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 […]
Tag Archives: China
In November 2012, I’m visiting the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces in Guangxi province. After a night spent in a guesthouse on one of the hills, I start a 5-hour long trek across the rice terraces to another village. I’m trekking with 3 Chinese guys who have also stayed in guesthouses on the hill. November is low […]
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. […]
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 the summer of 2013, I go to the hairdresser. The guy who washes my hair asks: “Are you from the US?” I: “No, I’m from Europe.” He: “I see. Americans like to fight. They like to go into war with other countries.” Do you think that this is a popular view of […]
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 […]
I’m at the grocery store. When I’m done with choosing the groceries I want to buy, I find a corner with massage chairs where I can sit down and wait for my husband (he went to another store and is the one carrying the backpack to store our groceries in). After a short while, an […]
One day at the end of September 2013, Q, a friend who’s living in Shangri-la, has invited me to come with her to her hometown Weixi, which is located on the hills of a fertile valley in Western Yunnan and is a 5-hour-drive across steep mountain roads from Shangri-la. Weixi is a city surrounded by mountains which is […]
In September 2013, I accompany one of my friends from Kunming to Qujing, a city 2 hours from Kunming. In the evening, we meet up with some friends at a bar. One is a young couple with the woman being 2 months pregnant. They look like they are very much in love. I ask them […]
One evening in September 2013, I take a motorcycle cab back to my place. The driver asks me where I need to go. I tell him the name of the closest bus stop (which is also what I would usually tell cab drivers) and get on the motorcycle. While driving, he asks: “What’s the name […]
In March 2008, just a few months before the start of the Summer Olympics in Beijing and right after protests took place that would later lead to deadly riots in Lhasa, Q, a friend from Northwestern Yunnan gets a call from her mother. Her mother is an ethnic Tibetan while her father is Han-Chinese. Their […]
After getting back the results of the blood works and confirming that I am indeed pregnant, the next time I see the doctor she sends me to do blood works again. And three days after that, again. It’s too soon to do an ultrasound yet. But why does she send me to do blood works […]
This is the last part of a conversation I had with a cab driver who took me to the airport in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”), part 2 (“Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”), part […]
This is part 5 of a conversation I had with a cab driver who took me to the airport in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”), part 2 (“Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”), part 3 […]
This is part 4 of a conversation I had with a taxi driver who took me to the airport in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”), part 2 (“Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”) or part […]
I have recently started working out and with that I have started craving fruits. Every second day or so, I work out after getting off work and arrive at home really late in the evening. Exhausted from working out, you can often still find me in the kitchen late at night, preparing fresh fruit juice. […]
This is part 3 of a conversation I had with a taxi driver who took me to the airport in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”) or part 2 (“Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”) and […]
Linda from Living in China has asked me about reasons why many AMXF (Asian Male, X Female) couples marry so soon into their relationships. I can’t answer for others, so Linda has created a survey to ask other couples about their experiences. Anyone in a relationship with an Asian man can take part and it’s […]
This is part 2 of a conversation I had with a taxi driver in Shenzhen. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Click here if you’ve missed part 1 (“Is learning English hard for you?”) and stay tuned for part 3-6: Weddings and gifts, “Do you like China?”, “The most […]
This is part 1 of a conversation I had with a taxi driver. The conversation was rather long, so I’ve split it into 6 parts. Stay tuned for the other parts: “Do you know Deng Xiaoping?”, Weddings and gifts, “Do you like China?”, “The most important thing is happiness” and “Does Austria also have birth […]
“I’ll make you gain weight. 2-4 kilos the first month, 4-6 the second month and 6-8 the third month. Believe me, it will work.” It wasn’t that I didn’t want to believe it. But rather that I’ve heard this all too often and it had never worked so far. When I came down with a […]
In August 2013 I start going to the gym. When I have my first training, my trainer, a guy probably not much older than me, asks me: “Are you married?” He’s fast to go on: “In your culture that question would probably be inappropriate for me to ask, wouldn’t it?” I: “Well, depending on the […]
One day in the summer of 2012 I’m in Shangri-la at a restaurant with two acquaintances. My friend has to work and has asked them to take me around town. They have both worked as police officers in the past. Now, they are working as personal secretaries for a government official. I: “Did you have […]
In the summer of 2012 I visit my friend in her hometown Changsha. We became friends while she was studying in Vienna and I was working there. In the summer of 2012 we’re both in China at the same time. She had told me before that everyone is eager to meet me. Her grandparents (especially […]
Since I’m in need of new guest posts again, I’m publishing a guest post I’ve written for Behind the Story. The face behind Behind the Story is Nicki Chen, an American writer who has been living in the Philippines for 15 years with her Chinese husband and their children. Click here if you haven’t yet […]
My new coworker and I have lunch together. She is a woman in her mid-to-late 30s and has a two-year-old child. After she asks me about marrying Y, it’s my turn to ask her. I: “You’re married, aren’t you?” She: “I am.” I: “Have you two been together for quite a while?” She: “We have. […]
What does it mean to be a Highly Sensitive Person (short HSP) living in one of China’s biggest cities? It means that there’s a lot of external stress. Maybe much more external stress than you’d have to cope with back at home. Millions of people, hundred thousands of vehicles, ten thousands of sounds, thousands of […]
I started writing this blog one year ago. In celebration of China Elevator Stories’ first anniversary and for all of you who haven’t been following this blog right from the beginning, I’d like to share five early conversations with you: “Are you Chinese?”: The very first post on China Elevator Stories and the conversation that […]
Shortly before spring festival 2012 my company goes to the countryside. We visit Cengcheng, a small village not far from Shenzhen. Y and I have avoided being seen together too often by our co-workers except for lunch which we usually have together. On the bus that takes us to Cengcheng, we sit right next to […]
Me and my coworkers take a cab. One of them recently became a father for a second time. The driver asks him: “How much does it cost to have a second child in Shenzhen?” Coworker: “220,000 Chinese Yuan (around 27,000 EUR or 40,000 USD).” Driver: “Wow, that’s a considerable sum for a hukou*. We registered […]
“Canadian.” “German.” “American.” “British.” These are all nationalities I’ve been associated with in Northeast China’s Jilin province. Often, people don’t say it directly, rather they’ll tell their friends: “Look, a German.” I don’t really mind if they say that I’m German, after all, it’s as close as it gets. Even many Chinese who know me […]
Today I’m featuring a guest post by Sara Jaaksola. Sara wanted to go to China ever since she was little and has made her dream come true in 2010, when she finally went to Guangzhou to study Chinese. She has stayed there ever since and gives advice on life, love and traveling in China on […]
In January 2013, my then fiancé (now husband) and I take a cab. The cab driver starts a conversation with my fiancé, not knowing that I understand everything they say. Cab driver (pointing at the pineapple in my fiancé’s hand): “I love eating these too.” Y: “It’s probably not the right season for it.” CD: […]
Y is different from most Chinese I know. Well, I know, of course he is – to me, right? What I mean is that his eating habits are different from most other Chinese people I know. He loves eating raw vegetables. He had never been to Europe before our wedding, but he still loved eating […]
Many of my friends from Northeast China tell me: “We don’t really have a dialect, we do speak a very intelligible Mandarin. Maybe there are some words that are different, but that’s about it.” Oh, the beloved “er” Northerners use in any possible way one can imagine! Having learned Chinese in Austria and in Kunming […]
Four years ago, my in-laws bought an apartment in their hometown Siping in Northeast China’s Jilin province. Two years ago, they should have been able to move into their new apartment. But the apartment had not been finished at that time. It’s still not finished now, two years later. When my husband and I walk […]
One day, my in-laws and I are waiting for my husband at the market in his hometown, Siping. I take a picture of a basket with string beans. When one of the women working at the market sees this, she points at a basket with tomatoes she sells and says: “Take a picture of these. […]
Today I’m featuring a guest post written by Celso Luiz Fernandes. Celso Luiz Fernandes is a 31-year old Brazilian who has been living in northern Germany for the last 6 years. In 2010 he accidentally ended up in Shanghai for 7 months and immediately fell in love with China. Ever since his return to Germany, he continues […]
China elevator stories 