Hi everyone!

I know it’s been AGES since I sent an update email… sorry about  that.

I was in southern China for a week over Chinese New Year – I wrote four LONG storytime entries about it and a gallery of photos is on the magix site. We were very close to Thailand and I actually had a chance to speak some Thai (are you proud of me, Ingrid?) in this little Thai restaurant we went to a lot. Made me LONG to go spend some time in Thailand and really learn the language. It’s such a beautiful language! And before this trip it had been 18 months since I’d had the chance to speak any. But China it is for now!

I am still loving it here. My Chinese is improving while my vocabulary (both Chinese AND English) is suffering from lack of use. I’m enjoying my apartment – which I’ve settled into enough to make a huge mess of in my recent busyness – and I LOVE my keyboard (full length with weighted keys and sustain pedal!)

Work is going well. It’s still a little weird sometimes to be working for a church, but I’m learning a LOT about working with people who are not at all like me (read: aren’t admin-minded…) which is really good. I’m also now one of the youth leaders which is a lot of fun! It’s totally different to youth back home – but still always a challenge, and still always wonderful!

Andy&Mandy and here and settling in – they’re housesitting my friends’ place nearby til May, by which time we’ll hopefully have them set up in their own apartment. It’s wonderful to have them here, and strangely un-weird. Between them and I, there’ll be a bunch of Canberran visitors to Beijing this year – sounds like fun to me! I’m really excited to see a few of my best mates over here :)

I guess that’s enough of an update for now. I’m still alive, still in Beijing, and still loving it! I haven’t been a very good correspondant this year, and I’m sorry about that! Just think of it this way: I have more of a LIFE here now, and that’s a good thing, but it means I don’t spend 5 hours on the computer every day like last year!! Hehehehe

Anyway, I guess that’ll do for now. Hope I’ll see some of you on MSN, on the forum, or in emails…. love you!

Tanya