Chaos on ice

No, not a new type of cocktail, more a bruise tail!

EF's SZ 3 Kids School celebrated its 1st birthday on ice tonight at the Coastal City Ice Rink.
Many accomplished skaters including one young student is a current Asian age champion... unlike myself wobbling around with the grace and finesse of a baby giraffe!

Still, the sign did warn Seniors (over 50 yo) to be careful as a fall can be serious...and two Friends from TAFE broke bones in the year of their 50th...so I survived with bruises and pressure points but dignity and sense of humour intact. Perhaps I could challenge Stephen Bradbury (Aust Olympic Gold 2002, speed skating )as the dark horse if I practice!

Many teachers and staff were new and brave enough to try and impressive results as students became the teachers and rescuers.

Our mini Everest expedition to 3 turtle mountain

Today you get to meet Liz/Beth from UK another foreign teacher at school and desperate for an outing to do something - so we did. We mounted an expedition to NanShan Mountain via The custom mountaineering portal of Nan Shan Park.

Vonny and Liz discover the way into Nan Shan Park to climb the not so high mountain (<400m)with plenty of steps and lots of stopping points!
Suddenly, not so sure of our directions and with the aid of a map, we asked a policeman who dutifully pointed us in the right direction. Exactly as we had been told at School by locals but at the time we were geographically disadvantaged having no idea of the site or layout of the streets.


The portal was clearly not a Harry Potter type portal where you touch an object and turn up somewhere else ( we had to walk ourselves!)
Then we saw the steps, in fact we saw the steps for the next hour I suspect as we both mumbled or stumbled through the puffing how unfit we were. (Given we have both trekked in the Andes, at altitude this was a great test). Not that too many of the locals fared better, except for the really athletic ones running it! No difference to Mt Lofty (Adelaide) in that respect. It is a steep ascent but the view is significant, even through the morning haze.




At the NanShan GPS reference station ( so I dutifully referenced my GPS which finally recognised the HouHai Bay coastline as different to the Adelaide Beaches)

Feeling adventurous, we took the alternative track down (we hoped it was going down all the way ) this was more scenic and less busy than the custom portal.
We know it was only 350+ mtrs but it was our Everest for the day, certainly not a personal best for either of us but a start on the list of things we must do while we are here! It will be a good guide to any small progress on fitness and as its only a 2RMB bus ride from school, there are not too many excuses for a return visit.

Shekou from Nan Shan /3 Turtle mountain

there was a sign to turtle mountain but as we are none the wiser we took our own name from a statue of 3 turtles (which we failed to photograph-next time)

Lunch in Shekou, Liz found a friendly cat (but she resisted the urge to take it home).


By the way, the strangest things happen. I was recently sitting on the balcony, looking out at the rare clearish sea view when a white plastic whale floated past the balcony and headed for the clouds. A peek over the balcony revealed a slightly distraught toddler presumably previous owner of said plastic whale balloon. I had the camera in my hand but wasn't quick enough to catch it to show you!

Tomorrow we have a full day of training and then a birthday party for the school. EF SZ3 Kids turns 1 year old and we are having a party on ice at the Coastal City Ice Rink. And yes, I can hear you giggling, we are going to attempt to skate. I figure if I can ice climb* surely after 25 years I can still skate!? Hopefully there will be photos to post here soon, dignified or otherwise...

Till next time

* http://5travellingamigos.blogspot.com/

2 days of nothing much

We finally got two days off after working the Winter Course and I bet none of us did much, other than chill out and enjoy a sleep in ( or lie in at least).

Tuesday night we celebrated with a party at Luke and Lei's (L&L) where much beer and a few GnT's or Vodkas were consumed. It was the United Nations with Aust,NZ,Phillapines, Poland, UK, Canada, Sth Africa and China represented and by the end some were speaking a new slanguage (not me, I wasn't exactly sober but I wasn't drunk either). Earlier that night I discovered the Thai Element with really yummy food

Sleep deprivation, or is it just laziness?? resulted in a slow late morning followed by a quick lunch at Maccas (chicken nuggets and coffee being my usual) noted by the staff who placed my order for me before I could blink (well I was a bit slow...). * Went with L&L to their tailor at LoHuo Commercial Centre to see about more beige alternative work outfits. That was enough for the day! Ordered the skirts and Luke's shirts and headed home to a delicious hot pot dinner at L&L's. The DVD even with Morgan Freeman and Antonio Bandarras (sp?) was not enough to keep us from sleep so a five minute stroll home.

Woken by someone crashing a sledge hammer against a wall somewhere this morning did not deter a doze for longer than intended!

Then I went for a bike ride to explore and solve a few mysteries like what is that structure I can see from my balcony ( the F1 Power Boat 2008 venue). Frustration and annoyance with the Dahon domestic model bike resulted in my purchasing a recreational mountain bike this afternoon and loving it just on the ride home, even bought a helmet for a real bike. (I'm having second thoughts about bringing FreedomFriday in case he gets pinched- 799Y vs $1500USD = 10,000Y). The man at Decathlon said no locks work in SZ if they want to steal a bike...ummmm I hope the mountain bike is really comfortable for long rides and maybe BF can stay safe at home?? But then again BF does travel well...what a dilema...a couple of months to decide before Friday can come escorted from Adelaide.

Hannah came for dinner and we watched "Australia", hummm, roll credits fade to black - it took so long to get to the very predictable end but it was a borrowed DVD so no cost for an evening in -she says putting it politely, crikey it was overdone and underdone at the same time but Hugh Jackman and David Wenham are both worth a gander, and the little kid is so cute.

There you go that's two days off in summary - no pretty photos-no excitement but a new bike in the spare room (I figured it would get more use than a gym membership at twice the price).

* Maccas know my solo lunch order, or the alternative from the dumpling shop is becoming regular, the guy at 3D bar knows its Green Coopers, the coffee people know its a tall latte with a loyalty card and I have a membership card at Decathlon (sports store) & I am remembering to look left first before crossing the road then right then left then right and expect the unexpected as indicators are seriously just decorative here just like the zebra crossings and the little green man on the traffic pole is as confused as your average pedestrian!

Winter Camp - Peru Rainforests and Greek Drama

Rainforest scrapbooks (upside down)

How can you feel tired and grumpy with these delightful students (3-4yo)?

Graduates end week 2

Lea and May with their rainforests

Class with Drama masks (representing Greek drama)

Still here, two days left of Winter Camp....Teach, prepare, sleep, teach, prepare - but who's counting! Poland and Japan to go then we have travelled the world in 15 days. Two days off then back to normal timetables.

Before we know it, we'll be at Summer Camp which is longer and hotter (duhh) but that's July/August.

Not much to report as time has been hectic but I'll continue my post in a more energentic way soon. Took one night off and met up with Hannah for the Great Trade - my Passport, Visa, Working Papers for a Jar of Marmite ( courtesy of Liz who when home for Spring Festival). To celebrate the great trade we had beers and when we arrived at the 3D bar, the floor staff said to me "Coopers?", yes please green and a Sol for Hannah.

It's tragic to hear about the bushfires and losses in Vic/NSw but little mention of SA. Congrats to you all for surviving the record heatwave of 40++ while I was complaining about being cold here at only just sub 10 degrees at one day high! And floods in Qld!! What a country of diversities but then again it is the biggest one 'girt by sea'.

The photos I got on email of the swimming kangaroo, the showered Koala and the koala drinking from a cyclist's water bottle just about said it all.

Brain drain...time to start colouring in some Polish emblems for the flag as the eagle is just a bit tricky for the littlies.

Cheers.