Now it's cold.

HEATING

Thankfully, the heating has begun, so I'm a very happy little bunny. Now, with teh heating, this is a city-wide thing. Each house here is heated by the government for free, adn teh heating (more or less) starts all on the same day - on some day decreed by the government (at least this is what I understand). The effect is that hundreds of coal burning furnances with massive chimmneys all start burning...

Urumqi is now like a city in the clouds. Fog / smog flush the streets and buildings. It's actually not that ugly, which surprises me. It just looks like the town is really foggy, it's not smelly or black (yet).

DIET COKE

So, on anohter note, I had on of the happiest days of my Urumqi life last week. One of my super star mates, Dave Wong, brought me back some Diet Pepsi from Kazakhstan.

(those are sentences I never thought I'd write)

And even better, whilst out roaming hte Urumqi streets with Dave, we discovered a LOCAL store which sells diet coke. I bought crate. We struck a deal and I'll be going back for more regularly.

BOREDOM

So, I'm a little bored at the moment. I'm trying to find myself a hobby... Margo: knitting seems to have reentered my life.

I'm sure I'll find something else to amuse myself with, but yeah, I'm a tad bored with the daily routine right now.

HOLIDAYS

Anddddddddddddd I'm counting down to the next holiday as a result of my boredom. I've booked a few days off in November, so I'll be back up to visit the north of Xinjiang province again. Ironically it's warmer up north because Urumqi is about 1000m above sea-level, whilst cities up north are lower.

3 weeks to go. yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

BLOG LOCATION

I'm still looking for a new blog location that I can access, but in the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to plug away at this one.

Loadsa love

Cath xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hurrah! I've finally managed to log on.

Right, I have to annouce that I'm thinking of trying another blog site becuase it's becoming way to difficult to get onto this one, no matter what tricks I have up my sleeve. I'll keep you all posted here is I do change my blog site.

In the mean time, where in the world was I?
When did I write last?

OK, I'm assuming that I wrote sometime before the Golden Week holiday. For those non-Chinese / China readers, the Golden Week is 7 days of public holiday celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic... or the Communist Party. I'm not really straight on which precisely... but on of the two (perhaps even both??) Eh. Your guess is as good as mine).

News is thin on the ground. However, firstly, my one-time flatmate, Brooke, is now leaving EF Urumqi. She's off, back to the beaches of Indonesia. Things were a little ugly. I need not go into detail.

Secondly... errr. Is there a secondly? Well, I was on holiday, but I cringe at the thought of boring you all with my holiday details. In short, I went to the northern part of the province... oh wait, I think I've mentioned this already. I was in Yili?

Hmm. In case I have mentioned this, let's bullet-form the rest:
- Yili awesome
- North, in the grasslands
- stayed with VSO teachers living in the city
- saw the lake (ooooo, the largest body of water that I have seen in MONTHS)
- had a really great time bumming around with the teachers up there, they're a blast

all in all, good choice.

Right, moving along. Huh. No other news. Susi, the German teacher, is back. I'm really happy about this as she's brilliant, and I'm starting to lose affection for a lot of the Urumqi social living. Hmm, maybe it's just the back to work blues. I hope so.

Still miss diet pepsi. Badly.

Will up-date next when I can.
Cath xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, it's meant to snow tonight. Huh.

It's cold.

Right, I've got "doing-stuff" fatigue. I truely want to sit on my arse for the next four days (by day five I might be bored of the flat).

Whinge time. Why why why why why am I scheduled to work sooooooooo many more hours than everyone else at the moment? Eh? I understand there are a lot of new teachers, but really. It's a bit much. I'm getting a bit tired of that it. Ehhhh :P

Ok, enough whinging.

Not too much is going on reeeeaaallly.

Tiffany and I are off to some obsure town, 100km away from Urumqi, tomorrow. We've got to go and do a demonstration class. Huh. An English demostration class for a business delegation heading to.... Germany. Honestly, I don't particularly understand it, but in that hazy-grey area, I think I kinda see why they might want to have some English classes before they go (frankly, it's all they can get in Urumqi).

I feel pretty neutral about going out there, I'm just not keen on the time it's going to suck-up. Too much too do. BRING ON THE HOLIDAY. Three more days...........

A couple of messages:

Dad - thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for the diet pepsi and mooncakes. I was it absolute heaven - admittedly they're now all gone, but they were REALLLLY satisfying.

Margo - I haven't heard from you in ages, I want to hear more about the flat in Islington, etc etc! Drop me an email.

Ok, time to do more of that 'working' stuff that I'm starting to go-off.
Cath xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hurrah, I'm back!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sorry folks, I know, long time no blog.

I've overcome the laziness and will post a big blog in a minute, ocne I've finished my late lesson plans. In a nutshell, I'm a live and have some general news.

Chat in a moment,
Cath xxx

My article is finally online! There are two parts on the site.
Bear with the article - and remember it HAS been edited, so the emphasis and voice has changed a bit.

http://www.insideoutmag.com/

This will be one week I really am glad to see the back of.

Primarily Mark's death threw me on an emotional roller coaster. That's taken a great deal of my time and energy this week, which has put more pressure on me having to get my work done in the precious little spare time remaining.

Secondly, a few of you know that Matt and I have been rocky over the past few of weeks, but that's finally come to an end too. Thankfully that break-up in particular wasn't too draining, as it was a course of events I kinda anticipated. Not too much sadness either, as to why THAT is, I'm not entirely sure of the answer.

Thirdly, more changing relationships. I'm changing flatmates very soon. In a nutshell - without getting childish and intoa slagging off session - Brooke and I aren't very compatible. Shanging flatmates sounds quite drastic, but with so many new arrivals (teachers) this week and next, it's quite easy to request for a flatmate shuffle and for noone to think twice about the real reasons.

Brooke on the other hand is, understandably, decided I'm not on her list of favourite people. Not really a problem as we don't really talk much, but again, there's a draining factor with having tolive with someone you don't interact with.

Anyway, as soon as Brooke finds a flat (she's opted to move out of the EF flats), Tiffany will be moving up to join me on the 6th floor. She's from LA, we click, I'm happy, we're painting the living room red.

And that's pretty much my news. Plans for next week? Tiffany and I are heading out to NanShan, again, during our days off before the snow sets in, at the end of the month.

Snow. Scary.

Miles - Happy Birthday last week!

Loadsa love
Cath xxxxxxx

I'm pretty upset at the moment.

This news will only be relevent to those who went to Island School in Hong Kong, but Mark Lemetti - he was in Fleming - was found dead in Thailand this weekend. The news is on the BBC website (thank you Vicky for the email). In short he was robbed and killed whilst travelling.

He was a really good friend back in school and we went to the dinner-dance together. Though we haven't been in touch recently I really am very upset.

Helllooooooooooooooo

Still alive!

The weekend was really hectic. I've had so many new classes starting (plus one I forgot about until the last second - that was hilarious! Inspiration at the last minute.... that was my lesson plan on Sunday evening. hahahaa).

Otherwise, good, must go teach! Will write more facinating things later...
Cath xxx

Despite a night out with Brooke (the flatmate) and Lisa (the Belgian), I'm remarkably refreshed this morning. Admittedly though, I've turned into a bit of a lightweight since I've been here and I can't manage to have as much drink as I used to (Amar, you would be disgusted if you could see me now).

LAST DAY OF THE SUMMER TOMORROW. Whoooohoo.

To celebrate the end of yet another course, we've got a day-out with the whole shcool tomorrow. We're avoiding the madness of last month's plan of bringing the kids to Nanshan, so instead are heading to a 5-star hotel, for a bit of lunch and hanging out by the pool.

A much saner decision - thank-you marketing team.

So tomorrow I'll be out at the Tarim Hotel all day and probably not posting on here.

Hmm, speaking of which - I need to buy a swimsuit. Dearie... my shopping options out here are going to be sooooooo attractive.

Aiieeeeeeee.

Yoga might be hard, but aerobics is just plain pants. Pants pants pants. I'm not doing that again.

So, yeah, in general, my news is that I tried to go to the gym again.

Guys, c'mon. I just can't envision this becoming a routine.... how did I ever go to the gym regularly, even way back when? How does anyone??? Hooooowwwwwww?

This is my last Monday off, next week my days off move to Thursday and Fridays, and so from next week I probably won't be posting on Thursdays and Fridays (we'll see). The days are changing because we have finally come to the end of the summer school. I find it hard to believe that the worst is now over, but also that I've only been here for 3 months. It feels like a hell of a lot longer! In a good way!

Anyway, I'm in work today, despite it being my day off becuase
1. There's a better internet connection at work, adn it's only 12 minutes walk from teh house
2. There's airconditioning here
3. I kinda need to get some other paperwork done too... (last priority :)

Actually it's still no that hot in Urumqi at the moment. About 18C today.

Also, Matt's back in town, which does liven things up a bit, but having said that he's pretty busy with work too. having been away for two weeks.

Right, perhaps I should start that aforementioned paperwork...

Cath xxx

Yoga is hard. Very hard.

I made it to the gym two days ago, and I'm hurting a little now.... but it is definitely due to the Yoga class. I've never done one before, and I hear that it was (apparently) one of the more energetic forms of Yoga. I now understand why people do Yoga in classes - it is so reassuring when other people fall down trying to assume the "tree postion" too.....

China provides a real contrast to my Yoga presumptions as well. There were more men than women in the class - and half of the blokes were huge body building types. Eye-opening!

Otherwise, I've been really busy prepping for the school preformance day at the end of next week. In particular I've been working a lot with one of my classes of teenagers, where we're doing a pop-y dance to "Where is the Love?".... (we are really something to see, hahahaa).

We were even practicing outdoors, in the People's square yesterday - alongside the other mad groups of dancers, who just hang out in the square, morning, noon and night dancing in public for exercise (from ballroom to Tai Chi). starting my own little group of dancers with a boombox was my attempt to 'go-native'.

Am good! Chat soon,
Cath xxx

Woah.....

It rained last night here in teh city and I only just had a look at the mountains out of the window - there's now snow over the entire mountian range!

There was only snow on the tallest peak yesterday (Bogda Feng)!
It snowed!
Over the entire range!
In AUGUST! (this is blowing my mind)

Morning again, hurrah, only one week left of the summer course to go. OK, whilst that would normally be an incredibly exciting thing, I do have a killer corporate-English class starting in September... so that's dampened my fantasies of relaxing and being idle for the next four months.

Well, I managed to have a thoroughly indulgent shopping expedition yesterday. Tina, one of our Sales Consultant’s is having her wedding on Sunday and in that culturally weird way, the rest of the staff is invited. However, I actually like Tina a lot, so it should be good fun.

And it's a good excuse to purchase cute, but slightly impractical, outfits. (and shooesss)

I also joined the gym at the Hotel round the corner (did I mention that already?) where I used to teach. However, I'm still on a mission to get out of school so that I can go use it. *Today is the day* - it will happen!

Unless...

David and Rhonda distract me into another coffee session at The Vine this afternoon.

We'll see.

COMPUTER VIRUS

Warning, some of the others at work have had this problem from their online email services: if you get an email from me simply headlined "PHOTOS", do not open it. It is a virus called MYDOOM.

I haven't heard from anyone receiving such an email from me yet, but it might happen.

Morning...

Today is revenge of the teacher.

Yesterday my little shites of a beginner's teenager class reached new levels of bastardly-ness. Honestly, I don't often get hardline with my classes (hey, it's only language - it should be a chilled out affair) but these kids are a little troop from hell.

Soooo what else can one do, but..... spring a surprise test, on everything they have been taught this course, AND threaten to call their parents if they get a poor mark before the test starts (Chinese parents are something to fear, the threat alone is very useful).

Mwwahhh ha ha haaaaa.

The phone doesn't seem to stop ringing at work this morning.

(and I think my tactic of not answering it isn't helping matters. Don't judge - it's an internal phone, they can shift their ass and visit the staffroom if it's really that important)

Ahhhhh, lie in.

It's now the afternoon, so I've just gotten up (but reeeeeally it's only 10am Xinjiang time, so not so bad).

I'm off to see Rhonda for coffees today, down at the poshy-coffee "Eversun". I'm looking forward to it, Rhonda's super fab - a Canadian girl teaching at one of the local primary schools - and has just returned from a holiday in Thailand.

And that's my plan.
Coffee, and perhaps a bit of a shop after that.

Yay.