A week of broken Mandarin, accidental Cantonese, and listening to Taiyu brought the writer closer to her racial identity.

A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 24 and 31 January. Send your photos to scotlandpictures@bbc.co.uk. Please ensure you adhere to the BBC's rules on photography that can be found ...

Bring it on! I actually went out and had a little sweet and sour something on Wednesday to celebrate this beautiful occasion ...