Well, this merits a little blog....
I just got off my first successful, meaningful, iChat conversation. After three weeks away and nothing more than emails and a few posted blogs from my son, Llewe, we were both in the right place at the right time such that we were able to iChat.
Sadly, the bar he was in doesn't enable a video link but it was a remarkable experience. We managed to communicate well enough to set him up to screen share with his own iMac at home. As a mild aside, it makes a bit of a mockery of internet censorship in that one of the things he is not able to do in China is bittorrent. By using his mac at home he can! I hope to god they don't bang him inside for it.
If you want to know what he's up to you check out
his blog or the
Yunnan Normal University website (he's the tall blond)