FROM HAMBURG TO SHANGHAI : Years of Adventure, Business and Peril 1902 – 1949 by Hans Otto Melchior
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I never knew my maternal grandfather, who died when I was 4. So it was a huge pleasure to get to know him and his incredible life by (co-) translating and editing his memoir. He was born in Germany in 1902, participated as a high school volunteer in WW1, aborted at the last minute his participation in an armed overthrow of the Weimar republic, and went on to live in China starting in 1926. The book ends with his emigration from China to the USA in 1949. He had dinner with rapacious warlords, fled the Japanese rape of Nanjing, was interred in a prison camp in HongKong by the British at the outbreak of WW2, and fled the communist 'liberation' of China in 1949. All while keeping his family and financial resources mostly intact. It's a great read if anyone is interested, available on amazon...

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How to Catch a Mole

How to Catch a Mole: And Find Yourself in Nature by Marc Hamer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the cover of the thumbnail of this book the second part of the title reads "and find yourself in nature". I presume this was the author's preference. My hardcopy has a different subtitle "wisdom from a life in nature", which is simply preposterous. The author relates observations. He very clearly avoids drawing 'wisdom' from them. Indeed this 'wisdom' title runs contrary to the main point of the book: that observations are valuable and meaningful for their own sake, not as a means of obtaining wisdom or anything else for that matter. I guess it was added by an overly enthusiastic editor to try to boost sales? Title quibbles aside, I really enjoyed the book. Having done a bit of mole hunting myself, though far less intensely and successfully than the author, and also spent some time in, and thinking about, nature, I enjoyed reading about these things. The zen-like philosophy and poetry were ok, but the real enjoyment, came from the moles.

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Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City by Stella Dong
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shanghai from 1850 to 1950 or so was an incredibly interesting place and time. This book captures the zeitgeist very well. Lots of well researched examples of life in the fast lane in Shanghai. It is however quite confusing because important historical events and figures are sort of sprinkled through the book like salt and pepper, rather than being introduced and analyzed clearly as a historian usually would. I was particularly interested to read this book because my maternal grandparents lived in China in the 30's and 40's (my mother was born there) departing Shanghai for the USA in April, 1949 and my wife's grandfather was born and raised in Pudong, before emigrating to Indonesia in the 1920's.

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China in Ten Words by Yu Hua
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Some memories and some thoughts about Chinese social media memes from a famous author. It is pretty clear that many, probably most, of the modern 'stories' he reports are not researched and probably only dimly, if at all, based in fact. This of course makes one wonder how careful he is with the 'memories'. The writing/translating is certainly engaging, making this an easy and enjoyable read. However since it is not researched at all, and more or less just whatever Yu Hua thinks lately, the insights into China are weak at best. For example, the 'copycat' phenomenon is certainly not a novel phenomenon related to the shift to consumerism in the PRC as reported here - fake 'Nikom' camera lenses were being hawked in Hong Kong when I was there in 1983. If you believe this book has given you great insight into modern China, you have been bamboozled. I suspect the content and lessons from the great leap and red guard period are more reliable. One of the most interesting insights i got from reading the book, apparently serendipitously since it was published pre-covid, was comparing his introductory description of immunization campaigns in China in the 1970's with today's efforts in response to the Coronavirus.

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Quarnatine Quotidien - Day 7

M shoveled a loop around the yard. According to my off-line strava app it is .16km long. So we are doing 6 loops daily to get in a 1km walk despite our lockdown.  Still waiting for the home internet to be turned on - we have an appointment for Tuesday next week.   Today is 'hump-day' half way through our stay at home requirement. I'm starting to daydream about what we will do on our first day of freedom, no matter what the cost, no matter how logistically difficult. I suspect this kind of pent up demand is everywhere to some extent, so building back better may, when the reins are off, take a back seat to rampant consumption of goods and services. Once we have internet I'll try to add a photo of our yard-loop.

Quarantine Quotidien - Day 4

 

It snowed overnight. After shoveling the back patio (again), M enjoyed reading the paper in the sunshine.  Life in Quarantine is settling down to normal in some ways. In other ways it is improving rapidly. For example our dinner menu (Quarantine Quotidien Quisine - QQQ).

Day 1 - Rice and canned fish (from luggage)

Day 2 - Rice and beans with hotsauce (from luggage)

Day 3 - Rice with beans, onions, garlic, stock and a salad! (first local ingredients)

Day 4 - Rice and Grass fed Ontario beef stew w/ Carrots, Onions Garlic and salad w/grapefruit slices (other than the rice all local ingredients!)

Day 5 - Don't know yet, but I'm guessing it may include rice. LOL

Quarantine Quotidien- Day 3

Physical World Update: The good news is the Global and Mail Subscription and delivery orders from the local grocery and beer store, all worked flawlessly.  It is interesting that i tried and determined it is not possible to get delivery from the Government wine store (LCBO), but it is possible to obtain deliveries from the government Marijuana store (M would not let me do so though).  Overall, physical delivery has been much better than online news and connectivity (see below). The Globe and Mail is a great little paper with good local Canadian News, though it is a bit of a surpise how skimpy it is when considering that it is the largest national paper. I was able to complete the Sudoku and the KenKen but the crossword was too difficult. I have set myself a goal to be able to complete one of these killer crosswords before we exit quarantine.

 Online World Update: A Canadian SIM card arrived by courrier and we bought an overpriced plan so now have phone and data - though at a pretty high cost given we are paying for the non-working Verizon plan AND an overpriced Roger's Plan. When buying the plan they asked for two pieces of ID. This proved impossible, as they had to be "Canadian or resident ID". I said I did not have a PR card, but maybe I could use my wife's ID as she is a Canadian. After asking to speak with her to confirm her agreement, they said this would be OK. Min gave me her drivers license, and I read them the number. Then they asked the expiry date - oops it had expired 6 months ago! Another long pause on the other end. Eventually I succeeded with her passoport and SIN numbers. I wonder if the guy reported us to homeland security mounties given all the rather ridiculous difficulties I had producing valid ID? I reserved a home internet connection installation for next week Tuesday (the earliest they could arrange it as they have to mail us a router). The options were phone or cable and I chose cable since there is no phone in the house, and I saw some coax coming out of the wall in the study. Unfortunately, in the real world again, or at least the interface with it, I took a walk around the house and found the coax has been cut about 2 feet from the wall on the outside and doesn't actually go anywere. I'll be interested to see what happens when they try to install.

Quarantine Quotidien - Day 2

Canadians make good neighbors! Our driveway was clear of snow on arrival, and while we were out in the yard doing a bit of touch up snow clearning two neighbors introduced themselves and chatted with us (in English - such a welcome change from expat life!) offering to help with grocery delivery and such while we quarantine. 

 Verizon is a crappy company! I spent about three hours on the phone with Verizon, from whom I had carefully pre-purchased a gold plated plan that they told me covered infinte calling and data to and from CANADA. However, as soon as we crossed the border the phone went dead. their offer does not work (tech support claims due to the fact I have a verizon chip in an unlocked phone rather than a Verizon phone) and they cannot refund me my money.

Quarnatine Quotidien - Day 1

Day 1- January 24, 2021 M and I drove across the US-Canada border today. The border guard was a young Quebecoise apparently in her first day on the job (she apologized for being new and slow, that is how I know). I handed over our passports, Min's Canadian and my US and informed her we were returning to Canada after 4 and a half years in Japan (I did not mention that prior to Japan we had been in Kenya, Paris and Bern for an additional 20+ years abroad, why complicate things after all). 

 "And your status" she asked "are you a permanent resident?". 

 "Yes" I confidently replied. 

 "So you have a PR card?" she asked with a tone that obviously implied I should hand it over to her for inspection. 

 "Unfortunately, no, I sent a request to New Brunswick for a card, but it is pending. I do have my original landing form from 1995 with me though". 

 She did not ask for my landing papers, nor did she ask for our Marriage License, and proceeded to wave us through! I see three possible explanations for this minor miracle (1) New on the job, she made a mistake, (2) I bluffed my way across the border by showing supreme confidence (3) They have me listed on a computer system as a permanent resident dating back to my original landing in 1995 which was before Permaent Resident Cards existed. What do you think?

The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very enjoyable read. Undine moved up through various social circles with ambition, a keen sense of social awareness, and plenty of lying in order to get her way despite seemingly insurmountable challenges. Moffat, her first fling as a teenager in the midwest, also moved up in the world to become a NY stock market billionaire, also with ambition, but with a clear sense of truth and honor. It seems a bit strange that these two would marry (twice!), given one was so honest and the other wasn't, but I suppose they shared other similarities in their ambition and love of the things that money can buy. It is ironic that, in between her marriages to Moffat, despite the fact that she was completely uninterested in anything except socializing, that she married more nerdy and conservative men without much money (twice!). Money (financial capital) did not really matter to Undine though. The dresses and jewelry, and indeed even the husbands, were not in and of themselves interesting to her. She really only wanted the social standing that she could only achieve by virtue of having these things. Somehow though, despite her being such an unsympathetic antihero in so many ways, I could not help but share her happiness at the end.

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