To some Tianjin may seem like an ugly polluted city but for me (and I'm sure the other Tianjinners would agree) it's home and we love it! I wouldn't necessarily advise visiting it for touristy purposes but stay there for a while and it strangely becomes very difficult to leave. It kept hold of me for one year longer than it should have and I still miss it and can't wait to be back.

Living in a typical Chinese city is a truly unique experience. It certainly teaches you to be laid back as you never know what to expect from one moment to the next in Tianjin, from giant plastic cactuses and houses going past on the back of bikes, and eating locusts, to having to jump up and down to 'Tubthumping' infront of ten government officials as a 'cultural performance'. Tianjin people are the friendliest I've ever met and they will blabber away to you in Chinese no matter your level. If you're extra lucky you get a taxi driver with a broad Tianjin accent, the grunts and grrrs of which are a challenge even to the most proficient student of Chinese. In Bethan logic, there is only one way to deal with it all - SMILE!! hence how I gained my Chinese name of 'Smiley.'

I first arrived in Tianjin as a compulsory year abroad of my course back at leeds University - Chinese and french. So I was there to study (apparently) for a year at Tianjin Normal University. Lessons were more comedy than learning experiences when we actually turned up to them. However, we had no choice but to speak chinese wherever we went so my chinese level quickly improved. The Leeds students stayed in the foreign student dorms at the uni under the watchful eye of the adorable 3rd floor ayi. We met some great friends there, mainly from Korea, indonesia and Macau. The Christmas party was quite an occasion. We were certainly a very close group but unfortuantely, as is life in Tianjin, friends come and go far too quickly and there's always a change around of one group of students to the next. I hope very much we're all be reunited some point in the future though!

Soon I became happily integrated into the 'Alibaba' crowd. Alibabas is a Tianjin institution, the most wonderful bar full of a whole mix of foreigners and chinese. It's a new Alibabas now than it was in 'my day' after the old one was knocked down along with pretty much everything else. A terrible tradegy but it seems to have been resurrected quite successfully. At Alibabas and elsewhere in the city I got to meet some wonderful friends from all over, even as far flung as Azerbaijan (which I didn't even know existed before!!) It's the kind of opportunity and experience you couldn't get any where else but China. The multi-cultural atmosphere is amazing.

Every time I visit, Tianjin has completely changed. Crazy city! All as a result of the 'Beijing Hutong Development' project which is simply where all the lovely little old alleys, courtyards, anything with history really are knocked down to make way for big ugly new appartment blocks, fake lakes, fake grass and firework flowers. There's been some terrible losses, notably 'Ancient Culture Street,' 'nankai korean restaurant,' 'the little Xinjiang outside the uni' and 'Mr Lee's.' There's still plenty of tasty food to be had in Tianjin though. But beware of the famous Tianjin 'jiaozi' (dumplings) at New Year, any normal Chinese family will try to make you explode, force feeding you them! There's only way round it, when eating with a Chinese family - eat slowly!

That's it for now, I'm getting carried away :) Look at the photo captions for more exciting stuff! xxxx