A sentence I thought I’d never say: This is the fourth time I’ve gone back to the U.S. in a year and a half. It’s no longer as shocking as it used to be, and maybe that’s a good thing. The first…
I paid 150rmb to get rained on for 10 minutes
I’m back in Shanghai (which at this point I’ve accepted is my temporary home) and I’ve just began working a new job at a British company based in China. I’m doing… well, I’m not quite sure what I’m doing yet. But I’m…
Biking the wrong way down West Nanjing Road
There’s a typhoon landing in Shanghai tomorrow evening. I know this is the sort of thing that should leave me trembling, but I’m not. In fact, this is kind of exhilarating (ask me again when I’m clinging to a raft in…
The last train to Asakusa
Falling in love with Japan is so easy. Being there was so different from living in China. I’ve already written entries and entries about ways that China is often so hard to love – it’s in the obliviousness of people around me, the questionable rice triangle filling at FamilyMarts (I could have sworn the label said…
Feeling out of place in Shanghai
I’m still trying to figure out if this whole revamped blog name thing is working. I mean, I’m not even sure if people are able to see these posts again, or if I’m back to typing into the void (which is rather nice,…
Why I’m changing my blog name
In 2007, my dad and I legally changed our last names to my mom’s maiden name. We did this for a few reasons: My old last name was utterly unpronounceable – 12 letters long and about 2/3 of them consonants…
The L-Pocalypse and other (good and bad) impressions of being back in New York
Uber Uber has been such a lifesaver. On the grand scale of things, I really don’t think much has changed since I’ve left the States (Kombucha is still a thing. Everybody, calm down; there’s no need to panic). But the one thing…
What is an authentic New York experience?
This entry is being written from inside a coffee shop in Bushwick. I’m eating a gluten-free raspberry oat bar and drinking a 8 oz French Press. And it’s beautiful how happy those two things make me in tandem. It’s incredible how, on…
Climbing the Great Wall and other things that make you a man.
The smell of Beijing is unmistakable. It’s the smell of resin, cigarettes, and motor exhaust, and it hits you, hard, as soon as you step into the Beijing Capital Airport. It’s been more than a year since I’ve last been to China’s…
Springtime in Shanghai, or arbitrary questions without easy answers
We’ve finally reached the Shanghai Spring (and, I guess, the month of April) last week, and although it was short-lived and the weather is once more back to a 50ºF hazy and rainy mess, the past week brought me back to the temperatures…
What exactly would be an “authentic Shanghai experience” be?
My Dad left this past Saturday. Since he’s flown back, I’ve just regained my sense of a routine (if being trapped in bed for two straight days hopped up on all the DayQuil that he had brought from the U.S. could count…
Redefining 'my' Shanghai
I’ve been feeling slightly out of place the past week. More than before, I’ve been on edge, and people around must be starting to pick up on it. My mind is all sorts of scatterbrained and I can’t help but feel disconnected to the…