Thanksgiving Day Burrito

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

IF you are an American and will be spending Thanksgiving Day in China,  you’ll probably be spending it just as I did at a 5-star hotel that offers an evening holiday buffet. And even if you aren’t American, you may just happen to be spending Thanksgiving there as well.

All the 4 and 5 star hotels in the major cities generally offer a Thanksiving-inspired, Western style buffet. But at the Sheraton in Xiamen, there was a lot more than just turkey. For 228 RMB (includes service charge), there was what seemed like endless stations of Western style food. Some of the best included pizza, a make-your-own burrito station, steak, oysters, grilled shrimp, ice cream, creme brulee, and cheesecake. There was even Korean Kimchi, Japanese Sushi, and Beijing roast duck.

I did something I’ve never done before on Thanksgiving, and that’s start off my feast with a beef burrito and a couple slices of pizza. For all the adjustments I have had to make in China, this wasn’t so bad.

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Posted in Food & Drink, Teaching In China, Western Food In China | Leave a comment

Teaching English Abroad Webinar- This Saturday 11/19/2011 At 12 PM EST

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

Have you ever had any interest in teaching abroad? Now is your chance to find out what exactly is it like. I’ll be teaming up with Michael Tieso of Art of Backpacking to deliver a Spreecast, a new “webinar” style social video platform. Please join us this Saturday November 19th, 2011 at 12 noon EST to find out what it’s like to teach in China, and other locations around the globe.

Some things we’ll be covering:

  • The best way to find a job
  • What to expect when you get there
  • Is teaching English hard?
  • What the total compensation package looks like
  • Some problems you might encounter
  • How to make the most out of your time
Please RSVP on the Spreecast website. And don’t forget to bring your questions because we’ll be answering any you may have.

If you can’t see it live, we’ll also have a recording of the webinar.

Posted in Teaching In China | 5 Comments

Tired Of Drinking Tsing Tao In China? Try Cheers In, A New Premium Beer Delivery Shop in Shanghai

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer
beer in Shanghai

Cheers In offers 300 types of beers from 30 different countries.

Cheers In beer delivery was formed by a group of French entrepreneurs who have a passion for beer. They call themselves beer hunters, as they source an extensive choice of imported and premium beers from around the world that can be found in their two Shanghai locations. The owners also take great pride in providing custom beer recommendations so that all customers walk away with a great beer experience. Cheers In allows customers to order directly from the website, and within just an hour, to have beer delivered right to their Shanghai residence. In fact, the name Cheers In comes from the idea of celebrating the night in. Never a bad idea in this down economy.

I had an interview with the founders of Cheers In, and here’s what they said:

Where are you guys from and how long have you been in China?  Do you speak any Chinese?

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Posted in Food & Drink, Marketing/Finance | 7 Comments

Why Taking A Break May Not Be The Best Thing For Your Study Routine

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

Sometimes a nice break can be good while learning Chinese (or any other subject); a rejuvenating experience that helps you refocus and set new goals. But, for me, an 8 week holiday this summer wasn’t quite that. While I still did maintain bi-weekly podcast lessons, it wasn’t enough to keep alive the daily routine that would have allowed me to continue making steady progress.

It’s taken me nearly another 6 weeks (since I got back to China at the end of August) to re-continue the same vigor towards Chinese that I had when I left. It wasn’t that I lost so much of the language, even though I did probably forget about 33% of the characters I knew going home in July (since regained all those back).  It was getting out of my routine that made it most difficult regaining traction.

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Posted in Learn Chinese | 16 Comments

Adventure In The River: Hiking in Fujian

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer
fujian river hiking

The pools of water were quite deep. Deep enough to jump off from the top of this waterfall.

The Fujian province of China is located on the southeast coast directly across from Taiwan and sandwiched between Zhejiang province to the north and Guangdong to the south. The terrain is actually quite mountainous and makes for a varied landscapes with plentiful hiking and outdoor opportunities. I made my first such excursion last weekend via an organized trip by Chinint, a foreign owned company in Xiamen that organizes team building exercises focusing on the great outdoors. The trip was advertised on a popular expat site, whatsonxiamen.com, so a few of my colleagues and I decided to go.

I did not know what to expect, since the advertisement just said “hiking off the beaten path.” But it was definitely off the beaten path. We were bussed to Tong An, a sub city of the larger Quanzhou. If you, like most people, consider hiking, to be walking on a moderately challenging mountain, this experience could be said to be more like lateral river rock-climbing. And I say lateral because we weren’t actually going straight up, but rather traveling slightly upward on a rock-filled river.

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Posted in Traveling in China, Xiamen | 8 Comments

Why The Chinese Don’t Go Dutch

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

Why Chinese don't go Dutch

The Chinese have an expression for going Dutch: it’s called AA制 (AA standing for Algebraic Algorithm and 制 means system). But it is not a phrase often used, because the Chinese will rarely go Dutch. In Chinese culture, going Dutch contradicts the idea that friends shouldn’t be exchanging money for goods or services.

Last year I wanted to hire a good student, and friend, of mine to tutor me in Chinese. He gladly accepted, however refused to be compensated in cash. Thinking this might be the typical reject a gift three times sort of gesture, I kept telling him I would be happy to pay him if he would help me out with Chinese. But he was serious. He didn’t want to accept money from a friend because he thought it could diminish friendship.

While to some extent you may see this in the West, by and large it would be acceptable to engage in business transactions with friends or family. Whether it be true or not, there is a belief in the West that you can successfully keep business and friendships separate.

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Posted in Culture, Marketing/Finance | 4 Comments

The First Two Weeks Living In Xiamen

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer
Xiamen island ocean view

Xiamen at sunset.

I’ve been in Xiamen now for about 10 days. And because I spent the entire last year in Xi’an, I often find myself comparing it to my experience there. Even though I have traveled extensively in China, I have only lived in Xi’an, and hence a lot of my perspective on China comes from that. It’s a good thing I can now count living in Xiamen because the city brings and entirely different feel and way of life to China.

Some major things I have noticed already about Xiamen.

It’s relatively clean. Chinese cities are generally not known for their cleanliness, and that is especially true for Xi’an. But Xiamen is a city that makes an effort to keep the streets and the air clean for its citizens. While in Xi’an people treat the streets as their own personal trashcan, the people of Xiamen seem to value their environment much more. What is even better is that there are “no spitting” signs posted, which means I don’t have to dodge puddles of mucus whenever I go for a walk.  The air is also cleaner, though it is a bit smoggy on the coast of Xiamen Island where factories are located. Overall, Xiamen is noted as one of China’s cleanest cities, and one of the most preferred among foreigners.

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Posted in Xiamen | 15 Comments

How To Say Chinatown in Chinese: 唐人街

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

I was in Chinatown, Boston a few days ago to have lunch, and to see if I could make some cultural comparisons between overseas China and the real China that I have already spent a year in. Fortunately, there was no spitting in Chinatown, and the food was reasonably authentic (though, definitely more influenced by Cantonese and Hong Kong cuisine). I ordered some 鱼香肉丝 (yu xiang rou si), (蘑菇青菜) mo gu qing cai, and the more Americanized, crab ragoon. The yu xiang rou si was similar to how it is prepared in China, although the sauce was spicy and not of the fish-fragrant variety I am used to having in mainland China.

Chinatown, Boston, MA

Chinatown, Boston, MA

I was a little bummed I did not have much of a chance to talk Mandarin, because so many of the Chinese in Chinatown-Boston speak Cantonese. Though some are conversant in Mandarin and I was able to get some quick Mandarin-speaking practice in.

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Posted in Learn Chinese | 8 Comments

A Basketball Brawl in China; Holding China More Accountable in the World Spotlight

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

Can you imagine a college basketball team coming from China, and playing a quasi-professional team in the U.S. stacked with members of the U.S. Army? I know it’s even tough to imagine that, but then can you imagine a game where U.S. soldiers playing basketball threw punches and stomped on members of a Chinese college team– in addition to punches, chairs, and bottles of water thrown from an American crowd? Do you think the world media would be calling it no one’s fault, or trying to downplay the ramifications of such an event? I don’t think so.

Well that’s exactly what happened, except in reverse. The Georgetown University college basketball team has been on a “goodwill” basketball tour in China, playing various teams, one game of which was even attended by Vice President Joe Biden, who happens to be concurrently touring China for diplomatic reasons. The game on Thursday night turned uglier than anyone could have imagined, erupting into an all-out brawl within the last few minutes of a tied (64-64) game.

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Posted in Culture | 14 Comments

The Price of Apple Computers in China Compared to The United States

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Thomas Aylmer

I got a question via email the other day about whether or not the price of an iPod would be cheaper in China. The answer, which is the same one to all other Apple products, is no.

Price of Apple iPhone in China

Here is a price list of some of the most common Apple products, and the price difference bewtween the U.S. and China. Prices are from the online Apple store in each respective country and conversion is based on a exchange rate of 1 USD to 6.39 yuan.

Posted in Marketing/Finance | 10 Comments