Category Archives: China Expat Life
Hi, I’m China and I like to blow shit up
As a foreigner, it’s impossible to live in China for any length of time and not develop some sort of Chinese New Year strategy. Most, the rich and clever ones at least, leave the country. Getting the frack out well before the world’s largest human migration takes place and starts blowing shit up is ideal, …
Happy Niu Year To All
Well, once again it is Chinese New Year’s Eve (this’ll be my forth – and I’ve still yet to find a good pair of earplugs). We should be celebrating tonight with some newcommers to China, and that’s always fun. Maggie’s got pots a bubblin’, cooking up some good dongbei food and we’ll be heading downtown …
Optima Dog Food Saga: It’s Done
Most often I feel time is moving much faster than I expect it to. This last month, however, is an exception. It’s hard to believe that it was just over four weeks ago that we got the news about our Optima dog food being contaminated with aflatoxin. Only a month ago that we began to …
A farewell to George W. Bush – Hilarious
This was a little clip collection that The Hour, easily one of the best shows put out by CBC – and that most of the content is available online makes it super awesome for an expat like me:
Optima Pet Food Saga: Media’s double-edged sword
It’s been a crazy week – both with trying to catch up on work I let slip while caring for Addie over the holidays and also with trying to bring some perspective to this whole, ongoing, experience. When all this began I created a Google Alert for “Optima dog food”, so I’d know any time …
Shanghai Daily-late and dollar short
The Shanghai Daily finally got around to reporting on the emergency recall of dog food after pets poisoned and seem just as confused as the rest of the net on where the Optima dog food comes from and how it ended up killing dogs in China (including my baby). The site reports: Since the end …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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. …
