She lives

Hello lovelies!

Yes, it is I and I live on! I know I'm being most shoddy about keeping this blog up to date, and responding to your emails, but otherwise (or perhaps because) life is very good! Thanks for your name suggestions for my reptilian chum - Dad's in the lead with 'Pimples', and Wayne is last with 'Wayne'.

Here we go with a brief update on my life in the east: I went for my first hotpot last week (cook your own food in a big pot on your table) and involuntarily wrinkled my nose when a plateful of live crabs were placed on our table! Blimey! I couldn't bring myself to put the little critters into the boiling water, but as Yoko readily saved the rest of us the task, I did venture so far as to eat one. Not without a tinge of sadness, I must add - I'm not used to seeing my dinner waving its claws at me shortly before I eat it. I also had my first taste of donkey a few days ago in the form of donkey jiaozi (dumplings) - yum! Poor old Eeyore! Why does my blog seem to be morphing into a food review?

Last weekend we went for a BBQ next to a lake (oops - food again) - it's great spending time with the Chinese teachers away from the school. Many of us live and work here, and seeing each other in a different setting is refreshing! The food was great - we prepared most of it next to the lake and cooked it on little metal box grills. The spices added by the Chinese teachers nearly blew my head off though!

Tonight we have another foreigners' free feast at a swish hotel in the city (hell, I'm doing it again!). Tomorrow I am speaking at an English Corner, which entails telling several hundred Chinese people about my country and culture (what's that?). On Sunday I am judging a university English speech competition - muhahahaha! Those of you who know me well enough will know why that may pose some difficulty. Umm err...

Then my weekend is over once more and I am propelled into another hectic week of teaching, guitar lessons, Mandarin lessons, confused wandering, and eating poor unsuspecting creatures! Next weekend Lyn and I are going to stay in Beijing - my first stint in a hostel! I can't wait!

Dan has very astutely observed that my blog seems only to be telling the amusing elements and, reading back over this, I note that he has a point, so here we go: I smashed my bottle of foundation on the bathroom floor! Awful. It's laughable that I safely transported it all the way to China only to smash it in my apartment!

We've had a sad week here due to the death of two of the teachers' father. They are sisters from the Philippines, and for paperwork reasons they were unable to go home. We held our own service at a local church (fairly rare around here) (churches, that is), lit some candles and had some quiet time. I know how much they must wish to be at home, and even the Philippines suddenly seems a very long way away.

I must go and lesson plan! It is always wonderful to hear from you all! Be good!

Bec
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