No gifts for husbands

Last month I had lunch with two of my friends. One is Chinese and the other Taiwanese. They are both married; one has kids and the other doesn’t. There were only a few… Continue reading →

“What does his name mean?”

Every time I tell a Chinese person what my baby’s name is, they invariably reply: “What does it mean?”. This question reveals a very obvious difference in the way Chinese and Western people… Continue reading →

The professional interrogator

I have started to suspect that the neighbour who lives in the 5th floor of my building, a middle aged lady, is a professional interrogator trained by the CIA or the KGB. Every… Continue reading →

“Europeans are always on strike”

A few days ago we met with several of C.’s friends. One of them told me: – “Europeans finish work at 3 pm and they don’t do anything for the rest of the… Continue reading →

The Chinese hamburger

The other day I suddenly felt like eating roujiamo (肉夹馍). A roujiamo is like a sandwich and it is originally from Shaanxi province (Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi province). The bread is… Continue reading →

“My mum is also a foreigner”

Most kids (and also adults) in my compound are scared of Nico because she is bigger than the mini poodles Suzhounese people like to have as pets. But there are a couple of… Continue reading →

Chinese zombies

The other day C. and I were talking about the differences in what is considered scary in the West and in China. He said western ghosts are not scary because “they are just a… Continue reading →

“Have you watched Pretty Woman?”

The other night, C. was humming the song “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. That reminded me of the 90s movie “Pretty Woman”, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. I don’t know about other countries,… Continue reading →

The nosy neighbour

A few days ago I went to walk the dog right after waking up. Picture me wearing my bear pyjamas, with eyes full of sleep and messy hair. A middle age neighbour, also walking… Continue reading →

Representing your country

A few weeks ago I had a strange conversation on QQ (a Chinese instant messaging software that is widely used, even for work). One of my Chinese colleagues in our Shenzhen office asked… Continue reading →