maggie and I are coming to terms with Addie’s death. I still expect her to be there, wagging her tail, when we open the front door; and I still look for her underfoot when I get up from the sofa. But time is a cool leveler, …

January 6, 2009

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Why self-medicating is an essential China expat skill

Maybe everyone should take an interest in what pills and pokes their doctor is giving them, despite how frowned upon it is by House. But in China, figuring out what’s really wrong with you, on your own – armed only with Google and Wikipedia – is a tragic, but essential, fact of expat life. Over …

December 4, 2008

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Get English-language books online in China

Further to my previous post about ordering groceries online here in Suzhou, I wanted to share this little tip for ordering English-language books online in China. Mags has been using Joyo/Amazon.cn for months now to stock our shelves with every yoga book that exists – but only recently informed me that they have an “English …

November 1, 2008

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Living in China is Easy…

Living in China is easy – or so says the tag line of my new favourite Web site, 5JShop.com. The site offers home delivery of groceries in and around the Jinji Lake/SIP area of Suzhou. Yeah, we just click, click, click and hit send and magically a man appears the next day with our groceries. …

October 30, 2008

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‘Best Band in Beijing’ coming to Suzhou

Just got word that Woodie Alan, the band City Weekend calls the “Best Band in Beijing”, is coming to Suzhou for a one show performance on Friday night. The show’s taking place at J&J Restaurant (No.5, Block 11, Horizon Resort II, SIP) and runs from 9 until 11. Tickets will set you back 60 RMB …

October 27, 2008

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Scent of Adventure

I had the good fortune to interview Rob Thomson the other day and can’t stop thinking about travelling. Rob, for those that don’t know, just broke a Guinness World Record skateboarding 12,000 km unsupported. His journey started in Switzerland and took him over Europe, the US and the width of China – beginning in Xinjiang …

October 7, 2008

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Using Skype in China?

Just a quick note that if you’re using Skype in China, or more importantly, using a TOM-Skype (from skype.tom.com) download of the software, you should check out my most recent post on Lost Laowai: Chinese Skype privacy breech. If you are, or have chatted to anyone using the Chinese-version of Skype, there’s a good chance …

October 4, 2008

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Food for thought

Having just finished smacking a god-like amount of meat into patties for a BBQ I’m hosting tomorrow, food isn’t exactly the topic I’m most excited to blog about. However, a little vodka’n’cranberry therapy at hand, it’s time I tackle a topic I’ve been meaning to address for a while now – the biggest bone of …

October 1, 2008

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Sexy Bitch

Addie just recently went into heat for the first time (snuck up on us – we were still thinking she was just a puppy). For anyone that’s never had a (ahem) bitch in heat, it can be a bit messy. To combat this we’ve employed a couple pairs of old undies – much to our …

September 26, 2008

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Yoga lessons in Suzhou’s SIP – Maggie gets a Web site

About a week and a half ago Maggie told me she was a bit worried because there was an unprecidented meeting of a large group of “business people” at her yoga studio when she arrived to teach her class. Turns out her fears were not unfounded, and last week the whole business closed (it was …

September 17, 2008

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Tim Horton’s in China (Timmie’s secret revealed)

I drink a lot of coffee. I’m sure I’m not alone in this confession, but I thought I’d make it regardless. I drink so much in a day that I’ve set a cut-off limit of 5pm, anything later and I increase my chances of having night-terrors. Now, instead of night-time misadventures, I find myself cramming …

August 19, 2008

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Almost – a new friend

As I was quite active in the blogger scene (if you can call it that) up in Dalian, and had met a few good friends because of it, I was eager to check out what Suzhou had in way of bloggers when I first moved down here two years ago. At the time the only …

July 27, 2008

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