At the time of writing, i.e. August 2011, I’ve been in China four months now. According to Lindsay Clandfield and Duncan Ford, in their short treatise ‘The Language Teacher’s Survival Handbook’ (ITS, 2008), there are four stages of culture shock. I’m not sure if I’m at any particular stage.

Aside from Irish literature – Irish dance is now also accepted as a global Irish commodity. Indeed, since the early 1990s most of the romanticism created around Ireland by the wider European public owes to the popularity of Irish dance productions such as Riverdance and The Lord of the Dance.