With a lot more free time on my hands than before, I thought it would resume the blog as a way of getting me regularly writing as I'm hoping to get into better academic writing habits. Without the pressure of a deadline, however distant, it's hard to finish anything. I've got a paper that I've been tinkering with for about 2 years, and it's only 3000 words long. That's an average of about 5 words per day (although I have been doing other things).

I've decided to update with a fresh entry, and then backtrack to cover the things I didn't mention about China. It'll make the map look a bit crazy, but it's better than forever playing catch up. As I'm now in a relatively liberal country, I can also write without having to be careful of 1984 laws.

So I should be soon updating with thoughts on:

The Bifengxia panda reserve

Working in China

Becoming positive about China

Leaving China

For now though, I'm back in Thailand. In contrast to the work options available to us in pretty much every other country, Thailand has always been a place where I've felt in demand. They have a high respect for qualifications, and a strong preference for a British accent. Particularly after all the time I've spent living with Claire (and Barney), my Yorkshire elements have moderated out a bit so that, to foreign ears, I sound just like Hugh Grant. (Graaaahnt)

So - I swapped a reasonable comprehensive in Norwich for a language school in Chengdu, but now have definitely traded up as I'm a lecturer at Mahasarakham University. To be at this stage in the UK would be about 5 years away (at least), so to be doing it now is excellent and makes up for a lot of the time when I've not done very much with my career. My first class is in about 20 minutes, but what's impressed me so far is the welcome pack. I have a suit with the university crest on it, my own desk, decent chair - and so much great stationery!

Having never had a proper job and staying in education, I've never lost that "It's September, time for a new pencil case!" attitude. Well now that I have a desk instead of a bag, my cup (university branded) runneth over. In addition to grown up things like an in-tray, I also have a desk which must be ex-KGB. It's made out of steel and everything locks with separate keys. I'm hoping to find a panel of buttons that used to be linked to weapons. Anyway, here are the other essentials that I'll clearly need for lecturing: memory stick, paper, sellotape, masking tape (only ever used this for decorating before, can't think of another use), 6 whiteboard pens, permanent marker, rubber, one of those rubbers that is meant to erase pen but can't, a range of gel pens with university branding, highlighters, gluestick, pencils (alas, no sharpener), paper clips, stapler, staples, 2 sizes of post-it notes, steel ruler (Michael Brooksbank would be pleased), craft scissors, Stanley knife, blades, hole punch. If I was ever trapped in here, I'm pretty sure I could adapt my computer A-team style to break out. The Stanley knife is particularly interesting. Not only that I would use it, but use it so much that I would require a spare set of blades after I've blunted the dozen that come in the pack. Presumably this pack has grown over the years with administrators remembering what new foreign staff asked for, putting this together to save time and hassle for everyone. They're essentials in the same way that The Essential Neil Diamond is an essential. Still, as with Neil, I'm sure I'll appreciate it all in time.

The university itself is very well equipped with a gym, Olympic pool (though I doubt they'd win the bid), really varied canteen, night market, shopping centre, etc. A cinema would have been a nice touch as there are no foreign language cinemas in town, but maybe there is and I just haven't found it yet. There was a hell of a wait to see the new Potter in China so I was hoping to get it here. It might have to wait for a trip to Bangkok as they have an IMAX. Amazingly, there are no DVDs of it around on the streets yet. They must have chosen a better secret-keeper than Pettigrew.

More on the town in my next entry as I want to put some photos up too. After having a good rest since Valencia, the camera has decided that it isn't broken after all so I can snap away. I found about a dozen ants crawling out of my laptop in my first hotel here, so maybe electronics karma will soon be getting me back. Or maybe they were like helpful pixies, and I can actually thank them for fixing the camera. Squashing them all with my thumb and spraying the whole room with pesticide was probably a poor repayment. If I suddenly find that I've got a RAM upgrade, I'll leave a jar of jam in the garden as a tribute to fallen comrades.