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: Chinese family
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 Sunday afternoon in February, 2014, my husband and I sit in our living room drinking tea and chatting. My in-laws have gone to the market and we enjoy some alone time. When they come back, we are still sitting on pillows on the floor, drinking tea and talking about this and that. The next […]
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 […]
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 […]
I have lunch with my new coworker, a woman in her mid-to-late 30s who has a 2-year-old son. She asks me: “Who takes care of young kids in Austria? In China, it’s often the grandparents who look after the kids, but what is it like in Austria, with people all working?” I: “It’s often the […]
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 […]
One day one of our co-workers treats us to dinner after work. The reason? He recently became a father and it’s tradition in China to treat your friends and co-workers to a nice big meal once your child is 100 days old. When we finish with the food, one female co-worker asks another female co-worker […]
This is part 3 of a story of a family dinner. If you haven’t read what happened at the dinner, click here for part 1 (“A family dinner and to raise your glass or not to raise your glass”) and here for part 2 (“A loss of face”). After Y has paid, his mother who […]
This is part 2 of the story of a family dinner with my husband’s extended family in their hometown Siping in Northeast China. In part 1 (“A family dinner and to raise or not to raise your glass”), daye, my husband’s oldest uncle wants me to raise my glass to him. Will I give in […]
Y, his 9-year-old niece, her mother and I eat dinner together. Y’s niece has just asked me about the positive aspects of having a different citizenship. We start talking about something else. She says: “I’ve read in the news that in a country really close to South Korea there’s a guy who’s always making threats. […]
On our last evening in Y’s hometown, Siping, we have dinner at a restaurant with his parents and uncles and aunts from his father’s side. We wait until everyone is in the room and seats are assigned in order of age. The most respected person (which is usually the oldest person in the room or […]
One day in July 2013, Y and I visit his 9-year-old niece in Changchun. At dinner, she asks me: “Are there any positive aspects of having a different citizenship?” I: “There are. If you hold a Chinese citizenship it’s not very easy to go abroad. You’ll need a visa for almost every country. If you’re […]
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 in late June 2013 my husband and I visit gugu. Gugu is my father-in-law’s older sister and I like her immediately. She is an elderly woman in her late 70s who lives with her husband, son, daughter-in-law, her grandson and a few chicken and geese in the countryside of Northeast China’s Jilin province. […]
Starting from today, I will publish on a more regular basis. Posts will be published three times weekly – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and on Saturdays. If you don’t want to miss a post, you can also subscribe to my blog via e-mail (see right navigation bar). I also plan to publish guest posts that are […]
The other day I get a message on QQ from the property agent who helped me find my flat. I haven’t really been speaking to him lately except for the occasional answer to the questions “how are you” and “how’s work”. This time is different. After he asks me these common questions, he says: “May […]
China elevator stories 