I Hate the Sound of Spitting
The center of the sound of spitting Even at the Beach! Spit there and die! I wish I had enough cash for a Sony Digital VideoCam. No, I don’t want to bore you with bad home movies; I want to record China’s national sound in the making. In Russia, I…
Read MoreLearning all at Beijing Language and Culture University
Nothing like wandering around a Chinese university campus The best in Chinese education The Uni’s Bla Bla Bar 28 September, 1999 A year ago, a guy wrote into my web site about his summer spent in Moscow. He sounded cool, and after a few emails back and forth, we became…
Read MoreRussian Remonts
With all the dust and notice, you’d forget there is a crisis on! Its 9am on a Saturday morning, and I am wide awake. I was not planning on being in this state, at this hour on a Saturday, but the sound of a pneumatic chisel hitting the pipes that…
Read MoreTraveler’s Stress
Do you get butterflies when you cross a border like I do? Mongolian Majesty Two of the backpack crew I don’t want to walk there Now that I’ve been on the road for five months, you would think that I would be stress free. That I would not have a…
Read MoreStop Theif!
Someone stole my car! Los Angeles Times September 21, 1998 In Russia, Stealing Is a Normal Part of Life Crime: Theft has become integral to the ‘privatization’ of state property. By Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writer ARKHANGELSK, Russia–Drunk and desperate, Pavel Araslanov climbed to the top of a power…
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