This day turned into a longer day than I was expecting, I also lack the energy to make a great post so here's a list of the day from what I remember.
13,000 bolts of lightning hit Hong Kong last night, it was the craziest lightning storm I've experienced in Hong Kong, probably in the top 5 ever...
One of the bolts knocked out our electricity, I'm so glad I used my intuition and unplugged the TV and the Computer from the wall
However, our DSL modem and router weren't so lucky, I think the surge came in through the phone line and blew the modem and then the router, luckily it was diminished enough after that that the computer was unharmed, at least from what I could tell.
I had to go visit the YWCA to check out the place that i'm going to be coordinating a camp at next Monday and Tuesday. I also called China Light and Power (CLP) and reported that we were dead in the water.
They ended up stopping by the flat when I was gone, but luckily the lady we have clean our flat once a week was here and let them in and by the time I ran back up the hill they had everything going but the air conditioners.
Long story short everything seems to be fine as far as the breakers go except for the damn, "Ground Leakage Breaker" I wasn't able to be home to let in an electrician the landlord sent over this evening, they never called to let me know until they were here at the doorstep and I was neck deep in camp coordinating down at the beach.
It's been almost 3 hours with no incidents...
Tomorrow is more planning, then Saturday off, then Sunday is half day prep, then Monday and Tuesday is camp time!
I also just confirmed to work with a camp in Sai Kung on the second week of October coaching a dragon boat team....
Showing posts with label camp summary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camp summary. Show all posts
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Macau Fever... (Part 2)
Now for the stunning conclusion:
6:51pm: A massive blast is heard and the blur of a vehicle slams to an instant halt in the blink of an eye. Dama throws some money towards the captain and the other three jump out and race to enter the airlock and clear security. Dama collects his earth-money change and views the countdown board from the distance. He thinks to himself, "Why is there no time showing?" Has his super sonic journey slowed time? Stopped time? No, that's crazy; it's just that the "Cut-Off" buzzer has already sounded. This name is derived from what happens if any body parts exist between the outside world and the airlock when time is up.
6:53pm: A large group of Slowpokes were entering the airlock chamber. Known for their speed and dexterity this tribe of people often travels aboard the fast vessel bound for the urban jungle. However, the entry guards tend to be very cautious when tendering fare and this can cause vast hold ups. Luckily for the quartet, they were able to hop on the coat tails of this group, literally, as the Slowpoke tribe is known for their vast coat tails. Here is a security photo of the quartet entering the airlock:
6:54pm: The quartet was safely aboard their vessel and entering hyper sleep. Just before nodding off Dama spotted his Janbo next to Samje and released a nervous sigh of relief. He had completely forgotten about it in the chaos when leaving the transport.
7:35pm: The supersonic vessel battles tidal waves and eludes pirate boats as it enters the CCA (Central Containment Area) Dama awakens from his sleep, grabs his janbo, and leaves the terminal. He emerges from the megalith and enters a busy concrete metropolis. Nibra takes off on a quest to acquire something to cover his legs, as this is the generally recognized custom of Macau. Dama, Samje, and Tane head to a special area where Dama's pocket computer can receive specially crafted radio signals. These radio waves tell Dama the earth-location of their destination in the density of Macau.
8:10pm: The trio acquire their tickets from the Hyperjet Hydro-Plane Ferry ticketing robot, then try to contact Nibra through special radio waves emanating from Dama's pocket computer. Nibra is outside the compound unsuccessful in his quest to acquire his leg coverings. He enters the complex, utilizes the motorized stairs, purchases his ticket, and meets with the group. Samje and Tane finished their ethanol bubble water, which just so happens to have a slightly higher percentage of ethanol than 7-up, and entered security clearance.
--------That's all I've got for today, tune in tomorrow for a conclusion, maybe, it all depends on how this sickness is treating me.......
6:51pm: A massive blast is heard and the blur of a vehicle slams to an instant halt in the blink of an eye. Dama throws some money towards the captain and the other three jump out and race to enter the airlock and clear security. Dama collects his earth-money change and views the countdown board from the distance. He thinks to himself, "Why is there no time showing?" Has his super sonic journey slowed time? Stopped time? No, that's crazy; it's just that the "Cut-Off" buzzer has already sounded. This name is derived from what happens if any body parts exist between the outside world and the airlock when time is up.
6:53pm: A large group of Slowpokes were entering the airlock chamber. Known for their speed and dexterity this tribe of people often travels aboard the fast vessel bound for the urban jungle. However, the entry guards tend to be very cautious when tendering fare and this can cause vast hold ups. Luckily for the quartet, they were able to hop on the coat tails of this group, literally, as the Slowpoke tribe is known for their vast coat tails. Here is a security photo of the quartet entering the airlock:6:54pm: The quartet was safely aboard their vessel and entering hyper sleep. Just before nodding off Dama spotted his Janbo next to Samje and released a nervous sigh of relief. He had completely forgotten about it in the chaos when leaving the transport.
7:35pm: The supersonic vessel battles tidal waves and eludes pirate boats as it enters the CCA (Central Containment Area) Dama awakens from his sleep, grabs his janbo, and leaves the terminal. He emerges from the megalith and enters a busy concrete metropolis. Nibra takes off on a quest to acquire something to cover his legs, as this is the generally recognized custom of Macau. Dama, Samje, and Tane head to a special area where Dama's pocket computer can receive specially crafted radio signals. These radio waves tell Dama the earth-location of their destination in the density of Macau.
8:10pm: The trio acquire their tickets from the Hyperjet Hydro-Plane Ferry ticketing robot, then try to contact Nibra through special radio waves emanating from Dama's pocket computer. Nibra is outside the compound unsuccessful in his quest to acquire his leg coverings. He enters the complex, utilizes the motorized stairs, purchases his ticket, and meets with the group. Samje and Tane finished their ethanol bubble water, which just so happens to have a slightly higher percentage of ethanol than 7-up, and entered security clearance.
--------That's all I've got for today, tune in tomorrow for a conclusion, maybe, it all depends on how this sickness is treating me.......
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Macau Fever... (Part 1)
Pretty crazy last few days, I'll try to reconstruct the events that transpired recently (names were changed to protect the innocent) **Some events dramatized**
Monday:
Approx 5pm: Dama meets up with Tane, Samje, and Nibra to acquire food at a nearby establishment; the name of which comes from the large American bird otherwise known as the Kutrey. Tane proceeds to inquire to Dama about possibly going to the most densely populated country in the world. Of which Dama takes careful consideration over his blended yogurt/mango drink and earth-potato grease sticks.
6:10pm: Dama realizes that it would be fun to go back to Macau, a place he spent either fleeting moments under cover of darkness or later, in a rain soaked fog. Dama relays his decision to the group and they take into account their time allotment. Dama knows a fast ferry leaves at 6:50pm and explains that it will produce a more desirable outcome in relation to earth-time if they are present on this vessel when it departs.
6:20pm: It comes to light that the outcome may be unobtainable due to the great distance between the eager group and their special pieces of paper. These papers prove that they are who they are and are actually from where they were born. The feasibility of the 6:50 option heavily depends upon returning to this very location within 30 earth-minutes. Thus, the group is compelled to hire a nearby small blue carriage, knowing from past experiences that these carriages can sometimes approach the sound barrier, much to the distress of their occupants.
6:30pm: The quartet reach their village and scramble to reach their individual residences and acquire their necessary components for international travel as well as their highly glossed wooden noisemakers. Their rocket chariot needs 10 minutes to warm up its afterburners before it can return, thus, the group knows it needs to be prepared for reentry by 6:40. If this occurs,they will be present at the entry gate before the fast boat leaves. Dama takes off to his flat to grab his identity book. Nibra runs to the village washer-woman in hopes of donning a clean pair of trousers, rather than is multi-day old board shorts. Samje and Tane run to acquire their documents and the noisemakers.
6:35pm: Dama sprints to his mansion on the bluff overlooking Pui O, passes three levels of security, and enters his vast abode. He throws off his crocs, imitation Billabong shorts, and "Urban Man" shirt (Dama likes to dress down on occasion). He then dresses in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and D&G Trousers. Dama still wants to maintain his casual fashion sense, but still give the impression that he's a man of fine taste.
6:38pm: Dama races back to the launchpad, down the hill and across the bridge. He grabs his Nexus 1 cellphone, newly imported from The Union of 50. This one is refered to as "Nexus 3" though, he always buys everything in threes; Nexus 1 and 2 remain carefully locked away. The wonderful device shows a holograph of Samje getting suited up for his supersonic journey back to the place the quartet started their epic journey less than two hours previous...
6:45: Delays with the supersonic fabric coating cause the carriage to depart late and hopes of the four dwindle to nothing as they race "Fi-dee, Fi-dee" towards their destination.
Will the unrelenting quartet arrive at their destination unscathed and on time? Will Dama almost forget his noise making Janbo in the trunk of the supersonic carriage? Does Nibra have pants on?
----These questions answered and more next time in the stunning conclusion of "Macau Fever"----
Monday:
Approx 5pm: Dama meets up with Tane, Samje, and Nibra to acquire food at a nearby establishment; the name of which comes from the large American bird otherwise known as the Kutrey. Tane proceeds to inquire to Dama about possibly going to the most densely populated country in the world. Of which Dama takes careful consideration over his blended yogurt/mango drink and earth-potato grease sticks.
6:10pm: Dama realizes that it would be fun to go back to Macau, a place he spent either fleeting moments under cover of darkness or later, in a rain soaked fog. Dama relays his decision to the group and they take into account their time allotment. Dama knows a fast ferry leaves at 6:50pm and explains that it will produce a more desirable outcome in relation to earth-time if they are present on this vessel when it departs.
6:20pm: It comes to light that the outcome may be unobtainable due to the great distance between the eager group and their special pieces of paper. These papers prove that they are who they are and are actually from where they were born. The feasibility of the 6:50 option heavily depends upon returning to this very location within 30 earth-minutes. Thus, the group is compelled to hire a nearby small blue carriage, knowing from past experiences that these carriages can sometimes approach the sound barrier, much to the distress of their occupants.
6:30pm: The quartet reach their village and scramble to reach their individual residences and acquire their necessary components for international travel as well as their highly glossed wooden noisemakers. Their rocket chariot needs 10 minutes to warm up its afterburners before it can return, thus, the group knows it needs to be prepared for reentry by 6:40. If this occurs,they will be present at the entry gate before the fast boat leaves. Dama takes off to his flat to grab his identity book. Nibra runs to the village washer-woman in hopes of donning a clean pair of trousers, rather than is multi-day old board shorts. Samje and Tane run to acquire their documents and the noisemakers.
6:35pm: Dama sprints to his mansion on the bluff overlooking Pui O, passes three levels of security, and enters his vast abode. He throws off his crocs, imitation Billabong shorts, and "Urban Man" shirt (Dama likes to dress down on occasion). He then dresses in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and D&G Trousers. Dama still wants to maintain his casual fashion sense, but still give the impression that he's a man of fine taste.
6:38pm: Dama races back to the launchpad, down the hill and across the bridge. He grabs his Nexus 1 cellphone, newly imported from The Union of 50. This one is refered to as "Nexus 3" though, he always buys everything in threes; Nexus 1 and 2 remain carefully locked away. The wonderful device shows a holograph of Samje getting suited up for his supersonic journey back to the place the quartet started their epic journey less than two hours previous...
6:45: Delays with the supersonic fabric coating cause the carriage to depart late and hopes of the four dwindle to nothing as they race "Fi-dee, Fi-dee" towards their destination.
Will the unrelenting quartet arrive at their destination unscathed and on time? Will Dama almost forget his noise making Janbo in the trunk of the supersonic carriage? Does Nibra have pants on?
----These questions answered and more next time in the stunning conclusion of "Macau Fever"----
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The New Season
It's been a busy week,
Monday - Canopy set up and make preparations for the camp on Tuesday that I was coordinating
Tuesday - Big Group welcome with 60 3rd graders and lead a group of 20 kids through biking, sand sculpture, and eco-scavenger hunt
Wednesday - Take down canopy, set up gorge and run a training on it, Irvin set up a Tyrolean traverse
Thursday - Woke up late....turned off alarm and went back to sleep...oops, ran in to work and ran a coasteering training, then ran biking in Mui Wo training in the evening
Friday - Camp was rescheduled so we worked on prep for upcoming camps then I ran a Tree I.D. session
Saturday - really lazy day, but worth it, maybe they should be paying me more with the amount of staff training I'm doing, also made pizza, think I'm getting the hang of it, just need a pizza stone for it to really come out good.
I think I'm waiting tables tomorrow, just over 12 months here and I've been able to completely avoid this until now, that's the deal for getting today off, it's a half day so it shouldn't be too bad.
Next week is:
Mon - Rope practice
Tues - Cheung Chau
Wed - Belay at the abseil
Thurs & Fri - ??
The Lapsap Band has been practising every day in preparation of taking their show on the road in random places across Lantau and Hong Kong. I'll have to get some recordings or video up soon
Monday - Canopy set up and make preparations for the camp on Tuesday that I was coordinating
Tuesday - Big Group welcome with 60 3rd graders and lead a group of 20 kids through biking, sand sculpture, and eco-scavenger hunt
Wednesday - Take down canopy, set up gorge and run a training on it, Irvin set up a Tyrolean traverse
Thursday - Woke up late....turned off alarm and went back to sleep...oops, ran in to work and ran a coasteering training, then ran biking in Mui Wo training in the evening
Friday - Camp was rescheduled so we worked on prep for upcoming camps then I ran a Tree I.D. session
Saturday - really lazy day, but worth it, maybe they should be paying me more with the amount of staff training I'm doing, also made pizza, think I'm getting the hang of it, just need a pizza stone for it to really come out good.
I think I'm waiting tables tomorrow, just over 12 months here and I've been able to completely avoid this until now, that's the deal for getting today off, it's a half day so it shouldn't be too bad.
Next week is:
Mon - Rope practice
Tues - Cheung Chau
Wed - Belay at the abseil
Thurs & Fri - ??
The Lapsap Band has been practising every day in preparation of taking their show on the road in random places across Lantau and Hong Kong. I'll have to get some recordings or video up soon
Saturday, December 12, 2009
All over but the leavin'
This last week marked our final camp at T.I. a brief overview of the week:
Monday-Half day of work, part of it was spent preparing the Hong Kong Great Race for another corporate group on Thursday then some pack down an putting a bunch of stuff away for the season
Tuesday-Half day, preparing our program for Wednesday through Friday
Wednesday-Met the school at the Mui Wo ferry pier, 23 kids with myself and fellow PSU alumni/co-leader Onnalea. I lead half of them in an hour long "Sandy Shores" lesson followed by an hour of beach cleanup. Then an hour of gardening, then finishing with an hour lesson on "Wetlands Ecology" it all went pretty well.
Thursday-We all went to Tai O in North West of Lantau to take part in Shaolin martial arts training with the kids, I thought it was really fun, but the kids didn't thinks so, they're lazy so all
the stretching and strength and balance activities didn't go over too well with them.
We had a vegetarian lunch there and then we started our guided tour of Tai O, the tour was about 2.5 hours and I learned quite a bit about one of the 4 remaining Hong Kong fishing villages
After getting back to Pui O the kids had free time on the beach and then we went to the public campsite for our BBQ, then it was night time activities and then bed
Friday-Have the kids pack up then an "Adventure Challenge" on the beach which they all loved, except when the teachers jumped in and messed things up... Before I knew it the kids were on the bus back to catch the 12:50 ferry and that was the end of my Fall season at T.I.
We had lunch and finished the little bit of packdown left, then I came home and met Katy and we went back down to the beach for our usual Friday Beer and Burgers.
Saturday-Another half day spent setting up an iMac and getting 126GB of music imported into iTunes and playlists synced with the iPod, however my sickness set in the night before and I'm still trying to recover from this, It's probably a virus, I almost thought it was from the burger I had on Friday, but probably not.
Sunday-Not doing a whole lot today except drinking tea and being a couch potato, occasionally interrupted by being a toilet potato... Looks like i'll be a significant potato tomorrow recovering as well, the staff adventure race is out of the question for me right now, unfortunately.
Monday-Half day of work, part of it was spent preparing the Hong Kong Great Race for another corporate group on Thursday then some pack down an putting a bunch of stuff away for the season
Tuesday-Half day, preparing our program for Wednesday through Friday
Wednesday-Met the school at the Mui Wo ferry pier, 23 kids with myself and fellow PSU alumni/co-leader Onnalea. I lead half of them in an hour long "Sandy Shores" lesson followed by an hour of beach cleanup. Then an hour of gardening, then finishing with an hour lesson on "Wetlands Ecology" it all went pretty well.
Thursday-We all went to Tai O in North West of Lantau to take part in Shaolin martial arts training with the kids, I thought it was really fun, but the kids didn't thinks so, they're lazy so all
the stretching and strength and balance activities didn't go over too well with them.We had a vegetarian lunch there and then we started our guided tour of Tai O, the tour was about 2.5 hours and I learned quite a bit about one of the 4 remaining Hong Kong fishing villages
After getting back to Pui O the kids had free time on the beach and then we went to the public campsite for our BBQ, then it was night time activities and then bedFriday-Have the kids pack up then an "Adventure Challenge" on the beach which they all loved, except when the teachers jumped in and messed things up... Before I knew it the kids were on the bus back to catch the 12:50 ferry and that was the end of my Fall season at T.I.
We had lunch and finished the little bit of packdown left, then I came home and met Katy and we went back down to the beach for our usual Friday Beer and Burgers.
Saturday-Another half day spent setting up an iMac and getting 126GB of music imported into iTunes and playlists synced with the iPod, however my sickness set in the night before and I'm still trying to recover from this, It's probably a virus, I almost thought it was from the burger I had on Friday, but probably not.
Sunday-Not doing a whole lot today except drinking tea and being a couch potato, occasionally interrupted by being a toilet potato... Looks like i'll be a significant potato tomorrow recovering as well, the staff adventure race is out of the question for me right now, unfortunately.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Movin' along
What a week this last one was, as you can see from my twitter postings it wasn't the most fun I've ever had in Hong Kong...
Basically a quick review of this week goes as follows:
Saturday- meet Katy in the city and work on making questions and checking on things for the "great race"
Sunday- day off, stayed at home, worked on questions for the upcoming corporate program in Central on Wednesday, took bus to Tung Chung, bought Subway, purchased and HDMI cable
Monday- worked on Corporate program at the office in the morning, had a meeting for the school program I was working on Tuesday, had the plans for the Corporate change on me multiple times, worked until 8 getting things ready
Tuesday- went to work at 7:30 to get ready for the 60 3rd graders coming in for "navigating, kite flying, and eco-games" then worked on an already changed Corporate program after they left and realised (again) that the work I had done up to that point was useless
Wednesday- Went in to work to finish getting "the race" ready, scrambled to make the non-existent ferry at 11:10 and caught the real one after the buzzer rang because lunch took forever to get, got in to Central and went running around to buy 3 maps to put with the rest of our packets, presented the program and started the race, ate a ridiculously expensive 4 course steak dinner with the corporate group, caught the 9:30 back to Lantau
Thursday- (re-re-re-re)updated the program to the way that I actually would have liked to have done it in the first place so it can be used again next week. Ate some brownie batter, deposited my paycheck, did laundry, put on my only collared shirt and went to the China Bear with the gang for a few hours.
Friday- went out to the abseil with Dave and Bryan and learned how to set up a simple anchoring system and how to belay people and how to help them if they get caught up in the belay system, then the three of us rigged a single rope belay system and tied up some rope protecting bamboo about 30 feet up on the side of the cliff face then abseiled (rappelled) into the ocean. Met Katy then went into the city for a few hours with Bryan and Rosanne
Saturday- slept in (kinda) and then went with Katy to Tung Chung to start phase 1 of my civilizing process aka... buying a really nice set of clothes so I can attend formal functions instead of donning my
Fisherman pants:
and my A.L.E-free box lime green crocs:
So we decided on a really nice and comfy pair of leather shoes and some Ralph Lauren khaki pants.
Tic-tac-toe = knots and crosses (British and New Zealand)
Ketchup = tomato sauce (NZ)
tartar sauce = tahtieahh sauce (NZ)
hamburger = hambuhhgaah
iron = iahn
Basically a quick review of this week goes as follows:
Saturday- meet Katy in the city and work on making questions and checking on things for the "great race"
Sunday- day off, stayed at home, worked on questions for the upcoming corporate program in Central on Wednesday, took bus to Tung Chung, bought Subway, purchased and HDMI cable
Monday- worked on Corporate program at the office in the morning, had a meeting for the school program I was working on Tuesday, had the plans for the Corporate change on me multiple times, worked until 8 getting things ready
Tuesday- went to work at 7:30 to get ready for the 60 3rd graders coming in for "navigating, kite flying, and eco-games" then worked on an already changed Corporate program after they left and realised (again) that the work I had done up to that point was useless
Wednesday- Went in to work to finish getting "the race" ready, scrambled to make the non-existent ferry at 11:10 and caught the real one after the buzzer rang because lunch took forever to get, got in to Central and went running around to buy 3 maps to put with the rest of our packets, presented the program and started the race, ate a ridiculously expensive 4 course steak dinner with the corporate group, caught the 9:30 back to Lantau
Thursday- (re-re-re-re)updated the program to the way that I actually would have liked to have done it in the first place so it can be used again next week. Ate some brownie batter, deposited my paycheck, did laundry, put on my only collared shirt and went to the China Bear with the gang for a few hours.
Friday- went out to the abseil with Dave and Bryan and learned how to set up a simple anchoring system and how to belay people and how to help them if they get caught up in the belay system, then the three of us rigged a single rope belay system and tied up some rope protecting bamboo about 30 feet up on the side of the cliff face then abseiled (rappelled) into the ocean. Met Katy then went into the city for a few hours with Bryan and Rosanne
Saturday- slept in (kinda) and then went with Katy to Tung Chung to start phase 1 of my civilizing process aka... buying a really nice set of clothes so I can attend formal functions instead of donning my
Fisherman pants:
and my A.L.E-free box lime green crocs:
So we decided on a really nice and comfy pair of leather shoes and some Ralph Lauren khaki pants.
Tic-tac-toe = knots and crosses (British and New Zealand)
Ketchup = tomato sauce (NZ)
tartar sauce = tahtieahh sauce (NZ)
hamburger = hambuhhgaah
iron = iahn
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time off (and some new pictures)
A quick post before bed,
Today, I ran one activity in the rotation with the corporate group that came in they arrived at 2pm and went straight into the beach games rotation we set up. Then they had dinner and awards and left at 7:30. We broke down and ate leftovers and i grabbed a couple boxes to hold me over the next two days.
We are having our Thanksgiving celebration hosted by T.I. on Friday, I want to make something, but I'm not sure yet, I was thinking cheezy cubed potatoes...
I also want to wish my special lady a very happy birthday :)
Today, I ran one activity in the rotation with the corporate group that came in they arrived at 2pm and went straight into the beach games rotation we set up. Then they had dinner and awards and left at 7:30. We broke down and ate leftovers and i grabbed a couple boxes to hold me over the next two days.
We are having our Thanksgiving celebration hosted by T.I. on Friday, I want to make something, but I'm not sure yet, I was thinking cheezy cubed potatoes...
I also want to wish my special lady a very happy birthday :)
Friday, November 13, 2009
One month left?!?!
That's right, many people are flying out of Hong Kong and back to the states around the week of December 14-17, moving on... another batch comes and goes and I stay... so it goes in the outdoor industry leading such a transient lifestyle, ahhhh but that's the draw of it too.
Anyway two weeks of hell just ended, haha, my tribe finished 5th out of 12 today, with a strong 2nd in the tribal chant that took place at West Island School on Hong Kong Island this morning. We would have taken 2nd overall if my kids handn't broken "Daanald" their egg to care for throughout the week. Daan is how you say egg in Cantonese, hehe, only my Chinese kids got that one...
We also have the weekend off AND next Wednesday and Thursday off, so nice! I'm in desperate need of this time off since I definitely need rest to fight off this cold that is hitting me. I feel ok energy wise, but just getting a cough and sinus aches.
After our debrief at the school I went in to Tom Lee Music in Wan Chai and picked up a spare set of guitar strings just in case I have any breakages, you can't just drive 20 minutes to Plattsburgh and take your choice of 15 different kinds at Bob's Music. It's a 5-25 minute wait for the bus, a 25 minute ferry ride, a 25 minute walk/subway/walk to the nearest music store with maybe 3 kinds of acoustic strings and these times are if you hit the transports exactly and don't have to wait.
After picking up strings I made my way back to Tung Chung via the MTR (subway) to meet Katy after she got out of work. After talking for a while she headed home and I went and grabbed some Indian food with my dinner allowance from T.I. and then caught the 7:05 bus back to Pui O and arrived here about 25 minutes later.
Now I don't think i'm going to move from this spot on the futon for a couple days....I might be able to actually do it, I have my laptop and music for entertainment, leftover food scraps scattered around me for sustenance, an old tea bag and some half filled leftover bottles of water for hydration, an air conditioner that I could turn on with my reachin' stick, and hey this futon is sketchy enough that I'm sure a few "accidents" would go unnoticed at least for a few days....
Anyway two weeks of hell just ended, haha, my tribe finished 5th out of 12 today, with a strong 2nd in the tribal chant that took place at West Island School on Hong Kong Island this morning. We would have taken 2nd overall if my kids handn't broken "Daanald" their egg to care for throughout the week. Daan is how you say egg in Cantonese, hehe, only my Chinese kids got that one...
We also have the weekend off AND next Wednesday and Thursday off, so nice! I'm in desperate need of this time off since I definitely need rest to fight off this cold that is hitting me. I feel ok energy wise, but just getting a cough and sinus aches.
After our debrief at the school I went in to Tom Lee Music in Wan Chai and picked up a spare set of guitar strings just in case I have any breakages, you can't just drive 20 minutes to Plattsburgh and take your choice of 15 different kinds at Bob's Music. It's a 5-25 minute wait for the bus, a 25 minute ferry ride, a 25 minute walk/subway/walk to the nearest music store with maybe 3 kinds of acoustic strings and these times are if you hit the transports exactly and don't have to wait.
After picking up strings I made my way back to Tung Chung via the MTR (subway) to meet Katy after she got out of work. After talking for a while she headed home and I went and grabbed some Indian food with my dinner allowance from T.I. and then caught the 7:05 bus back to Pui O and arrived here about 25 minutes later.
Now I don't think i'm going to move from this spot on the futon for a couple days....I might be able to actually do it, I have my laptop and music for entertainment, leftover food scraps scattered around me for sustenance, an old tea bag and some half filled leftover bottles of water for hydration, an air conditioner that I could turn on with my reachin' stick, and hey this futon is sketchy enough that I'm sure a few "accidents" would go unnoticed at least for a few days....
Sunday, November 8, 2009
New addition to the family....
Yesterday, I met Katy in the city with plans of going to get my haircut, look at acoustic guitars, and maybe go Christmas shopping.
Ended up we (I) spent a lot of time looking at and playing guitars, before finally deciding on one. It ended up being about $170 US for a solid top guitar and soft case. They don't bargain or give discounts at the place I bought from, I couldn't even get picks or cheap strings or a discount on the gig bag from them... Anyway I think it's an excellent guitar for the price I paid, nice wood, and fretboard, deep bass sound with decent mid and high range. This is all coming from a guy who hasn't really played a decent instrument for more than 5 minutes in about 8 months, so who knows anymore.
Before purchasing the guitar Katy and I went to Pizza Express and had some really good food, yes Good good, (not Hong Kong good, for those of you keeping track) I had a pizza and Katy had marinated portabello mushroom with greens and almonds on it.
We also decided to go see "This is it" Michael Jackson's movie and it actually wasn't bad, it definately changed my view of him.
A 5 day 3 night camp starts tomorrow at 7:15, I'm still recovering from last week, vocally, mentally, and physically, but I should be ready to go tomorrow. I'm staying over Tuesday and Wednesday this week with the kids.
I'm doing the gauntlet of activities again this week with kayaking, gorging, adventure race, Cheung Chau expedition, raft building, among many others in our action packed days.
Dinner in Mui Wo with a bunch of the gang in about an hour.
I just recorded 3 videos for people to see my new acquisition, "Understand Your Man" is a new one that I learned from Johnny Cash and then the ol' standby "Wreck of Old 97" and then finally a record of the "Redwing" tribute piece I arranged after Millard passed away.
Ended up we (I) spent a lot of time looking at and playing guitars, before finally deciding on one. It ended up being about $170 US for a solid top guitar and soft case. They don't bargain or give discounts at the place I bought from, I couldn't even get picks or cheap strings or a discount on the gig bag from them... Anyway I think it's an excellent guitar for the price I paid, nice wood, and fretboard, deep bass sound with decent mid and high range. This is all coming from a guy who hasn't really played a decent instrument for more than 5 minutes in about 8 months, so who knows anymore.
Before purchasing the guitar Katy and I went to Pizza Express and had some really good food, yes Good good, (not Hong Kong good, for those of you keeping track) I had a pizza and Katy had marinated portabello mushroom with greens and almonds on it.
We also decided to go see "This is it" Michael Jackson's movie and it actually wasn't bad, it definately changed my view of him.
A 5 day 3 night camp starts tomorrow at 7:15, I'm still recovering from last week, vocally, mentally, and physically, but I should be ready to go tomorrow. I'm staying over Tuesday and Wednesday this week with the kids.
I'm doing the gauntlet of activities again this week with kayaking, gorging, adventure race, Cheung Chau expedition, raft building, among many others in our action packed days.
Dinner in Mui Wo with a bunch of the gang in about an hour.
I just recorded 3 videos for people to see my new acquisition, "Understand Your Man" is a new one that I learned from Johnny Cash and then the ol' standby "Wreck of Old 97" and then finally a record of the "Redwing" tribute piece I arranged after Millard passed away.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday!
Finally home after an exhausting week, but very good. The kids went home at around 1:00 after 5 days and 4 nights and me sleeping over in a tent Monday night and Thursday night. The nights are getting more comfortable, i actually have to cover up when sleeping outside now. My fleece coat also wasn't enough so I ended up putting my legs inside my Osprey pack to keep a little warmer and it worked pretty well actually...
This week consisted of beach games Monday, with me leading "the water tube" which is a 5" pvc pipe with holes drilled in it and the kids need to fill it up by running into the sea and bringing back water while the other members of the group plug the holes. It's crazyness and it's pretty funny watching the kids that don't want to get wet or sandy get drenched when they or someone near them accidentally lets go of a hole.
Tuesday was 6 hours of kayaking, ugghh, i'm a little bit done with kayaking for a bit, 11 sessions in 7 days wore me out...
Wednesday was the Cheung Chau "Expedition" aka day trip to the island and walk back, it's hard to even call it a "hike" but the kids tend to think it's the hardest thing in the world at the time
Thursday was gorge setup and running a group through in the morning, eating lunch and running back up again in the afternoon. We encountered almost 200 screaming Chinese students and instructors participating in some sort of boot camp thing as we tried to get our groups up, they would push our kids out of the way and monopolize the entire track up. It was an unbelievable experience seeing the lack of safety they were employing. No helmets, stringing ropes of trees and roots (not the bolts in the rock that we use), using students to hold ropes while others traverse across a pool on a rope upside down, 2 helmets in the entire group, and the mass of about 25 people at the top of the waterfall and another 25 pushing people up the corner that you see Bryan climb up in my video clips a couple posts ago. It was such a recipe for disaster I couldn't even watch it, good thing our kids were really good and just hung out until the ridiculousness passed.
Today was the final tug of war, beach cleanup, and reading in the Pui O school, then they left.
Each day was at least from 7am to 9pm without any real breaks, so I'm ready for my 2 days off this weekend, then rigging the gorge next monday which i really enjoy doing so that's good.
I also learned how to run an espresso machine this week, i can make a latte, an americano, a macchiato, and a good ol' espresso, steam up some milk pour the frothy goodness on whatever you like and it's pure caffeine euphoria the rest of the day.
This weekend i think Katy and Jen and I will head out to Lamma a place we haven't been since we recorded "Lapsap Live on Lamma"
Also James (or American James) is coming back this Monday for 2 days before heading back to the motherland.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
****UPDATED****New pictures from my week in Pak Lap
Here's the slide show of pictures, I'll type a description of each day tomorrow....maybe
*****************
The week in Pak Lap consisted of:
Arriving on Sunday in a junk boat (large boat that sometimes people have parties on) filled with all of our stuff, it took us 2.5 hours to get there and I slept the entire way on the couches inside.
When we arrived we had to unload all the kayaks (about 10), the paddles and pfd, 18 thirteen liter jugs of water, all of our gear, all the ropes and harnesses and climbing helmets. It was a lot of stuff to say the least.
We got it all in to shore after most of us were dumped by the large and quickly crashing waves right before the steep slanted beach, we got situated and I set up my hammock and tied my tarp on and slid it down to the end for maximum airflow.
Albert was the man that owned the building and the kitchen near the beach and he provided us with 3 meals a day until Thursday.
After a Chinese dinner and a overview of our crazy week and impossible timing for the group movement we went to bed.
I had difficulty sleeping in the hammock this week, I was actually cold enough to need to wear a fleece and cover up with my blue ALE shirt, but then I was comfortable.
The kids arrived on special buses that could enter the park around 9:30 and were on the beach and going to their first activity by 10:30 or so. Our first activity was the abseil (aka rappeling for us 'mericans) we ended up going about an hour over our time, the kids were slow and inexperienced, but it's not their fault, what we were doing was a little over their heads and we changed it for the next 3 days, instead of dropping them straight down a 40 foot rock they walked backwards down a 40 foot rocky slope and it got the same effect and everyone was able to go and it fit in the time slot.
The kids left by 3pm and we were free to do whatever for the rest of the night, which was pretty awesome. I did a bunch of things each night, played guitar, bowdrilled, made a rocksling, learned how to ascend and rappel using a single rope technique, did some slackline balancing, swam, ate, hand drilled, plus many other things it was a really great week.
The Hong Kong outward bound students showed up on our last night and I was doing some bowdrilling just as 2 or 3 were nearby and they instantly came over to watch as I busted a coal. Then they left and I played some guitar until they came back with 10 others, haha, all trying to figure out the english to ask me to do it again. So I obliged and busted 2 more coals for them and they were thoroughly impressed... They also played some guitar, but just did little riffs and things, they were ok, but it was a different guitar style, they enjoyed my pick strumming songs.
Thursday night we packed up the junk again by paddling everything back out into the sea and riding 2.5 hours back to Mui Wo to load a truck then unload it back at Pui O and wash and put away everything, it was a long day, but at least I got to sleep in my bed that night. Although, it wasn't for very long since at 6am the next morning we were back out to Wan Tsai in Sai Kung for our final pirates day event.
Long story short, one of the teachers forgot to book the busses for that day and the kids were 1.5 hours late and we had to scrap almost everything but feeding the kids and all of our pirate themed quests were useless...
That's about it (and i'm sick of typing....)
Anyway, this weekend in short has involved recovery from the last week by resting and eating good food, Katy and I bought a quilt and duvet to complete my bed setup so it actually looks and feels like an actual bed now, we went to El Taco Loco last night and had some decent Hong Kong Mexican food, then today we head out to Ma On Shan for Church and brunch with Katy's family and then caught a bus back, had pizza at the airport and then the 3M back to Pui O...This coming week will be day camps Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'll be kayaking with Bryan and Yvonne all 3 days it should be pretty good, although it's supposed to rain all week...
*****************
The week in Pak Lap consisted of:
Arriving on Sunday in a junk boat (large boat that sometimes people have parties on) filled with all of our stuff, it took us 2.5 hours to get there and I slept the entire way on the couches inside.
When we arrived we had to unload all the kayaks (about 10), the paddles and pfd, 18 thirteen liter jugs of water, all of our gear, all the ropes and harnesses and climbing helmets. It was a lot of stuff to say the least.
We got it all in to shore after most of us were dumped by the large and quickly crashing waves right before the steep slanted beach, we got situated and I set up my hammock and tied my tarp on and slid it down to the end for maximum airflow.
Albert was the man that owned the building and the kitchen near the beach and he provided us with 3 meals a day until Thursday.
After a Chinese dinner and a overview of our crazy week and impossible timing for the group movement we went to bed.
I had difficulty sleeping in the hammock this week, I was actually cold enough to need to wear a fleece and cover up with my blue ALE shirt, but then I was comfortable.
The kids arrived on special buses that could enter the park around 9:30 and were on the beach and going to their first activity by 10:30 or so. Our first activity was the abseil (aka rappeling for us 'mericans) we ended up going about an hour over our time, the kids were slow and inexperienced, but it's not their fault, what we were doing was a little over their heads and we changed it for the next 3 days, instead of dropping them straight down a 40 foot rock they walked backwards down a 40 foot rocky slope and it got the same effect and everyone was able to go and it fit in the time slot.
The kids left by 3pm and we were free to do whatever for the rest of the night, which was pretty awesome. I did a bunch of things each night, played guitar, bowdrilled, made a rocksling, learned how to ascend and rappel using a single rope technique, did some slackline balancing, swam, ate, hand drilled, plus many other things it was a really great week.
The Hong Kong outward bound students showed up on our last night and I was doing some bowdrilling just as 2 or 3 were nearby and they instantly came over to watch as I busted a coal. Then they left and I played some guitar until they came back with 10 others, haha, all trying to figure out the english to ask me to do it again. So I obliged and busted 2 more coals for them and they were thoroughly impressed... They also played some guitar, but just did little riffs and things, they were ok, but it was a different guitar style, they enjoyed my pick strumming songs.
Thursday night we packed up the junk again by paddling everything back out into the sea and riding 2.5 hours back to Mui Wo to load a truck then unload it back at Pui O and wash and put away everything, it was a long day, but at least I got to sleep in my bed that night. Although, it wasn't for very long since at 6am the next morning we were back out to Wan Tsai in Sai Kung for our final pirates day event.
Long story short, one of the teachers forgot to book the busses for that day and the kids were 1.5 hours late and we had to scrap almost everything but feeding the kids and all of our pirate themed quests were useless...
That's about it (and i'm sick of typing....)
Anyway, this weekend in short has involved recovery from the last week by resting and eating good food, Katy and I bought a quilt and duvet to complete my bed setup so it actually looks and feels like an actual bed now, we went to El Taco Loco last night and had some decent Hong Kong Mexican food, then today we head out to Ma On Shan for Church and brunch with Katy's family and then caught a bus back, had pizza at the airport and then the 3M back to Pui O...This coming week will be day camps Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'll be kayaking with Bryan and Yvonne all 3 days it should be pretty good, although it's supposed to rain all week...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Back to the grind
My flight ended up being delayed last night because of typhoon Ondoy so instead of leaving at 5pm I ended up taking off at 6:30 and then landing in Hong Kong at about 9:10. We ended up sitting at the unloading dock waiting and waiting for our external power to be hooked up so we could get off the plane, finally we switched to a different area and they still couldn't do it. They ended up killing the engines and letting the emergency power come on, then manually opening the door. The attendants looked a little confused on how to open the main hatch, which was a little concerning...
Today we had a school group come in ready for 3 days and 2 nights with us just doing support for them and the teachers taking care of the activities. However, because of Ondoy they ended up staying just for the day and rescheduling for another time. So we just watched Nimh's Island while i took a nap, hehe. Then it was time for us to run an hours worth of games with the kids and most of them seemed to enjoy playing in the rain. After the games we rolled in to an early dinner and then it was off to the bus to catch the 6:10 fast ferry back to central. We didn't have any cleanup to do so we ended up going home. A pretty good start to work after a week of vacation. I'm busy installing a new version of Ubuntu or else i'd have my pictures up. I'll install Picasa soon and get them uploaded...
Today we had a school group come in ready for 3 days and 2 nights with us just doing support for them and the teachers taking care of the activities. However, because of Ondoy they ended up staying just for the day and rescheduling for another time. So we just watched Nimh's Island while i took a nap, hehe. Then it was time for us to run an hours worth of games with the kids and most of them seemed to enjoy playing in the rain. After the games we rolled in to an early dinner and then it was off to the bus to catch the 6:10 fast ferry back to central. We didn't have any cleanup to do so we ended up going home. A pretty good start to work after a week of vacation. I'm busy installing a new version of Ubuntu or else i'd have my pictures up. I'll install Picasa soon and get them uploaded...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Gorge Day Video Journal
Here it is, it took all night to finish the video uploads to YouTube, I hope it works (and that my commentary is ample and audible...)
Meaghan and Bryan at top of waterfall 8:47am
Bryan Climbing 8:57am
Waterfall Again 9:12am
Jumping into the gorge 10:35.06
Crossing the Handline 10:35.26
11:51
1:45
1:48
1:58
2:19
2:20.16
2:27
2:52
4:16
4:28.24
4:29.32
4:30.36
4:34
4:40
4:51
Meaghan and Bryan at top of waterfall 8:47am
Bryan Climbing 8:57am
Waterfall Again 9:12am
Jumping into the gorge 10:35.06
Crossing the Handline 10:35.26
11:51
1:45
1:48
1:58
2:19
2:20.16
2:27
2:52
4:16
4:28.24
4:29.32
4:30.36
4:34
4:40
4:51
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Busy, Busy, Busy....
This last week was a very busy one. All the senior leaders had a surf camp group this week and we were also on pickup. This meant that all of us had to catch the van at 6:40 every morning this last week to take the 7:10 fast ferry into the city to pick up the kids and take the 8:30 slow ferry back to Lantau.
It was a good week for me, nice to get back into the swing of things working with the kids again. I had "Black Team" which is the oldest of the attendees so ages 10-13. I had from 11 to 14 kids throughout the week. A few of the days were really challenging, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all mostly inside because of lightning procedure. It was all organized really well, but was frustrating for me and the kids not being able to surf.
One highlight of the week was drinking coffee with Irish Cream and buying amazingly awesome egg tarts at the ferry pier. They are so delicious, it reminds me of eating french toast. For whatever reason they don't keep many of them in stock so every morning I'd buy the last one or two of them, I'd also pickup a coconut roll, pinapple roll, coconut and creme, or pinapple and butter depending on what was in stock. They were inexpensive too, i'd get a filling breakfast for less than 14 HKD (so less than $2 US)
Today it's a laptop party at the flat, haha, not planning on doing much for the rest of the day, I think i'll look up campsites for an overnight Katy and I might go on next weekend, I'll also do some more research on the iPod Touch.
I've been fixing or trying to fix Meaghan's laptop for the last week. The Doc's prognosis is acute hard drive failure. The procedure to extract the faulty hardware will commence shortly, I expect it to take no more than 15 minutes, although the computer will need to remain on life support until a suitable replacement is found. I put her on the donor list, but it's not looking good... Looks like a return to "Nerd's Mecca" (aka Golden Computer Center in Sham Shui Po) is imminent. Now if you'll excuse me I have to prep for surgery
It was a good week for me, nice to get back into the swing of things working with the kids again. I had "Black Team" which is the oldest of the attendees so ages 10-13. I had from 11 to 14 kids throughout the week. A few of the days were really challenging, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all mostly inside because of lightning procedure. It was all organized really well, but was frustrating for me and the kids not being able to surf.
One highlight of the week was drinking coffee with Irish Cream and buying amazingly awesome egg tarts at the ferry pier. They are so delicious, it reminds me of eating french toast. For whatever reason they don't keep many of them in stock so every morning I'd buy the last one or two of them, I'd also pickup a coconut roll, pinapple roll, coconut and creme, or pinapple and butter depending on what was in stock. They were inexpensive too, i'd get a filling breakfast for less than 14 HKD (so less than $2 US)
Today it's a laptop party at the flat, haha, not planning on doing much for the rest of the day, I think i'll look up campsites for an overnight Katy and I might go on next weekend, I'll also do some more research on the iPod Touch.
I've been fixing or trying to fix Meaghan's laptop for the last week. The Doc's prognosis is acute hard drive failure. The procedure to extract the faulty hardware will commence shortly, I expect it to take no more than 15 minutes, although the computer will need to remain on life support until a suitable replacement is found. I put her on the donor list, but it's not looking good... Looks like a return to "Nerd's Mecca" (aka Golden Computer Center in Sham Shui Po) is imminent. Now if you'll excuse me I have to prep for surgery
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Only 2 new posts in July...
I was going to twitter more but I'll just write a quick post since I really need to post more, only a week and a half left and I only have 2 posts this month.
Excuse the randomness...
Today really felt like being at home, woke up at 10 made coffee and pancakes, drank and ate while watching baseball...went in to work, ate lunch, set up beach olympics, pitched 3 tents, picked up surf camp stuff and came home before 4pm, did laundry and ate the appetizer sized dinner of pizza, i.e. loaf of bread with pizza crap on top of it. (Later they brought us a bunch of spaghetti because so many people complained...)
Ate some ice cream, now i'm watching Colbert Report and messing around with computer stuff...I could be sitting in New York right now. It feels good to be "going back to my roots" these are all things that I haven't done much of lately. It's tough when so many things go on to take care of these things.
I need a hair cut...
I bought some really good sun screen recommended by Karen
I'm trying to learn Down Yonder on the fiddle
The water coming from the sink is the color of yellow tea because of the typhoon that just went through.
One of the new staff is leaving to go back to New York next Monday, actually he's our flatmate, so we'll have an empty room for a little bit.
I have my first pair of flip-flops since I was like 5, I bought them on my birthday for 48 HKD aka $7 'merica bucks
McDonalds has a new summer promotion here with a Strawberry kit-kat mcflurry and a Italian coffee shake, they're both unbelievably spectacular.
I'm really really missing bluegrass festivals right now, they are such amazing places, I feel so free travelling to them every summer
I've actually found some decent icecream at the central ferry pier 6, 7 HKD for a soft cone, I think it's actual good instead of just Hong Kong good
I just found out there is a movie coming out with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, thanks to Katy for keeping me in the loop
So there's a collection of a bunch of "Twitters" that I could have posted...
Excuse the randomness...
Today really felt like being at home, woke up at 10 made coffee and pancakes, drank and ate while watching baseball...went in to work, ate lunch, set up beach olympics, pitched 3 tents, picked up surf camp stuff and came home before 4pm, did laundry and ate the appetizer sized dinner of pizza, i.e. loaf of bread with pizza crap on top of it. (Later they brought us a bunch of spaghetti because so many people complained...)
Ate some ice cream, now i'm watching Colbert Report and messing around with computer stuff...I could be sitting in New York right now. It feels good to be "going back to my roots" these are all things that I haven't done much of lately. It's tough when so many things go on to take care of these things.
I need a hair cut...
I bought some really good sun screen recommended by Karen
I'm trying to learn Down Yonder on the fiddle
The water coming from the sink is the color of yellow tea because of the typhoon that just went through.
One of the new staff is leaving to go back to New York next Monday, actually he's our flatmate, so we'll have an empty room for a little bit.
I have my first pair of flip-flops since I was like 5, I bought them on my birthday for 48 HKD aka $7 'merica bucks
McDonalds has a new summer promotion here with a Strawberry kit-kat mcflurry and a Italian coffee shake, they're both unbelievably spectacular.
I'm really really missing bluegrass festivals right now, they are such amazing places, I feel so free travelling to them every summer
I've actually found some decent icecream at the central ferry pier 6, 7 HKD for a soft cone, I think it's actual good instead of just Hong Kong good
I just found out there is a movie coming out with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, thanks to Katy for keeping me in the loop
So there's a collection of a bunch of "Twitters" that I could have posted...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Two days down...Seven Weeks to Go
Monday was our first day with the kids, 70 or so came for surf camp and we've had between 6 and 8 coming for the "adventure camp" that I've been working.
Yesterday I lead kayaking in the morning, it was the second time I've ever lead it. It went well and it was a really good learning experience. The waves rolling in were probably around two or three feet, so it was really crazy trying to get some of the kids out past the breaking waves.
I was back helping a really slow boat get out and I got dumped from my kayak, which is really easy to do since they are sit-on-tops and there's no real way to hold on to them. So I get back in give the slow dual kayak a good push out, climb back in my boat and dump again. Frustrated I power out through the rest of the waves and try to reassemble the group of 3 kids boats. I patted my pockets and realized that my phone (which was double bagged in ziplocks) had disappeared. I forgot my watch and I really wanted a time keeping device or else I would never have brought it out on the water.
An hour and a half later, the session was over and the kids were back in on shore. We dragged our kayaks in about 4 inches of water along the beach back to the trail where we could pick them up with the pushcart or "trolley" as everyone says around here. As I was walking my boat back I spotted some plastic floating up along the shore and when I picked it up my phone was inside, good as new. I was so excited and did this crazy jumping dance. Irvin was right in front of me looking puzzled, all he saw was me picking up a piece of garbage or "rubbish" as all the Brits say and then jumping up and going crazy. Usually Pui O beach garbage isn't worth celebrating over since there is literally a tandem dump truck load of it washed up on Pui O Beach every day. Once i told Irvin the story about my phone falling out he realized I hadn't completely lost it...
Monday afternoon was beach games lead my one of the new senior leaders, while the rest of the senior leaders and the new Operations Director had a really good talk about how the morning went. I never thought I'd be able to write "Treasure Island" and "staff development" in the same sentence, but here it goes.... This summer at Treasure Island has been going so well in terms of staff development. Which leads me today...
Tuesday June 30, 2009
Last week we went up the gorge with our training group. Most of the senior leaders learned how to set it up from Khem our Nepalese rigging guru and veritable Renaissance man. We have a certain amount of ropes and carabiners and leashes to place safety lines at sketchy parts of the gorge right outside of Pui O. The new director had me fill my pack with all the ropes and pieces needed to set up the gorge and sent me off to do my best with setting it up. He'd follow us up and double check the ropes before letting the kids on them and then bounce back and forth between the riggers up ahead and the group of kids following behind. It was a great learning experience for me, someone that has never done much rock climbing or rope work. Like anything else it's all pretty straight forward, it just takes proper instruction and some practice, both of which I received today. Next time I feel like I can do the whole thing no problem and be 100% confident in the safety of the entire setup too.
We taught the kids surfing this afternoon, it went pretty well, but it was tiring being in the water for almost 2 hours with waves beating down on you constantly. I don't know how the surf camp staff does that every day.
Tomorrow is biking and beach games and also Hong Kong SAR day, which celebrates the day that Hong Kong broke off from the UK and rejoined China.
Thursday is an overnight with the kids and me teaching some wilderness skills...
Yesterday I lead kayaking in the morning, it was the second time I've ever lead it. It went well and it was a really good learning experience. The waves rolling in were probably around two or three feet, so it was really crazy trying to get some of the kids out past the breaking waves.
I was back helping a really slow boat get out and I got dumped from my kayak, which is really easy to do since they are sit-on-tops and there's no real way to hold on to them. So I get back in give the slow dual kayak a good push out, climb back in my boat and dump again. Frustrated I power out through the rest of the waves and try to reassemble the group of 3 kids boats. I patted my pockets and realized that my phone (which was double bagged in ziplocks) had disappeared. I forgot my watch and I really wanted a time keeping device or else I would never have brought it out on the water.
An hour and a half later, the session was over and the kids were back in on shore. We dragged our kayaks in about 4 inches of water along the beach back to the trail where we could pick them up with the pushcart or "trolley" as everyone says around here. As I was walking my boat back I spotted some plastic floating up along the shore and when I picked it up my phone was inside, good as new. I was so excited and did this crazy jumping dance. Irvin was right in front of me looking puzzled, all he saw was me picking up a piece of garbage or "rubbish" as all the Brits say and then jumping up and going crazy. Usually Pui O beach garbage isn't worth celebrating over since there is literally a tandem dump truck load of it washed up on Pui O Beach every day. Once i told Irvin the story about my phone falling out he realized I hadn't completely lost it...
Monday afternoon was beach games lead my one of the new senior leaders, while the rest of the senior leaders and the new Operations Director had a really good talk about how the morning went. I never thought I'd be able to write "Treasure Island" and "staff development" in the same sentence, but here it goes.... This summer at Treasure Island has been going so well in terms of staff development. Which leads me today...
Tuesday June 30, 2009
Last week we went up the gorge with our training group. Most of the senior leaders learned how to set it up from Khem our Nepalese rigging guru and veritable Renaissance man. We have a certain amount of ropes and carabiners and leashes to place safety lines at sketchy parts of the gorge right outside of Pui O. The new director had me fill my pack with all the ropes and pieces needed to set up the gorge and sent me off to do my best with setting it up. He'd follow us up and double check the ropes before letting the kids on them and then bounce back and forth between the riggers up ahead and the group of kids following behind. It was a great learning experience for me, someone that has never done much rock climbing or rope work. Like anything else it's all pretty straight forward, it just takes proper instruction and some practice, both of which I received today. Next time I feel like I can do the whole thing no problem and be 100% confident in the safety of the entire setup too.
We taught the kids surfing this afternoon, it went pretty well, but it was tiring being in the water for almost 2 hours with waves beating down on you constantly. I don't know how the surf camp staff does that every day.
Tomorrow is biking and beach games and also Hong Kong SAR day, which celebrates the day that Hong Kong broke off from the UK and rejoined China.
Thursday is an overnight with the kids and me teaching some wilderness skills...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Last week
Last week was pretty busy, we had an Australian school come Monday (6th graders). So I was there to help them out because my real group (Shanghai) didn't come until Tuesday. Then Wednesday I broke off from them to go kayaking with yet another school coming in for a day. It was a pretty logistically crazy week. It was great weather all week, the sun was blazing Wednesday, but then hazed up Thursday and Friday.
My primitive skills package came in and I was able to use some of the materials in it to show how to make a matchless fire, well almost. I didn't have time to prepare everything so we tried a lot with the strikers and just couldn't get it to catch, but all the kids had fun trying and they got the point I think.
I found a stave to make a bow for my bowdrill set and I should be "busting" a coal sometime today. I feel a lot of relief now that I have that box, there are so many projects/possibilities in it. And for someone who is pretty knife-centric I felt pretty lost without my Leatherman the past 3 weeks.
We have a half day of work today and then I might go get some more groceries I think. We have two day camps coming Thursday and Friday so it should be a pretty chill week.
------Cantonese Lesson of the Day------
Joe-san = Good Morning
My primitive skills package came in and I was able to use some of the materials in it to show how to make a matchless fire, well almost. I didn't have time to prepare everything so we tried a lot with the strikers and just couldn't get it to catch, but all the kids had fun trying and they got the point I think.
I found a stave to make a bow for my bowdrill set and I should be "busting" a coal sometime today. I feel a lot of relief now that I have that box, there are so many projects/possibilities in it. And for someone who is pretty knife-centric I felt pretty lost without my Leatherman the past 3 weeks.
We have a half day of work today and then I might go get some more groceries I think. We have two day camps coming Thursday and Friday so it should be a pretty chill week.
------Cantonese Lesson of the Day------
Joe-san = Good Morning
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Running through the summer rain, trying to catch that evenin' train...
The kids had to navigate to various waypoints and do different tasks and answer questions. I was stationed at the Cheung Po-tsai cave and brought a few groups through the 75 meters (no one knows what you're talking about if you use feet here) of darkness. Then headed back to meet up for lunch and to catch the ferry back to Mui Wo (which is the ferry travel hub on Lantau).We were supposed to do a 4-5 Kilometer hike (miles??) we were able to start it, but it started down-pouring so we ended up getting buses to pick us up after 45 minutes of walking. It was good to see the kids get challenged a bit with this, most did alright with it, for me it was business as usual. Coming from the Adirondacks, the land of a thousand 60 degree and rainy days (Yes that's Fahrenheit, I haven't wrapped my mind around Celsius just yet), I felt at home in my full set of rain gear and was bone dry when we got back; ready to set up camp and put the pot on....err wait this isn't ALE.... Ready to bring the kids to dinner and get ready for the indoor nightly activities.
The kids left Friday afternoon we did forum....err debrief about the week, I brought all my soaking wet stuff home to dry since the tent area is a huge mud puddle when it rains and we had our complimentary Friday beer and burger week ending get together
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