And the ‘here’ is Changchun, China.  They say it is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here. Siberia and North Korea are a hop, skip and a jump away, summers are short and winters brutal (yet to be experienced).

All of these factors should surely be enough to prevent any reasonably sane person from coming to live here, so yes, you guessed it … we probably are not reasonably sane.

So far, this little city has revealed itself to be friendly, helpful and filled with people who will try their best to understand your meagre Mandarin and obscure hand gestures.

The boxes are unpacked, the cats and kids have settled, the husband has started work … so lets see where this journey will take us. Hold thumbs, I might just be able to start writing and blogging again.