Sorry I haven't posted for a while - I'm not sure why this is, but I think that I haven't really done anything of note in the past 4-5 days.

Mandarin lessons are getting harder and harder, and I'm convinced that even if I studied for another 10 years, I still wouldn't master this language! On average, we're expected to learn 20 characters a day, and this is tedious work, learning how to write them, learning their meanings, the grammatical rules behind them, and learning their sounds (which, more often than not, sounds like about 20 other words I've learnt). Oh well, I've made my bed and all that...


I went to a Chinese outdoor gym the other day. Now when I say gym, I don't mean dozens of treadmills and weightlifting machines, supplemented by flatscreen TVs and watercoolers. These outdoor gyms are amazing - they are basically garishly painted metal structures, placed in the middle of residential areas, that can be used by anyone; they look kind of like a children's play area, only with older people there! There's normally a couple of exercise bikes, a cross trainer style machine, and various other interesting looking objects. They are intended for use by anyone, but their main benefit is to give the elderly a place to keep active. Its a fantastic idea, that should be implemented elsewhere too, as it encourages people to stay healthy, seems relatively inexpensive to create, and is free for all to use. I strongly advocate introducing similar things in the UK, only that I know they'd only get vandalised. Again, when I'm able to post photos, I'll try and get a photo of one of these gyms/exercise parks.

Things with the family are good - I had a beer with the dad the other night, and the mum has relaxed a little bit. She made me pasta the other day, which was a really nice touch (it didn't taste great, but I ate it all anyway). She's even told me to invite my friends round for dinner.

I'm taking a Kung Fu lesson on Saturday, to see how it is. If it works out, you could see me returning as Bruce Ni (that was poor I know!)!

My Saturday night is revolving around Tottenham - Chelsea; the Saturday 3pm kick offs come on at 11pm here, meaning that they normally involve a bar, copious amounts of lager, followed by a club afterwards (result permitting). Fingers crossed.

I'm planning to do some sightseeing this weekend, so I will try to keep you posted.

Until then,

Take care,

Nihal