Sorry for the uninspiring title but that's pretty much the purpose of the blog innit?
I'm sitting on the sofa using my phone to write this update. I'm listening to Chrissy Waddle on Five Live using my headphones, Caroline is having a couple of hours sleep before getting up to watch Germany. I can't sleep like that otherwise I'd be semi-conscious for the Germany game.
Just a quick mention of the England game. Obviously I'm happy we qualified, but there were too many antagonistic idiots booing the star-spangled banner when both matches were playing in the pub we were in. It's not a big deal but it's a bit embarrassing when you go to the match with an American, a Chinese and a German. A bit of dignity would have been nice. Anyway…
I've uploaded some photographs and videos recently, so you've seen what we've been up to.
The word recently has been visitors. First the in-laws and next the Cloughs. It's been brilliant.
Since we've been in Beijing we've been lucky enough to have accommodation big enough to welcome just about any guests who are able to come.
I had such a fantastic time in China for Mike and Shelley's wedding in 2006 and staying with them for the first week in Suzhou made life so much easier. It gave us the confidence that the next two weeks were gong to be fairly easy, although of course communication was always a challenge.
As I felt in 2006 and I still feel four years (and two years living here) later, China is such a foreign place that it makes for a brilliant visit. The food, the language, the culture, the architecture, everything is so different that it's a real experience - just what you want from long distance travel.
Anyway this is not an advert, I'll leave other people to decide whether they've enjoyed their visit or not. And still others to decide if they can come to see us or not.
Both Caroline and I are lucky, in that our jobs are sufficiently flexible that we can host guests without needing to take weeks and weeks off work, which is obviously not possible.
It does mean however that we are either at work, or we are doing touristy activities. Obviously I'm always quite enthusiastic, Caroline gently mocks me because things are either the best ever or the worst ever. Anyway, it's actually great to do the touristy things again because it 'forces' you to do things that in normal life you tend not to bother with. I've probably mentioned this before, but when I lived in Brussels, I always tried to walk through the Grand Place whenever possible. In Beijing, it's great to have the excuse / inspiration to go to the hutongs (old alleys), the Summer Palace, the Lama Temple, Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall and all the rest.
It does mean we're super busy though and that's why we've been rather quiet on here and via email.
Caroline did get back from a week in Laos recently though, so she's going to blog soon with some exclusive elephant photographs.
Signing out now, I'll finish up with the hope that Germany do the business in just under an hour.
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