Apologies for the delay in writing to you all - I'm pretty busy teaching at the moment (20 hours the past few weeks) and when I'm not doing that, I'm trying my best to speak in Chinese, leaving me little time for reading or any other kind of relaxing, and unfortunately writing here has slipped through the cracks. That's probably a good sign, though, that this world is starting to feel less foreign and I've found ways to spend my time.

What have I been doing, then? Looking back, it's hard to stay. I've been spending most of my time teaching, preparing to teach, and going to and fro from the new campus. Word on the street is that next week I'll be moving, but that's yet to be confirmed, mostly because the new apartment isn't ready yet - it's still being painted and decorated and otherwise equipped. I'm looking forward to moving, if only to eliminate the commute and allow me to spend more time with my students. Right now, I pretty much can only speak with them in English, since that's my job, but if I could see them more outside of class I'd have another opportunity to pretend I can speak Chinese.

I got a package in the mail the other day containing two of my two most missed goodies: Reese's cups and cheese. Thanks for that - it was much appreciated, and the few people I've shared the Reese's with have been quite impressed.

Last Friday evening I went to the new campus to help some of my students host an English party. It was a bit disorganized and not really effective at getting anyone to speak English, but it did seem enjoyable, and motivation is of course an important part of language learning. The highlight for most of the students was me reciting a Chinese poem to someone's four-year-old boy I was holding in my arms, and him then repeating it back into the microphone. Here's the poem for those who may be interested:

春眠不觉晓，
处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，
花落知多少。

There isn't much else new here, but if you're curious about something, just leave a question as a comment and I'll gladly reply. For now I need to get some rest to make it through the long day of studying and teaching tomorrow.