23 Nov, 2004 – New weblog!

Hi all,

It's be a while since I wrote, but I got really fed up with wading though the little tricks and things it took to access my original weblog. So from now on I'll be writing onto this website.

Yay! I'm back!

So much has happened sicne I was last posting.

Firstly, I had handed in my notice, and have now finished working with EF in Urumqi. There were a few clashes, but I really left because I was tired of working so incredibly hard. After thinking it over for a couple of months and taking a holiday, I decided the best thing to do was to leave and find another job.

So, that brings me to: what am I doing now?

I'm heading back to Hong Kong for Christmas and New Year's, during which Jono will be coming down to Hong Kong, towards Jan.

Then, after all those trips up to Yili (which you can read about in my last blog), we've decided that I'm going to move up there :) So in January I'll be moving up to Yili and looking for a job.

Ok, I'm really excited, but it's going to be a lot of change all at once, so I'm trying to take things one step at a time.

if anyone has suggestions for interesting hobbies I can easily pick up whilst living in the middle of nowhere, let me know! :)

The good news is that Yili only goes down to minus 15C in the winter, compared to Urumqi's minus 30C.

Right, I need to go and meet my ex-student, Angel, for lunch. I'll up-date more tomorrow!

Cath xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

24 Nov, 2004 – The Shining

Life in Urumqi is starting to feeling a little like the movie, The Shining.

No matter how hard we try, neither Tiffany nor I seem to be able to leave. If it isn't problems getting flights, it's visa problems, then weather problems. I'm starting to question whether I've entered a vortex and there is, in a Hotel California way, no way to leave

So, Tiffany was meant to fly out to Shenzhen yesterday on a visa run. I believe she has about 3 days left on her China visa. The school screwed her over when she resigned, and only gave her 7 days to leave the country. She's now given up on heading to Hong Kong, and is instead going to try and renew the visa here, with her new employer.

As for me. I'm having visa problems from the other end of the spectrum. After resigning from EF, it's been a real hassle trying to get my work visa and resident permit cancelled. The lastest news is that it'll take 7 days to process, and as I have a flight to catch tomorrow, to Yili, that's not possible. So, I've managed to get my passport back, unaltered, and we'll have to start the whole visa-cancellation process again when I return to Urumqi on Monday.

In the meantime, I've had to refund my flight to Shenzhen, which was going to be next Wednesday. The first of December. Instead, I have to wait for my paperwork to be cancelled, then I can buy a ticket out of here. They're guessing it'll take around 7 days, but that's what they said the last time. I'll just have to hang tight and wait, which, in the grand scheme of things, it not a bad thing at all. I can chill out, and it's definitely cheaper to chill out in Xinjiang than in Hong Kong.

Hopefully Rhonda will be around later this afternoon. We're trying to catch up with each other before she returns to Canada next Monday (today is Thursday) and I vamoose off to HK for my visa run. It'll be weird to say goodbye. She might return, but then again, that chance is about 50%.

Other than that, I'm off to Yili, yet again, tomorrow evening. This time I'll only be there for the weekend, to visit Jono before I disappear to South China for the festive season.

Looking forward to seeing all those who'll be in HK this Christmas - Hussein, Jared, Larry & Catherine.

Xxxx

December 1, 2004 – Back from Yili

Just spent the weekend in Yili, which was, as always, awesome.

The one great piece of news from the trip is that it looks like I'll have a job with the Normal University starting next term. I reaaaaally like the idea of teaching at a university, and it also takes a load of my mind - I was starting to get a little worried about what I'd do with myself out in the middle of nowhere.

There's still a bit of groundwork to be done to finalise getting the job, but (knock on wood) it looks set. Yayyyy.

Other than that, I'm in Urumqi waiting on my passport. EF has my passport at the moment and are cancelling my work visa. Once that's done, I'm off to Hong Kong to do more ass-sitting. Hurrah.

Oh yeah, and to celebrate Christmas with the family (minus the bro) too.

December 7, 2004 – Finally… flights

Right, I've finally managed to get EF to confirm when I'm getting my passport back (a hesitant "maybe today, but probably tomorrow"). About time.

So I've now got a ticket back to Hong Kong via Shenzhen for Thursday (two days time) .

December 31, 2004 – Back and busy in Hong Kong

Ok it's been a while, but I think I'm back into writing now. I'm not really a fan of this particular site, and in a deluded attempt to convince myself otherwise, I've been playing around with the colour scheme.

The orange is kinda hard to read.

Anyway, I've been back in Hong Kong for about three or so weeks. It was sunny, but now it's bloody cold. Oh how I fantasise about central heating. Urumqi might be minus 20C, but at least they understand how to heat buildings.

I've also been super busy, I'm literally in the middle of lots teaching and consulting work, which is making me happy since I'm a little bored with what HK has to offer, and it means I'll be able to pay my way once I get back to China.

Some other projects that I'm involved in are kicking off in the next few weeks too, and they're really exciting but most of you will have heard about them through my Christmas email.

Firstly, I'm starting a correspondence-course for refugees in Uganda through a Canadian NGO called "RESPECT University". The course will be Business basics for college level students, running (gasp) for a year, though it has to be said, corresponding between Xinjiang and Uganda will be a laugh and a half. Well, they're happy to have me, so let's see how it goes.

Secondly, I'm writing a few grant proposals for a mate's orphans' home in Yili. That's a longer story, but hopefully it'll get us some project money and we'll be able to expand the orphans' home into a training centre next year.

Other than my little projects I'm counting down the days till Jono arrives in Hong Kong. 9 days! YAAAAAYYYY. well, this IS assuming that his visa-pain-in-arse situation resolves itself when he gets to Beijing.

RANT: Look, World; visas and passports are incredibly stupid entities. It's a pain in the arse and makes no economic sense either (like, hello! We got the free movement of capital, what happened to the corresponding free movement of labour? Did everyone forget about that lesson from Uni?) Visas are thinnly disguised, racist travel taxes. And, did I mention? A pain in the arse!

At least I've created my own little solution to the visa game, but that's my own story which should probably stay mine.

Have a great New Year's Eve (to anyone who still attempts to read my sorely neglected blocs - hopeful there are a few of you die hards left)

Much love

Cath xxxxxxxxxx

January 1, 2005 – Happy New Year

I'm finally up. I'm digressing in my ability to wake up in the morning, in fact, getting up in the afternoon is starting to prove challenging too.

I had a wee, quiet New Year's at home, nothing major, but that was really what I was in the mood for (dinner and a girly movie - perfection). I can't be arsed with HK at the moment (nothing new), and my wallet certainly doesn't enjoy it either.

So the plan for the next few days is to be a weekend bum, then teach on Monday and Tuesday. That's a rather terrifying prospect, I have to teach 3 year olds.... something I have NEVER done, and really, haven't the slightest clue how to do.

Sing lots?

We'll see.

Happy New Year

Cath xxx

P.S. I need to purchase fluffy slippers. It's frigging cold.

January 11, 2005 – Moving the blog again

Hi guys

Ok, I'm an aesthetic person I just can't deal with the layout on this site anymore. It's intolerable. So I've moved my blog AGAIN.

This time the ENTIRE weblog is there, since I started writing it in May 2003.

The new complete weblog is at:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/cathbarr/

My old sites are:

1. My Journal (this one)

2. Blogspot (http://cathbarr.blogspot.com)

London, Urumqi, Yili, Xinjiang and Hong Kong

Keeping in touch from Xinjiang

http://www.livejournal.com/users/cathbarr/

4 Jan, 2005 – Teaching pre-schoolers (1.21pm)

Teaching preschoolers is brilliant! They just chat away and see to worship any human

that moves. Needless to day, my teaching at PIPS ended up being a good experience.

8 Jan, 2005 – Teaching Primary School (4:33pm)

Ok, I've taught primary school in Hong Kong before, back in May 2004, but man, today was NOT fun. The kids were just brats. I can't really explain why they were so difficult compared to everywhere else I've taught, but it's probably got something to do with the fact that I'm not their regular teacher and because I had to use a lesson plan that someone else designed.

One thing that surprises me is that compared to the kids in China, the kids here just don't speak. They clearly understand more English than my kids in China do, but they just don't respond or want to try out their English.

I'm coming to the conclusion that, as much hard work as it is, it's a whole lot better to teach lessons that you design yourself than to be a performing monkey using someone else's minute by minute lesson plan.

POLITICAL RANT...

Ok, that last comment will probably tick-off anyone reading this who I've substitute-taught for in Hong Kong.

It seems that teaching in Hong Kong is going under it's own McDonalisation. Businesses are opening up, creating lessons and courses so standardised that (ideally?) virtually any monkey can get out in front of a class and teach it.

This allows for the organisations teaching English to hire just any native speaker and pimp them out as teachers under their brand name. It has to be said, this is in the businesses' interests: they can try to eliminate the expertise required to teach, so they can open up their possible employee pool to anyone who can speak English, and drive down hourly wages. Just like fast food chains did - automate and standarise everything so that they could hire at the minimum possible skill level.

Ok, if there is a shortage of good teachers, maybe this is what English teaching businesses need to do in order to find enough people to teach. But shouldn't prices of their course reflect the lower quality? Not quite, these companies charge more per hour for their 'teachers' than quality teachers do. It appears to me that the primary reason behind standarisation of teaching is so that the businesses can take a larger chunk of the pie for themselves, but not having to hire quality people, but pretending that the people they pimp out are quality (hiding under their minute-by-minute lesson plans).

Rant rant rant.

Middlemen. Businessmen. Hong Kong. Ugh.

This is my feeling about the difference between teaching for some of the new entrepreneurs out to make money here. It's not great for education, nor the classroom, nor me!!!!! (mEEEEEE) Each class and teacher have their own personalities which really needs to factor more into learning than is allowed in Hong Kong... at least with a lot of organisations here.

So, I'm sticking to teaching in China.

Right, enough ranting. Time to go and work...

Cath xxx

Jan 10, 2005 - Delays (1:20pm)

I'm still in Hong Kong.

Jono's delayed in Beijing at the moment, flu being the main culprit. So he will now get here on the next train, arriving on the 13th - Thursday.

At the risk of sounding like one of 'those girls' (whose lives revolved around their one and only), I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for him to turn up at this point. This is primarily because I've reached absolute saturation point with Hong Kong and really need to do something different.

I've also finished teaching.

However, to save myself from cliched-passive-femininity, I have returned to my laptop to plod along with my consulting contract work (riveting).

On a more exciting note, I decided to lift my mood with a wee shopping trip yesterday and am now the proud owner of the most fabulous white leather boots. They look shockingly good, however, I have a feeling that once I return to Muslim-town up in Yining, the opportunities to wear them outside the house might diminish.

C'est la vie, but I couldn't leave them in the shop.

13 Jan, 2005 – Pissed (12:05am)

Pissed. Hurrah.

14 Jan, 2005 – Jono (10:17pm)

To clear things up Jono is fggrrdgdgdrgdgfth supersta.

21 Jan, 2005 – Back to Urumqi (10:42am)

We're about to head to Shenzhen and catch our flight to Urumqi, bye Hong Kong!

23 Jan, 2005 – Urumqi and Baiju (4:07pm)

It's so fab to be back in Urumqi. It's snowing, and everywhere is covered in ice. I have no idea exactly how cold it is, but it doesn't feel half as bad as Hong Kong cold. It seems that the colder it gets here, it just feels fresher, but not colder...

Anyway, Jono and I are taking it easy. We'll probably be in Urumqi for another 4 days or so before we heda back to Yili. The foreign bar in Urumqi is scheduled to have their opening this week, so we're planning to stay in town for that - assuming it happens on schedule.

As for today, we caught up with a good local friend of mine and her husband, and in doing so, we've been obliterated by baijiu in the celebrations (Chinese white evil booze which tastes like feet). It's awesome to see Angel again though, I've missed her and the EF teachers loads.

Even more exciting, in my absence Angel became pregnant, so even more reason to celebrate. This will be her second child - which in China is allowed (despite the one child policy) as she's from a ethnic minority group and they're allowed to have more than one child.

Right, time to go sit down and recovery from the afternoon baijiu.

31 Jan, 2005 – Winter Yili style (9:55am)

We got back here three days ago and I've only just approached the computer. Before today the house was just piles of stuff in every direction. However we went mad with the apartment and have now converted most of it in the space of two days. That's not without casualties however, Jono has now passed out on the bed and I'm at the level of tiredness that I'm starting to consider smaller piles of stuff as permanent fixtures that don't need to be cleared at all.

Life is great, though the weather is beyond cold; even the humidity in the air freezes and hangs like ice dust. Having said that, outside is bright and sunny (for at least 10 hours a day), and life continues as normal. There are just loads of people walking around, hanging out, music blaring from the shops, shoe-cobblers in the sunshine, market stalls in the open air. Dude,it's minus 20C!!!

It's just bizarre to me, as I always envisioned siberian cold to go hand-in-hand with no-daylight and desolation. Nope. This has got to be the best place in the world for winterness. Honestly... daylight is everything.

7 Feb, 2005 – Save the Children (6:54am)

We haven't been up to much recently; visiting a few friends, watching a few DVDS; doing the immigration admin (Jono's visa is the bane of our lives at the moment). Despite having told his 'Wai Ban' (the head of his work unit) that he would be returning to China on a tourist visa, instead of with his expiring work permit, she still seems dumbfounded. The problem now is for her to convert his tourist visa into a work visa again (quite normal, legal proceedings). However, nothing is normal in China. It is taking a long time and we haven't gotten to the stage where they'll start the paperwork yet.

Anyway! Besides that Rayhungul and Mark came up to Yili yesterday from Urumqi. They're both with Save the Children UK and are mates of mine from when I lived there. Mark wanted to meet up with Jono to discuss collaborating on some AIDS awareness work, so we all went for a few beers at he A-Bar (that name will mean nothing to anyone but Lisa and Joe, who've been there). Needless to say, last minute visitors are always exciting out here in the middle of nowhere - so it was a good night.

8 Feb, 2005 – Spring Fesitval / Chinese New Year

It's Chinese New Year's Eve, and everything is shutting down for a week of holiday.

Tiffany and Peta, friends from when I wored at EF, are on their way up from Urumqi for the break. Yaaayyy. I can't wait to see both of them, it'll be fun having some girly company for a while. We can out-vote Jono of the choice of DVD. (Him and his icky french films...)

Anyway, today will be all about going out of the college to get enough food to survive through the holiday. We're down to one local restaurant that still opens (all the others have closed for the already for the national break). All we have in our kitchen are potatoes and a diminishing block of mediocre cheese. This is unlikely to sustain four people for the next fours days. Shopping must be done before it's too late.

It may already be too late....

Speaking of survival. We still live in a very cold Winter Wonderland. My hours out of the flat are deceasing day by day. Perhaps the arrival of the ladies will help turn this around.

I don't know the Mandarin equivalent, so here's the cantonese "Kung Hei Fat Choi" to everyone. Happy New Year!

Cath xxx

11 Feb, 2005 – Camels and snow (4:28pm)

Peta left back for Urumqi today. Tiffany is staying with us until Sunday (13th).

It has to be said, that Yili city itself isn't abundant with tourist spots to visit, even when everything is open. Add Chinese New Year to that situation, and you've got very little to work with when you're trying to entertain guests. However, we did managed to keep ourselves entertained.

Firstly, Yili river in the snow and half frozen over is far more spectacular in the winter. The temp spiked to barely above freezing on the day we went, so up stream large sheet of ice were breaking off and floating down the river. A lot of the river was still stubbornly frozen solid though, and as unwilling as I was to try out the strength of the ice, the locals were happy to go sprinting far onto it in high heels. the wither know what they are doing or are ridiculous indeed.

Secondly, my life has been made complete. At the riverbank, we found a couple of men with a camel. A CAMEL. A CAMEL IN THE SNOW. Every thing I have done in my life has led to that moment. I got on the camel, and Tiffany has the photographic evidence.

Me, on a camel, in deep snow.

Happiness is.

Anyway, enough of my irrational obsessions.

15 Feb, 2005 – Post Valentine’s hangover (10:17am)

Today has been a complete write off. The most I've achieved has been to minimise the pain in my head enough to watch a DVD. A particularly girly DVD at that, seeing as Jono is even worse than I am, today has been a good opportunity to watch anything not boy-compatible.

Valentine's Day, however, was a real adventure.

Two days ago we were sitting in our local Hui restaurant (one of the only feeding establishments open during Chinese New Year, thank god for ethnic minorities) when we were pounced on by a couple. It turns out they're from Kazakhstan and speak reasonable English (unheard of here), one of whom is a Russian teacher at the college too.

Ann-Jo and Eddie are utterly mad. Ann-Jo more so. For those who are familiar with my friend Amar, Eddie is a Kazah socialite equivalent. He seems to know everyone and everyone seems to love Eddie. Ann-Jo, ont he otherhand, is uncomparable. She's adorable and hyper, but really comes from another planet. She gets away with anything she wants, but is somehow incredibly charming so even waiters don't mind when she snaps her fingers at them and gives them submissive nicknames. She'd make a good dominatrix.

To keep a long story short, we went out with them for a drinking session yesterday, at their insistence and in order to have something to DO on Valentine's evening. We ended up the in Chinese/Uyghur/Kazah equivalent of a student bar (which makes sense, as we all live on campus). This is why we are now recovering from the aftermath of drinking, arm-wrestling, kareoke, and long drunken conversations....etc etc...

They have been clearly sent to neutralise the excessive missionary influence on my social life.

16 Feb, 2005 – Teaching by correspondence (9:58am)

I've been trying to finish off my lessons to send to Uganda but it's taking me quite a while. I hope to gets easier once I've done a few lessons. This is tough.

If any can explain the Price Mechanism effectively using only diagrams and the present simple tense, please send it to me in an email.

17 Feb, 2005 – Congrats! (3:37pm)

Ahhhhhahahahahahahaaaaaa! Success! My destiny as a matchmaker is clear.

Seriously, huge CONGRATS to Matt and Bonnie on their engagement!

Dudes, I wish I could be in Urumqi for the engagement party but I'll definitely make the wedding!

19 Feb, 2005 – Sending teaching material (10:35am)

I've spent the last few days trying to negotiate printing and postal logistics to send my lessons to Uganda.

sigh

As for printing, I have given up on using our "broadband" to download the printer driver /USB port software necessary to make our inhouse hand-me-down printer work. The broadband is incapable, the driver non-existent, and the printer has clearly lost its will to exist as a technology object. So, we have no personal printing facilities. I thought I could handle this, but since I 'went native' to try to print out my teaching stuff as locals must do, I understand my severe underestimation. How do people do it? Printing AND copying in itself requires two separate establishments, awareness of opening hours (or opening days), and crossing the city to reach them. Getting worksheets printed into hardcopy has turned into a day long commitment.

The postal system, too, has little sympathy for me. The first occasion at the office was met with the wave of a hand and an explanation that there were no 'international' envelopes in stock, so I could not post until Tuesday (4 days away). In response, I applied my limited Chinese to protest this blatantly fabricated lethargy crutch. I was then offered the further explanation that there were no 'customs officials' on staff that day, and that I should return next week when there will be some to help me. Since when does a backwater post office need customs officials? Since when did mail need customs officials? Forms yes... but an entire human?

Eh, I have no time for these boredom dances. I'm come up with a cunning plan to utilise my parents in HK as a postal hub.

They have yet to be informed of their new duties...

20 Feb, 2005 – Chilbains and bread (12:05pm)

So why don't they teach you about chilblains in school, eh?

Go on, chuck the term into google. Learn something today.

It is an evil, torturing, toe-attacking condition that does no actual damage, except to wear down your very soul. People can get it when their extremities are overly exposed to the cold, and sudden changes in temperature.

The effect?

Red, ever so slightly swollen, INSANELY ITCHY toes. The soul destroying part is that it is so itchy that it is the very focus of my existence, but it looks like nothing at all. I am going to go mad.

The boyfriend simply laughs. The fool has also become randomly convinced that moisturiser is the solution to my woes. Muppet.

BREAD

We are also making bread today. It failed last time. (yes Dad, even with a bread machine and your wonderful demonstrations, we failed).

There are too many areas of fault to guess exactly where we went wrong. One big possibility was that we didn't actually use flour... the packet was trendily labelled in Chinese, and we couldn't quite make out what it was - it might or might not have been flour.

Or it could have been the irrational four-times-too-much butter that Jono added, possessed; despite the recipe stating otherwise, or my mild queries of "why?".

Or it could have been 'dead yeast', but I doubt that. Even though the "loaf" was burnt and yucky in the end, it was still fluffy.

Anyway, we await the results.

GOD MY TOES ARE KILLING ME.

20 Feb, 2005 – SUCCESS! (3:26pm)

The bread has been made. It tastes like bread.

Comment: I presume that "It tastes like bread" does not adequately describe the aromas, the texture and taste of warm freshly made bread.

(and the comparison to supermarket sliced white bread)

love dad

21 Feb, 2005 – Grant from the British Embassy (1:02pm)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The British Embassy has just emailed us to say that our request for a grant, to build a Women's Training Centre, has been approved.

It was such a long shot, I really can't believe we've got the go ahead.

Hmmm. Now that you've actually got it(!!!!), we need to figure out all the details.... details, details.

Ahhh, it is going to be so cool. I can't wait until everyone involved gets the news.

Comment: My taxes are paying for a woman's training centre in China?!? I'm happy for you, but there's something so wrong about that.

23 Feb, 2005 – Jobs, jobs (7:19am)

Ahh, more good news. Hurrah.

I've finally been asked by the college to teach some classes. Yay. I'll be covering some classes for a teacher who will be returning to the college late this term, and then (hopefully) I'll be working with the final year students as an... (dare I say) adviser, on their dissertation papers.

Ahhhh, blind leading the... blah blah.

As for the grant project, I'm still trying to get in touch with all the people who will be involved in the project to share the good news. Also, it looks like Bonnie (a teacher from Urumqi who I know from my time at EF) will be joining us to help us run the project, which I am truly grateful for and very excited about. :)

That's about it. Ha.

Cath xxx

24 Jan, 2005 – Boo Hotmail (11:41am)

Arrrrghhhhh.

Hotmail is truly annoying me.

I can't access it, but Jono can access his account fine.

For me, every time I try to login, I get sent to a "match the picture for security reasons" screen. When I complete their little picture-matching game, I simply get sent back to square one - the login screen.

Can't see email.

Very annoyed.

I've sent them a message telling them what I think of them.

21 Feb, 2005 – First class tomorrow

Hotmail is still down; I've chatted to customer service about it, but that only makes me more angry (how is it that customer service reps so often have that particular effect?). I have resigned myself to waiting until the situation miraculously improves.

TRAPPED...

Dominatrix struck again the other night. She's so mad. She grabbed up off the street when we randomly came across her. She led us up a stairwell and into a tiny private classroom stuffed with 10 or so others. The room itself was basically a converted bedroom - so it was cosy. We tried to protest that we were actually on our way to eat dinner, but some how or another, we ended up sitting through half an hour of her Russian lesson (conducted in Chinese and Kazakh), before we were released as long as we promised to go drinking with her when her class finished.

We drunk and got drunk. There is no way out once the festivities commence. Such is the China way.

PROJECT...

I've now spoken to Tom and Marhaba, and things are going well. we look set to have our first meeting next weekend when Marhaba arrives back in Xinjiang from Switzerland.

Bonnie has been a super help already too, I really can't wait to work with both of them.

Our latest random thoughts are leading to a making the project a Bakery training centre, rather than ethnic crafts training. Marhaba and Tom have reasoned that Chinese food does very well overseas, and in China, the situation is similar with Western sweets and cakes. Desserts are not a tradition concept here, but they are loved all the same.However as much as they are loved, they simply don't know how to make them here.

Even more exciting, we're thinking of training the girls to make Western type desserts and cakes, which would not only give them an employable skill, but it would actually make them highly sought-after employees in this region - as western cooking and baking is generally abysmal in Xinjiang - at best! it's also something they can use to own their own business, which again, because of their Western cakes market niche skills, would most likely make them very successful enterprises.

It's strange to think that such a simple concept could elevate a young women from illiteracyand unemployment to someone with extremely sought after skills. The potential flip in their opportunities is mind boggling.

Cakes. Eh. Who would have thought.

(and once they can make chocolate based goodies, I myself will DEFINITELY be a big customer)

Oh man I want a brownie now.

Comment: Bakery training centre, how nice! Looking for creative recipes, contact me :) If ever I come to visit you in Yilin, may I teach cookies making as a guest teacher? :)

Love,

Mom

3 Mar, 2005 – Yay, summer is coming… (4:09pm)

Life here is fine, the weather has changed so dramatically in a matter of a few days.

I can't imagine snow on the ground anymore. It's above freezing, the metre long icicles have melted, even all the mini icicles are all gone. The sun is sooooooo bright, and there isn't a cloud in the sky,

Ahhh, you can even sit out in the sun (though the shadows might not be advisable... a wee bit chilly).

4 Mar, 2005 – Chinese Teacher (1:13pm)

Yay.. I've got a new Chinese teacher.

Gulnor (Alice) is a Maths student based at the College; she's Chinese-Kazakh (more Kazakhs!). However, she's the pious Muslim opposite Ann-Jo and really sweet. We met as I was waiting for my takeout and she offered to teach my Chinese in exchange for conversational English - which, admittedly, everyone offers - but she seemed nicer than anyone else who's tried to get me to be their friend.

I think it helped that she didn't start the conversation with the usual "I want to be your friend" (deceptively kind sounding, but really the war-cry of 'language rapists' everywhere).

NB - to those living in their native countries: a language rapist refers to those individuals who attempt to befriend you, only to then suck your very soul by never giving you a minute's peace, all in the name of their self-centred language practice. I personally refuse to answer the phone to order to avoid possibly encountering them. "Why?", you may ask, "Do they have your number in the first place?" - this, only the Male can answer. I have pondered the rationality of it over and over again, without sane conclusion.

Anyway! Yay, fun Chinese teacher - finally, I might get this learning thing on it's way.

Comment: I'm scared of this whole language rapist concept and am still wondering how they get your telephone number?! *margo*

Comment: Jono is too soft, he is the madman who distributes the flat number to annoying people who seek to assult one with constant calls to "chat" (i.e. lock you into an innane conversation for over an hour on the phone, so they can practice their English, with no interest in what you might otherwise want to do with your free time).

Don't get me wrong, language rapists (Jono prefers the softer term "language goons") are eventually annoying to even the most patient of us all. I just have a very low tolerance level for small-talk with self-centred people.

10 Mar, 2005 – Thursday (4:49pm)

The week has been very calm. The weather has also cooled down a bit, it looks like it might even rain today. Unusual for here.

My Hotmail is down yet again. I give up.

As for news, Aiesling the new VSO teacher, has arrived from Ireland. She's very quirky and good fun, and there are no zealous righteous beliefs obvious in her yet... yay.It's nice to have another girl around, or, in general, another English speaking native who is not here on a religious agenda.

Anyway, I've also been ticking along with my Chinese lessons, both Gulnor and I are taking a very casual approach to them, but hopefully they'll come together eventually. It's probably more important that we're comfortable spending this much time together first.

And that's me.

I'm now going to watch the sky for this curious possibility of rain.

13 Mar, 2005 (5:29pm)

Ok, the hyper new girl is starting to get on my nerves.

She seems to require a lot of attention... and she appears particularly keen to try and fish for it from my boyfriend.

16 Mar, 2005 – Meetings (6:53am)

I've spent the past few days in meetings with Marhaba, her family, and a few others trying to put together a working plan for the Women's Training Centre. Marhaba speaks English and is the daughter of the family that runs the Children's Home that we are building the Women's Centre with. She's only here until the beginning of April, so we want to hammer out the working plan so I don't have to rely heavily on a translator after she's gone.

At least she'll be back in Xinjiang for Ian's wedding in June, so the situation isn't desperate :)

However, all in all it's been pretty tiring, and there's a lot to do.

As a result we've got a new and detailed action plan together, but it means quite a few changes to the allocation of our original budget plan that we submitted to the British Embassy. I will now have to run through the changes with the British Embassy to approve. I hope they will, but I don't know how flexible they will be. It's a little stressful.

I also still have to up-date Bonnie, our Urumqi-based arm... so to speak! I'm looking forward to speaking with Bon - for some support and for another brain's input into the way we should approach the Embassy for approval.

Other than that, things are good. I'm also looking at doing a few English classes for the girls at the Children's Home and the new girls that will join the Women's training centre.

Related to that, I've also started to think about what to do, work-wise, this summer. There are a few options in the works, but I want to solidify what exactly I'll be doing now, primarily for peace of mind to enable me to budget for my next 6 months here. It's not a problem, financing the rest of my year here, but no one wants to hit the bottom for their bank account if they can avoid it!

So, lots on my mind and busy busy, but it's all well! :)

18 Mar, 2005 (5:28pm)

Not much going on at the moment. Just marking dissertations for the college and playing around with project management spreadsheets.

20 Mar, 2005 – arrrggghhhhh (11:59am)

Have managed to slip a disc in my back. Doh.

At least I can move now; yesterday was a whole other story. But I'll live, I just have to lie around for another day or two.... getting bored though.

Comment: Hope you will get well soon. Really worry and miss you so so much....Love, mom

22 Mar, 2005 – Still broken (5:01pm)

Eh, the back is slowly improving. Marhaba has been great, she's come round to my place to help me out as well as to keep the project rolling. Superstar.

Clearly, I haven't been up to much other than slowly moving around my flat, but the project is finally off the ground. Speakng of which - Bon, if you're reading this, drop me a line, I THINK we've managed to FINALISE a plan (this time for real...). hahaha

Also, Hussein, you tease. Did you get my email reply? Ring me back! You know you have nothing better to do at work anyway ;)

Comment: More milk and cheese for you. Allergies be damned!

Comment: Hey you, will ring you tomorrow afternoon. Lots of rest and no sudden movements for you! We'll go out on the prowl for some diet pepsi when you come to the big city. Bon

23 Mar, 2005 – Milk, cheese and diet pepsi… (7:17am)

Thanks Bon (and I assume, Miles) for ye comments.

Sigh, my boredom has reached new highs. I've run out of interesting books to read and now I only have the options of turning to the dull, abandoned books that live in the margins of our flat, or going back to watching DVDs.

(ENOUGH DVDS!)

Jono is also not exactly the king of housekeeping, so our flat is descending into a state less desirable. Bless, at least he makes me coffees and he does actually have a job to do....

Karla, the American teacher here, has made me some nice chocolate covered peanut-type-brittle things, for my recuperation. They're awesome, but richer than a Mars bar. The potential weight-gain could definitely hinder the back strengthening. Oh well, I know I'll eat them anyway.

Aisling has even come to visit. She's annoying me far less now (I think she got the hint that bonding with my bloke was a total no-go area). However, both Jono and I have noticed that she has developed a tendency to monologue wildly. I worry that the effects of isolation have done this to her... and she's only been here only, what, three weeks? Her little speeches are getting weirder and longer.

I will continue to monitor her development. Cause that's what I do.

In other areas, I seem to have lost my Chinese language partner, Gulnor. Ok, truth be told, not many tears shall be shed in the loss, but I feel like I'm joining that stereotype pool of failed language-partnership attempts by English teachers. I'm very seriously thinking of setting up paid-for private lessons soon.

Anyway, hope everyone is great. Time to go eat my peanut brittle.

27 Mar, 2005 – My grumpy old man impression (6:57pm)

Still, the back is very slowly improving, but I can't do all that much, which drives me insane.

The weather here is very howl-y at the moment. Grey, windy, ominous. This seems to happen after each full moon. Very odd.

So, at the moment, Marhaba is running the coordination for starting the women's training centre, while I'm being rather useless at home - surprisingly she's still as cheerful and energetic as ever about it!

As for me, I'm reading books and avoiding answering the phone. I've gotten tired of answering the phone, it's never a joy. Just people who want your time, always, for whatever reason. Want want want, or thinly disguised 'giving' to help them get what they Want (i.e. offers of lunch and dinner in exchange for English practice). So I've just stopped answering the phone.

If I had my way I'd disconnect the phone completely and conduct my life by email, but Jono's way too soft on people who annoy him - he occasionally humours them. The fool.

In fact, I've stopped answering our front door too... if someone hasn't rung ahead to say that they're coming to our house, it's 99% likely that it's someone I don't want to see, trying their luck at our door because we won't answer the phone.

(How do they know where we live? Ah well... college life.....)

Hmm, Perhaps back-pain is making me intolerant of people. Anyway, poo to them (rant rant rant). When I am able to go outside of the apartment again, I'm sure I'll have more interesting, and less grumpy-old-man, things to write about.

Comment: Poor thing, I totally understand what it's like not being able to move around because of back problem. Too bad, I wasn't smart enough to copy down your address in Yili before I redirect the mail for you last time, or else I can cheer you up a little by sending you some chocolates, or, perhaps, some interesting books :)

28 Mar, 2005 – Snow? (5:12pm)

It snowed here last night, much to our horror, but it was only a sprinkling, and has already mostly melted away.

Dude. 3 days until April and it snows. It's not like we're up in the mountains or anything.

4 Apr, 2005 – The Weather (6:21pm)

Over the past week it's been so sunny that more than a T-shirt was really too much. However, after a howling night of wind, it's been snowing all day today. The weather never ceases to amaze us here.

Besides that, Merhaba has left Yili for Urumqi. So I'm on my own with the Women's Centre for now. We still have yet to find a suitable location for the Centre.

I've also starting tutoring English to some of the girls at Merhaba's Children's home. It's hard work because of the varied levels in the class, and the age differences, but still, it's fun and it keeps me busy.

My back is getting better!

Cath xxx

13 Mar, 2005 – Graduation papers (1:10pm)

I haven't written in this weblog for about a week. Since last week both Jono and I have been busy marking thesises from the Final Year English Majors here at the college.

I'm doing this as freelance work, so I'm getting paid for the monsterous endevour. Thankfully. We're currently marking the first draft of their papers. It is not fun.

Now, one thing I can't really say diplomatically is that the students who we are dealing with are not at the top of the academic ladder - having ended up at this college. Hence, the papers are painful, very painful. The biggest problem is that the majority of the students have absolutely no intention of writing their paper themselves. It seems that they much more skilled as plagerists than writers, and I would say that at least 50% of my tutees have tried to pass off copied papers - papers cut and paste from the internet (hyperlinks and ALL!), papers written by previous students in previous years (f which we have a lsit), or papers written by people they have paid to write them.

As for result of the plagerism, which they were warned against for about two thirds of their academic life, most of our time is spent having chats with the students about why they need to rethink their attitude.

Yesterday however, I think I had my top plagarism day.

To start with, I need to explain that students 'rarely fail' at this college (i.e. one student did, once. This was only because that student was completely exposed during a viva, in front od people outside the college, and there was no way for the college to let him 'slip through the system'). Now, this infamous failed student had, obviously, an infamous thesis that went with him.

Even I know this story, thought I wasn't here at the time, and have nothing to do with students for most of my time.

So. What do you think I get handed-in to me?

The infamous failed thesis. Copied and presented to me by another student as their own paper.

After a quiet (and in my mind, way to gentle) chat with this student, we spend an hour drawing up a new outline for her paper, with ways on how to taclke each section.

Lo and behold, she visits me the next day with 'questions'. It turns out that she has a pre-written arguement on notepaper in her hand, to try and convince me that she should be allowe to change her paper-title. Why? It becomes very clear during her pre-writtened sppech that it is becuase she has found another essay to plagarise, and wants to hand that one in instead, having being busted with the first one.

I have seen a lot with these papers and these students, but this was truely the final insult. I told her to take her lazy ass back to the computer and spend her time writing a paper instead of searching the internet for new essays.

If only I could fail one, just one.....

22 Apr, 2005 – Yet another week on and a trip to Urumqi (10:20am)

Yet another week has gone by.

Jono and I left Yili last week for a short trip, for the first time since we got back here in Jan. Jono went to a VSO conference in Guizhou (some province a million miles away from here, near the 'belly of the chicken').

For those of you who do not understand that last reference, virtually every Chinese student will explain that China looks like a chicken: The head is the North East and the belly is in the south, and hence be able to describe where you are in terms of chicken anatomy. Ingenious. Have a look on a map, it does make sense.

The chicken concept places us on the butt. Yet again, this does make sense.

ANYWAY, Jono went to the conference and I tagged along as far as Urumqi and spent the weekend there. Urumqi is in good form; much warmer than a few weeks ago. It's around 20C there now. All I really got up to, though, was to check in on some friends of mine and go DVD shopping - in order to top up our wilting supplies of English language media. All in all it was a good little break.

Linked to the visit back to Urumqi, I've also sorted out a new job, back at EF Urumqi for the summer.

Ok. To many people who've been reading this blog for a while, this might not seem like a logical decision, considering the less than perfect circumstances in which I left them about 6 months ago. However, long story short, I AM going back to EF this summer, just to work their summer school.

I've been thinking, the odds of me ever living or working in Xinjiang again, once we move-out in January 2006, are virtually none. So, I've decided to stay and work here for the summer. It will also be awesome to be in the semi-luxury of the capital and to be back in a place where I have a lot of friends to hang out with for a few months.

Ok ok, I'll admit it, and they're paying me well too....

(Urumqi, here I come again.)

24 Apr, 2005 – Matt and Bonnie over for the weekend (11:44am)

Matt, Bon and her family, who are over from Canada, came up this Yili this weekend.

It's was awesome to see them and have a bit of social life up here (plus receive the delivery of deit coke - thank youuuu Bon!!!!), it also gave Bon and I a chance to chat over some of the admin work necessary for the women's training centre.

it was a short visit, which obviously started over a few beers, and on Saturday we all met up at Merhaba's house (the Children's Home, the organisation we are starting the women's centre with) to pay them a visit and have lunch. The lunch itself was your tradition Uyghur-do, with mountains of food, and extremely friendly and food-encouraging hosts.

The more peculiar part of the trip was the CCTV 5 cameraman which came with the entourage. Matt is being filmed for a series that will air on China's big sport's channel, CCTV5. The TV station are putting together bio-pics on particular sportsmen, and the foreigner who plays in the Xinjiang football league - Matt, was someone who caught their marketing eye. So, on and off for the next 5 months, Mett and Bon have their own cameraman, "Mr. Wang", who follows them everywhere - including the trip up to Yili with Matt's future in-laws. I reckon the Wang-man will probably be at their wedding too. Random madness.

24 Apr, 2005 – New Bike!

Today I bought my first bike since I was about 12 years old.

It's a cute little metallic blue thing with no gears, but it works, and it's going to make moving around our little city a whole lot easier.

Yining is currently under super-construction. The government has dug-up the main artery going through the city in order to, I assume, widen the road.

This means, however, that the road leading to our college will be blocked until sometime in June. There's no way we can catch a bus, car or taxi unless we walk up to the centre of town. It's not too far, but it means at least another 40mins walking time (round trip) to get to anywhere we can't already walk to.

To store my bike we've signed up for a month at the bike-shed services near our flat on campus. It's an interesting concept, it's like a carpark which I now have a monthly ticket for. It's great, for the cost of one fast food meal, they guard it in their little building with 24 hr access, and save me having to drag the bike to our top floor flat every time I use it.

Comment: hey, Yili is such a small , place we will begin travelling there in May to visit our growing areas.

we come there to help locals to develop production up to international quality levels.

We had tried to contact you while ago through VT to meet and have some english lessons from you and your friends.

Is it still an option?

please email us;

at

cuneytmeran@hotmail.com ,udegirmenci@hotmail.com or ozerec@gmail.com

enjoy your bike..:)

6 May, 2005 – Acupuncture (9:05am)

I'm trying out a series of acupuncture sessions for my back. I'm on day 2.

Scary needles.

It's alright though, it doesn't hurt, it's just scary 'cause they poke you. I bought my own needles so I know they're clean. I'l keep you up-to-date as to whether it does anything for my back.... 3 more days to go.

11 May, 2005 – Confused (10:09am)

Hmm, I'm trying to set up a community journal on this site, for the Women's Centre project. With me here in Yili, Bonnie in Urumqi and Merhaba in Switzerland, we need an online forum in which all of us can discuss things.

However, it's proving a little confusing. I'm now posting this message to confirm whether my worst fears might be true.... i.e. that if I set up a community journal, it is simply an amalgamation of all the members' journals. I can't believe that this is the case.... but....

Here goes: TEST.

11 May, 2005 – Confusion still over (11:17am)

Ok, I've figured out how to post onto the other site, but it's a little confusing all the same.

ANYWAY! Other than that, as you can see, I'm back on track with the Women's Project. We've got some draft contracts and job descriptions together. The last message was all about the forum I'm trying to set up for the English speaking team, so that we can communicate better.

Now... I need to go about getting Merhaba (the representative from our Uyghur partners)to join this site, and then the community's seperate journal. I wonder if that's going to be confusing, it was hard for me and I'm a native English speaker (whilst Merhaba uses German, Chinese and Uyghur all the time, English is probably the language that she uses least often...)

13 May, 2005 – Job description for Project Manager (2:40pm)

I've been working on some contracts and paperwork for the Project over the past few days. For once I' feel like I'm on a roll with this whole grand scheme....

Anyway, I just finished a first draft of a job description for the role of Project Manager (i.e. Bonnie, Merhaba and I). I got a bit tired towards the end of writing it, so it could be lacking. Bonnie already has the other Contract and Job Description to peruse. Go Bon!

Now I've passed the draft on to Bon to have a browse, then all the documents will go on to Merhaba in Switzerland to look-see following Bon's changes.

Comment: hey cathbarr!!

good work on the job desc.. just proof reading it, and will send it soon.

feels good to be working out the logistics of the project. something like sowing the seeds for a good harvest later on huh?

Comment: Hiya dude - yeah, you're telling me! Thanks for YOUR hard work dude :) Looking forward to seeing your thoughts... I'm heading over to our other work-blog to add a note on a meeting I had with the family today.....

26 May, 2005 – Not looking good for Women’s Centre (6:45pm)

I haven't written in quite a while, I've been pretty busy and rather stressed with a lot of random tid-bits of work.

What's on my mind at the moment is that we're at the brink of not implementing the Women's Centre.

And I don't really know what to do.

Our local partners have had to pull out. There was essentially a difference in opinion about how the project should take shape. However, the grant from the British Embassy is restricted by certain regulations on how the money should be employed. One problem that we have is that this simplest way of implementing the project, which are local partners are in favour of, would go against these regulations. The regulation in question is one where we shouldn't be using the grant for simply running costs, in essence, the grant should primarily be an investment. Our local partners think an investment is too risky and would rather use the money to directly sponsor individuals.

We however, wanted to establish a more permanent centre with premises of our own. but, this is all academic, as they are no longer involved.

Sigh.

It was immensely difficult getting the idea that early investment is a good idea across to our local partners. Some of them were on board with the idea, others against. The ones who didn't like the idea were very fixed about the way they wished to implement the project. I'm pretty sure there was a big culture clash regarding this issue too, I think, as in my view some of them could not accept that there wasn't a way around the regulations, or that any alternative was viable.

So, our local partners have become very frustrated by the difficulty in agreement on the project, and the ones based in town have decided to pull out.

This is a very big problem, as the town-based partners are vital for overseeing the project in ways that foreigners can't: for example, being involved when language is a barrier, checking that we are not victums of manipulation and corruption (which can be easily masked if you don't understand the language), and in general advise the project on what local customs we should to adhere to.

We still have the grant, but now we'd be absolutely blind.

So? What to do now? We have really two options:

a) close the project

b) find a new, RELIABLE local partner

Unfortunately, finding a new local partner is a big big issue in a backwater place think this (for want of a kinder description).

After a week of thinking on it, I'm really not sure we'll be able to find another group, or person, that is both capable and reliable of running a Women's Centre with third party funds at their disposal. If we can't find someone who we're absolutely sure we can leave the project in the good hands of, we can't start it. Having to drop the project once we've started running classes - letting these women down so soon after - is something I can't do.

Hmm.

I'll chat to Bonnie (who is still as dedicated as ever! Thanks Bonnie!) and see what options we really have...

13 Jun, 2005 – Women’s Centre no going ahead (11:25am)

Yeah, long time no write, it's been a busy past few weeks, amount many other things, coming to the conclusion that the Women's Centre can't be set-up with our current limited resources and reduced support.

It is a shame, but I can't say that I'm not relived. I was starting to have the horrible feeling that I was walking into a trap. It's hard to explain all the little details, but as our local partners have pulled out, we would have been walking into the project completely blind if we were to proceed. We would have been very open to manipulation by other parties, and my experience here so far has shown that there are plenty of other parties out there who will manipulate you to aid their own agendas.

For want of a better comparison, it was like knowingly setting-up internet access to a computer that belongs to someone else (British Embassy money) without any virus protection software. To start the project without strong local partners would have been exposing the project, and ourselves who are responsible for the project, to assured eventual demise.

SO! We've written to the British Embassy with our greatest apologies, and asked them to cancel our grant. We also offered them a full report leading to the decision and the alternative paths we investigated, but we were told that they did not need any report.

Eh, how to I feel? I little disappointed for the people who could have been helped, but relieved that we made a decision that was not easy to make.

13 Jun, 2005 – A week in Hong Kong (1:44pm)

Another reason why I haven't written in my journal recently was that I had to make to Hong Kong a week ago.

I went for a job interview (which I reallllly realllllllllly want) at Oxford University Press. To say the least, the interview went ok, but it left me clueless as to how well I did; mainly because I found it hard to read the cultural differences.

So now I'm back in Yili, playing the waiting game. I hope to hear good news, but as of yet, I haven't heard from them as to whether I've made the final round of interviews or not. I still hope I might hear some good news, but the longer I wait, the more pessimistic I am.

Hong Kong on the other hand, was great. It was really nice ot have a break from mainland China, grab some western food, and to some extent (beside the interview), relax.

I'll keep you up all up-to-date on the job news. (fingers crossed)

Comment: Do you speak Chinese yet?

Comment: Go awayyyyyyyyyyyyy. Bad brother. Bad.

14 Jun, 2005 – No luck with the cushy Hong Kong job, poo (9:03am)

Ah well, I finally heard about the job after chasing them up and it's not going ahead. It seems they are keen on more Hong Kong experience (translation: ability in written language skills?).

Nevermind, but I do feel that they should have made that requirement part of the job advertisement if that's what they had really wanted.

So, it's back to the future draw-boarding for us. I'm still heading to Hong Kong for the summer at least to pick up some of the much easier to get English Teaching work, and that will tide me by until the end of the year. However, this means that Jono and I have got to go back and rethink what our work plans will be for 2006. There's still plenty of time; we'll see what opportunities come up.

16 Jun, 2005 – Tying up odds and ends (6:21pm)

Jono and I are busy at the moment trying to clear up all the necessary odd jobs before we leave Yili for the summer.

Yesterday I went over to the children's home to say goodbye to the girls for the summer. It was fun to just hang out with them rather than teach them. I also got chatting to the eldest girls, who are wondering what in the world to do with their lives.

One of the older girls didn't do well in her last set of exams, so she's leaving school to find a job. She's frustrated about how to decide what the best choice is for her. Thankfully she does have options, such as apprenticeships, one of which she's seriously considering - sadly with a lack of enthusiasm for it.

During that chat I discovered that the girls had no idea that they couldn't just work in another country if they ever got to travel there. I was really surprised that they didn't know you couldn't just work in a country once you got there. They were asking me if it was possible for them to do various jobs in Hong Kong, Europe, and even Canada. I explained to them about work visas, and they were really shocked. Shocked that this applied to even Westerners wanting to work in other Western countries and to me working in China.

The lack of human mobility is a ridiculous construct. Even if they did everything they could, studied hard, achieved good grades, learnt foreign languages, it wouldn't get them much further that their original options.

Anyway! I meander. So, we'll be on our way to Beijing in a couple of weeks - 10 days until our birthday. Yay.

25 Jun, 2005 – Happy Birthday! (7:33pm)

Happy birthday to Jono

Happy birthday to Jono

Happy birthday dear Jono

Happy birthday to Jono

26 Jun, 2005 – Happy Birthday part deux (7:34pm)

Happy birthday to meeeeee

Happy birthday to meeeeee

Happy birthday to meeeeee-eeeee

Happy birthday to meeeeee

(if you haven't emailed me already, there's loadsa time ;)

Comment: Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful day. Emily

Comment: hi Cath, my alert thing on Virtual Tourist says , yesterday was your birthday.. hope you had a good one..belated happy birthday..ciaoDRNRDZR

Comment: Hey Cath - just wondering if you got my text on Sunday - couldn;t get to the office to email so thought I'd try that instead... only problem is that I'm not sure that number works in Urumqi/Xinjiang or not - woops!!!

Anyway, hope you had a fab birthday and I'll get you a beer to celebrate when i next see you - get a beer, get a beer get a beer!!!! ;-)

Amar

28 Jun, 2005 – Moving house (5:19pm)

Honestly, moving house is one of the things I hate most in the world.

Anyway! It's our last day in Yili before we both leave for the summer and we're busy moving all our stuff to another flat, where we will live next term. the new flat is very nice, but it's a pain in the arse to move...

Later this evening we'll be catching the bus to Urumqi, and then flying from there to Beijing tomorrow. Why... dear god, why, are we catching the bus for 13 hours? - you might wonder. Eh it can't be helped. There's a ludicrous tourism festival on in Yining this summer (as to where these foreign tourists have come from.....?.... it's surreal), which has resulted in peak season airfares.

With the bizarre-who's-it-for festival on, the flight to and from the region prices have shot up to at least twice the usual-non-national-holiday fare, if not more than that. Hence, to avoid the outrageous prices, we are taking the bus. Our onward flight to Beijing was no better in terms of cost hikes, however, for that distance, I'm willing to fork out the extra cash.

Going back to the tourism festival for a minute: The city has put together a huge summer-long festival for Western tourists, but it's not cheap. So we're not talking about a festival catering for backpackers or the average cost-conscious traveler - who might be interested in the more off-the-beaten-track holiday. So who are these Westerners holidays in Yili??? Considering hardly anyone Western has even heard of Xinjiang, let alone Yili, makes the mind boggle. Who was this summer festival was marketed to, and who in the world is coming out here? Some say it's an event to attract potential investors. Which makes the mind boggle even more. There appears to be a Danish organisation who's planning to be in Yili (what they do, I have no idea).

There are also a few Australian gold prospectors about. Like, seriously.

Anyhow, whoever these foreign tourists are, the festival in their honour is making Yili a very expensive destination, compared to normal, this year.

Enough. Off to Beijing...

5 Jul, 2005 – Back in Hong Kong (6:23pm)

After several days of playing in Beijing, as well as a minor operation to mend Jono's toe, we've both left Beijing.

Jono flew back to the UK, where he'll be for the next 7 weeks, and I took the non-stop train from Beijing down to Hong Kong. The train was definitely very good, and value for money at roughly 600RMB. However, finding the ticketing booth and the train platform for the HK-bound train is QUITE another story, bordering on the absurd. I don't think I've ever seen such obscure passageways, counter-intuitive locations or total lack of sign posting (in any language) than when I attempted to buy tickets for, AND get on, the Beijing-Hong Kong train.

For anyone wanting to attempt the "Beijing-Hong Kong (Kowloon) through train" from the Beijing end, here are directions - should you be unable to ask someone at the station for help (this requires Chinese language skills). Even if you are able to inquire, I don't think it would do you much good, I learn the below by being walked through by Jono - who had done it in January:

Buying tickets:

1. Go to the Beijing WEST Station in Beijing.

2. On arrival, go to the second floor, go through the security checks and then search for a hallway on the left side of the main departures hall.

3. Down this hallway there will be a type of swing-firedoor, go through this door into a large room with ticketing booths. When I went all these booths were shut, in which case, go through the room to the far end, go through another firedoor, and there is yet another large room with ticketing booths.

4. Most of these second-room ticket booths were also shut - but don't be fooled! There was one dimly lit corner booth, go to this booth, there a women sells tickets for the Beijing-Kowloon train.

5. The train departs every other day (currently odd-numbered days of the month leaving Beijing and even-numbered days of the month leaving Hong Kong).

6. Get a ticket for a middle bunk. The top is the worst, bottom is ok but in the throng of things.

Getting the train:

1. Go to Beijing West station, aiming to arrive 90minutes ahead of the departure time (12:47pm).

2. Don't go to the normal, main departure hall on the second floor - however you might have to go through this to get where you need to go (below).

3. Go to ground floor and the west side fo the station (this is the right side, if you are facing the station). Here you will find a seperate, mini departure hall.

4. This mini departure hall is for HK bound trains only. BEWARE - there is NO sign that indicates that this is so! It just is, and everyone seems to intuitively know this but you.

Once you go through the mini departure hall's door, you're home free. Everything else is clear and guided until you get on the train.

Ok, there you go. That's my good deed for the day. I'm off to eat dinner.

6 Jul, 2005 – Olympics 2012 (7:57pm)

Yay London for winning the bid!!!

That's really going to change the East End... hmm, and undoubtedly make a few mates' recent first-home purchases in/near the area even more exciting.

Yay London.

7 Jul, 2005 – Long week! (9:28pm)

It's been a long week! And I suppose longer for a people back in London effected by the bombs.

I won't go on about the bombs though, 'cause what do you say? A string of cliches? Eh, I don't know. So, yeah, I'm not much to say on that topic. It was bad; it also could have been worse.

16 Jul, 2005 – My week (9:35am)

World events aside - it's been a good week for me.

THE JOB

To start, I've got a new job! I'll be working with a designer here in Hong Kong who is putting in a design bit for the infamous "West Kowloon" project. For those unfamiliar with the project, it's allegedly the world's biggest land development project (aside from planning an entire city, or things like that). So, various companies have been invited to submit ideas of how to use a piece of land along Hong Kong's harbour.

I could go on, but have a look at the design instead: http://www.westkowloon.com.hk/

I'll be working with them starting Monday. They're not the kind of thing I'm familiar with, so I'm a bit nervous, but fingers crossed! It looks like it could be really fun. As for how long it goes, well, I've committed for the summer, but there is the potential for me to work with them later on - depending on how their bid goes.

OTHER THAN THAT

It's been a busy week with preparation work. I've been planning lessons for the work in Uganda that I do, as well as for some freelance teaching that I'll be doing for a month starting next week. The freelance teaching is in Hong Kong with an Educational Publisher. It was something that I was committed to doing before I got the other job, so I wanted to see it through, as it was only a few hours in the morning for 4 weeks and the Design company are ok with that.

In a nutshell, I'm going to be very busy with work until mid August.

I also got a letter published in the paper on Wednesday, supporting gay-rights in HK. It was pretty cool, and I was happy to see it there since there have been so many ridiculous right-wing versions in the public sphere recently. Something had to be said dude.

Right, it's Saturday, but I've got to go and get some work to get done before both my jobs start next week :)

7 Jul, 2005 – Working weekend (4:21pm)

Right, it's my last few hours of free time until I start my new job tomorrow! I'm excited, but nervous about starting to work full time again - it's been a while. Actually both my jobs start next week - so that will be a shock to the system, but hopefully it won't be too hard to get use to the routine.

23 Jul, 2005 – Good job, bad job (2:25pm)

First week of going back to fulltime work was tiring, and very good in one case and very annoying in the other.

Firstly, working for Planet Time has been going really well and I'm enjoying it. It's too difficult to go into detail about the job, but basically I'm doing business writing for a Designer (proposals, business plan, etc) for several new projects that he's planning. Again, I'm going to refer everyone to have a look at one of his projects: http://www.westkowloon.com.hk

On the other side of things, my other job, teaching for Greenfield Education, a small publisher here, has been a bloody nightmare. They haven't a clue about how to teach EFL professionally - which is shocking since they publish EFL books here in Hong Kong, and have the gall to slag off other small schools. They are seriously the most unprofessional people I have ever taught for. I'm too tired to explain the soap opera now, but, in a nutshell, not only are they cowboys as far as teaching is concerned, but they're also stereotypical Chinese-Management bullies, similar to those you hear teaching-horror-stories about on Dave's Cafe and englishschoolwatch.com . Hmm, thankfully the job market is in my favour at the moment (most schools can't get an English teacher for love or money right now, because demand is so high in the summer) so it hasn't been hard for me to stand my ground, but god, they're just plain assholes. Without going into more detail, I've pulled out of two of their courses for the summer, because they were a rip-off-joke, so I'm only teaching one class, for a month, then I'm out of there.

Time to go and give Jono a ring in the UK...

Comment: All flash sites are a bad idea. They're hard to use, break virtually all accessibility guidelines. And worst of all search engines don't find it so no one goes to your site: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Awww.westkowloon.com.hk

7 Aug, 2005 – Dad’s 60th and Hong Kong in general (8:24pm)

Last weekend and this weekend were celebrations for Dad's 60th. The first was a small dinner party at the Hong Kong Club, and today is the enlarged barbecue party. Both have shown good food and copious amounts of drink.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad's mates are a mixed bunch, it's interesting to see the change in people over the years. The ones we see most regularly have been very fun and good natured people. There have been others who are, in short, just as mad as Dad. There were a few others today that I have seen which are frankly a waste of his social time. Hong Kong breeds snobbery in people, and in particular, there was one radio DJ I was most unimpressed with.

(I'm now going to rant for a few lines)

I remember the guy in question spending Christmas lunch with us many years ago, when he first came to Hong Kong and was finding his feet. He's now higher up: quite a successful radio DJ, but in terms of personality, all I can say is that: I thought he was an awesome guy once. He definitely doesn't make that impression at anymore. What an ass. No wonder his girlfriend left him.

It seems to me that too many people in Hong Kong are going down this route. And, Hong Kong as a city itself, I would be inclined to describe the personified equivalent as "a total wanker". I will not be sorry to see Hong Kong behind me. I enjoy the work that I'm doing here (minus working for local management, in the case of teaching), but that still doesn't make Hong Kong worth it.

On those lines, Jono and I are looking to Beijing for our next move. We've been umming and erring back and forth between whether to move to Hong Kong or Beijing next, but this last trip has confirmed my long-existing vibes about Hong Kong: Don't bother.

9 Aug, 2005 – The rest of 2005? (4:54pm)

I'm working from home today. I'm getting some stuff done, but it's so hard to stay motivated when you're at home. I don't know how other people do it. Now I'm clearly on a break.

As for life at the moment, I'm still sitting on the decision what to do for the rest of this year. I'm essentially 3 weeks away from returning to Yili and China, but I wax and wane on my love for that idea (Jono I miss, other aspects of Yili I do not).

Having said that, I couldn't stay in Hong Kong for too long either.... Hong Kong hurts one's head (well, I could say a lot more about what I really think of Hong Kong, but I'll save that for a day when I really need to let off steam. It could take a while).

Sadly, I thought the next step for 2005 would be much clearer come the end of the summer. It isn't yet, though there are now more options for me on the horizon.

One of my options is to stay in Hong Kong for a little longer until the end of September. The purpose of that would be to see where my job with Planet Time is going, and if it's worth me staying and Jono moving to Hong Kong at the end of the year.

Another option is to stick to the game plan, return to Yili until Jono's contract runs out in Dec whilst teaching and learning Mandarin (dull).

Yet another option is to forget the teaching malarkey and just go back to Yili purely to learn Mandarin (I don't know how diligent I will be though.... which is what worries me. Learning Mandarin is a good idea, but sitting on my ass for 4 months is not).

11 Aug, 2005 – Newest recruit (23:34pm)

Our newest recruit arrived today, straight from Poland.

Sanik is a friend of Ines' (she's the model/intern who is working for us - the guys decided to hire her... Ines is great, but I question the initial motives behind her recruitment). Anyway, Sanik is here, jet-fresh, to build the Design company's website. I had a look through some of his work today, and it is bloody impressive.

You can see Ines' portfolio (I wasn't kidding when I said she was a model) and Sanik's work at:

http://www.inesmodel.com/

13 Aug, 2005 – Party days (10:59pm)

I've just spent all of today holed up inside my flat doing nothing. I'm not hung-over; but it's something like that.

On Thursday (two days ago) with the Design job, Rob (the American guy I work with), Ines (the Polish model that the guys hired, driven by hormones) and Sonic (our newest recruit, yes, that is his name, but he is a shaman at building websites) went for our first partnership meeting. We've been working on the project concept and proposal for a long time, and finally we ventured out of Big Wave Bay to a business meeting.

To cut a long story short, it was fine; could have been better and it could have been worse, however, it left us rather frazzled. Rob and I particularly, since the proposal and business relationship building falls under out remit. After two hours of light grilled, we decided to recover via drinks in Lan Kwai.

PARTY 1

A drink in Lan Kwai turned into lots of drinks later and the wee hours for me (at which point I pleaded Amnesty on the basis of having to teach the next day). however Rob then went solo until 7am (or so we assume). What Rob got up to only Rob knows... the poor boy was on heat. Considering all that, was a weird night all round, with one guy at one of the bars deciding that my *nose* was the pinnacle of all beauty. This prominent architect steadily got drunker, and with each drink his idolisation of my nose grew into something like a CD on repeat.

Like nothing I've ever seen.

I expected more rationality from the evening.

My nose?????

PARTY 2

The following day at work was tough (but not as tough for me as for other work colleagues! Rob.). The work day was made only tougher by the fact that Daniel (our boss and owner of a local restaurant) was hosting a large company party for an International Architectural Firm in the even (the nose-worship-guy was not there though). Therefore, Daniel wanted all of us to stay after work and party, so that we could network. With Rob nursing the world's biggest hangover, me tired and weirded out by architects in general, and Sonic jet-lagged beyond repair - It was a long night, involving trampolines, swimming pools, DJs and bongos. It was long and, again, quite surreal.

I eventually made it back to my cave with a lift from the DJ (us being the only peasants who live north of the harbour) during which we took a detour to dump speaker equipment in the apartment of a guy who (we discovered) used to flat-share with my Aunt and Uncle when they were in *their* twenties as expats in Hong Kong. Surreal. If Mandy and Christian are reading this - it was Dean's flat that we dumped the equipment at.

And that brings me to today. It's been a long and random past few days and whilst I might be young, from the need to hole up in my bed today; clearly I'm not getting any younger.

17 Aug, 2005 – Teaching finished (9:14pm)

Wow, it was my last class teaching for the Greenfield publishers today - I expected to be elated, but I am realising that there is a twinge of seperation anxiety in the experience. I'm actually going to miss those wild cats.

17 Aug, 2005 – Progress with the project? (9:17pm)

It's been a good working day all round. Besides finishing off the English course I was teaching, I've made a little progress in developing partnerships for our design project.

Up till now I haven't talked about the details of the project much. Though I posted a link to our design company a while ago, we've actually been working on a tangential project called the "West Kowloon Cultural Village" (and not on the project you see at the end of the weblink). Sanik is working fervishly on the website, and when that is up and running, I'll post a link here so you guys can get a better idea on what my "design job" actually IS.

On that topic, I got in contact with the Marketing Company in charge of the "X-box Odyssey" today. Yay! it looks like there's a marketing lead where we could develop a partnership with them and our project. Fingers crossed.

21 Aug, 2005 – I live in a swamp (3:07pm)

It has been raining solidly in Hong Kong for at least 2 weeks now with no end in sight. The weather forecast for the next week is more of the same.

I don't think the structure that I call my home can DO one more week of rain. I live on the top floor and water is dripping through the ceiling in virtually every room (Ironically, I haven't get found a leak in the bathroom. The driest room in the flat).

The sound of dripping water is keeping me up at night, extending my already long requirement for sleep to at least 10 hours a night (yes, it's probably just an excuse). God, I have to get up tomorrow at 8am to do a one-off substitution teaching job. 8am? I'm nocturnal now. It's not going to be easy....

23 Aug, 2005 – Weather to work… sigh (9:16pm)

The rain has paused. But there's no way it has stopped....

Actually, even if the worse of the weather is over, work and renumeration have become a bit overcast. Sigh. Why isn't life just plain, old, easy? I'm sure people wouldn't mind if they spent their entire life going from success to success. This current model of existence kinda sucks in the way it was designed.

On on version2!

Anyway, yeah, referring to the above, there are a few "hiccups" this week in trying to get paid for work. Rather than bore you with the details, I'm just going to hope it resolves over the next few days. And if not, at least by then it'll be more dramatic and worth typing out.

24 Aug, 2005 – Rain’s back and bills need paying (12:19pm)

It's just started raining again. I can see the "great: night's sleep ahead of me already (constant dripping for a leaky concrete ceiling - not conducive to sleep).

In more amusing news; besides being a little on the slow side in paying us, Daniel seems to have forgotten to pay the Internet bill. Rob (my more sane college on the design job) got cut off in the midst of work yesterday. I personally left work early as I wasn't feeling very motivated (knowing that there would be delays in paying us on time this month).

Daniel - is not a mean person by any means, but he's one of those artists who aren't in touch with the reality of time and space, and hence he’s not-up-to-date on how the world operates and what it requires of him to cooperate. It takes Daniel a little longer to get with the programme.

Anyway, so, we've had a few set-backs this week, but both Daniel and Rob are in the process of reinstating the Internet connection at work, and that should allow for our new website to go live today, as planned.

As for me, because of the limited services at Daniel's place, I'm staying home to work. And obviously - that's what I'm up to right now....................

RAIN AND MONEY

At the moment the rain is closely linked to my fortunes. Daniel also owns a seaside restaurant which is quite lucrative - but only when the weather is acceptable. Therefore, if the rain holds back this weekend, Daniel will have his cash flows resumed via the restaurant, and will pay us all on time. However, should the weather be pants (like it is now), then pay delays are imminent.

Sigh.

There's no reason for me to get angry with the casual set-up because that would do no good. I can only be patient, pray for good weather and know that I’m not alone in position (Rob and Yui). Strength in numbers?

25 Aug, 2005 – Slow Day (6:07pm)

Everything has been taking too long to do today.

Firstly, I had a major call with X-box Asia to do this morning, which was postponed until this afternoon and now postponed again until tomorrow afternoon.

Secondly, once I gave up on the conference call, I've been working on our major proposal. The file has gotten so big, and image heavy, that it now has to be broken up into 4 parts in order to be emailed across to our main office (it's taken me a long time to figure out this, as well).

Eh, And I'm meant to go to dinner with Sheree in half an hour... pants.

28 Aug, 2005 – Tailoring weekend (9:16pm)

I shouldn't go out. I buy too much here. It must be something in the Hong Kong air.

Anyway, having accumulated about 4 dresses in the past week, all of which need to be tailored (they're great, but bargins, so a few alterations are needed), I decided it was high time I did something about finding a tailor.

I popped round Mum's too see if she had any ideas (and to say a general hello), which was great. She is also a wonderwoman (who doesn't know any tailors either) and managed to help me sort of two of the dresses then and there. (THANK YOU!!!)

I really need to relearn how to use a sewing machine. It would save me from ultimate boredom back in China, however, the horror experience from when I originally learnt at school during my youth leaves me a little cautious of the devices: back when I was about 12, I managed to (against all warnings) to sew straight through my thumb with an automatic sewing machine. The mechanical needle pumped straight through. I totally freaked out the compulsory Home Ec teacher and personally was in shock for about an hour. hahaha....

Hmm. Perhaps I will overcome the childhood trauma and buy a sewing machine, and perhaps not. More thinking time is needed.

29 Aug, 2005 – Working backwards (4:06pm)

Back to work today, but hardly, everything is conspiring against me working.

The primary root of this is that my laptop committed random suicide over the weekend; one second it was working, the next it goes into a reboot loop. It now exists in the reboot loop no matter what I do. Restart, attempted safe mode, nothing. I researched a few views over the internet and I've come tot he conclusion that it isn't virus related and probably due to a hardware problem.

I need to see a technician. How does one do that here? (sigh, I'm going to leave that job for later..)

Therefore I've had to redo a day's work, which is such a pain in the arse. Thankfully, I had a day-old version of the document I was working-on on another computer, so I was able to simply bring that version up to speed today. I've finally finished, bringing me back to where I was on Friday afternoon.

Working on an old computer doesn't help - I've just had to chop up the proposal into 4 separate documents in order to email it - AGAIN. The last time we discovered that there is a feature in PowerPoint that compresses picture files, hence brings down the size of your document back to normal. However, that feature is not on my older computer... so not only as I redoing documents, but I'm re-chopping it up in an unnecessary way.

This day has been so lame. Groundhog Day - I think it's a sign that I should stop trying to work today. It's only 4pm.

29 Aug, 2005 – Jono is on the move… (5:27pm)

Jono flys back from the UK to China today... yaaayyy.

I still won't be able to see him, as he's going through Beijing, and then into Xinjiang; however, it means that the summer is now at an end and I will eventually be on the move back up there too.

31 Aug, 2005 – Prisoner’s dilemma (4:57pm)

My work life is one giant prisoner's dilemma, only a few stages away from end game. Daniel Marinov (my "boss") is the world's biggest headache. Sigh.

1 Sep, 2005 – Finally delivering the proposal (3:43pm)

Rob, Ines and I went down to the printers yesterday and finally printed out the proposal that we've been working on for weeks.

Today we picked it up and started delivering the document to various government offices, who have been waiting on it, as well as to some sponsors. Hopefully this means that next week will start to seem some response on your project and, in general, whether we will see a "yay" or "nay" over the entire thing.

Tomorrow is going to be another pointless visit to Big Wave Bay in order to attempt to get paid by Daniel.

Oh, and Arthur (a friend of mine from LSE) and his girlfriend, Ping, arrive tomorrow night to begin their week long stay with me in Hong Kong. Hopefully that will be fun... speaking of which, I need to give Rohit a call and see if he's still on for tomorrow night.

Miles' 25th b'day tomorrow too!!!

7 Sep, 2005 – Arthur and Ping here for the week (6:42pm)

Hmm, I could have sworn I wrote a few other entries for this journal... but now they're not there. Or maybe I'm just going mad.

Anyway! It's been eventful here since last Friday, as my friend from uni/ex Arthur, and his girlfriend arrived. they're passing thorugh Hong Kong and staying with me for a week. Admittedly, at first I had my reservations, but it's working out fine.

Arthur and Ping arrived from Tokyo last Friday night, and we went out for "one drink", which turned out to be a mad one - Rohit, randoms from Las Vegas with pierced nipples, drunken dancefloor.....

However! We made it home in the end.

The weekend continued in a rather alcoholic blur, revolving around a barbeque, the Yacht Club... and... oh yeah, a rainy night market. All very entertaining.

8 Sep, 2005 – Back to Xinjiang, via Xian… (5:54pm)

Right! Finally! I've made a decision.

I'm off back to China next weekend (17th Sept). I'm meeting Jono in Xian, where he'll be after a VSO conference, and then we'll travel back together to Xinjiang. Finally, home. I've had enough of Hong Kong and enough of being so far from Jono.

Yaaaayyyy, back with Jono... yaaaayyyyyyy.

Sep 10, 2005 – This does happen to people! (4:22pm)

Right! Finally! I've made a decision.

I'm off back to China next weekend (17th Sept). I'm meeting Jono in Xian, where he'll be after a VSO conference, and then we'll travel back together to Xinjiang. Finally, home. I've had enough of Hong Kong and enough of being so far from Jono.

Yaaaayyyy, back with Jono... yaaaayyyyyyy.

11 Sep, 2005 – All gone (3:56pm)

Everyone has left today - Dad, Arthur and Ping are all on their ways to their next destinations. I have the two flats to myself.

I have to say, Arthur and Ping left the timing mighty-fine in leaving the flat. With only an hour and 10 minutes to: walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, take the bus to near Hunghom Station, walk to Hunghom, then check-in and get on the train. If it had me me, I would have been freaking out.

Anyway, they haven't returned to the flat and it is now 4pm, so I can only assume that they got on the 3pm train to Shanghai in time.

16 Sep, 2005 – Goodbyes (12:17pm)

It's been a short week, it's gone by incredibly fast, and I have spend the whole week saying goodbye to people - a WEEK! This is why people shouldn't do goodbyes, it's emotionally trying and it takes up so much TIME.

Anyway, however, I'm glad I did say goodbye to a lot of people properly. This time round I was really starting to settle into living in Hong Kong. Though it is still a mad place that gives me the creeps, I was starting to develop some form of entertaining life here :).

I'll really miss everyone when I leave this time...

So, I've said good bye to all the family, my favourite people at work - Rob, Ines, Sanik, and even madhead Daniel. Plus most of my friends, Lee, Sheree, Greg; though some of them are also busy people and I left it a little late to try and organise something in time to say goodbye (my bad) Vish, Rohit, Paddy...

21 Sep, 2005 – Back in Xinjiang (6:49pm)

Right, I've managed to get from Hong Kong to Urumqi by train, and tt is not as easy as it sounds - or as I thought, but I managed it and I'm here! (Kowloon - Guangzhou East; Guangzhou Main - Xian; Xian for a night; Xian - Urumqi)

For anyone who wants to try it, Chinese language skills are highly recommended. As are lots of food supplied and toilet paper.

During my epic rail excursion I have picked up a cold from some human germ reservoir (whom must have been on one of my trains). Nevermind, it seems like just a small cold (touch wood) and I've got two days to recuperate before I attend Matt and Bon's wedding.

It must be noted that Jono was the world's best boyfriend, as he came to meet me in Xian and travel back up to Xinjiang with me via train; so that I would have company. Best man ever. :) He's now back in Yili for work (whilst I'm in Urumqi, waiting to attend the forementioned wedding). I will get back to Yili, and home, on Monday the 26th.

I'm also meant to meet Arthur and Ping sometime now, as they are apparently in Urumqi as I type. They have, however, failed to pay much attention to the details of my past emails (i.e. when I would arrive in Urumqi, or note down my *China* mobile number) but are urgently requiring my reply; nor have they let me know where they are actually staying (so that I could try and find them when, I finally arrived back into town).

Originally they didn't appear to want to my input about Xinjiang, in what appeared to me as slight stubbornness about not needing advice from me, on their travels.... but now, for whatever reason, Xinjiang is not working out or meeting their expectations, so they are urgently trying to get a hold of me their default travel option.

They can be exasperating.... but, still, I do hope we touch base, as it would be a shame if they made it all the way out here and I didn't get to see them.

We'll see!

23 Sep, 2005 – Bronchitis (7:00am)

Turns out that the cold is bronchitis. ugh.

After waking up and realising that I shouldn't have been feeling that bad, I went to the doctor (armed with Nikolaj's English-Chinese dictionary). Yup, bronchitis. Who gets bronchitis??? 3 year olds?

The visit was even more eventful, and couldn't have been better if it was written for TV. During the examiniation, the ONLY word the doctor and I have to look up is the word "allergy" ('Goumin'). She confirms that I am not allergic to anything (nope) and then proceed to give me an antibiotic drip.

Just like TV - the only word we picked out of the dictionary will become significant later in the episode.

So, halfway through my drip, I realise that I have a huge bite on my neck - which I don't remember waking up with. Since I'm at the Doctor's anyway, I think I might as well as her about it.

Cath: "Zhe shi sa?" ('What is this?' whilst pointing to bite)

Doctor: "Aiii yooo! Goumin! Goumin!" (oh my god, allergy! allergy!)

[Doctor pulls out drip in semi-panic, pulls out injection and injects Cath with anti-allergy things]

End scene.

I'm fine and have new improved prescriptions to take over the next week; plus I have the name of whatever I'm allergic to written in Chinese on a scrap piece of paper. Problem is, you the stereotype of a doctor's handwriting? Well, it's a trans-cultural condition - not just limited to doctors who write in English.

26 Sep, 2005 – Matt and Bon’s Kazakh Wedding (5:53pm)

Arhtur and Ping were finally found. It turns out that expense drove them into Turpan - the desert town south of Urumqi, where they stayed for a couple of nights. After they called, we arranged for them to get back to Urumqi, by bus, first thing Saturday morning in order to meet me at Susi and Nikolaj's place to drop their bags and go to the wedding.

Matt and Bon's wedding started with a quick buffet lunch at the Youhao Jiu Dian - a hotel next to their flat. It was the first time I'd seen Matt and Bon since early June (I think...), so the first time I'd seen them as a married couple - what can I say? People look the same! However, it was great to see them again, and pretty bewildering for Ping, Arthur and I, as we didn't know the majority of the people there.

I did see, however, Ian and Rayhangul (old EF boss, plus his Uyghur wife/my friend), Mark and Carmen (Save the Children UK boss, plus his amazing wife, who I met for the first time at the wedding and is incredibly fun), as well as a few others I knew from when I was living in Urumqi - Jonno (other NZ Jonno), Manus, and Matt's housekeeper, Mrs Diao with her young-ish son.

Anyway, enough record keeping - it was good to see people again, and made me feel more secure about my decision to move back to Urumqi and work for a few months.

As I was still ill with the train-bronchitis, I decided to only attend the mountain-based-leg of the wedding ceremony for that day. The entire party was booked for Saturday until Sunday, with guest staying overnight in the mountains in Kazakh yurts. I took the evening bus, which Matt and Bon arranged for the guests,back to the city around 11pm.

I didn't actually see much of Arthur and Ping during the party, they seemed to be fine and having fun. They stayed overnight with the rest of teh guests in the yurts, which was our original plan that I had to bail out on because I was ill. It seemed a little odd leaving them at my friends' wedding without me, but it worked, everyone was enjoying themselves, there were a lot of people, and Matt and Bon were as generous as always.

As for the wedding itself, it was a very good party. A Kazakh ceremony is one wedding festivity that I've never seen before; it basically involves the groom's parents sitting in rows, in front of the couple with a singer guy using an ethnic instrument (I believe it's an erhu, but I'm not sure - a wooden guitar like thing with only two strings) to conduct the ceremony. His jobs is more or less the equivalent of the priest/judge/registar/pagan hippie/etc. He sings the actually ceremony - Kazakh weddings are the broadway musicals of the wedding world!

Ok, I digress... during the singing, the couple bow towards the Groom's family at appropriate intervals (I don't understand Kazakh song, but I'm sure the intervals have significance), and then at the end of the bowing and singing, the Groom's parents put the rings onto the Bride and Groom's fingers, and voila, they are done!

It was confusing and fun. Overall, definitely a brilliant and memorable ceremony, which everyone enjoyed - what more could you want from a wedding? (well done you two)

The Vine catered the dinner, which was gorgeous, in particular - the wedding cake(s).Mmm. dense chocolate goodness. (Again - well done on a good choice Bon!)

Hmm, I'll finish his entry later.. I need to eat....

30 Sep, 2005 – Back in Yili (12:22pm)

And now I'm back in Yili. Actually I've been here for nearly a week (since Monday, it's now Saturday).

I think I've also managed to shake the last of the Bronchitis.

It's really fab to be back home with Jono, and our new place - it's like a palace. Ok, "palace" is a strong word... but it really is very civilised, for a change. On par with Urumqi standards. All I need now is a store that sells diet coke in Yining, and then my life would be complete.

I have just started a 30-day relaxation-fest. I plan to stay here until I start work in Urumqi again, around the first week of November. My plan is to have absolutely no plan. No stress. No structure. Nothing. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. That was my big mistake the first time I moved up here - I was so worried about having something to do, that I didn't sit back and enjoy a time when I literally, did not have to do ANYTHING.

How many times in life do you have no responsibilities to answer for, and are free to do whatever you wish with your day (minus drinking diet coke)?

This time I have learnt my lesson, 30 days of nothing here I come.

1 Oct, 2005 – Tiffany comign to visit (12:29pm)

Tiff got kicked out of Tibet (boo).

So, she's back in Xinjiang, tying up loose ends before she travels to the States, and she is coming to visit me before she has to leave China (yay).

There's no real harm done - in terms of why she was kicked out of Tibet, there was just some paperwork problem to do with her visa from the past, and it wasn't really her fault. However, it was a big enough problem for her to have to leave Tibet and return to Urumqi to straighten it out properly.

She has also got extra time to leave China; there's no deportation involved, and she can come back - which she will do in a few months: to learn Chinese and teach English part-time in Urumqi.

We're both moving back to Urumqi, again.

All paths lead to Urumqi...

0/` you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave 0/`

(Urumqi sometimes has that kind of erie ring to it; it makes people do things that you didn't plan on doing...)

2 Oct, 2005 – Not so much Sunday (1:12pm)

There is a great joy in the world, its name is garlic mushrooms on toast.

In other news, Tiffany arrives tomorrow, and Jono's brother is coming to visit in Dec (to stay for a month - what the boy is planning on doing in Xinjiang for a month is beyond me! But he will be very welcome).

6 Oct, 2005 – Thursday (1:04pm)

I've moved from Garlic Mushrooms to Apple Crumble.

Ok, truth be known, the Apple Crumble is still in the abstract phase: in my mind; however, it is my plan and desire to make it a reality.

7 Oct, 2005 – Friday (1:05pm)

The Apple Crumble was a grand success. Living in Xinjiang is clearly the way forward - as all ingredient for Apple Crumble were easily obtainable from the corner store (i.e. local foodstuffs).

Cooking Apples, Brown Sugar, Butter... where else in China can you get such things (beside the odd better-stocked Carrefour or Beijing's Jenny Lou's?).

OK, besides that, we've (I've) had another great development today. We've managed to get both computers hooked up with Internet access (as opposed to just one). Yay. No more silent power struggles over the one access point....

17 Oct, 2005 – The idea of London (4:22pm)

So.. I'm thinking of going to London in November... (80% chance - nothing bad, all is very good :)

More later...

22 Oct, 2005 – Applications… (11:30am)

Ok, so back to more information about the London plan.

I'm thinking of attending interviews for a job in London that would begin late 2006. I still have no word about whether I have been invited to any interviews, so at the moment, I'm still in Yili.

I'll mention more details later, if things start working out... but it's a big financial risk for an interview and sometimes I think I'm just going crazy.

Other than that, life has been ticking away here. It's all rather normal.

Jono and Aiesling will need to go to Urumqi next weekend, for another VSO conference (they seem to have a lot of them). It's a bit ridiculous sometimes because , as is with this case, there are only 4 volunteers attending. What kind of conference is that? (consider that all of them will have to travel over 12 hours, each way, just to attend)

Hmm, it's Aiesling's birthday in two days too. I need to go an buy something.

And that's about it.

Comment: Hey Cath

Finally managed to find your blog again after losing all my favourites after moving to London and buying a new laptop - of course I could have just emailed you but that would have been too easy!!!

Excited to hear that you may be back in London soon - let me know if you're coming as it would be great to catch up. As you know I'm back on Houghton Street doing my masters (hard work by the way and the amount of time I spend in the library is ridiculous!) - anyway - I know you'll be looking for cheap places to hang out in this over-priced city and you know the Three Tuns makes sense.

Get a beer!!

Amar

22 Oct, 2005 – Fun site…(11:52am)

Oh this site is fun (yup, I have a lot to do with my time, clearly)

Your personality type is SLUEI

You are social, moderately moody, moderately unstructured, egocentric, and moderately intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Reno, Washington DC, Providence, New York City, Denver, Norfolk, Salt Lake City, W. Palm Beach, Baltimore, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Detroit, Albuquerque/Santa Fe and these international countries/regions Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Greece, Argentina, Iceland, Taiwan, China, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Spain, Israel, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, Finland

26 Oct, 2005 – General up-date for Wedensday (11:59am)

Giving away random jobs...

I got a random email today with a great job offer in Beijing, but it sounds like Chinese language skills might hold me back. So, also considering I'm slap-bang in the middle of dealing with job possibilities in London, I've responded to the email with interest, but was very frank about my Chinese language limitations. Then I put forward my friend's CV as an alternative candidate to me - who I honestly believe would be more suitable for the role.

So I'm giving away jobs now... hahaha.

Actually, one up-side to what I might have done is that if my friend, Niruban, gets the job, then he's better placed to possibly field me positions in the future. Perhaps it was stupid, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Haircuts...

Other than that, I got a haircut recently, and though not as disastrous as China haircuts can be, it makes me look about 21 years old. Sigh.

28 Oct, 2005 – Jono is gone for the weekend (2:47pm)

Jono's in Urumqi for the weekend - VSO conference. I'm bored already. Ahhh. I need entertainment.

1 Nov, 2005 – Watching the email (4:14pm)

I seem to have left my immune system in HK, and hence, am ill again. As is Jono. we live in the house of lurg(y). *cough, splutter, moan*

Not much to report, I'm watching my email for any signs of interesting-job-London-bound-hope. Still watching.

3 Nov, 2005 – When to make a move (11:18am)

Hmm, I was invited for an interview in London yesterday. Hmm.

I'm not sure whether to head to London just yet as they're not willing to book me in for an interview until I arrive in London, in which case, there is the chance that the position will have been filled. Then again, I could go, hope to interview for this job which I'd really quite like, plus be able to interview for more once I'm back.

Jono's not keen on me heading out to London on the basis of just one interview, but, as I try and tell him, there'll be more once I'm back in the UK and physically able to attend interviews.

I don't know whether to head now or later... indecision. Also, it's a BIG change which will snowball very quickly once I start the process. Not sure my head is ready for that today. Will keep you up to date on my decision making and/or flight booking.

6 Nov, 2005 – I’m off to London! (12:13pm)

Ok, I was hesitating in the last journal entry, but I got another email about another interview I really really want, so Jono and I have been rushed off our feet booking flights to get me to London by the end of next week.

I'm off to London!

I will be arriving on Thursday and crashing with Miles to start.

My job search is a pretty complex one as I'm feeling rather picky at the moment. I'm looking at some Advterising roles which will start in 2006, and one or two non-Advertising jobs starting right away, that have caught my eye.

So I might return to China, I might not, depending on which jobs I interview for and which jobs (fingers crossed) I get. My return flight is booked for Dec 13th.

OK, gotta go, Jono needs help... he's creating something in the kitchen............

7 Nov, 2005 – Off… (1:57pm)

Right, I'm off this evening.

First to Urumqi, then Guangzhou, then HK - few days there - then London by the weekend.

(I've changed my flights, so that:

1. I have a few days breathing room in HK, and will be in London on Saturday instead

2. I don't have to take some ridiculous flight with a million stops, which they failed to mention when I initially booked it)

NB - never, ever, ever use lastminute.com.hk, they are utter cowboys. "Online" travel agent my ass! Took me three days just to get a booking from them - still to be finalised! Monkeys. Went with BA online instead.

13 Nov, 2005 (7:50pm)

I've made it back and I'm alive. I even managed to fall straight into Greenwich meantime, which meant I woke up at 10am this morning... (even jet-lag will not conquer my love of sleeping in).

It's very strange to be back in the UK. I have not come even close to absorbing this fact, my mind is half in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, though I'm sure it will catch up with me in the next few days (ideally before I have to appear bright and enthusiastic in any of my interviews).

So far I've managed to get a UK mobile number and catch up with Margo, Amar, and a few others. Today I'm going ot pay a bit more attention to the admin side of things, which will probably entail some grocery shopping and a few more job applications. Oo, and ironing my suit for my first interview tomorrow.

The interview is unlikely to be too thrilling, it's only with an recruitment agency. I liked one of the jobs they had advertised and applied for that particular position a week ago, but my gut tells me that the position I likely to have been filled by now, and that I will simply be registering for a string of mediocre alternatives. Oh well, fingers crossed.

Then on Tuesday is my first round with Leo Burnett.

Other than that, I'm missing Jono terribly, and Asia in general. Asia is definitely a more attractive place, but, the UK phase needs to be done for the career.....

Right, I had better get round to the chores, and fine more coffee...

15 Nov, 2005 – Applications, applications (1:36pm)

And so I continue applying to all sorts of things (I even have to fill in an application for my travel card).

I'm encountering speedbumps in trying to deal with my banking in Hong Kong, they've gone security mad in Hong Kong's HSBC. I have to submit a disturbing amount of paperwork to try and access my money via internet banking... and let's not even begin to discuss the weird plastic-security-pager that they gave me and I have yet to configure.....

Anyway, no rush, I'm sure I'll get it worked out before I need the funds (famous last words). Worse comes to worse, I'll just go to a cashpoint here and withdraw the lot at undoubtly great expense to myself.

Two interviews to prepare for tomorrow.... my brain is hardly used to an all-English enviroment, let alone coping with high-level ineractions such as interviews, eep. It will *all* fall into place, as is the way with such things, at the last minute.... I'm sure..................

16 Nov, 2005 – High hopes (7:52pm)

The first round interview with Leo Burnett went really well today :) :) :) (at least that's what I presume, but then again, I am prone to bouts of self-delusion). Either way, I'm on a high about it. I'll find out if I've made final round next week.

And, to add to the excitment, I've managed to wrangle a first round interview out of M&C Saatchi. Yay! Thrilled to pieces, but it's early days... that interview process will start next week. Fingers crossed.

So the future is potentially bright, though jobs for the *here and now* are slower going...

18 Nov, 2005 – Friday morning (11:34am)

I think I need to change the title of my blog... especially considering it will be "London" for a while.

I've been rather mellow for the past few days, there's little else I can do except send off electronic job applications and watch daytime TV. I would love to say that I've undergone a huge culture shock and that being back in the UK has a huge emotional impact, but no, it feels very normal. Going from Asia to the UK just feels like I've walked into another room in my house.

I do miss Jono's company most, but I think it's easier for me being here and missing him than being in a place where I have been with Jono in the past and missing him. There's no familiar context of both of us being in London together to magnify how much I miss him (i.e. I don't see cafes and think "awwww, we used to drink coffee there).

I'm really looking forward to Jono's arrival, but we both have no idea how our lives are going to be restructured by the move (where will be both be living? What will Jono be doing? What will *I* be doing?) so the future is very hard to picture and fantasise wildly about. Plus, there's so much to DO before he gets here:

a) (ideally) get an Advertising job starting next year

b) get ANOTHER job in the meantime

c) find a good flat and good flatmates

d) Christmas

Speaking of which, at least there appears to be good progress with (c). I've managed to come across a terrier-esque recruitment agent who calls me 3 times a day to tell me about new positions that she's putting me forward for. Admittedly, like the terrier image, she's a bit more energic that I am and is putting me forward for great positions, but some are ones that I wouldn't really want. Eh, better this that the opposite! Besides terrier-lady I'm also meeting with two other agencies on Monday, and they have more meaty roles to consider, so it's looking good.

At this stage my biggest problem will be trying to make sure my current job starts AFTER I've finished the Advertising interviews (the *whole* reason why I flew back in the first place), god forbid I have to call in a sickie, to attend my Advertising interviews, during my first week of work.

Ahhhh, the cleaner (my brother has a cleaner come in once a week) is bleaching me out... I need to go open some windows and breathe...

23 Nov, 1005 – Throng of interviews (3:29pm)

I'm starting to drop the ball with my interview juggling.

Some recruitment consultant called me this morning (admittedly I was half asleep), and I just couldn't remember what role she was talking about, or who the hell she was. Embarrassing, but I'll claim jet-lag and a need to sleep randomly for the faux pax when I see her tomorrow.

Anyway - as one can see from the above - I am losing track of who I'm interviewing with, which agency are arranging the interviews, which company I'm seeing next. Meep. I don't remember interviewing to be such hard work; I'm looking forward to the weekend.

If Jono was here I'm sure I would be able to keep the names and faces straight (as he would remember them). Need to get boyfriend into town more quickly... save me from going into an Advertising interview thinking they're a Venture Capital co... hahaha.

I'm also struggling with the seriousness of some companies. They take themselves and their jobs soooooo seriously and, at the moment, I can only pretend to share the belief. Is laughing a lot in interviews bad??? Time will tell....

26 Nov, 2005 – Enduring the abolsutely unnecessary (7:20pm)

Ok, China is, what, a billion people?

And the China default is to put any sick person onto an antibiotic drip. Be it a cold, be it a minor cut, be it an itch - no matter how unrelated your complaint is to antibiotics, you get an antibiotic drip (or three).

Now, the UK is, what, 80 million people?

So let me get this straight. I have to suffer through my current chest infection, antibiotic-less, to support some abstract concept of saving humankind by... uhh, something to do with not taking antibiotics and creating killer diseases. In the meantime, thousands of teenagers in China are, this very minute, on antibiotics for totally unrelated illnesses?

Nazi doctor guy - I, and even this entire country, is not going to make a difference. Get off your weird European high horse and cure me. I have interviews to look good in.

5 Dec, 205 – Jobs! Halfway there.… (5:52pm)

With much harrassment (literally) from one of my rejected recruitment consultants, I have accepted one of the recent job offers, and, assuming the world doesn't cave in on itself, I will be starting with HSBC in two weeks time :) Yaaaayyy. I have an immediate job - and it looks like very good news. Plus, my future boss is top-notch.

So, one job down, one, possibly, to go.

I still have Advertising interviews to complete (all of which would lead to a job starting start in 9 months). My next interview is tomorrow at a big name international agency, which, if I'm honest, has the most ridiculous final-round interview process and is not something I want to do (they've watched too much reality TV). So, unfortunately, I have yet to develop the presentation required of me for 9am tomorrow... I'm feeling totally uninspired, plus I find the dress code truly irritating: 'dress to impress'.

Please.

(seeing as I have only one suitcase full of normal suits with me, my resistance to the concept is biased and understandable ;)

Anyway, I'm praying that my attitude will fall into place by tomorrow's croissant, and if not - well, probably a good indicator of how I really feel about that organisation. hahaha.

It doesn't all end there, I have three more Ad interviews to go before it's all finally over, but the end is nigh. Thank god. I'm exhausted.

On another note, there are also some reflections I could add on my concurrent flathunt, but I really need to make a move (and a presentation), so will embelish that topic later! (bullet form: not difficult, no major decisions yet)

Miss China and people. Miss Jono. However, news is good and things are working out very well!

7 Dec, 2005 – One down! (1:54am)

Ahhh, it's all finally done! (well, the entire process for ONE of the Advertising companies has been completed). And after my scathing previous post, I think I have changed my mind about that company.

Though ridiculously stressful (honestly, in all my life, including original milkround interviews and current 'experienced hire' interviews, today's interview day has been my most stressful). They really made us work! Hard! I feel like I've come back from a no-nonsense evil training weekend, of some corporate variety or another....

Exhausted.

Anyway, it's all done! Yaaaayyy and feedback will arrive next week.

I have only good things to say about the company now. The people were impressive, all round. Firstly the recruiters were lovely, interesting and intelligent, plus they took the process very seriously, whilst themselves being not too serious. I respect that, it's more that I can say for most processes I've seen. Secondly, my fellow applicants were all really amazing people - and I don't warm that easily to people! But really, amazing people, truly, and most of them four years my junior.... they blew me away. It is a real change from other final round interviews I've been in. The type of person that a company selects for their final round interviews says undeniable truths about the company itself, so today makes me very happy about the possibilities that might exist if I am lucky and get an offer.....

So company x has moved to the top of my preference-list-in-working.

Anyway, I have a *first round* interview with advertising company y tomorrow. My body can't believe that I've just put it through assessment hell today, only to abuse it further with an early start for the FIRST STAGES of yet another interview process with company y tomorrow morning. Oh well, it can have its revenge by giving me nightmares whilst I sleep. Need sleep. Going now.

7 Dec, 2005 – Company Y (11:53pm)

Huh, it turns out that Company Y was rather strenuous in its first round, and short.

It has to be said, it was not my best interview this morning, they were really pushing my little brain to its limits and I wasn't expecting that this morning (yes, it *was* an interview, but their competitors have been quite sweet in the early stages). So I reckon this means the end of that tale for Cath and Company Y; but, I've said that before, so who knows. I could get lucky. It *is* Christmas afterall.

Other than that up-date, there's not much other news at the moment. I'm meeting my team at HSBC tomorrow for coffee, so I'm looking forward to that.

And otherwise, in my up-coming life calendar there's one more final-round interview with Company Z. That's on Monday AND Tuesday of next week.

Two days? Dude. I mean, DUDE. Two days of assessment? Really? Is that necessary? It sounds sooo very painful. Whimper (at least we get fois gras with dinner - they sent the dinner menu along with their interview notice letter, which amused me, and possibly reflects a nice balance of priorities....)

Damn phone lines, can't get through to Jono today. Hmm. Time for one last try.......

9 Dec, 2005 – Flat-hunting (6:56pm)

Hmm, looked at another flatshare today, which, though the flatmate was such a lovely person, wasn't as great as other flats I've seen.

Tomorrow will be flat-hunting mission day, I think. It's time to address this question, the question of my own flat, otherwise the prophecy laid down by my brother and his flatmate, Ed - that Cath will not move out until mid Jan - might well come true. Christmas-week is probably not going to be prime flat-showing time..... so I've only got a little time left.

The truth is that I'm just getting too comfortable camping at Miles and Ed's. :)

10 Dec, 2005 – Eurasian Nation, dude (8:46pm)

The past few days have given me an affinity with the Eurasian kind.

They're always so supportive of other Eurasians. Yay us (it needs to be said).

I've done some fab job interviews recently, working with Eurasians - who just cheer each other on, instead of being bi-atchy about competing for the same role. Plus, I've just come back from a flatshare interview with a couple of other Eurasians, and their flatshare is the first I've seen there I would really really love to live in.

Anyway, enough for me bigging-up my peeps. Re the flatshare: there are a few logistical questions to iron out, i.e. providing we make the moving-in dates match, and the cash gap that might ensue; but I do hope we can work it out and that I end up living with them.

In the meantime, I continue the flatshare-hunt grind (boo).

15 Dec, 2005 – JWT or “Other Agency”? (4:52pm)

Ok. I'll admit it up front: This post is going to be obnoxious, but hey, I had to work my butt off to get into this situation, so I'm allowed just one post about it. :) Life rocks and I have had to choose between two advertising job offers. Yaaayyyyyyyyy! The *cunning plan* has come into fruition.

So, the agencies have given me 24 hours to decide between them (not so 'rock'-y). I've been on the phone all yesterday and this morning, speaking with people, as well as with both agencies, to get *any information* which can help me choose (with confidence).

Not really a time for coin-flipping.

Thought-processes are so difficult when you're moving industries; you just can't go on what you *know*, so much of making a decision in an industry you don't have experience in is relying on what other people have to say. However, other people don't have to live with the decision - so it's really hard to lean on their information.

The only thing I could do was talk to any and everyone. Randoms, other candidates, family, people in the industry, people in both agencies, even recruitment consultants who specialise in media.

I didn't expect to be in such an awesome position at the end of my interviews (I had ear-marked these last two days for sleep and day-time TV). However, obvious self-love aside, I should get to the point - I eventually made a decision: and I'm now a JWT grad, starting in 2006.

FINALLY, the process is ALL OVER. :) And my future job is going to be so awesome I can't stop talking about it.

15 Dec, 2005 – Flowers (5:06pm)

Having flowers delivered to your door should be one of the most exciting things in the world.

Except when they are from the company you didn't choose, welcoming you...

I just feel bad now.

16 Dec, 2005 – Lunch (10:02am)

Off to meet Amar, Arthur and Ping for lunch soon. Thinking of popping into Borough Market before we meet... to shop for random Christmas goodies.

But then I would have to carry the food everywhere with me.

Hmm.

Perhaps not so cunning.

Could always just stay here and watch TV until lunchtime instead... no crime in that.

17 Dec, 2005 – The crew for Christmas (8:16pm)

Last night our... our... what? Crew? Bunch? Gang? Herd? Gaggle? - our ____ from University's unoffical reunion before Christmas :) Awww I missed you people! So much! And so very much change!!!!!!!

It's been an incredibly long time since we were all (minus Tim, Mark and Amy) together. In some cases, some of us haven't seen others in four years. It was so fabulous, and really, just too short a night.

(where are these so-called 24-hour drinking licenses? Eh? Ehhh?? Lies. It's a big old hoax, everywhere in London still closes around 11pm or at the latest, 2am)

So, anyway, it was a really really happy night, but limited in one more respect:

Considering it was a reunion, there was shockingly zero gossip, scandal, confrontation or confessions of undying love!!!! There was so much potential too! Exs, friends re-invented love-gods, man-whores, new girfriends and boyfriends in attendence - but instead everyone was looking fab, happy and relaxed. Beautiful - but people - where is the entertainment? ;) After Urumqi I'm just not used to this... We're getting old! But, yeah yeah, should be grateful, blah blah, I'm sure that this is the "preferable option".... ;)

...Ah well, *someone* will create some gossip soon enough, I'm sure. It is *us* we're talking about, after all, and this is London....

And until then, general happiness will just have to do; haha, that plus watching our new man-whore play the field (face it sweetie, protest as you may, that name is going to stick).

21 Dec, 2005 – New Job! (Again, again, again) (9:54pm)

On Monday I started my new job at HSBC - and it's going fab.

My biggest concern, before I started, was that I would have trouble getting back into the routine of 9-5 (in reality 8:30-6), 5 days a week. Ok, I'll admit I'm only on day two, so I can hardly say that I can do 5 days a week again, but it's not painful! It's just not painful! Hurrraaaahhhhh. Much less stressful compared to teaching too. I do like like teaching, I really do - but if there's anything that will burn you out fast, it's teaching.

I do miss it though.

Anyway, back to HSBC - fab team, fab environment, a good pace of work.... so far so good.

And on a totally unrelated note - I got an email from an old Business English student of mine today, from Urumqi. She's pregnant with her first baby adn delighted! Congrats Demi!!!

24 Dec, 2005 – Christmas Eve and the run up to it… (11:34am)

It's really Christmas now!

Well, Christmas Eve.

As I've been in the midst of trying to organise my life and get settled, I haven't had time to sit down and think about Christmas. However, Miles and I have put several systems into place (i.e. Sainsbury's delivery service), so we've got Christmas dinner ingredients ready for tomorrow morning; and even guests in the form of Miles' ex-flatmate, Zak (who is Muslim, so has no major plans and often spend his Dec 25th here for the food and atmosphere :)

The past two days at work have been lovely, despite the large workload for the department right now, everyone is still in good spirits and I've been endowed with gorgeous wine/champagne/chocolates as "small Christmas presents". It's all so generous considering I've only been there 5 days. My team's absolute sweetest has, finally, inspired the Christmas spirit in me - I feel very happy and lucky, I mean - really feel it, despite my recent major transition. So, I even went to the extent of purchasing a few gifts for Christmas day, which I thought I'd leave out this year, on grounds that Christmas dinner would suffice given my upheaval and post-transition budget.

Anyway, it's been a sweet run-up to Christmas. All that's left for me to do, is to put together a little piece of writing and send a mass-up-date email; so that all those people who don't know where I live anymore, do!

Merry Christmas, yah-de-yah. xxx

25 Dec, 2005 – Merry Christmas (20:38pm)

Fab day!!! - Miles, Zak and I had a truly amazing Christmas lunch - well done Miles! Admittedly, he cooked it all...

We decided to forgo the traditional turkey this year and eat something we all preferred (unconventional but utterly appetising beef rib-eye). Mmmm, I'm still recovering from over-eating....

Merry Christmas!

26 Dec, 2005 – Boxing Day at Mandy and Christian’s (4:40pm)

Miles (my brother, by the way, for those who aren't in the know) and I have just come back from Boxing Day with the rest of the London-based family.

I haven't seen Mandy, Christian (our Aunt and Uncle) nor little Isabella (our wee cousin), for about two years now. Isabella is two and a half now - she talks! - and is cute as. :) Admittedly, we I were so poorly organised that we didn't come bearing gifts for the little one (we tried, but children's shops are not what are open on Boxing Day in the UK... Harrod's sale yes, corner toy shop, no). However, she was still young enough not to notice such things (phew) and it was a great afternoon - good to catch up with them. They're still doing very well and living the family life.

Other than that, there's not much happening for me, though Alex Christofis and Anne (a mate of mine from school in Hong Kong, and his girlfriend) are back in London tonight, from family Christmas dos in France. As they live round the corner from here, so I'll probably give them a ring to see if they're up for a post-Christmas drink in the pub later...

Great-y news-y! Dec. 28th, 2005 @ 04:04 am

Great news via email this morning, Larry and Catherine are abandoning their Canadian immigration plans and relocating to London! Yay! Playmates!

They are, so, my favourite couple in the world! (ok, that is going to offend virtually all of my friends minus Larry and Cath)

Wait just a minute... why does the wine that I'm drinking taste like *HAM*??? I need to Google this and find out what the hell is going on. It's a gold medal winner man, at the very least it shouldn't taste of HAM.

Happy New Year Jan. 1st, 2006 @ 11:23 pm

I've said that headline before...

Not much to report at the moment. I've been the laziest of house-bound people over the past week. Just the way I like my days off really. To paraphrase my ultra-wise mate, Steph: there is no shame in introverted tendencies.

New Year's was a very low key event, with my brother, I, and too much champagne, at his place. Small, but jolly.

In terms of things coming-up in the world of Cath: I go back to work in two days, and Jono will arrive here in roughly 16. Yaaayy. The latter I really I look forward to, plus it will mark the real start of the New Year for us.

Oh, and somewhere inbetween those two events, I should be moving into my new flat - fingers crossed!

Happy 2006!

2006, a few days on Jan. 5th, 2006 @ 03:23 pm

Ahh, not much to say about 2006 at the moment.

Firstly, working everyday is a novelty that has not yet worn thin on me.

I'm quite happily getting-up, going to work, and heading home again. As a sad testament to my life up to this point: this is the most I've ever been paid; for, what has to be, the "most comfortably reasonable" work. (can't say "least", that would jinx it).

Hmm. Life is curious.

Following that, I've decided to take the fate of my lunch-hour into my own hands, and 'make friends'. So, ambitiously, I skipped off to our in-house coffee/sandwich bar at lunch, to pick random people to talk to.

(yes, quite...)

Anyway, thank god the poor girl I picked on was from Mauritius, a relatively new starter too, and equally responsive to making new friends... I shudder to think where my little exercise could have taken me. Yay. I have one work friend.

Well, I say that, but she has yet to email me back.... ;)

Umm, what else? Oh, I'm throwing a little soiree... to celebrate nothing much except my desire to have a party (though I have used the excuse of Chinese New Year to encourage attendance). That's on Jan 28th... yaaaaay. Par-tay. Par-tay.

Ok, I should return to work-friendly websites now.

Don't go shopping when.. Jan. 7th, 2006 @ 10:06 pm

Don't go grocery shopping in the afternoon, when you've only eaten a bowl of cereal...

Yes, it is just plain 26-year-old common sense (for example, no 3-year-old would know better), but still, I went food shopping on an empty stomach.

Chocolate puddings, apple crumbles (it's an addiction - at least once a week now), store-cooked-whole-roast-chicken (!!! so vile, and yet I did it), TWO platters of dry meats........

Honestly.

Thankfully, I just don't understand English supermarket layouts enough, yet, to do any real damage to my budget and digestive system.

Speaking of budget damage, I have to go into town tomorrow to buy a few more work tops. I sense budget dentation on the horizon. Ah well, I have no choice.

Oh, and I'm throwing a Chinese New Year's Eve party! But more on that in my next post.

Flathunting! New Chinese classes! Returning boyfriends! Jan. 18th, 2006 @ 12:44 pm

Apologies for not posting for a while - work! Flathunting! New Chinese classes! Returning boyfriends! It all adds up and I've been busy.

First things first, I've started a intermediate Chinese class at SOAS. For a change, I'm really enjoying language learning. It's an interesting experience, as I basically can't read to save my life and my vocab is comparatively poor, but my fluency and accent keep me afloat and on par with teh rest of the class. My strengths just come from a difference direction to everyone else. The grammar is fascinating ("ohhhh, so that's how you should say it......."). though I never though I would say that grammar is fascinating (!). Such is life!

Moving along, I have found a homestead! *finally* - it was really getting to be ridiculous. Assuming that no evil twists of fate occur, I'll be moving into a huge and flat in Canada Water, in the not so distant future. Yaaayyy, yaaayy. I'll be sharing the flat with some French bloke called Olivier. I have yet to meet him as he was not around when I looked at the flat (and yes, if he is psycho and scary, I would pull out), so I'm really hoping he's friendly, but the indicators are good.

And, saving the best for last, Jono is back! We're both chocker with stuff until the end of the week, plus not in the same city right now, so will finally get to see each other this weekend. Yaaaayyyyyyy.

Right, back to work.

Party Jan. 24th, 2006 @ 03:33 pm

The weekend has been good, I was down at Jono's parents' place, and we hung-out, did very very little, ate a lot. Perfect.

However, now that I've spent time around Jono again, but am back in London without him, I miss him a lot more than usual (as I'm sure a lot of you know, you just adjust when someone isn't around). It's more difficult seeing Jono, then having to leave him again for a week.

Anyway, a week to go before I can move into my own flat, after which things should be easier and Jono and I can see each other a lot more.

This weekend also heralds my Chinese New Year's Eve party (which I never posted about but promised to! or did I? Hmm, need to scroll down Journal after I post this...). If not, oops. Well, I'll tell you all about it now..... it's we've rented out a pub in London for Saturday night (CNY Eve), and a lot of people are coming into town for it. I'm hoping for a flurry of gossip and news to manifest as a result of the party, not to mention scandalous pairings, etc, etc, etc - therefore providing us all with entertainment and banter for the next fortnight.

I so miss Urumqi gossip. My life has become a dull documentary (it's not *even* up to "docu-drama"). Curses.*

Oh! So public announcement in relation to that: everyone is welcome (as long as you either know me, or one of my mates - evil, or even benign, stalkers not welcome) so if you're reading this, just me, or any London-based mate an email and they'll forward you the party location and details.

*If there isn't even one cute pairing, or budding of random romance between guests, on the night of my party; I will seriously give up on life on the grounds that it is too dull for words.

Dance monkey. Dance.

Post party Feb. 1st, 2006 @ 03:29 pm

The party on Saturday was fabulous - what else can I say?

It was great seeing so many people who I haven't seen in years, plus having an evening of really letting go (5am-ish is when Jono and I finally made it to bed). Thank you everyone sooooooooooooo much for coming. You made it an absolutely brilliant Chinese New Year.

Moving apartments Feb. 3rd, 2006 @ 11:53 am

Wednesday evening saw the first stages of my move into my new flat! (and the release of my brother and his flatmate Ed from their ever-lasting squatter)

I can't help but shamelessly gush (bear with me, you know you can), the place is amazing... feel like real adult in exceedingly nice apartment. Well pleased. I'm also loving having my own luxury bathroom... very girlie. Liking it.

Anyway, I've moved into a 2 bedroom apartment in Canada Water (a stop from Canary Wharf, for those non-Londoners - this means a 20minute commute from bed to desk, I can't even begin to convey my glee). It's gorgeous, it really is, and I'm sharing with a French guy who works at some pharmacuetical company. Nicve guy but he's being seconded back to Paris, so it's a mystery as to who I will actually end up living with.... my landlord is hunting for a new person now (the way I like it: requires no effort from me).

If anyone knows anyone else looking for a place in London, feel free to drop me a line (admittedly I'm not checking my personal email much... so calling, or emailing me at work should you know that address, is preferable).

Right, not much else to report. Jon is down in London this weekend to help me complete the move and join me at a mate's house party on Sat.

Report from the weekend Feb. 6th, 2006 @ 04:57 pm

Not much to report, except that Olivier is in morning over his country's poor performance in the 6 nations yesterday....

Other than that, I'm now fully "moved", which only illustrates to me just how little stuff I have in the UK.

The house party of Saturday night was good too, but 'very LSE'... so a bit alienating for Jono methinks. We only stayed until we were too tired/drunk, and then trotted off home. For those who know him, we were over at Zambian Chris's new place - nice as I haven't seen him in ages, and also because I was actually round at his house just *before* I left London for China, so I've kinda come full-circle (Two years ago we were sitting around his living room, laughing at a French Atlas (the only Atlas available) re: how I was about to move to Urumqi (that spot - there! DUDE), and about how I was, clearly, completely nuts......)

Another week goes by Feb. 13th, 2006 @ 10:45 am

Another week of work, another weekend down in East Sussex. Life continues to tick along pretty well...

In Cath-news, Olivier moves out this weekend, and there has yet to be a new flatmate for my flat in his place... so it looks like I'll have the flat to myself for a little while. That's quite exciting. Jono will most likely come down this weekend to stay for a bit - though he is mildly put off, and understandably so, by the lack of Broadband in the flat. I would sort it out, but I'm waiting for him to arrive, in order to delegate the task.... :)

I also met some of Jono's mates for the first time this weekend; Y'know, the usual: nice, lovely people, not much to report other than there was no horror or mortification on either side. That's good really.

Hmm, looking at the little calendar and noticing that it's Feb, Larry and Catherine should be arriving in London any day now. I should get on that case.... there's a new project for the day...

Larry and Cath Feb. 15th, 2006 @ 03:36 pm

Yaaaayyy, Larry and Cath are on their way back to London, and will live here from next week. I'm so thrilled to bits I could wet my pants.

girlie holiday to end all girlie holidays Feb. 20th, 2006 @ 10:43 am

Just soooooOOooOoo, exciting.

Little Lucy, one of our girls from back in LSE, has found out she's being seconded to Hong Kong for a few months; and after a few bottles of wine on Friday, we all decided to go along with her (for two weeks) to keep her company. :)

Yay! Girlie holiday to Hong Kong! It's going to be the best trip since those random high-school days, and trips to China / Philippines / Bali. Nothing beats giant-friends-en-mass holidays (but how often do those come along after you leave university? Unless you're a football hooligan or into Ibiza, neither of which I have yet become??)

Girlie holiday, girlie holiday..... seafood, shopping, ladies night (!!!!!), possibly the beach.... and maybe even China for a laugh. yaaayyyyy yaaayy yaaaaayy.

Yet again, going to pee pants.

First week of March Mar. 10th, 2006 @ 03:20 pm

There really is very little news to share on the past few weeks.

The one major event in the lives of my London friends, is the break-up of our friends Kate and Laurie. It's hard to watch people who know they have to come to an end, but have been together for 6 years and still love each other, go through a break-up. However, we're all starting to evolve into the viewpoint that love, alone, really isn't enough to make a relationship work; you need a lot more factors to fall into place, at least when it comes to happily ever after.....

Anyway, it's not really my story to tell, but the implications have been that the girls and I have been making an effort to keep Kate's spirits up (at the end of the day, there's very little we can do, but still... we try). That's kept me mildly busy, since I last posted on this blog.

On a completely different note - Miles, if you're out there and reading this - Larry and Catherine are finally back in London. I assume you're spending this weekend with Jo, but if you want to join us, we're all meeting up; though I'm sure we'll all meeting up again very soon, since they live here now!

(Leave a comment)

72 days till I I head home!! (for a holiday) Mar. 3rd, 2006 @ 03:34 pm

So the latest news is that Kate, Anna and I have all booked our flights to Hong Kong.... in the meantime... Lucy is working through her extreme Hong Kong working-visa paperwork, and will be seconded out there, in the more classy Business Class fashion, before we even arrive.

Ah! We're all soOoooOOOOoooo excited. Dates!!!!! Sunday 14 May - 26/28 May (we're on different flights going back).

Rob / Patrick: gentlemen, I hope to hear from you shortly.... and if you dare be out of town, I will cry.

Paddy / Vish / Rohit, et al: I doubt any of you read this blog, but if you do, I will be in touch shortly!

Matt and Bonnie: my ever loved-up friends, hope that I might catch you between holidays and in Hong Kong for a change! Will email....

Family:.. well, you know already....

Civilised nocturnal weekend Mar. 14th, 2006 @ 10:58 am

My weekend was nocturnal; first spent catching-up with Larry and Catherine on Friday night; then at Kate's birthday party on Saturday night, with little activity inbetween the two events.

The latest with Larry & Catherine are that they are in post-relocation mode: looking for jobs; re-adjusting to new home (plus looking for a more permanent one); and, as we all do, are grimacing at the price of anything in London. This is the second time they've gone through this process in the last year. In summary, after nearly a year spent trying to immigrate to Canada (moving there, to join Larry's brother and sister-in-law; filling-in application forms; starting new jobs/careers; etc.), they came to the conclusion that Vancouver was a little dull, and threw in the towel as soon as their immigration papers came through; and now they're doing all again in London.

Personally, I think it takes guts, as well as strength as a couple, to admit that one country didn't bring what you needed and start all over again. So, they've come back to Europe and have higher expectations.

Anyway, speaking of strength, Kate continues to show it. Though I'm sure she had other things on her mind, her party was fabulous, and Laurie was even there. Extremely civilised break-up so far. We're all getting older.

Let's face it, I work for Lord Farquaad Mar. 15th, 2006 @ 10:26 am

(Shrek)

That says it all really.

Back, and we're calling it a day... Apr. 6th, 2006 @ 01:22 pm

Right. The past fortnight has been relatively eventful (socially) and I've been running around catching up with a few people (a trend which I plan to carry to at least Easter, if not after).

First piece of news is that Jono and I have called it a day (Dad - you were very close when you guessed the other day, but the decision hadn't been made yet). Anyway, the decision has finally been made now, and those who are close to me know that it is the best thing we can do considering, and you others, you just have to accept that's all you get to know! :) Ok, I might be convinced to share more of the story after a few weeks and after a few drinks. In short, we're still close, but we might not be spending much for the next couple of months together, whilst we wait for a post-break-up air to clear.

In the meantime, I'm doing ok. I'm keeping busy, and with Kate on a similar life-experience vein, we're keeping each other company and relatively cheerful.

The main theme for the next few weeks is to catch up with people , plus look forward to my holiday in Hong Kong. Mat Heilala's b'day party is tomorrow (ex-LSE), to be followed by the super bank holiday next weekend (4 days in row... yay), During which I hope to spend some quality time with Amar (again, ex LSE) and Mike Hoevel (ex-HK and current LSE). I'm looking forward to it.

And Hong Kong - that's an entirely different level of excitement! Yay.

So, it's 3 degrees outside Apr. 11th, 2006 @ 09:11 am

If that isn't enough to make you lose the will to live, what is?

I think this is the longest winter I have ever had in my little life. Xinjiang from Sept (which was chilly enough), straight through to London... APRIL. THE ELEVENTH.

That's 7 months people. 7 months of cold. Count them. I wasn't built for this.

(1 comments)

tifanjo

2006-04-14 06:47 am UTC (link)

Actually, you're lucky you're not still in Xinjiang. Around the time it was 3 degrees in London, spring was doing the disappearing act it does in Urumqi in April, and it was snowing here.

But, as happens here in April, it's suddenly really warm and sunny again....

Another Bank Holiday weekend Apr. 29th, 2006 @ 09:29 pm

Yayyyy, three days off in a row!

It's been a funny week, with probably few too many drinks, but all good ones. I've been getting on with the people at work a lot more too, which has made my life a lot more interesting (leading statement).

Anyway, last weekend Kate (Watkins), Larry, Catherine and I went up to Wales to stay at Arthur's farm for the weekend. I didn't realise it, but I suppose it must have been three years since I've last been there. Time is going so much faster! How am I 27 in two months?? When, and I mean, WHEN did I hit the fast forward button.... and hey, that photo of me was when I was about 24... [updated now]. Ok, going back to Wales.. Arthur and is family are some of the most hospitable people on the planet, and it was really great to see them in all their absolutely fun-loving, barbeque throwing glory. Wales never fails.

For those who know Arthur, and are wondering where Ping is, she's back in Canada at the moment. As it stands it looks like Arthur will be off to see her in June, and then, quite possibly, back to Japan to work and live again; though Ping will remain in Canada...

They've got a crazy game plan in the works - but don't we all?

Speaking of people's game plans, hmm, it seems to me that I'm hitting the stage of life where everyone is reorganising their jobs, relationships, country of residence, to try and formulate something more coherent. My emphasis has to be on the term "try", because I don't think I can name a situation to date that has it all figured out and on track.

Having said that, congratulations and respect to being ahead of the game, has to go to Amy and Gopi. They have just gotten engaged, after several years together here in London, and will be getting married next year (CONGRATS). All the ex-LSE girls (where our aquaintance with this pair originated) are thrilled to bits... and will be picking out our outfits for the weddings celebrations over the next year. What's all on our minds (or possibly just mine) is the question - have the Amy-Gopi team actually finished the game planning stage? They have great careers, two flats and a beautiful (so I hear) new car; but in my mind, though their lives fit in nicely together, they still need to consolidate their two lives/assets/careers into one Grand Plan; so they're still doing a variation on the theme that the rest of our friends are going through.

Going back to Larry and Catherine - there's another congratulations in order - for Larry's new Property Management job. Yay. He started last Monday, and is finding the English culture very... uh, colourful. Ha. As he's working just outside of London, his experience and work colleagues are more 'local' than what most of our other friends see on a day to day basis.... yeah, not village fun local either. Watford. Enoough said.

As for me, life is good. Jono and I did call it a day but we haven't been very good at redefining the situation and still spend a lot of time together. We'll figure it all out in time, we like each other and there's no point rushing inot (or out of) anything thing.

Work is also fine, but my impending HK holiday is what is on the forefront of my thoughts. I can't wait. A new addition to our agenda is a planned side-trip to Yangshuo.... I'm dragging the girls onto a sleeper bus, which, let's be honest, is for my own private amusement. It will be hilarious - but thankfully they all have great senses of humour, so will probably enjoy my itinerary...

Ok, Lucy (the one of us who was seconded to Hong Kong) has flown back to the UK for the long weekend holiday (for no other reason than it's her birthday and her company pays for her gallivants), so it's her party this evening and I need to get cute for drinks that start all too soon. (In particular, I need time to squeeze into jeans that, I swear, decided to go on an exercise regime without me. Sigh).

10 days to go... May. 2nd, 2006 @ 10:15 am

10 more days until we're off on hols! Yayyyy!

And I've also finally got internet access at home again! *GoD* it's been a long hard slog to get it installed (months), but if it hadn't been hellish, it wouldn't have been British Customer Service.

My b*tch side must by my English half; the half that hates humanity because it, too, is a lazy ass.

Anyway, back to the holiday theme. Hurrah hurrah. I must admit that my impending holiday has got my mind working, and I'm currently wrestling with the idea of taking August off as well; that is, the month off between my current and future job. I just can't decide... financial responsibility or a month to do something interesting. When, with my future plans about to take off, will I be able to take a month off in financial security, again?

Ok, I did take last year off. I should remember that.

Decisions decisions. However, I would be a little antsy going off without Jono in tow. Jono kick starts his Masters in Sept, so it'll be a new start for him in Sept too; but as he won't be earning next year, a month off in August, gallivanting across whereever I fancy, isn't really in his spreadsheet.

(are we together, aren't we together... tricky, isn't it? ;)

Otherwise, what else is going on in Cath world? Eh, I've developed an attitude problem towards my flatmate. So, yea, I'm a bad person, but he is getting on my nerves (Tiffany I miss you!). I have got to find myself a friend who needs a flatmate - but as most people I know are living together as couples/earning astronomical salaries which price them out of my future-job-earnings bracket, it's slow going finding a future homestead.

Let me take a moment to weep at the 10,000 pound paycut that faces me come Sept.

*weeeeeeppppp*

Right, it'll all be worth it in the end... I'm sure........

(yes, I know, grasping at straws.... Shhh! Don't tell me! It'll only make me sad! ;) Four more months to go.... (see new link on the sidebar).

Yangshou / Books? May. 4th, 2006 @ 03:31 pm

Now we're all booked and confirmed in Yangshuo.

And in an unrelated and interesting development (that I shall now jinx by bringing up); I'm talking to a literary agent... now this could make life more interesting, indeed.

(But I should emphasise, in case anyone actually does read this blog, that it's a *very* long way from these talks to anything noteworthy - !)

Hmm, perhaps it's time I learnt how to spell.........