In this blog’s grand tradition of suddenly appearing, after months with no contact, in some of the oddest parts of the planet, I am coming to you LIVE from Tromso in Northern Norway.

Yes, I know that’s just a LITTLE different from China, and somewhat unexpected, but it HAS been nearly four months since my last blog, so you have to expect some minor changes. Such as, y’know. Relocation half-way around the planet.

After so long without a post, it feels great to be blogging again! Months of
being denied my beloved piece of Internet real estate thanks to the Omnipresent
Great Firewall are over!… Well, for six weeks or so.

For that time, I’ll be busy galavanting around the UK and northern Europe, visiting old Uni friends and what have you. That’s why I’m here, actually. I finally got in touch with Espen about six months back, and he invited me over to stay with him and his girlfriend Heidi. So, after a couple of days jeting around the UK, visiteing Nate, Rachel, Dom and the gang in Sunderland, I flew over here yesterday.

So now, I’m sat on Espen’s couch in the fair city of Tromso,
in northern Norway. In fact, I’m the farthest north I have ever been in
my life. I can testify to this fact because, since my arrival, the sun
has not gone down. And it won’t, until mid-August. 24 hour sunshine is certainly a new experience, and apparently most people have trouble getting to sleep. I was so exhausted I passed out around 1, but tonight we’ll wait and see what happens.

Espen has possibly the most beautiful view I have ever seen. His front window looks out over a clear blue river, with mountains and pine forests in the distance. It’s absolutely gobsmacking, and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here. I was expecting to come up and have to dress up like an eskimo, but apparently we are having one of the best summers they’ve ever had up here. I honestly can’t do it justice in words.

Seeing the guys again has been excellent. I spent four days with Nate and Rachel in Durham, and met up with Dom, Lex, Robyn, and a few other folk from my time in Sunderland. I revisited all my old haunts, drank and ate in Fitzies, wandered around St. Peter’s campus, and got rained on a lot. It was just like living there again!

It has been great being back in the UK. The last few weeks in China were a
mad rush of parental visits, exams, and other insanity- all in the midst of a
goddamn heatwave that knocked you for six the minute you stepped out of the
house. In fact, I ended up practically moving in to Fiona’s apartment for a few
weeks, purely on the strength of her having air conditioning.

Mum and Dad came out at the start of May, and they were
amazed at the differences between the sterilised, tourist-friendly China they saw on their tour and the China that I
live my daily life in. In fact, after seeing Mum pale at the insane traffic and
health and safety inspector’s worst nightmares that I call my favourite
restaurants, I thought they were oing to pack their bags and go home.

To their credit, they stuck it out and learned to like, if
not love, my way of life out there.

The last few months have been really hard work. Since the
start of May, I have had to deal with: 

*A severe case of shingles

*A damaged ankle ligament, effectively killing Changchun
RFC’s dream of going to Shanghai
in September due to lack of a coach

*Exams and tests for all of my students

*Testing day for the guys going to Sunderland

*Packing

*Two bouts of la douzi,

*Insane heat & no air-con in my apartment

Luckily, the bloody roaches are still nowhere to be seen.

The hardest thing about being back is that Fio’s still
in China, and relocating to Beijing while I’m away. I miss her, and it sucks. But I’ll see her soon
enough, especially if I can get the cash up together to do bootcamp again.

I’ll not write a massive entry about what has happened in the past few months. In quick summary, I’ve hit 23, re-signed my contract for a second year in Changchun, had a massive birthday booze-up and paintball, and then came home.

I’ll try and get a photo blog up tomorrow or so, if I can. Anyway, I gotta go. Lord knows what we’ve got planned for today, but it’s gonna be made of awesome.

Pa gjensyn!