I guess when R’s parents bought a second apartment about 10 years ago, keeping the original one and renting it out as many middle-class Chinese do, they were thinking ahead to when R got married. In China, if a young man does not have a house (read: apartment), then he may be severely disadvantaged on […]
After almost two weeks as a mother in China, I’ve received a lot of advice. Some of it good, some of it bad, but most of it just none of the business of the people on the street. (I guess our type of ergonomic baby carrier isn’t used much in China as a lot of it centres around […]
“You don’t want your mum” “Bye bye mum, we’re going” “Don’t look at your mum” Of all the things I’ve heard people say to or about my baby in the last week in China, I think this is the weirdest. I totally get that it’s a joke, and that people say all kinds of funny […]
In the first year of marriage to my Chinese husband, the cultural difference that has stuck out the most is praise. Or lack of it. I grew up in the West, where I was praised for my achievements. Where love was vocalised and praise was given freely. My mum used to say that a child needs to […]
The UK is currently in the midst of a ‘heatwave’ – see below. In the UK we define this as one or more days of hot weather (over 24 degrees). You may or may not agree with this definition. You may have also noticed that as well as our dramatic reaction to a brief warm […]
I have recently read some really great personal accounts of long distance relationships/marriages, particularly Marghini‘s guest post on Speaking of China and an older post at Texan in Tokyo. Currently living in a long-distance marriage myself, I find these posts really valuable in giving me food for thought and shaping my behaviour. I never expected to be […]
It’s been around 4 months since I returned from China to my hometown in the Midlands, UK. Which is funny because that’s about the time I spent counting down until I returned. I barely have the words to describe how good it felt coming home (the first cup of tea!), and how wonderful this time has been. […]
I don’t know nearly enough about this topic to write any type of discussion or in depth post, but I would like to share experiences I’ve heard about abortion in China. I have read a lot about the topic, and especially enjoyed Xinran’s Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother, which tells the stories of a […]
When I visited Hong Kong back in October 2014, I was already 4 months pregnant. I wasn’t really showing, although I guess my belly was a bit rounded as I did get offered a seat on the MTR a couple of times. Whilst I was in HK, I talked about my pregnancy with my good […]
Well I did it, I successfully got through 30 hours with my new in-laws without the presence of my husband, as I have to say it was both a mild success and a learning experience. I decided to travel back to the UK via Dalian, which is my husband’s hometown, because that’s where most of […]
