Three weeks later - still no hot water

Well, well, well. This is really starting to suck; if for no other reason than my six month internet connection is not going to fit very well with my six month rent. I am still waiting to get this water fixed, and also to install my internet (need to make sure that I am going to stay, first.) The water gets luke warm after about 20 minutes - so, let that be a lesson to you, check first!!

Not much new here, just had some dinner with a nice couple that I met over the last month or so. This weekend was fun, I had dinner with a large group of expats and then met a couple girls from the US (one from Oregon and the other from Utah) so we all went to my place for a bit and then to the lounge downstairs.

The connection here at Starbucks is really slow, and it makes updating this thing quite a pain - especially pictures. It should be up and running soon. I am also waiting for my friend to update the site so that it shows were your comments are coming from. So far, your comments have come from about ten countries. I have a friend, David, who has been here for about three years. It seems that he has figured out most of the tricks. He has been able to give me some great info, which I will soon pass on to you. There really are some tricks of the trade, and it is just as good if someone else’s experience can save me (or you) time.

I was putting my schedule together. I think I will bump it up to four hours of Chinese per day. This will be a stretch, but I need to learn this language faster. It looks like I will be working three nights a week, as well - so that should just about pay my rent and will let me meet some new Chinese people.