3 months, a quarter of the way through my year, into living in China and every day is still new and still exciting. Each passing month feels slightly shorter than the last, so I'm sad to say I realise that this year is going to pass in a flash.

Other than being the 3 month mark, yesterday (I' m writing day 22 the morning after, as i was out when I usually write) was a pretty great day. My lessons didn't have the great ending to 'International education week' that I had hoped for, but perhaps I was giving them material a little too hard for them. What made yesterday good was the evening spent with some good friends at Jasper's: Jasper, John the policeman and Jasper's cousin Ray, which was a great surprise as he has been working in another town for ages.

When you ask someone someone how they are and their answer is "i've never been better, because i've found the truth", you know you're going to have an interesting conversation. That's how last night's conversation with Ray began. I'm reluctant to go into details, simply because i'm still not entirely sure what the authorities in China don't like to see on the web, but it was one of the most deepest conversations i've had in China. We talked about many of his ideas and thoughts, but I just want to mention one that would be pretty contraversial anywhere in the world.

He argued that women are the natural leaders of the world by nature. According to him, men are naturally violent and destructive, whereas women are naturally wise and loving.

There was more to his ideas, but I want to leave them out, again not because they are ideologies, but because he deserves to have his ideas kept to himself.

Back at the school, I also made the mistake of asking Rosie how much the middle school students know about modern Chinese history. She felt inclined to answer, but it clearly made her uncomfortable to say they that they knew very little. She also avoided mentioning the cultural revolution, and skipped onto the 'up to the mountains and down to the villages' campaign. Apparently her dad declined a university offer to march into the countryside during Mao's plans for the youth of China to experience the 'glory' of the working peasant's life.

I said it was a mistake, as I think it upset Rosie, but at the same time, I learnt a lot. It proved that China truly tries to avoid those 40 or so years of history as much as they can and it showed me it really is a subject you have to be careful about in China.

I'll write day 23 this evening!