The Price of Tea

tales of an errant expat in china

The day we left for a three week holiday in Thailand I looked out the window that faced Century Park. In pilot terms I’d say there was zero…

Jennifer Smith2 days ago

Episode 10: World Travels

I’ve always been envious of well-traveled people. I imagined them to be part of this special club that I wasn’t invited to because as a kid…my parents were always broke and as an adult I’d always been broke. I had this friend growing up whose Dad had a travel agency. While they spent their vacations in places like the Dominican Republic, we spent our vacations at my step dad’s lake house in Pottsville, PA. Don’t get me wrong, we had a blast water skiing and fishing and playing lawn darts, but Pottsville isn’t exactly the Caribbean. ¶ When I graduated from college (well, almost graduated) I worked at this awful advertising agency…

Jennifer Smith4 days ago

Episode 9: Giving Thanks in China

As fast as day turns to night, and night into day, fall turned to winter.Apparently time flies even when you’re not having fun. ¶ I was under the mistaken impression that Shanghai would have a winter like, say, Atlanta, GA. I was wrong. ¶ Shanghai was not just cold; it was that wet bone chilling cold that makes it nearly impossible to get warm. It was so cold and wet that I couldn’t even bring myself to ride Sally. ¶ Even the mosquitoes seemed surprised at how quickly it turned cold.

Jennifer SmithApr 2

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Jennifer SmithMar 248 min read

Episode 8: You’re Too Dumb To Be a Doctor

As the sun set on the final day of our first Chinese Holiday, I locked the dog in the kitchen, the final fireworks display commenced, and I received an email from Grace’s teacher. She had requested a “meeting.” No details, no nothing, she just wanted to…

4 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 226 min read

Episode 7: Ride, Sally, Ride

Every morning, once the kids were on the school bus and Rob was on his shuttle bus to work, I hopped on Sally and explored the streets of Pudong. I was finally free to roam, mix and mingle in and around the city on my own terms.

6 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 198 min read

Episode 6:

Sally, Meet Jennifer. Jennifer, Meet Shanghai.

Monday morning came and life started again. The kids were off to school, Rob was off to work, and I was left in our sterile apartment. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t figure out a way to be happy…

6 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 1010 min read

Episode 6: Not So Happy Ending

Since neither Kristin nor I knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into, “happy ending” rumors and all, we agreed to ease into the spa experience and start with a low budget, expat-run spa. Though I’m not a member of the primped, plucked and frocked, the little bit of…

5 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 512 min read

Episode 5: The Benny Story

This is the memoir version of the day my dog dragged a table through the streets of Shanghai.

2 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 316 min read

Episode 4 — Ugly Americans

Getting my hair done is pretty much my worst nightmare. First, I have unruly hair that is difficult and expensive to tame. Second, it’s the small talk. I hate it. Don’t get me wrong, I can gossip with the best of ’em. Hell, gossip has practically surpassed baseball as America’s…

4 responses

Jennifer SmithMar 28 min read

Episode 3

One of the things that I was oblivious to was the “expat package.” A “package” is basically the money that your company gives you to live…

2 responses

Jennifer SmithFeb 285 min read

Episode 2

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The next day, Driver Jerry arrived promptly at 9AM and took us to METRO — the Chinese version of Sam’s Club. It felt a bit uncomfortable to have this little man escorting us all around, opening doors, carrying our bags — like he was our slave. It wasn’t even his job to help us. He…

Jennifer SmithFeb 1817 min read

Episode 1: Culture Shock

I traveled to China for the first time on Easter Sunday in 1980 — in my imagination. We’d just come home from church. My mom was yelling about this and that. As a single mother of three equally ungrateful and unruly children, she had the tendency to yell a bit and then kick me and my…

1 response

Jennifer SmithFeb 124 min read