Wow… So much has happened since my last journal entry that I don’t know where to start.   I’ll begin by saying that my friend Matt, who I’d been doing loads of sight-seeing with and had become good friends with, sadly decided to return to Melbourne. The combination of a contract disagreement, staff problems, and seriously disliking the food here, meant that he couldn’t cope any more. He decided one day that he just had to ...

Where to start with this entry?!? Firstly, I would like to talk about something I really don't understand. The way the Chinese dress! Okay, so it's a weekday afternoon and you're walking down a crowded street. You bump into a business man wearing a nice shirt and tie, carrying a briefcase... And wearing pyjama bottoms?!? This is not a rare occurence either. Every day I step out of my apartment and see tens, if not hundreds, of people wearing pyjama...

Having spent my morning messing around on my newly acquired guitar, I'm now taking a break, listening to some BBC radio and writing this journal entry. But as usual I'm skipping ahead and should start earlier in the week before the start of this great weekend. I had my fourth Mandarin lesson on Thursday, and managed to add a few important sentences to my conversational Chinese, and practised my pinyin table... Even more peis, paos and poos. I disco...

Oops... It appears that the gaps between my journal entries are becoming longer and longer. I should probably just accept the fact that I will only be disciplined enough to write once a week during my time here in Nanjing. It's probably for the best anyway... I'll run out of things to write otherwise... And you'll get sick of reading about it... If you're not already. I haven't really been up to much this week. Just settling into a routine, soaking up some s...

It has been a few days since I have written anything down. Bad Emma! I must become more disciplined with my journal entries. Thursday was my day off so I took a stroll to the Golou are to find a post office, and sit in the small yet perfectly formed Beijige Park. The weather was the sunniest I've seen since I arrived, so I lounged on a marble park bench and finished Granado's book, before heading off in search of the post office to send postcards to my paren...