back in the saddle

Ok so I AM still here. I am also still in Shanghai, still teaching, still painting, still alive.

I would apologise for my absence here, but I've done that before and then life gets in the way yet again. However, a few things have indeed changed. I have returned back to teaching in the mornings only and will have much more time to write.

But I am totally disconnected from the blog world. The Chinese Government's internet restrictions are becoming worse and worse. For a long time we have had to use proxies to view certain websites (blogspot being one of them) but it just became a way of life. Now the range of websites being blocked is increasing, as the effectiveness of the proxies decrease. Facebook and Youtube are blocked (I know, I know, what do I do with all that extra time on my hands, you say) and even the one proxie I have found that still works fairly regularly is mind-numbingly slow. So not have I not been writing much, I have also not been reading or commenting on many of the blogs I used to be an avid reader of.

This is all to change. I promise to write here more, things in Shanghai are still weird and wonderful. and I have much to report on. But if any old friends (real or internet) are still out there, please say hello. It'll give me the motivation to get back in the groove again. Alternately if there are any new readers lurking out there- go on, introduce yourself! I promise I won't bite much.