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 parents and Chris. I searched for an absolute age before throwing a tantrum, giving up and resting on some steps. Once I had calmed down, I decided to return home, only to discover that I had been slumped on the post office steps all along. My stupidity never fails to amaze me. I took a stroll around the area and took a number of photographs of the Gulou Drum Tower, which is strangely situated on a grassy knoll in the centre of a roundabout. What a strange place to position a roundabout. The tower is famed for the legend surrounding it; the harrowing death of two young girls who threw themselves into the furnace of their blacksmith father after the emperor had ordered a bell fused with virgin's blood. Grusome! After the tower, and a short walk round the grounds of the Nanjing Normal University, I returned home and was shoked by my reflection in the mirror. I didn't just look like a lobster, I resembled a chargrilled lobster. Oops and ouch. What else have I been up to?! Having recently discovered many DVD shops in my area, I at last figured out the Chinese characters on my DVD player and have worked my way through an impressive catalogue of world cinema. May I please demand that everyone reading this purchases a copy of 'Tsotsi' immediately. Wow, what a film! I also started and completed 'The Accident' by Elie Wiesel, which is a remarkable and philosophical book that I won't recommend (despite enjoying it very much) due to the fact that it is an extremely melancholy book about death. I wouldn't want to be accused of depressing anybody. I am now half way through Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'The Brothers Karamazov' which is extraordinary. However I will reserve judgement until I have completed it... Which may be a while as it is well over a thousand pages long. Today, I visited Zhonghua Men, a collosal gate made up of four smaller gates able to enclose three thousand men during enemy attack. The views from the top of the remaining city wall were impressive; an amazing cityscape with an awe-inspiring backdrop of Purple Mountain. Strangely, this is yet another Nanjing tourist sight that has been surrounded by roadways, therefore turning it into a roundabout. I also visited a vast parkland known as Yuhuati. It covers an enormous area of Nanjing and is the home of the Martyr's Memorial (nine thirty-metre-high figures) and a museum dedicated to those who lost their lives fighting for the revolution and for Communism. The park has a beautiful legend surrounding it. It is said that a Buddhist monk once gave a sermon so touching that it rained flowers from the heavens. You even see people hunting for coloured pebbles within the park (known as yuhuashi, meaning rain-flower stones) because of this beautiful legend. I have actually been quite ill the last few days. I won't give too much information, but lets just say that my digestive system is yet to appreciate the finer points of Chinese cuisine. I have therefore been rather sensible for the last few days and have survived on a diet of breakfast cereal, corn on the cob, and dumplings. I'm not sure that you could call it a balanced diet exactly, but hopefully it will settle my stomach before work tomorrow. I can honestly say, that apart from the unpleasant stomach issues, I am very happy here. I really feel settled-in after just a couple of weeks, and I think that I will easily manage a year here... Or maybe more... Who knows? I miss people, but they don't feel too far away. Email makes everyone feel 'just around the corner' and it doesn't feel so very different to when I moved to Ashford for a while... Only, Nanjing is a much more vibrant and exciting place than Ashford (sorry, but you know it's true!) Right, it is still early, but my bed and my book are calling. Good night!