For Christmas Eve 2013, I prepare a simple Austrian Christmas dish – sausages with sauerkraut and potatoes. While I’m in the kitchen looking for the right spices, I find pure MSG hidden behind other spices. I show it to my husband. He gets angry and starts a fight with his dad. They agreed that we […]
Category Archives: Life in China
I’ll exchange the humid climate of coastal Guangdong for the dry climate of Central Europe tomorrow, but don’t worry – I’ve prepared lots of China-related posts to keep you entertained until I’m back in a few months’ time small talking with locals in China. It’s May 2013. Leaving Shenzhen during its moldiest season is probably not a very good idea. […]
In February 2014, one of my former co-workers who just had a baby girl stops me in my tracks: “Let me see your belly.” After looking at it, she concludes: “It’s really big. You’re wearing quite sexy clothes. You should wear more layers.” She says that on a sunny day with 21°C that reminds me […]
One of my husband’s friends is working as a trainer at a gym. It’s the trainers job to find people they can train. The competition is fierce and more often than not, he doesn’t have anyone to train. If he doesn’t have anyone to train, he earns about 1000 CNY a month (around 120 EUR or […]
After 11 exhausting weeks of early pregnancy, my in-laws arrive in Shenzhen to stay with us for a few months. I love being independent and I’ve always liked living on my own (and with my husband), but I am also a person who’s reluctant to admit that I might need other people’s help, so when […]
One day in the fall of 2013, I listen to two co-workers talking. One is a guy from Northeast China who’s 24, the other one is a woman in her mid-30s who has a 3-year-old child. She tells us how hard it is to find a place in a kindergarten in Shenzhen. The guy says: […]
One day in November 2013, I’m at the supermarket buying fruit. I go to a square counter that is filled with apples. It’s accessible from all four sides. On the opposite side of the counter, a supermarket employee who’s busy unpacking boxes is surrounded by people. A couple standing right next to me point their finger to him. They […]
