Look! It's a Post!

I don't really have a reason for not updating in so long, so I'm not going to try and explain the lack of posts recently. Instead, I'm going to talk about stuff!

A lot has happened, so not everything is going in this post. This post is going to be long enough as it is, partly because I want use English with no concern as to whether I'm using words or constructions that might not be understood. Nothing like living in a country that doesn't speak English to make you value using the language - really using it, not just a tiny subset. I'll talk about the dinner party and the violin in a day or two.

I don't want to rag on China straight off the bat, though - instead, I want to talk about nice Chinese people, because it's not something I really expected. I want each of you to imagine how you'd treat a Chinese person wandering around your city with absolutely no grasp of English, just for comparison - but I am constantly finding nice people here. The checkout operators at the supermarket give great big smiles for a simple 'thank you'; a man on the bus wiped down a wet seat for me so I could sit down; the man at the violin shop just being a generally nice guy; all the teachers at school.

I still haven't learned much Chinese. I did take a taxi on my own for the first time today, though, and even managed to get where I wanted to go.

The weather is getting warmer here. Yesterday I was fine in just a t-shirt, although today took a colder turn and forced me back into my jacket. Speaking of which, this post isn't going to be as long as first promised - I'm cold here, I have to move away from the place I can actually get internet access. More tomorrow!