I can't remember seeing anywhere before that has this level of activity at night, a fairly small park on the way home had probably over 1000 people split into groups dancing, practicing martial arts, playing badminton and another game with a kind of shuttlecock which involved passing it to each other without letting it fall, playing cards and Chinese board games around tables, doing gymnastics on the equipment around the park or just watching the others. There seems to be minimal organisation and you see the same sort of thing all around the city in different open spaces. It certainly doesn't seem to be 'put on' for any great purpose other than evening relaxation, but you get crowds of people from all age groups without a camera in sight. I've included a video of one of the groups that was dancing (there were three). I hope to provide some pictures of the city itself next week, but so far I haven't taken any.

In more work-related news, I'm still going through training but hope to take my first lessons on Monday. Fortunately, the school doesn't expect every new teacher to be fully proficient, so there is plenty of time to observe other people's lessons and go through training before branching out on my own.

In the absence of any Shenyang pictures, here's a panorama from our trip to the Great Orme with Michael and Iman from university:

Well, I've now been in China for a few days, so I thought I'd write something about my experiences so far, as well as showing some pictures of the flat I'll be living in for the next year. I've actually been having some trouble with doing that, as the Great Firewall considers Blogger and Facebook to be dangerous or something. However, I am on now, I'll just have to see whether it lasts.

I did come expecting to be working within a week, but due to the Swine Flu scare, I'm in 'quarantine' - which just means that I can't work for a week, I'm not in isolation or anything and I'm free to settle in otherwise. For this reason, I have been spending the week getting used to living in China (I have been here before, but as I was living on Doulos

there wasn't much in the way of culture shock. This time I've had a few new experiences and some welcome (Chinese food, asian cities) and unwelcome (jet lag, mosquitoes) old ones. One of the more difficult things to get used to so far has been shopping in China. This Wednesday I went to Wal Mart (yes, they have it here, along with Carrefour, IKEA etc.), but found it to be more similar to the Chinese shops in the UK. It's quite difficult to choose the week's groceries when you don't recognise most of the food items, and the others don't seem to work with European recipies. I did manage to make a passable meal

with duck drumsticks which was prepared in a similar way to paella (although it tasted nothing like it!) I'm going to try slowly working my way towards a more Chinese style of cooking, but for the moment I'm just trying to make something edible and nutritious enough to keep me going. Fortunately I am off work at the moment so there is time to experiment.

The flat is really big, it is on one level but it's probably one and a half times as big as our house in Stoke. It has three bedrooms, but for the moment there are only two of us living here, so there's plenty of room to move around. Monika would be jealous of the fact that it has its own Wii, with quite a lot of games, although I haven't tried it yet... It's a bit like being a student, but with money and housemates that hold to some standards of hygeine (so not THAT much like being a student, I suppose). I can't really say anything yet about my work, as I'm not even allowed in the building yet, but we probably have about the most dedicated HR manager I've ever heard of. After picking me up from the airport (having waited there for a while, as my plane was an hour and a half late) he took me out for a meal and then bought basic groceries for me to help me settle in. The following day he took me out to see the city, gave me an advance and then took me to the supermarket (helping me choose from the Chinese groceries on offer). Although he is from Shenyang, until two years ago he was living in Dublin, where he spent six years.

As many of you know, it was not possible for Monika to come with me to China, as she will be completing her degree and building experience as she works towards a possible promotion in the future. She seems to be holding out really well, but I'm sure she would greatly appreciate a visit if you are in the area, or a call if not! Before leaving for China, we both moved into my parents' house so that we could let our own house out to another couple. You can reach both of us at our joint email account, jonandmoni**at**gmail**dot**com. I can still access email without any trouble, although Facebook, Blogger and any VOIP such as Skype can be blocked. It would be great to hear from you, and I hope to keep updating the blog on a fairly regular basis.