Hong Kong

For the past month as the weather has begun to cool and Hong Kong has been getting tizzed up in Christmas decorations I've had the beach on my mind.

Not the kind of beach where you get to lie in the sun and feel the white sand between your toes, no, a different beach. A beach that needs cleaning!

I wanted to have an event that would bring together the students in Hong Kong that DO actually care and what better way to do that than to have a clean up day. Under the banner of Roots & Shoots I invited all the current groups and rallied together teachers that seemed keen to get groups started.

A months worth of risk assessments, liaising with the FEHD (Food and Environmental Hygiene Department) and scouting beaches and we were ready. A 75 strong army of students and teachers from primary and secondary schools across Hong Kong and even one group from Mainland China came together at Mui Wo to do our bit.

The day was a huge success with sunny cool weather, St Johns First Aid on hand just in case and a load of keen kids really giving it their best!

Advertising R & S while waiting for groups at the Central Ferry Pier.

The whole Roots & Shoots Gang

Well, i've survived my second annual school sports day. Running the relay again (and coming last - again!) but we sure did have fun.....

Yin Yin and I

Little Leo the Champion Sprinter

The lovely Ada and I

The parents, teachers and past student relay participants.

The English Teachers Relay team - the only team of all females - go girls!

Kayaking in Pui O.

Oops! Fell out!

Dad in Shek O taking shade from the HOT HOT sun.

Bouldering in Shek O.

TST at night.

Star Ferry terminal looking over to the Hong Kong side.

Wow! It's been a while since Tim and I have added anything to the blog and to most of you I guess that would imply there's nothing to add but wait.... there is... too much in fact!!

As we see another academic year wind down we are consumed with wrapping up ongoing projects and beginning new ones.

Tim is starting a new job in August at the English Schools Foundation Kennedy School on the Western part of HK Island and apart from being an awful lot shorter commute to work he'll be teaching is very own class of P4 students - 4B - The 4B Barracuda's - name to be confirmed.

The long planned and much stressed over Roots and Shoots Environmental Education Workshop was run by Hannah (Jane Goodall Institute) and Myself at Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Gardens in the New Territories - for those of you who plan to come and visit this is a place I’ll be taking you to! It went off without a hitch and we now have a solid network of educators to fight the good fight.

The past week has seen me busily preparing for the Macau Action Asia Adventure race - yes, I've graduated from the sprint events and have been handed a mountain bike, a few carabineers and a kayak and told I'm ready for the big (it's big for me) time. To add to the adventure, last night we found Tim's passport had been washed through the laundry - I had a minor detour from 'cool' although Tim would probably call it a major breakdown. I was relieved today however when Tim called from the consulate telling me an emergency one will be issued 5pm tomorrow night (a little close for comfort but wonderful given the circumstances).

My storybook is coming along nicely. “The Litter Hunt” featuring Edson and a yet to be named girl who will explore the streets of Hong Kong and enter the untamed world of the.... sorry, can't divulge too much – ruins the surprise! Had a little interest from local publishers and given that it's for HK kids, that's a pretty good start. We'll wait and see what happens....

And way back at the start of April, Tim travelled to Sabah (again, the lucky thing!) for the Sabah Adventure Challenge, 3 days of running, biking, kayaking, orienteering, and rope work (I'm sure there were even more disciplines, I just can't remember). Tim (and his Team "Find North" - inc. Mark and Charlie) had an exhuasting hot race but managed to come 4th overall after holding a podium place for most of the race. Tim came back from the trip burnt to a crisp - quite literally - and was adamant he had just completed one of the hardest and most enjoyable races he'd ever done.

Anyway, as we plug away at the final weeks of teaching I can already taste the Vietnamese seafood on my lips. Will have photo's from Macau and an update soon, but I guess just for the sake of keeping a record I thought I better add something about the months that have just slipped by - cause jee wiz - they've been busy!

8 km of running up and down rain soaked clay hills...

Sprinting along the beach....

Jumping into the water and wading waist deep for 100m...

Scrambling across the barnacle and slime encrusted coast for 1km....

Bounding along a river gorge up ropes, cargo nets and zero friction rocks for another kilometer...

Then back again along the coast for another 1.5km....

To sprint it out through the sand to the finish line!

Tim and I could not think of a better way we'd want to spend our Sunday - 12km of Adventure racing! They call this the sprint event because to most in the sport it's a mini race however to me (and my aching thighs today) I would argue otherwise!

Tim ran the race as an individual in the men's 20 - 29 yr old category.

That's Tim coming out of the water at the front.

I ran the race in the women's team category with Naomi - I run with Sarah and Naomi every Thursday along a very flat 4km track called Bowen Road. Team Name: Bowen Road Bumblies

Notice that tim is looking very fresh - he should, given he finished a whole hour before we came in! Nick (Naomi's boyfriend) also joined the race and ran along with us.

The day was awesome (and extremely hard) but Tim, Naomi and I are lucky enough to have more than just the memories of the day as a token of our Action Asia Race - we have TROPHIES!! Yep, that's right, Tim came second in his category (Time: 1hr 31min) and Naomi and I surprisingly came in 3rd in ours (Time: 2hrs 34min) - out of 9 women's teams!!

Although our result had quite the element of 'luck', Tim's result was awesome given the size of the field. He also placed in the top 15 overall against very tough competition.

Along with the trophies as our souvenirs I also have the wicked grazes down the side of my left thigh as a sweet reminder of when I took a dive head first down a hill, as well as the small pieces of barnacles that are embedded in my finger tips from coasteering.

As for today, although a little sore, the second race of the four race series in is two weeks - There's no time to complain when there's training to do!

We even got a mention in the South China Morning Post Sports Section!

To check out this event and others we'll be doing you can go to: www.actionasia.com/aae