‘Hello’ in Chinese is pretty easy, right? Nee how! (你好 ni2hao3). Most children know it, and you can hear it shouted at you in the street, just as we might hear ha lou shouted at us in the street. But anyone who is part of a Chinese family probably knows it’s not that easy. Because […]
This is the first autumn I’ve been in Dalian, after our time in Guilin, so it’s all new for me. The autumn passed by in a flash because, while my family were reporting use of electric blankets and turning the heating on from early September, we still had 20 plus temperatures into October. Yet come the […]
The UK is currently in the midst of a ‘heatwave’ – see below. In the UK we define this as one or more days of hot weather (over 24 degrees). You may or may not agree with this definition. You may have also noticed that as well as our dramatic reaction to a brief warm […]
It’s been around 4 months since I returned from China to my hometown in the Midlands, UK. Which is funny because that’s about the time I spent counting down until I returned. I barely have the words to describe how good it felt coming home (the first cup of tea!), and how wonderful this time has been. […]
About 8 months ago I was feeling rather homesick and down after a few difficult months in China, conflicted between actualising my dream to live in China and my sadness at being away from my family at a time when I needed them the most. Inspired by blogs by women also living in China and […]
I can’t believe it, I am well into my third trimester of pregnancy and the time has come for me to go back to the UK and prepare for the baby’s arrival in early Spring. When I found out I was pregnant last Summer, I was just about the start a new Chinese course here […]
Welcome to my 1st post of 2015, and my 20th post in the 5 months. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to my blog and everyone who comes to read any one of my posts, I’ve loved it. I’m looking forward to continuing this year with more and more interesting topics. I’ve been lucky over […]
I’ve always been the type of person to set New Year’s resolutions and I love the positivity that the New Year brings, I feel like a new woman and it gives me a new lease of life to pursue the things I want. When I say resolutions, I guess I don’t just mean resolutions, but […]
Well I’ve not exactly been keeping it a secret, but I haven’t announced it either. However, with just 100 days to go, I think it’s time to shout ‘WE’RE HAVING A BABY!’ I cannot believe it is getting quite so close, it is both exciting and overwhelming, and there is so much I still need […]
When I first decided to start this blog, it took me a while to decide what to call it. I read a load of advice about ‘choosing the right name for your blog’, feeling a bit of a fraud whilst struggling with the prospect of becoming a ‘blogger’. I haven’t written a diary since I […]
Diaries of a Yangxifu 