I like Bob’s wisdom, and I loved the beginning phase of the book. But it got repetitive quickly: if you’ve read a few articles you’ve read them all. What doesn’t help is that it’s all cynical and negative feedback.
‘Dit is ook China’ by Cindy Zhu Huijgen isn’t a perfect book, but it’s a very enjoyable read, and when you finish it — rather than feeling relieved you’re done — you’re glad you read it, and glad you’re a person who reads books. Before starting, I was a bit discouraged by some of the […]
In our new house, many appliances still get their power through a travel adapter. Eight years in China was long enough to not only put down roots and settle in, but also for everything we owned to end in a Chinese plug: my MacBook, the coffee machine, the rice cooker, the baby monitor. The appliances […]
In June we moved back to the Netherlands, six suitcases across 8000 kilometres, and after a brief spell at my parents’ place, we moved into our own home. This second move also involved putting down carpet, curtains, buying appliances and furniture — so that our new garage quickly filled with cardboard boxes and other packaging […]
Our new home in the Netherlands sits in a mundane residential area full of young families like ours. The street name comes from made (‘meadow’), still referring to a field that once lay here and now survives only in the name (just how the name Shanghai refers to a river that no longer exists). And […]
