Since I last wrote not a lot of exciting things have happened, its been mainly the general humdrum of daily life and me readjusting to life in China. Already getting itchy feet for more travel adventures.

My wonderful aussie mate and fellow teacher Shirl took me out for a welcome back dinner to one of our favourite restaurants - Ciao Italia - Yes thats right - an Italian restaurant in China!!! But I have to tell you that Guiseppe makes the best penne pesto in the world. He and his staff all welcomed me back with open arms and lots of kisses so I started to feel right at home.

My apartment issues continue.....have had them up 3 times now to fix the toilet!!!! Walls are plastered but no sign of being painted yet...guessing we have gone back to working on China time. I'm also guessing the plaster is going to peel off yet again before they paint.

We have all been having major internet connection issues. It woud appear that our friends at the Great Firewall have staffed up +++ and are working triple overtime!!! They have invaded most websites commonly used by expats including Skype, Gmail, Yahoo etc etc. If you find I'm not responding to your mail in a timely manner its not me being rude......your message is probably being read by the boys in Beijing!!! In addition to that I seem to be also being invaded by computer viruses everyday. Thanks to my wonderful son Matt (my IT guru) I have a good antivirus program which is blocking them all but holy hell I think I've been hit with more viruses than an infectious disease hospital!!!! All in all it leads to increased frustation as our computers work SOOOOO slowly that it impacts on our work as well as our leisure.

It is getting decidedly colder each day, averaging about 8-10 degrees at the moment during the day. Needless to say I am freezing cold and we havent even hot winter yet. Despite the temperatures we are not allowed to turn the heaters on at the University yet.....not sure if we are waiting for a magical date or a magical temperature that will get the powers that be to unblock the locks on the electricity to the heaters. Fortunately the foreign teachers apartments are exempt from this crazy rule so my home is lovely and warm...its just unfortunate that I must venture outside!!!

My Facebook friends would have noticed that I seem to be becoming the "judging queen" of English language contests of late. Last week I judged the University "5th School of International Education English-medium Teaching Contest". It was a good day with some fantastic presentations and for me it was most interesting to hear about some of the research being undertaken by our University. Naturally I managed to put my foot in it (or had a blonde moment) when I made the comment that for an English speaking competition that not much English was being spoken apart from the presentations. A gentleman close by turned and said to me that I had a point and that they should look at all practising their English.....as so many others, including the Deans of several Schools were looking on in horror I figured something was not right. Turns out that the said gentleman was actually the President of the University!!!! a big OOPS for me!!!!

Yesterday I judged the 11th China Daily 21st Century Cup quarter finals for Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Apparently I was selected "due to your good academic reputation, achievement in English language teaching and attitude of fairness and impartiality" according to my letter of invitation!!!! China Daily is one of China's largest newspapers and the Century Cup is regarded as a prestigous event across China with the eventual winner representing China at the annual International Public Speaking Competition held in London each year. Hmmmm I wonder if they will be wanting international judges in London!!!! :)

Today I've received an invitation to judge next weekend in Suzhou...so watch this space as I learn more about that event. One thing about all these competitions is that firstly I get paid for judging and secondly each day includes a wonderful Chinese banquet for lunch!!!!! Hoping I can go next weekend as I have a friend living in Suzhou and we are long overdue for a good catch-up dinner and drinks!!!

I continue to have twice weekly TCM massages as the poor man tries to work out all the lumps and bumps in my back and shoulders...a result of all my hard work in Aus getting the house ready for market. I am finally starting to feel some slight improvement but still call them my Chinese torture sessions :)

No more news for now. Am very jealous as I watch the temperatures rising in Aus as quickly as they are falling here!!! Bye for now. xxx