I've just booked a plane ticket. On 15th October, after an expedition by bike and horse through the Tibetan plateau, and a slow meander through the lush landscapes of Yunnan province to Hong Kong, I'll be flying home for the first time in over a year. It's the longest I've ever been away from home, and though it's not really that long and I'm pleased beyond measure that I came, it has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging years of my life to date. In ...

I love teaching, it's well good. Even when I'm knackered and pissy and trawling the depths of my brain for new and inventive ways to teach the second conditional, it's still a job I love more than any I've ever done. Mainly because it's usually when I'm in this precise frame of mind that my students come into their own and crack out the sort of lines that make me wonder how I could ever have any other job ever again ever. I mean seriously, I'm not sure what I ...

In my experience, the things I've missed whilst living abroad have fallen into three categories. Firstly, the international things: the ones everyone is missing all the time regardless of their country of origin, namely family, friends and language. Then there are the Brit-specific niggles, which tend broadly to be things like irony, real pubs with regulars called Tel, serving real ale with salt and vinegar crisps (lobster and seaweed Walkers with your bai jiu,...

After a series of disasterous two-wheeled run-ins earlier in the year, I finally pulled myself together and bought a new bike. The buying process was markedly different to my first, when, as a fresh-off-the-plane laowai I foolishly walked into a shop, picked a shiny-looking one and paid the asking price. This time, I set aside half a day, sought and followed local directions to a bike stall. These consisted of 'go over there, turn right-ish and walk around ...

Sometimes being away from home feels like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oll6UfK6iUg Particularly when it's got past the oh-my-daaays-it's-all-like-totally-new-an-exciting-an-ting stage, and into the realms of oh-my-s***-I've-run-out-of-washing-powder-and-I-have-a-slight-cold-and-it's-sodding-February. Then the lady sitting next to you at lunch shares her food with you and you manage a vague chat despite the Sichuanhua. And you have a lesson wit...