Back in Australia, and missing Xiamen

Greetings, dear readers!

After another long hiatus, the time is long overdue to update you on what has been going on. But first, let me wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day, especially to the newly wedded couple of Jeremiah and Karen, who tied the knot on Saturday.

I was hoping to post something while I was in Hong Kong (The Blogspot domain is blocked in mainland China!). However, I fell ill with a serious bout of food poisoning during my first day there and had no energy to write about what I had been up to in China.

Fortunately, I recovered almost fully before flying back to China. Although I had a fantastic time in Xiamen, I do have one main regret. Besides not being able to stay longer, I regret not being able to visit Kinmen, where my family's ancestral village is located.

As a first-time visitor to mainland China, I couldn't obtain a multiple-entry visa, which I needed as I was also visiting Hong Kong. I could only apply for a single- or double-entry visa. And because the tickets for Hong Kong were already booked, it meant that I wasn't able to re-route my itinerary to fly from Hong Kong to Kinmen via Taipei and then make my way back to Xiamen via ferry.

In terms of learning Amoy dialect (otherwise known as Hokkien), Grandma actually ordered me to learn to speak it while in Xiamen, and told me that when I returned she would give me a test! After probably my first week-and-a-half, I summed up the little courage I had and tried to speak some bad-sounding Amoy, and the relatives patiently encouraged me as I began to speak more. At Chinese New Year time, I spoke on the phone to Grandma and used Amoy. I don't think my pronunciation was anywhere near perfect, but I think she was pleased by the fact that I made an effort to speak Amoy! The challenge back here in Australia is to improve my Amoy for the next trip back, which I hope will be very soon.

Some of you may remember I mentioned in my previous post that I had to face an Unsatisfactory Progress Committee at uni following my two placement failures last year. The news from that is that thankfully I have been allowed to continue the course, albeit with conditions imposed. I've met most of the conditions so far, i.e. re-enrolling for placement and meeting an academic support staff member for consultation about time management. Now the only thing I need to do is put my head down and make sure I pass my placement this semester, and I'll be set for the rest of this year.

Since coming home, I have been busy sorting through the 400-odd photos from the trip, with a few more yet to come. I have started to upload them onto my Picasa Web Album, and will make them available for you to view soon.

That's all for now. Cheers and God bless