Tourula ToB computer lab, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Here I am, in the beautiful Finnish autumn, taking a break from everything else by spending a couple of weeks here, in a life that seems unchanged in many ways. It's good to have some constants in life, when everything else keeps changing, and this is where I can find mine.

One week to go and then I'm off to China. I've just sent off the last email to confirm my arrival in Beijing on 10 October, where someone will hopefully be to meet me.

In the past few weeks, I've met lots of people who have been to China or who somehow have experience of the Chinese culture or at least know someone else who does. So I'll be leaving with heaps of advice for just about everything that I might be facing in China, while at the same time I know that I'll have to go trough everything by myself, and that no matter how good the advice is, it won't change that fact. I still feel like I could use some teaching tips, though!! At times it sort of hits me that I have just accepted a job that I have no qualifications for or experience of. What was I thinking?!?

Well, too late for that now. One week and I'm off.