friday night profanities

I considered my stock Chinese insults: All involve the driver’s sister, mother, or grandmother, and a foreign resident of China and part of his anatomy.

photos of dante’s chinese gridlock

I spent an hour and a half sitting in the back of a taxi Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t by choice. The entire trip should have taken 30 minutes. I found myself mired a mile from home, watching the meter click over every three minutes, adding more jiao to my fare. Why? Three lanes of traffic…

ESL in China: First days – Looking down

I don’t remember much about that Sunday, looking back after three years. It was cold, I recall, much colder than I thought it should be in a sub-tropical area. I huddled in my apartment, on the thin-padded wooden sofa.