Well.. My first notes from the Occident in more than 5 years! My Chinese friends have been asking me if I miss China? I've been too busy to miss anything to be honest. It's good to be back in the west. I needed a break I guess, and of course it's great to catch up with family and old friends.

I arrived in Manchester ten days ago. It was 7 days before I saw any hint of blue in the sky and the next morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. The skies are back to their normal grey today and that'll mean drizzle later.




I've been spending my days studying Russian in preparation for my next move. As well as that I've been rambling over my old stomping ground to see what, if anything, has changed and catching up with old school chums and drinking buddies.
I should also mention that I've been enjoying the cricket and soccer on the TV. I have watched more TV in the past 10 days (approx. 6 hours) than I have watched in the entire time since the Beijing Olympics ended.