Our Under 14 girls team with their 3rd place medals (plus random Curtis sneaking into the pic)Friday, October 2, 2009
Cross Country racing
I took my gaggle of cross country runners to the Singapore International Champs this week. It was held at the American School of Singapore which was a bit too urban for a cross country race. Nevertheless heaps of kids from the other schools competed. The race was dominated by the kids from the American School. The school has about 3,000 students and a very modern and bling campus. Wouldn't mind having a full athletics track, Olympic size pool and artificial turf at our school. We didn't have many kids running. Our school has about 550 students, which is tiny compared to the seven big schools here with between 2000 and 3500 students.
Our Under 14 girls team with their 3rd place medals (plus random Curtis sneaking into the pic)
Our Under 14 girls team with their 3rd place medals (plus random Curtis sneaking into the pic)
A weekend workshop in Bangkok
A few week ago we headed to Bangkok for a weekend of curriculum training for the International Baccalaureate. Both Rachel and I are now teaching a middle years class ( Grade 6 - 10) so spent three days in a workshop learning about Humanities / Social Studies, assessments and or sorts of other dull teaching material. This is about as close as we will ever get to a business trip so we made the most of it.
Our workshop classroom at the New International School of Thailand, boring.
We stayed in a great hotel in central Bangkok in the district of Sukhumvit, about a 10 min walk from the school where the course was run. The hotel was amazing value compared to the some of the hotels that was stayed in whilst in Europe.
Our hotel suite, huge lounge, kitchen and the king size bedroom.
We enjoyed the chance to network with some other teachers from around Asia. We met teachers who work in Beijing at a rather prestigious international school, the Western Academy of Beijing. http://www.wab.edu/ We also befriended people from Laos, Thailand and Indonesia. The growth of international schools in Asia is exponential at the moment especially in India and China with more multinational companies setting up in those parts of the world.
Lumpini market and food courts, the girls are out shopping.
We didn't get a huge chance to tour the city but did escape on Saturday night to the night markets in Lumpini. On the same afternoon, 30,000 red shirt anti government protestors where heading into central Bangkok a year after the riots when the airport was closed for week. We managed to get across town on the subway system which is brand new and very efficient. From what we heard Bangkok is not quite the wild west of Asia that it used to be. Still plently of interesting stuff that contrast against sterile Singapore. Think we might head back for a long weekend soon to do some shopping and check out the temples and attractions.
Our workshop classroom at the New International School of Thailand, boring.We stayed in a great hotel in central Bangkok in the district of Sukhumvit, about a 10 min walk from the school where the course was run. The hotel was amazing value compared to the some of the hotels that was stayed in whilst in Europe.
Our hotel suite, huge lounge, kitchen and the king size bedroom.We enjoyed the chance to network with some other teachers from around Asia. We met teachers who work in Beijing at a rather prestigious international school, the Western Academy of Beijing. http://www.wab.edu/ We also befriended people from Laos, Thailand and Indonesia. The growth of international schools in Asia is exponential at the moment especially in India and China with more multinational companies setting up in those parts of the world.
Lumpini market and food courts, the girls are out shopping.Saturday, September 26, 2009
Formula One Night Race
Along with a mate from school, I headed along to the Formula One last night. Friday was the cheapest of the three nights so we grabbed tickets. At $38 for a walk-about ticket it was a bargain. For the same privilege, a walkabout ticket on race night is $128. A seat in a stand begins at $300 up to $1,200 per seat along pit lane.
The atmosphere was electric and the city spectacular under lights. The 5km night circuit loops around an area called Marina Bay which contains numerous attractions such as the Esplanade theaters, the Singapore Flyer and the grandiose Fullerton Hotel. We happily walked around during the first practise session and found plenty of good spots to watch the cars rush past. The bridge across the harbour was a good place to see the cars hit 300km/hour and then brake for a 90 degree corner. In between practise sessions everyone congregated in the central Padang cricket ground for live music and waited for the late session to begin.
The highlight of the late session was a crash by a Renault driver in the same spot as the now infamous accident when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on team orders to help Fernando Alonso, another Renualt driver win the 2008 race. An unexpected part of the race for me was the live music running throughout the weekend. Friday night was headlined by Katy Perry, who incidentally didn't turn up to the stage. We could figure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps she was stuck in a bar kissing a girl or trying to find a F1 boyfriend. On Saturday night, Travis is playing.
I didn't have my camera, as Rachel took it back to NZ, so have borrowed a few pics from Flikr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimiraikkonen/
The atmosphere was electric and the city spectacular under lights. The 5km night circuit loops around an area called Marina Bay which contains numerous attractions such as the Esplanade theaters, the Singapore Flyer and the grandiose Fullerton Hotel. We happily walked around during the first practise session and found plenty of good spots to watch the cars rush past. The bridge across the harbour was a good place to see the cars hit 300km/hour and then brake for a 90 degree corner. In between practise sessions everyone congregated in the central Padang cricket ground for live music and waited for the late session to begin.
The highlight of the late session was a crash by a Renault driver in the same spot as the now infamous accident when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on team orders to help Fernando Alonso, another Renualt driver win the 2008 race. An unexpected part of the race for me was the live music running throughout the weekend. Friday night was headlined by Katy Perry, who incidentally didn't turn up to the stage. We could figure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps she was stuck in a bar kissing a girl or trying to find a F1 boyfriend. On Saturday night, Travis is playing.
I didn't have my camera, as Rachel took it back to NZ, so have borrowed a few pics from Flikr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimiraikkonen/
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Reminiscing about summer holidays
We have been travelling heaps lately, think Rachel is on first name terms with the taxi drivers at the airport. Our summer holiday in Europe was still pretty amazing and a great break. Can't think of anything better than driving around, camping and eating far too much food. Here are some favourite pics of our June/July trip around France then the UK.
Exploring the walled city of St Malo on the northwestern coast of France. The city was destroyed by allied bombing in the Second World War but has been put back to its original form and style, piece by piece.
The American war cemetery at Ohama Beach. A place that is famous for just one day in history, when the allies captured the beach on D Day and fought to break the German's hold on France.
Out walking in the French Alps with Mt Blanc forming a backdrop. Fairytale forest and majestic mountains.
The late evening summer sun playing on the buildings in central Edinburgh .
Rach at Euro Disney outside of Paris... who would have guessed?
Back to the coalface
Holidays seem like a long forgotten memory now. We have been back in Singapore for nearly two months, and are well back into the swing of teaching and living on the equator.
Our local MRT/Subway station, about 5min walk.
The school year runs from August to June in most international schools, so August represents a fresh start with a new group of student to remember. This year it took me about four weeks until I could confidently remember all of the students names. I still have trouble remembered the names such as Jong In, Sang Hoon, Sang Mo, Hye Jin, Hoang Duy. After a while, I can put a face to a name but my brain is still in a western mindset. Give me a list of Jessica, Emma, Jane and Emily and it would take a week. I am teaching Economics, Humanities and Business Management this year. Humanities is my first junior class overseas. They are about 5th form, the remainder of my classes are 6th or 7th form NZ equilvients.
Other than school we have caught up with lots of people. An orienteering mate Darren was in town running a competition called the Hillary Challenge for Singapore schools. Was great to catch up and see a bit of outdoors stuff. The Minstry of Education in Singapore contracts the NZ Outdoor Pursuits Centre and Darren to run the competion. It is limited to local schools, otherwise the international schools would have a large presence.
I also competing in my first race in Singapore. It was a 5km race around the Formula One circuit which was closed to traffic. I managed a cheeky win, from a field of 4000 people. Pity none of them could really run, as it was a great course andfully closed to all traffic. I ran 16.45 which is slow by NZ standards but somehow fast by Singapore standards. I am always looking for a few more races to enter. I keep missing the cut offs for the big races. The Standard and Chartered Marathon/Half Marathon has closed entries at their limit of 50,000 competiors. Need to plan ahead when the races are so popular and not scheduled until Dec ! guttered
Our local MRT/Subway station, about 5min walk.The school year runs from August to June in most international schools, so August represents a fresh start with a new group of student to remember. This year it took me about four weeks until I could confidently remember all of the students names. I still have trouble remembered the names such as Jong In, Sang Hoon, Sang Mo, Hye Jin, Hoang Duy. After a while, I can put a face to a name but my brain is still in a western mindset. Give me a list of Jessica, Emma, Jane and Emily and it would take a week. I am teaching Economics, Humanities and Business Management this year. Humanities is my first junior class overseas. They are about 5th form, the remainder of my classes are 6th or 7th form NZ equilvients.
Other than school we have caught up with lots of people. An orienteering mate Darren was in town running a competition called the Hillary Challenge for Singapore schools. Was great to catch up and see a bit of outdoors stuff. The Minstry of Education in Singapore contracts the NZ Outdoor Pursuits Centre and Darren to run the competion. It is limited to local schools, otherwise the international schools would have a large presence.
I also competing in my first race in Singapore. It was a 5km race around the Formula One circuit which was closed to traffic. I managed a cheeky win, from a field of 4000 people. Pity none of them could really run, as it was a great course andfully closed to all traffic. I ran 16.45 which is slow by NZ standards but somehow fast by Singapore standards. I am always looking for a few more races to enter. I keep missing the cut offs for the big races. The Standard and Chartered Marathon/Half Marathon has closed entries at their limit of 50,000 competiors. Need to plan ahead when the races are so popular and not scheduled until Dec ! guttered
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
From France to Scotland
After living the high life camping in France we skipped across the channel to the UK courtesy of a cheap Ryanair flight. We thought the flight left from "Paris" but turns out the airport is a good hours drive north in some little village. Anyway we arrived in Scotland fine, struggling to find enough warm clothes and then grabbing a new rental for our few weeks in the UK.
We spent a week driving around Scotland with Rachel's long lost brother and girlfriend Nina. It was good to see Rodney after about 4 years. We left Glasgow after one brief night and headed around the usual western and northern tourist circuit. We visited Loch Lomond drove to stay in Oban for the night on the coast. Then we did a long misson in the rain to the Isle of Skye which reminded me of the remote parts of the south Island scoured with large glacial valleys.
We continued the circuit north checking out Lochness and then eventually to a very grey town of Inverness. From here we drove diagonally south back towards Edinburgh so we could drop off Rodney and Nina at a huge music festival 'T in the Park'. We enjoyed chilling in Edinburgh, literally and metaphorically. It had a nice feel with lots of students, a few tourists and heads of pubs and good food.
Since then we have leapfrogged south to York for a night. I ran around the town for a while trying to avoid what seemed like half of England out for a Saturday afternoon walk. From there we are visiting lots of friends for a week. We are currently in south Manchester visiting one of Rachel's close friends Kat, this afternoon we will head to Sheffield to see Bryn and Piret, orienteering friends and flatmates and do some fell race. Then we will visit Leicester to see friends who we meet in South America before spending out penultimate week in London and Paris before flying back to Singapore.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Exploring Chamonix
With our friends from Singapore we have been exploring the hills around the ski resort town of Chamonix. The town to nestled in a huge glacial valley at the base of Mt Blanc which at 4800m is the highest moutain in Europe. Just to the north is the Swiss border and Geneva and through the tunnel to the east is Italy.
Yesterday after the half marathon we walked up to Lac Blanc which is perched above the valley looking out towards Mt Blanc on the opposite side of the valley. The climb began with a hillside of tight zigzigs and ascended 800m onto a balcony looking over Chamonix. Amongst the throngs of walkers we spotted heaps of wildlife and local deer.
The lake was in a small valley with remanents of last winters snow covering the mountains on all sides. The view from the turqouise lake across the valley was surreal. We ended the walk with another haul accoss an escarpment of rock to a ski station at about 2800m. A good day of climbing.
Today we did the big tourist thing here and caught the chairlift up to a point high above the valley called Angille di Midi. This peak is 3800m and the highest cable car in the world. The views were out of this world and an amazing view into the mountaineering landscape. From this point we caught another cable car across about 4km of glaciers to the Italian side of the Mt Blanc massif. The views down were a little scary as you spoted climbers dodging the glaciers far below. We took heaps of photos before returning back to Chamonix to grab some lunch.
Tomorrow we are off towards Switzerland and then back towards Paris before next weekend.
Yesterday after the half marathon we walked up to Lac Blanc which is perched above the valley looking out towards Mt Blanc on the opposite side of the valley. The climb began with a hillside of tight zigzigs and ascended 800m onto a balcony looking over Chamonix. Amongst the throngs of walkers we spotted heaps of wildlife and local deer.
The lake was in a small valley with remanents of last winters snow covering the mountains on all sides. The view from the turqouise lake across the valley was surreal. We ended the walk with another haul accoss an escarpment of rock to a ski station at about 2800m. A good day of climbing.
Today we did the big tourist thing here and caught the chairlift up to a point high above the valley called Angille di Midi. This peak is 3800m and the highest cable car in the world. The views were out of this world and an amazing view into the mountaineering landscape. From this point we caught another cable car across about 4km of glaciers to the Italian side of the Mt Blanc massif. The views down were a little scary as you spoted climbers dodging the glaciers far below. We took heaps of photos before returning back to Chamonix to grab some lunch.
Tomorrow we are off towards Switzerland and then back towards Paris before next weekend.
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