Birmingham Post - Lifestyle Blog

A little bit of Birmingham in Beijing?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:37:57 +0000

Beijing is full of examples of magnificent architecture; the infamous CCTV tower, other known as 'the trousers', the birds nest, the water cube. And these are just the world famous ones! In reality, when you live in Beijing everyday is a full of surprises. Everyday week new buildings appear as if from nowhere, none of which, however, remind me of home...or so I thought. This new building, which has recently been completed, or recently landed from outer space, reminds me of a little place I once knew called Birmingham. Take a look at the pic and let me know what you think!

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Squirrel Flavoured Crisps? Whatever Next?!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:50:12 +0000

Proving that we really are the country which embraces all cultures, food and...err, animals, Walkers have introduced their new trial flavour 'Cajun Squirrel'.

During my time in China I have ingested some questionable things, jelly fish, grasshopper and fish face, being amongst a few of the local delicacies, which I am often urged to share details of when attending parties here in the UK. But now, perhaps, the English can take away first prize for the most bizarrely flavoured crisps, replacing the Cucumber flavour crisps which have become a personal favourite of mine in Beijing.

Has anybody ever heard of a more bizarre flavour than Squirrel?

Back To Reality

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:50:45 +0000

I always thought that those Little Women were just being a tad materialistic, but this year I realised that they were right when they famously said; "Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without any presents." What I have come to realise is that Christmas really isn't Christmas without the presents...turkey, family arguments, hangovers, overeating, burnt roast potatoes, debt, brussell sprouts, and everything else that we completely take for granted!

However, westerners living in Beijing will strive to do their utmost to keep tradition alive by drinking and being as merry as they can manage to be. With Beijing being as westernised as it is, there is definitely no shortage of Christmas trees, festive decorations and St. Nick effigies, we feel the excitement there, but it all feels a tad redundant when on Christmas morn there is no family and no presents to unwrap.

When you've been living in china long enough, you begin to learn that you must find your excitement elsewhere. And when you have become truely easternised (myself not yet being qualified, having only been in china 2 years), you'll have been counting down the days to the Chinese new years celebrations, or what is also known as Spring festival.

Like our Christmas, Chinese New Year is the biggest event on the calendar in china, and the only time in the year that every person gets enough time to travel to their home towns and relax with their families. Not wanting to feel completely abandoned and alone in Beijing, I decided to do the exact same thing and travel home to visit my family and friends in good ol' Blighty.

Feelings of excitement mixed with nerves engulfed me as I arrived at Heathrow, and I felt slightly intimidated by the seemingly tall and burly built people at the airport. Strangest thing is, though, as soon as I arrived home I felt like I hadn't even been away. My mother had redecorated and my younger brothers had grown, but there were no radical changes, and nothing knew to adapt to, just an overwhelming feeling of safety and comfort.

Yet worryingly, I can't help but feel that I have perhaps 'outgrown' my home...I guess this is all part of growing up, becoming independent and finding a new and different sort of home in a new and different sort of country.

Stop The Press...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:15:53 +0000

I have said it once and I will say it again; I LOVE the China Daily newspaper. LOVE it. Nothing beguiles me more than to read about the lives of others, especially the lives of the Chinese folk. After living in the UK for 24 years, nothing ceased to amaze me with the people of Britain, so living in China I have been thrilled, amazed and down-right fascinated by things that people do, and more to the point, WHY they do them.

Check out this recent story, courtesy of the Shanghai Evening Post:

Disgruntled Son Hides In Sewer From Family

A man in Shanghai sat tight in a filthy sewer for more than an hour to hide from family members.
Ye, a Shanghai local in his early 30s, had quarreled with his kin and decided to hide from them in the cesspit.
After police found him hiding in a sewer with a diameter less than 1m, they feared he would suffocate amid the dirty water and slime.
Too big to follow him and wholly reluctant to do so anyway, they kept beckoning Ye to come out of his own accord.
They eventually coaxed him out.

There's just two things I yearn to know about this story. 1. What did the family quarrel about that made him take such drastic measures? 2. Ok, so in China there aren't really any proper pubs, but how about visiting a bar, or just taking a walk? I mean, was there really no other alternative than to sit in the sewer??!

People are fascinating.

Laid In China

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:15:53 +0000

It's no big secret to anyone in Beijing that the sex trade is very much alive and openly available to anyone minus the naming and shaming that one might receive back home in Blighty. My rationale being that foreign men feel that because they are away from their own country they think they can get away with behaving a bit more boyish, and ever so badly. One might be fooled into believing that the redly-lit massage parlours with the pretty-faced young Chinese girls are there for no more than one looking for a quick shoulder rub, but as any guy will tell you, "you may get more than you bargained for".

Expatriate male friends of mine have excitedly engaged us with the unnecessary details of the kinds of mischief they have gotten into at the elusive karaoke houses in Beijing, in which men are presented with their choice of naked Chinese girls to fulfill their every whim. All comes at a price, of course, and if you're not happy with the price, you negotiate. How comforting to know that you can not only haggle over the price of your new shoes, but also your next lay.

Expat men can indulge themselves until they are so exhausted that they have to go home and back to 'reality'. As you can imagine, the lives of the expat women is not nearly as much 'fun'. Expat women marginally sit back, sip their vodka and tonics, and shake their heads as they watch another expat man's ego rocket through the roof when a beautiful Chinese girl gives him a second glance in a nightclub. But what does he care what the expat women think? This isn't the real world; this may as well be Never-never land. Well, guys, Captain Hook lived in Never-never land too and look what kind of reputation he got for himself!

Getting fresh in Peking

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:03:28 +0000

Autumn in the city is Beijing at its best. The days are beautifully sunny, the air is fresh and clean, and everybody feels invigorated and ready for winter after their October week-long holiday. And what do Chinese people do during their October break? Hike mountains, go to the suburbs, or generally escape to anywhere that has a little fresh air. Having climbed my mountain, and survived, I spent the rest of the week in city, and completely lost! The city was eerily quiet without the horn-tooting and the singing outside my window at 6am.

Having recharged our batteries, everyone is back on full form and counting down the days until the arrival of the Kate Moss Topshop range in Beijing...or is that just me who is as excited as a kid at Christmas?

This month Avril Lavigne and Linkin Park visit Beijing, however the hoards of Linkin Park fans have been massively disappointed in finding out today that all 5 dates of their Asia tour have been cancelled due to lead singer Chester Bennington having sustained a back injury. Hopefully not due to an October holiday hiking mishap.

The rest of October looks set to be an exciting time for me. I've agreed to run a 10k marathon next Sunday, but having been so busy have not had time to train at all! Luckily I've booked myself in for a well-deserved trip to the mountains (where else), at a yoga retreat. The weekend is a 'back to basics' escape from the city, with yoga, calligraphy, chanting and drumming. Just hope they throw in a free massage, too... I think I'm going to need it after that 10k crawl to the finish line.

Hehehe..HELP!!

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:16:49 +0000

Today I was told by my Chinese friend that I have no sense of humour. After three bouts of fake laughing at his "classic" Chinese jokes, I was faced with the choice of either telling him that his jokes made me want to injure myself, or actually injure myself, by causing a hernia from too much fake laughing.

Do people ever realise the pressure they put on you when they decide to tell you a joke. There are numerous stress factors involved, such as; a. What if you don't get the joke - you'll look like a fool. b. What if it's not funny, he/she will be humiliated. So, you'll have to fake a laugh. c. Timing the fake laugh correctly and making it convincing.

It really is a danger zone out there in the world of witticisms. I suppose that's why most comedians are manic depressives and/or alcoholics. Either of which I sincerely hope my Chinese friend does not become because of me.

So, I'm going to let you decide. Are these jokes only funny to Chinese, hyenas and the drunk and disorderly? Or have I lost my sense of humour?

Here goes...

'Side-splitter' number 1: >"There was a man called 'Hy' and he looked like a motorcycle. One day some person rode him away."

Yes, that is the whole joke. The end. Cue fake laughing.

If that one didn't have you in pieces, try this one for size...

'Side-splitter' number two: >>"The was a match that never washed his hair. One day his head was really itchy so he scratched it and he set himself alight. And burned to death."

I promise you that these are real jokes, told to me by an intelligent young Chinese guy! When I admitted to him that his jokes made me hurt in places I had never felt before, he said I had no sense of humour, and that any Chinese person would have found them hilarious! Is he right? Am I humourless?

The foreigners flee

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:57:11 +0000

For the first time in seven years China can breathe again, and that's no intentional pun on the air pollution. As far as everyone is concerned, the Olympics has been pulled off without so much as a streaker or free Tibet shriek (that I know of), which makes us all over here very proud indeed.

For most of the locals, and expats especially, we were more than happy to cart off the billion squillion tourists to the airport and back to their own country, so that we can have our bars, malls and taxis back to our self-centered selves. But now they've gone the city feels kind of lost. Despite the fact that the Paralympics has only just begun, the excitement and buzz has disappeared, and a lot of the people are asking themselves, "so what's next?"

Expats are leaving, having run out of excuses to stay in China, and new expats are finding it harder and harder to get jobs in China thanks to a new employment law limiting job offers to foreigners who are already living, and have been living in china, for at least two years. It's also becoming a requirement for those foreigners to be fluent in mandarin. After all, who needs a foreigner to do the job when each year more and more Chinese are returning from abroad with top qualifications, able to speak both Mandarin and English and willing to accept a lower salary than your average foreigner?

Gone are the carefree times for the expats, and things are becoming serious. The expats that remain, myself included, are upping their mandarin classes, and doing grown-up things, like marrying their chinese boyfriends and girlfriends. Calm down, Dad, i'm not married yet!

What the world is waiting for

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:35:58 +0000

Well, it's finally here. And I don't know about the rest of the world, but over here this day has been about as hyped up as new millennium eve was. Jeez, was that really 8 years ago?

Security is ridiculously tight, we're being scanned and searched what seems like every 5 minutes, and most of Beijing is cordoned off, including Tiananmen Square and the Olympic arena (of course). Everyone is frantically trying to organize where they'll be at 8:08pm when the opening ceremony commences and the fireworks are set off, and people are speculating as to who will light the Olympic torch. There is endless gossiping about who managed to get tickets to the opening ceremony (practically nobody!), and slagging off those who managed to get a ticket at all (I did! Cycling in the Vendome, next weekend. Ahem.)

This really is China's big chance to show the world how great it is. And man, are they going for it. Yesterday I walked passed a street of Chinese people chanting "Come on China! Come on China!" for no particular reason. And I'm feeling quite left out that I haven't yet purchased my 'I heart China' t-shirt, since everybody else seems to have one and wear it religiously everyday. I do, however, have a Beijing 2008 sweatshirt, but if I wore that in this humidity, I'd probably die.

Expats in Beijing, I've found, are not getting as excited about the Olympics as the locals. In fact I was chatting to two Americans earlier that were saying how they hoped that things didn't go so perfect for China during the Games. One guy, having lived in China for more than three years, was quite bitter that Beijing had put on a big front, cleaning up the streets, planting flowers and reducing traffic. He said that the people that come during this time won't be met by the real China, just a pretty version of it. But hey, you can't blame a country for making an effort, can you? It's no different to you picking up your dirty undies off the floor and washing the dishes when you have a friend coming to visit.

I, on the other hand, have been dragged along with the hype, and will probably be the one that starts a "You can do it, China!" chant tonight after a few mojitos. However, my one little nitpick is that I seriously think that whoever coined the Beijing Olympics as the "Coming Out Party", should have reconsidered it before opening their mouth. To me, and maybe I stand alone on this one, it connotes that this is the day Beijing announces to the world that it thinks Judy Garland was "fabulous" and is in a serious relationship with a guy called Guo Dong.

Having just let an opening ceremony ticket slip through my fingers (my friend called me to offer me a ticket, but I was at work and missed the call. Doh!), today all comes down to organizing this evening. I'm sure a majority of Beijing will agree with me when I say that the best thing about this day is that we all got a day off work. London take note of that one. Going to stand outside the birds nest at any point today is no-no. I predict that there will be approximately 3.2 squillion people standing outside there tonight, all getting pushy and sweaty and screaming "One World, One Dream!" at the top of their lungs, whilst waving tiny China flags.

I've read that the opening ceremony is set to be the most lavish in history, the "greatest show on Earth." Damn, I still can't quite believe I missed out on that ticket..*curses*

Everybody is asking "what is with the weather?!" We somehow managed to survive July without committing suicide, after it practically rained every day. We were told that it was all so that the sky would be clear for the Olympics. Now, I don't know exactly how you make it rain, but some scientist people in the south of China have been, well, doing it. Is that even legal? Will I get extradited for telling you this?? I had better stop writing now.

Happy Olympics opening day, everybody!

Summer In The City

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:22:42 +0000

You may think that living in dusty old Beijing in the Summer time would be a bit of a drag, but you would be wrong. The list of things to do is endless.
With barbecues, themed parties and water parks, at times it's like being on holiday in Majorca, but with far less stag/hen holidays and vomiting, of course.

When the weather is hot and sweltering and you are beginning to feel like a bag of boil-in-the-bag mifan (rice), the one place you long to be is on the beach, with soft sand between your toes, some cool water (not the Davidoff fragrance) to dip your steaming hot bod into, and some relaxing tropical 'holiday' music playing subtly in the background from the beach cocktail bar (Bob Marley or UB40 are always winners).

Well, who'd have thought it, but I've found just the place in this bustling capital city.
Hallelujah! An arguably beautiful man-made beach is just the ticket for an expatriate who wants to fry in the midday sun. So long as you don't mind Chinese people taking photographs of you as you lie on the beach in your bikini, that is. Many Chinese women opt for beachwear like those luminous leotards that GMTV's Mr. Motivator used to wear.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't run in slow motion across the beach, ala Baywatch, topless and wearing a red thong that just screams "notice me". I should imagine I would be arrested for such an act. No, I just wear what any other western female would select: An average black bikini. Yet still, expect photos to be taken. It becomes a way of life. I'm getting a taste of what it would be like to be Princess Di. Albeit on a much much much smaller scale, I grant you. But whereas before I would tut at celebrities who would attack the paparazzi, and be shown photographed in The Sun giving the finger (not the Cadbury's chocolate one), but now I empathize with them. I'm laughing at myself as I write this. How pretentious I must sound? But seriously, despite the colossal amount of expats living in Beijing today, we still get stared at and get 'papped'. However, no amount of 'papping' of me in my bikini is going to make me wear one of Mr. Motivator's cast-offs.

I'm hoping that my saviour is going to be the Olympic Games. After a month of foreigner overload, and after taking as many photographs as their phones, cameras and computers will hold, I'll be able to run down the street naked without so much as a click. Well, that's my theory anyway. Something I devised from the Clockwork Orange technique: Give the person an overload of something they like and they wont like it any longer. I'll let you know how that one works out.

If you do plan on coming to Beijing to watch the games, have your wallet ready, because I read in the China Daily yesterday that they're expecting foreigner visitors to spend $400m. Crikey, now that's a lot of noodles.

Chiz

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:24:07 +0000

Since the age of about 18, when I found an old copy under my then boyfriends bed, I have been an ardent reader of Viz comic. Yes, it has been viewed as sexist and politically incorrect, but the humour is dry and satirical, something which you rarely find anywhere else these days, and something that I crave once every now and then. Having been in China for well over a year, I have felt a massive void when it comes to humour. And so, with a pleading email to my father every few months, he nips down to the local newsagents and hastily posts me a copy of the latest Viz. Good old Dad. Why is his 25-year-old daughter more interested in reading an adolescent boy's comic and not Heat magazine, he must wonder.

However, inbetween Viz comics I have found a satisfying relacement. The English language Chinese newspaper. The 'fillers' are my favourite. The fact that these are true stories that the Editor has selected out of all the happenings in China, I find delightfully amusing. It puts me in mind of the 'Letterbocks' pages from Viz, where readers write in with their own ridiculous tales.
Yesterday's paper entertained me with such newsworthy stories as the following, "a yellow-billed grosbeak slammed into a shop window and died in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province.
A second bird settled on the ground near the dead animal, appearing to keep vigil.
A woman passing by surnamed Liu tried to explain to the lingering live bird - which of course did not understand her flurry of excited hand signals - that she would give the dead grosbeak a proper buriel."
- Shanxi Evening News

How that didnt make front page, I will never know.
I like to imagine that lady frantically doing sign language to a bird, trying to tell it that she will give it's mate a plush funeral. And in my imagination, the bird is looking back at her with one of those "she's mental" expressions on it's little furry face.

Another one of my favourites from the same issue, is...
"A woman in Hankou, Hubei province, did not see her husband when she woke up on Tuesday morning. He did not answer her calls all day.
Worried that he might have been kidnapped, she alerted police that he was missing.
Later, officers found the man camping out on the roof of their home.He said he was hiding from a gang of criminals who had recently threatened him at the small grocery store he owns.
Both police and his wife wondered why the man, 42-year-old Huang Liang, had not informed his spouse."
- Chutian Metropolis Daily

Fabulous. Have I been away too long, or are these the kinds of newsworthy stories we find in western papers too? Perhaps it's the way that the stories are worded that amuses me.. Or perhaps i've just been eating too much street BBQ food this week.

I like my cities like I like my men...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:03:41 +0000

From an outside-of-a-relationship perspective, I have always advised my friends never to change for a man. Be who you are. And if he doesn't appreciate you as you are, then get rid and move onto the next. Being the supportive best friend, and the much hated girlfriend's best friend, has been a role that I feel I have excelled in. It's so much easier to be objective when you are not involved in a relationship yourself.
However, when you are the one involved in a relationship, the objective way of thinking becomes somewhat hazy, and you'll find that no matter how much your best friend demonises your boyfriend for making you want to listen to a different kind of music, this is just something that you find you want to do. It's about keeping your lover interested, finding a common ground, and adapting to maintain attraction.

When the relationship ends, perhaps you will find that it has changed you. Maybe you continue to listen to that new music and do those new things. The relationship has broadened your mind, and taught you something new. You live and you learn. The biggest lesson of all usually being, don't date someone like that again.

If Beijing were a person, like you and I, I would say that Beijing has been looking for some love interest for quite a while now. Beijing's not unattractive, in fact rather beautiful. It has a reputation, sure, but name one place or someone that doesn't...

After a long time 'developing' and doing it's own thing, Beijing now finds that it will finally be in for some romance this Summer. Summer lovin', if you please. In fact, this Summer will be like Beijing appearing on Chris Tarrant's Man-O-Man, as the only bear-chested contestant in front of an audience of over-sexed middle-aged women. The world's eyes, and not just those belonging to females, will be trained on Beijing for a whole four weeks while it hosts the 2008 Olympic Games.
In preparation for it's 'close-up', Beijing has already begun to change it's appearance. Obviously it wants to look it's best for this date.
So, it's cutting down on it's smoking habit. No more smoking in restaurants and taxi's, for this city, which is an achievement in itself. It has also noticed that it's a bit smelly, and err toxic, so it has cut down traffic pollution by alternating the days for which people can use their vehicles. And to show that it is the caring and environmentally aware type, it has placed charges on plastic carrier bags, in the hope that people will use less, and recycle more.
Commited, check. Hygenic, check. Caring of mother Earth, check.
Add a little bit of 'wow' factor by throwing in a few impressively big and odd-shaped buildings, and bingo. It's innovative and good-looking. Beijing could be the perfect man-o-man.

Now whereas I have always (hypocritically) advised my friends to never change for a man, a man changing for a woman seems...ok. I'm no Germaine Greer, but I do think that if there's something annoying about your man you could try your luck and ask him to quit it. I'm not talking about drastic things, like encouraging your lover to have liposuction or abandon his family... Really! But perhaps a well-timed hint that the moustache that he's trying, and failing terribly, to grow, makes him look like a reject from the village people. Or that when he chews his food with his mouth open it you feel an uncontrollable urge to spear him with your fork/chopstick. Not that I condone violence in a relationship. Or any place, for that matter.

Of course if changes are made, you need to know that they're going to be taken seriously. If I promise to not sing in the mornings, then he must promise to never expose his feet until they have been thoroughly bathed in dettol. And we should accept these little 'nit-picks' as friendly advice from a loved one that they are incredibly annoying and unattractive. We should be thankful that they have pointed out these things, because it means that by stopping you from doing this they have improved you as a person.

What makes Beijing the equivalent of the perfect man, is that it has made a commitment to stop all of these unattractive things, and prove to the world that it is wonderfully caring, hygenic, modern, multicultural and innovative, and not the slob that people have always assumed.

Ergo I find that I like my cities like I like my men. Willing to change and ambitious. Not to mention, big and rich.

Sharon Stone-cold

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:49:17 +0000

Dear oh dear, poor Sharon Stone must be kicking herself. Correction, Sharon Stone's publicist must be kicking her, as this week she spectacularly put her foot in it by alienating the third largest country in the world. Dear oh dear indeed.

At the Cannes Film Festival, the usual press surrounded the stars to get a few quotes to fill their column inches. Imagine the scene as the journalists asked Stone the standard questions... "How did you like working with (insert name of director/actor)?", "Tell us about your new film...", etc etc. Then one cocky journalist decides to try his/her luck and ask her to comment on the (very touchy) topic of the situation between China and Tibet. There are a few sniggers from the other journos in the crowd; of course she's not going to comment on that! Celebrities can rarely get away with having a public opinion when it comes to politics. Unless it's written into a song, ala Bono, Lennon, Dylan. A catchy melody tends to filter a bit of tension between insults, we've discovered.
Unfortunately, Stone didn't have a catchy melody, or a thought for her flailing career when she let rip, "I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans". Well, not many people are, Shaz. Surely, she must have some great intellectual follow up to such an over-opinionated remark.. "(...) because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else." Oh I see. Well that's a good enough reason then... Isn't it?

She could have left it at that, and perhaps got away with losing a few Chinese fans, but she went on to add that she reckons that because China were mean to Tibet, the Sichuan earthquake happened. Ouch. So Stoney turns out to be a big believer in karma - the Hindu and Buddhist belief of cause and effect. It's no big deal. If we can accept that Tom Cruise believes we're all aliens, and Michael Jackson believes he's Peter Pan, we can come to terms with Sharon Stone believing in karma. In fact, I'm actually a believer in karma myself, but only really to the point of if I'm rude to my mum then I'll break a fingernail. If I did have strong opinions about more pressing matters, such as the reason why my mate's husband left her must be because she dropped his toothbrush down the toilet and didn't tell him, I'd have the sense not to blab about it. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people don't like blabbers. Blabbing is bad.

I think that Sharon Stone blabbed a bit too much that day. And her karmic retribution is that she'll be lucky if any film featuring her will be shown in China and Hong Kong for a while, and her advertising campaigns for names such as Christian Dior have all been removed from stores and billboards. There is now a call for a boycott of other products with which Stone is said to be associated, such as Guerlain and Ebel. Phew-wee, now that's some bad karma. She must've dropped a whole lot of toothbrushes down the toilet, as well as insulted *1321851888 people.

For future reference, we can make the assumption that blabbing equals bad karma, kids.

*Population of China 2007, courtesy of wiki.answers.com
Quotes courtesy of Beijing Today 30/05/08 p.5

So where are all the gentlemen?

Wed, 21 May 2008 05:32:12 +0000

Ask a Chinese person what their opinions are of Englishmen and a majority will sigh (women only, usually) and confidently reply, "Englishmen are gentlemen."

How embarrassing for me when I have to correct them and say, "well, actually....not anymore.."
Sometimes I just don't say anything. I just smile and raise my eyebrows.

Exactly how out of date are these perceptions that China has about England? Are we talking Austen era? Shakespearean times? Because I can't remember the last time I thought to myself, "that man was so chivalrous when he chose to spit into the bush and not onto my walk way".

Having said that, I've been away from home for a long time, and have somehow also begun to believe that English men are all floppy haired and bumblingly apologetic, in a Hugh Grant-esqe way.

Very rarely will a Chinese man hold open the door for you, offer you his jacket, or allow you exit the elevator first. Out here, it's every man for himself. I cuss under my breath, as I convince myself "this would never happen in England".

Perhaps I've been in China far too long. You could live in paradise and begin to get narky at something or other. The stupid weather is too hot on my perfect caribbean island. Those flippin' angels are playing those harps again, don't they ever give it a rest?! It's completely true that we're never happy with our lot.

When I'm in a bad mood, I become Miss Patriot 2008, I don't wear a sash or tiara or anything, but I do convince myself that the food, weather, people, and even the traffic are so much better in England than anywhere else. Much alike when we have a bad day in England, we consider emigrating.

I secretly console my bad moods with my 'Pride and Prejudice' ideal of England and English people, that could only have been created through a detachment from home.

Man, am I in for a shock when I return home...

And life continues as normal in Beijing...

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:43:34 +0000

The news reports on the television and the headlines on the internet are stupefying.

Given that the country that this almighty tremor happened in is where I am right at this moment.

Being English, I am used to watching these terrific natural disasters on the television as I sip my tea and shake my head in dumbfoundness. It seems like a different world as I sit in my cosy cocoon of western safety.