almost 8 weeks update

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Thought i would try to give you as good an update as i can mangae right now - its about midnight and i am incredibly tired - i will be sleeping when i finish writing this. It is a good tiredness though, i am working hard and playing harder, no less than you would expect.

I cant believe its been 8 weeks this weekend and "officially" 2 months next wednesday on the 21st of the month. I am currently 3 days in to a 19 days stretch of work, no breaks and no weekends. my next day off will be saturday the 1st of may. which suits me, pay day is friday the 30th of april! haha.


So, its been easter! that was fun, i thought of home often and missed a lot of my friends. i worked over easter but it was ok, just doing shows and being the easter bunny for young kids was a lot of fun. everyone here, all my football mates and the others were off on holidays around asia which was the only annoying thing. the sun was out and i swam in the south china sea which was beautiful and made me very happy and peaceful for many days afterwards.

I am becoming accustomed to living alone and enjoynig havig my own private space, however small to call my own. i really like my flat, the location and the price are perfect and i think i will stay here for the foreseeable future raher than jump around to different places, and a lot of my friends live very close....as do the bars!

Playing football a lot! won a few games, lost a match on sunday which was really cose but good fun. last night (tuesday) had late night training which started at like 9pm and it rained the entire time, like being back in england....i loved it!! massive party on saturday for one of the guy's birthday - stef's 30th so that should be pretty hardcore!!

work is going well, i have a lot of responsibility now, i am currently planning workshops for 4 different projects hehe one project is working with 5 different classes 4 days a week in a school in sha Tin all leading to performances of stories that i have had to find and adapt. One project running "seminars" in Kwun Tong IVE (a college - the kids are 19yrs+) also a performance at the end. i have to plan a 3 full day course for deaf children (next friday saturday and sunday 8:30am till 4:30pm) which is nuts and i am starting another project tomorrow with kids in a really bad school which has a performance at the end in only 4 sessions. at the same time as all this i have organised the rehearsal schedule for sherlock holmes (i'm sherlock! woop!) which goes up on may 14th...so its been booked before its finished being written, we havent rehearsed at all and have no props or set....so thats interesting. we also have to rehearse romeo and juliet as we have performances of that coming up even before sherlock. so the next 6 weeks are going to be a little busy to say the least. oh! and another project in a primary school this saturday as an intorduction to drama.

And i love it, i really do. i thrive in this kind of atmosphere, it means when i feel genuinely exhausted i can order in a big pizza and eat it all to myself and watch films and fall asleep without feeling guilty hehe. i am loving the shows, its just a load of fun to be around these guys and we all enjoy it.


the weather here is a bit nuts at the moment, really hot and humid and then it will rain, the humidity will break and it will become cool. from may however it will get steadily hotter until august when i will continuously melt in a puddle onto the floor.

crazy to think that when work relents somewhat it will be almost half way through the year! insane! its going so fast and yet i feel like i have been here forever, my friendship group has people i genuinely care for, they are friends in a truer sense of the word than merely knowing them.
seth ( who i replaced) and his girlfriend emma i see often and we go bowling, have drinks and walk their dogs haha!

i think often of next year when i come home but it is not the longing that i felt before- it is something i know will happen all in good time and until then i am making the most of the experience.

with all the amazing opportunities to do different things, design sets and backdrops, direct plays and all the projects i am running i am creating a professional portfolio to bring back to the UK so i can get a decent job or a foot in the door with a lot of different companies.

i really hope this finds my friends and family well.

i of course miss you all and send all of my love to you and my thoughts and smiles


take care,

Matt
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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