Lifestyle

At the time, vegetarian Chinese food was new to me. The closest I thought a Chinese got to vegetarianism were those bowls of blackened fish heads some like to suck and crunch on while the fish’s eyes dolefully disappear into the slurping mouths. However, anything is possible in Shanghai, so all the meat meals on […]

First we had My Coke Fest, now we have the Virgin Festival. Yes, the V Festival that is such a huge deal overseas — just the South African version. So how do the two big days compare? Let’s see. Both are being held only in Jo’burg and Cape Town. Both have a mix of international […]

I am discovering that I am increasingly grateful for political correctness. Despite my childhood addiction to anything written by Enid Blyton, I find I am unable to read any of my old Noddy collection to my children. It’s not just the absurd and depressingly weak storylines or the whole lot of spanking that goes on […]

Okay, it’s a myth. Maids do not pinch teaspoons or other items of cutlery. The folk tale in my childhood circle of family and friends in Boksburg and Joburg was that “they” did. “Oh for god’s sake,” my mother would mutter as she rummaged through the cutlery drawer, “we’re down to nine teaspoons again. I […]

Following on last week’s entry about Aussie words you need to understand if you want to survive in these parts, here are a couple more words and expressions I encounter occasionally and, occasionally, quite often: Silvertail. Wealthy, affluent, socially privileged — but not necessarily in a good way. The eastern suburbs of Sydney are known […]

Have a rucksack for everything you’ll need: some schools will not give you a key to your shared office, though keys are given to Chinese teachers. This, I am solemnly told, is for “security” reasons. That is to say, while you will have considerable difficulty at night getting past the security guards on the massive, […]

The second in a series The woman with whom I am sharing the lift as we descend to the ground floor of our apartment building is a complete stranger. I reach across and touch her clothing: gently pull at the blouse on her waist area. She keeps smiling at me, nodding. I smile back, as […]

“Where are you from? What is your nationality?” are the regular questions I get asked by friendly passers-by (invariably Chinese) as I hasten through People’s Square park in downtown Shanghai, just off West Nanjing road. I say “invariably Chinese” because there are easily one thousand Asians to one foreigner even in cosmopolitan Shanghai. When I […]