Tuesday, 08 April 2008

It's been a long, long time

With apologies in advance to Bing Crosby:

Mail me once, then mail me twice
Then mail me once again
It's been a long, long time
Haven't felt like this, my dear
Since I can't remember when
It's been a long, long time

Yes, it has been a long long time - three months and four days, to be precise. But I have a terrific excuse, which is best presented by one of my favourite cartoons. It has, indeed, been quite severe.

Is it over? I'm not sure. Considering how long it's taken me to write (or copy and paste) this far, maybe not. Apologies again for the delay to both of my rabid fans (Mom, love you - I know you don't have rabies), but here goes.

Sooo, what have I been up to the last three months and four days? Many many. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail though, otherwise I'll be typing for a year, and will have said rabid fans all over me again in the interim.

I went on holiday to Hong Kong and South Korea with Mike.

I came back to Huizhou.

I taught some kids (taught being a word I use to mean stood in a classroom).

I did some stuff.

Among the stuff I've done have been some pretty cool events, each of which in truth deserved their own post, but I'm afraid they're going to be summarised.

I've been hanging out with our Chinese staff quite a lot on the weekends, and they've shown me to fantastic places around Huizhou. A couple of weeks ago, we cycled up to Red Flower Lake, which is a beautiful reservoir about 20 minutes away from where I live. Or, if you ride with the Chinese staff, about an hour and a half away. Seriously, I was amazed when I went back yesterday with a couple of the Western staff, at how close the place is.

Now don't ask why it takes four times longer to cycle there with the Chinese staff, but it does. It has something to do with the jeans and heels, or the catching lifts on bicycles, or the swerving across the road at every inopportunity. More than that, I'm not saying.

Then last weekend we went to a fish farm, which was basically a couple of olympic pool sized dams, filled with fish that you could catch and braai. It was AWESOME. Except I didn't fish. But.

I have also recently finished reading a book which I highly recommend to everybody: Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. I will be honest and say I don't know if it'll make as much sense until you've been to China, but I think it's a book that stands on its own merits well enough.

I do get to move into a new room in a couple of weeks! See, there are two sides to the dorm, each with a front and a back. The rooms at the back (which I'm in now), have big windows that look onto... the other half of the building. And they are rubbish. The rooms at the front, have beautiful bay windows that look out over Huizhou, and the river from certain angles. Our young Irish teacher is leaving, and I'm getting his room. God, the things that excite you eventually. Pathetic.

However, there is some really exciting news - Liz is coming to visit me. Am I excited about this? Yes. More than the new room? Incredibly, yes. Holiday is coming up, again, and we're going to look at Hong Kong for a bit, then head out to Yangshou.

So, with that little titbit of news, I'm going to close off this post. Will there be more? Will they be exciting? Will I try be funny again one day? Will Jack and Nancy fall in love? Will JR rise from the dead? Stay tuned.

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