Hurrah, I'm back!

Well, it's taken me ages to get back on here. It's getting harder and harder with the Internet these days. Damn Internet.

Anyway, since I last wrote over two weeks ago, a few things have been going on:

1. THE MOUNTAINS, BEFORE THE SNOW...
The new flatmate and I have been traveling. Primarily we made a trip out to the mountains for one last gallivant before the snow sets it. In fact, most of the nomads had moved on by the time we got up there two weeks ago, as the winter is creeping up, so we ended up staying in a family's home (yurt) instead of renting one because there weren't any to rent.

Staying with the family was excellent, it was a lot more engaging than my other trips. Tiffany and I have now made good contacts with a Kazak family and will be returning to see them in the winter when they move down to the grasslands. The next mission will be learning how to cook the local noodles, ban mein, from scratch, via our wonderful Kazak hosts.

2. RELATING....
Speaking of wonderful Kazak hosts, Tiffany has found herself a fab Kazak man who is now a consistent feature in our social life.

3. FUTURE TRAVELLING...
Soooooooooo, China has a big national holiday starting next week (National Day? Liberation Day? I don't really know the term, but it's to celebrate the founding of the Communist government - something like that). Anyway, that means we get a good week off; so I'm off. Yayyyyyy.

I'll be flying up to Yili (Northern Xinjiang province) for the first week of October - past the Tian Shan mountains and into the massive grasslands and alpine valleys. Basically I will be just shy of the border with Kazakhstan. It will be damn cold. Other than being cold, I will be staying with some fun VSO teachers up there who I met before the summer. Not much is planned... I'll be visiting a famous Alpine lakes (Sayram Lake), which is 2000m above sea level. Then I plan to sit on my arse, watch TV, and switch between drinking caffeine and alcohol. It envision excellence in relaxation.

4. WORK...
Going very well, there is some possible good new pending, but I have to wait until that occurs before I broadcast it.

5. CLIMATE...
We're definitely chilling down. Let's be honest, it freaks me out. We're expecting our first snow sometime in the next three weeks. It's already snowing up in the mountains.

6. NEW FACES...
We have loads of new faces in Urumqi. Besides my new flatmate Tiffany; Dora, Peta, Pat and Justine have joined the EF ranks... with Nuk and Bonnie to arrive after the National holiday, which is the first week in October. As you can tell, we're a little female heavy at EF at the moment. Oh, and SUsi (from my photos for those of you who have seen them) will be returning for Germany after the holidays too.

7. BIRTHDAYS
Happy b'day to Mom and Tiffany! Both of whom celebrated their b'days last weekend.

Over here in Urumqi, we had a huge party for Tiffany at the flat. It was great, we got messy (let's face it, everyone got messy) and it went on until dawn-ish. All in all, successful!

8. PACKAGES
Dad – the package has arrived at the Post Office… I’m off to pick it up on Thursday… so excited! Mmmm, diet Pepsi…

Right, that's about it! I need to go and write an exam now... so until my laziness is conquered again, toodle ooo.
Cath xxxxx