Well folks, I have to say that I'm missing old England. It's been a year now since I set off totally unprepared for my adventure in Siberia and here I am now, in Poland, still attempting to become worldly-wise. And failing!

When you spend only a small proportion of your time working, and then add to that small proportion a bit extra for studying Polish and Russian, life becomes a bit too centred around You! Or, me, in my case. I have what they call 'time to kill'.

Any suggestions as to what I could do to occupy my time for the next 6 months would be greatly appreciated. I've attempted to write a horror story about a teacher in a foreign place who doesn't understand anything that's going on around them and discovers that the students are all zombies..... I've read lots and lots, I've travelled to Krakow which was no fun on my own..... I've watched Scrubs, Twin Peaks, Spaced (both series), Quantum Leap and Northern Exposure....

I always thought that the isolation and strangeness of living in Siberia would be more challenging than it was, this living in Poland malarkey seems to be more of a struggle. When life is so normal, it's harder to get by without the home comforts of family and friends. So, that's today's lesson kids. If you are thinking of leaving, go somewhere a bit bizarre, and not just a normal mundane town, and take a dvd player with you.

Meanwhile, in the weather news, it's sunny, the sky is actually blue for a change, and there's still no snow.

Me and the American have been keeping a Neighbour Watch. You see, there's three flats in the building where we live, obviously we occupy two of them, and we know we have a neighbour because we hear him and he gets mail (not that we look!). The thing is, we hardly ever see him, so now it's become a game. I'm winning 2-0 because I've had two sightings.

You see, too much time!