Posts

I don’t think culture shock is what most people think it is. Culture shock seems as though it should be that feeling you get when you walk through a foreign food court and see creatures Read more…

Here I use emasculation in the least gender connotated (I’m making up a word here as my vocabulary won’t allow me to find a more suitable alternative) way possible. It has nothing to do with being Read more…

My first Chinese New Year experience began a couple of weeks after I arrived in the country. I was excited, Chinese New Year in my imagination was a carnival of dragon puppets, fireworks and celebrations. Read more…

I did something dumb and landed myself in hospital, only my second medical incident in China since 2018 which was also finger related. I foolishly ran up a flight of stairs whilst at work, the Read more…

In less than a month of it coming out, I sunk around 50 hours into Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. 50 hours. That’s over two days of playing one game. It sounds gross, but then I Read more…

Many months after seemingly burying covid in a pit, the virus was more or less a distant memory. There was still an atmosphere of vigilance, masks were still compulsory on public transport. Travel quarantines were Read more…

What’s the best thing about living in China? China takes convenience to another level for almost everything you could want. And with it also being a cheap place to live, anything you want becomes even Read more…

It’s funny. Great leaps forward in technology seem to just slide into prominence quietly. I always expect these things to explode not with a whimper but with a bang. I still don’t fully understand 3D printers but they seem Read more…

This was written sometime in 2021. Looking back at this, some of it has aged badly. Nobody could predict how things would unfold in the following years. I stand by some of the things I Read more…

Week 3 of dry month. I did a month without drinking back in 2021 so I know what to expect. I’m sure over time I may have done one without realising it at some point. Read more…

I know what I’m supposed to say But it doesn’t feel right. “I’ve lost my job” you say, “So get another one” I reply Another says “They don’t know what they’re missing” I should have Read more…

Do you remember the last time you went to the bathroom without a phone? When I do it’s a borderline psychedelic experience. My mind kamikazes all over the place like I’ve been suppressing day dreams Read more…

I keep a mental ranking of how each year of my life measures up to those that came before it, always willing the next one to be better than the last. Thankfully, this has largely Read more…

China is massive. It’s the most populous country in the world. And almost everyone is Chinese. The diversity I’d come to know after three years of living in Manchester was long gone. Chongqing is a Read more…

My working hours at my school were very generous. I didn’t start work until 3pm for most of the week. A rough hangover could be assuaged by then, and with a new city to explore, Read more…

Few moments were as lonely as being sat in a taxi to the hospital, holding my bloody hand in a mass of kitchen roll. I wanted my mummy. The injury I had sustained was little Read more…

The birth of the mask wearing and vax gang war-fare era originated in Wuhan, China. It feels like a decade ago when the catalyst for the new world order erupted from the epicentre of a Read more…

I’m not so much a Shakespeare guy per seBut as an English graduate I can’tDeny the man’s rich influence on writing,On language, drama generally owes a debt.Ashamed to say, of all the man’s oeuvre,I’ve read Read more…

My music taste has travelled along a similar trajectory to what I imagine a porn addict’s to be. I’ve consumed so much for so many years that not it’s hard for me to be buzzed Read more…

Apart from babysitting a few times, I have never had much to do with kids. As soon as I stopped being one, my association with them lay dormant. When choosing to become a teacher in Read more…

I’d like to say “never take language for granted”, but unless you live your life an uncertain, dithering gratitude seeker in every available moment, you will go about your daily life without thinking about an Read more…

My first hotpot experience occurred within hours of arriving in Chongqing. I took my recuperation moments and was already reluctant to open Pandora’s suitcase. My laziness was salvaged by a knock on my door. I Read more…

I’d only been on a handful of planes in my life. In fact, the single journey to Chongqing almost doubled my life total of flights. I was so unaccustomed to travelling anywhere beyond the borders Read more…