The Dutch weather service reported predicted ice thickness along with weather forecasts.
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Chinese Tourists
Everywhere we’ve gone so far, there have been very few foreign tourists like us. Most of the tourists — and in some places all of the tourists — are Chinese. Sometimes they’re in pairs or families,…
Toilets in China: On cleanliness and filth
Note added in December 2019: I wrote the following article years ago in Hancheng, China, and I see now how terribly judgemental I was about toilets in China. I’ve added some tips and comments to update…
Intercultural Understanding and Chinese Beds
When I started teaching a class in intercultural communication this past year at the teacher training college, I didn’t actually know anything about it. Or rather, I didn’t know any of the theory, but I’d had…
Conspicuous Consumption
In my last entry, I mentioned how it seemed to me that the Chinese have wholeheartedly embraced conspicuous consumption. Visiting the Forbidden City the other day emphasized that for me. You could say that the emperors…
On not being a VIP in Rome
We were in Rome yesterday and the day before, but apparently so were representatives of the G8 nations and other VIPs. Sights/sites closed or opened arbitrarily to accommodate their whistle-stop visits. A note from 2020: I…
Things I Like about Holland
I’ve received a couple of complaints – one from Albert, my husband, and one from Robert, a colleague and friend – that I complain too much about Holland in my blog. Well, first of all, in…
How to be Dutch
Here’s something I wrote about five years ago, but it still applies! How to Be Dutch There’s been a lot of talk in Holland lately about immigrants and about how and how much we should adapt…
A rant about Dutch supermarket shopping
I’m sure there are plenty of rude supermarket shoppers the world over, but this is something that’s happened to me numerous times here in Holland: I’m in line at the check-out. They’ve just opened up the…