My last day at Yinhe School

The time has come, the day has arrived, I’ve taught my last class and now it’s time to say goodbye. I’ve finished my second teaching contract here in China and I thought it would be nice to look back over the last 9 months and my experience teaching in a primary school. You may have seen some of my exploits in these previous posts classroom antics, bittersweet ride to work, staff tour to see the flowers and the day we got beer at lunch. Today however I’ve gathered some never before seen photos like this one.

Student Feedback - don't take it personally

I also took some pictures of the school grounds to give you a better idea of where all this took place and put them together in a video slideshow. Even better, I’ve used the song that gets played everyday at the end of school over a loud-speaker system in every room so you can have the full experience.

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It was the best of presents, it was the worst of presents

I love puzzles. The challenge of finding where a piece goes, reasoning what shape or colour fits a space, the satisfaction of making whole what was in pieces, that satisfaction of completing the picture. But when Margaurita gave me a Rubik’s Cube for Christmas that all changed. My excitement turned to frustration, followed by annoyance, then hopelessness and finally obsession.

My Rubik's Cube

It wasn’t long before I had mixed up the colours on the cube, and I was confident that I would be able to figure it out with a little patience but I was either wrong or I ran out of patience as the cube drove me crazy for the rest of Christmas Day. I couldn’t do anything else until I had figured it out. At best I could do one side but the other five had me stumped. So I turned to Google for some help and found out that solving a Rubik’s Cube is a matter of learning several long and complicated algorithms. After spending most of the afternoon following various step by step diagrams I was eventually able to restore my Rubik’s Cube to its rightful state and could finally put it down = the worst Christmas present.

Solving it once wasn’t enough though. Just like 15 years ago when I decided to teach myself to juggle (which came in handy for the EF Christmas Show 2009), I was determined to teach myself to solve the Rubik’s Cube. So my one and only New Year’s resolution for 2011 was to be able to solve a 3×3 Rubik’s Cube in under 5 minutes. Well a couple of months later, after memorising several complicated algorithms and lots of practice I have achieved my goal. Watch me in action in the video below = the best Christmas present.

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The 2011 Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix (with video)

and my first ever attendance of a Grand Prix after following it on TV for more than 10 years.

The layout of the Shanghai F1 Circuit Photo: carreracupasia.com

The Shanghai F1 Circuit was inspired by the Chinese character “上” (shang), the first character in the name Shanghai.

Last year I thought about going but didn’t get around to arranging leave early enough as then I had to work on weekends and had already put in leave for my attempt of the Great Wall Marathon. This year however, working a regular Monday to Friday week it was on; although getting tickets wasn’t all that easy.

I even went to the track 2 weeks before the race and was just given a phone number to call. I couldn’t buy tickets there but could reserve them over the phone and they would send them to me if I was in Shanghai, which I wouldn’t be 24 hours later. Eventually managed to get them via a local tourism website and not wanting to fight for a good spot on the grass went for next grade up in Grandstands B5-8 but you couldn’t choose your seat, it was just luck of the draw.

3D seating plan for the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix (Photo:smartshanghai.com)

Thankfully the Metro Line 10 was open for both days (which it wasn’t in 2010) so getting to and from the circuit was easy enough. The plan was to get out to the circuit for qualifying which we did and as we walked from the Metro station towards the circuit we could hear the whine of a F1 engine being revved and I started to get really excited. The queues weren’t to bad as we made our way into the track area and up to our seats which turned out to have a great view. We looked straight down the start/finish straight, could see the pit lane and the team garages, we were also high up enough to see most of the track and so could track cars as they sped around the rest of the circuit. Check it out…

The view of the Shanghai F1 Circuit from my grandstand seat

As I sat there, looking down on the track I couldn’t believe I was actually about to see a F1 car in person, witness a qualifying session live and hear the sounds so many commentators have referred to for myself. It was

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Up close with lions, tigers, cheetahs, pumas, and the list goes on

Leopards, jaguars, white lions, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, caracals, Serval cats, a honey badger and a reptile enclosure. All this can be found at Jukani Wildlife Predator Park according to their pamphlet that was lying around in the cottage.

Jukani founder Jurg Olsen with one of the lions

With a photo like that on the cover of the leaflet and a map on the back detailing that it was just off the main N2 highway, a mere 20 minute drive from where we were staying how could we not go? A quick phone call established they were open and 16:00 was the feeding tour.

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Our Cape Town Peninsula Tour

With the South Easter wind still howling it wasn’t really beach weather but the skies were clear and so we grabbed the cameras to head out on a tour of the Peninsula. Leaving from Llandudno, we were going to travel anti-clockwise and pick up lunch at either Cape Point or Simon’s Town before heading back around Table Mountain.

a map of the Cape Peninsula

Just over the hill was the village of Hout Bay and out the other side the road winds its way up to the start of the dramatic Chapman’s Peak Drive, arguably one of the most

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Revisiting the Great Wall Marathon 2010

You may remember my Beijing post a few months ago detailing my trip to China’s capital and my attempt at running the Great Wall Marathon so why am I revisiting it?

Well, since then, the official photograph I ordered arrived (see left), the official video was also delivered and I have managed to upload it for you (see end of post). However, the main reason is that a great  friend of mine who has just started an online trail running magazine asked if I would write-up my experience for his December issue. More on that later but first a word or two from my mate James Hallett.

As the editor of an up and coming South African online trail running magazine, one of our biggest challenges always seems to be finding good, well-balanced, quality reading material to capture our readership and grow the integrity of the publication. Rory and I go back as far ar 2005 when we met in the halls of an institution that probably shaped our way of thinking today. Since then, we have remained great friends and I think it’s most certainly safe to say that we have learned a lot from each other. And who wouldn’t learn a lot from this guy?!? He’s originally a Zimbo, his parents having left Zimbabwe when he was young, to pursue a life in South Africa, and his brother is a very unique and eccentric person in his own way, the author of Fly Fishing For Sharks -  A Memoir of Life with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

So this month in Go Trail. (December 2010 issue) we decided to feature Rory’s incredible journey to China and his ambition to complete the Great Wall Of China Half Marathon.

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Bittersweet ride to Hell

You’re probably thinking that’s a bit dramatic and wondering what it’s all about. Having a scooter is sweet but the lack of traffic rules can make one bitter at times. And school isn’t exactly Hell although there are some unruly Grade 1 students that appear to hail from such a place.

Ready to ride

Anyway I’ve been thinking about this project for a while wanting  to give you a real sense of what my daily life is like here in China. Thanks to Margaurita’s camerawork, a couple of downloaded songs, some not so easy editing on a Chinese language computer and frustratingly low-bandwidth proxy server connections here it is. A POV video of the scooter ride from my apartment to parking in the basement at school.

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Down the road without a paddle

I woke on Saturday morning, long before my alarm, to the rolling sound of thunder and heavy rain drops falling on the tin roof of my balcony. Without peeking through my curtains I knew it wasn’t pleasant outside. After a while of trying to get back to sleep I got up to make some tea and climbed back into bed with a book putting off going to work for as long as I could in the hope that the rain would subside. It was 8:30am, and with class at 9:15am, I could wait no longer. So I put on my rain coat, grabbed my umbrella and headed downstairs to get my scooter out of the garage. As I stepped out of the building there was 2-3 inches of standing water between me and the garage in the opposite building, just as well I was wearing slops and kept my work shoes at school. While annoying, this was to prove to be nothing. Once I was on my scooter heading to school, in the still pouring rain with lightning and thunder, on the main road I encountered what you see below.

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I was riding on the pavement as I usually do (in the absence of any discernible traffic laws) thinking I would be safe from all the flooding. Then peering through the water droplets on my helmet visor I couldn’t quite believe what I saw.

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Q: Where can you set off 400 firecrackers at a bus stop and not get arrested?

A: China.   

Some of you may remember my post about Chinese New Year. Well now I bring you a video but first let me set the scene.   

Saturday the 13th February was the official Chinese New Year celebration and so we all met up with the plan of going through to Hangzhou in search of a fireworks display and a party. While waiting for the K327 bus I couldn’t resist going to buy some firecrackers (which we called squibs back in Zimbabwe).  

Firecrackers in the wrong hands...

Feeling like a kid again (see cheesy grin above), armed with my string of some 400 squibs and a borrowed lighter I couldn’t wait to set them off right next to the bus stop. There was one man who was seen running away as I motioned to toss them soon after lighting them

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