Renee & Devon's Beijing Adventure

Renee my best friend since forever it seems, got a chance to come and visit me in my last year of Beijing!

Here is a pictorial account of that fabulous week!

DAY 1:  THE GREAT WALL AT MUTAINYU

Gondola ride up the mountain

The Wall at Mu Tain Yu

Sun and brisk air!  Fabulous!

Best Sales person ever!  Sold us a beer on the Wall!

Saluting Chairman Mao!! 

First Sip!!!

Beer Front and Center!

Peace and Bunny Love

So this was the best experience ever on the Great Wall.  We drove straight up to the top (you cannot do that normally) parked in the first row, and saw maybe a total of 25 people in 2-3 hours!  We had to jump on the Wall.. so we did!!

Making sure it still stands for years to come

Toboggan ride to the bottom!

Sleeping sentries-- oh no!!!

Chinglish

Not sure when this happened but in the last 6 months!

We ended the first full day at an English Pub called the Stumble Inn. And walked home amidst the huge fire work stalls and of course Hooters, which is located five minute walk from my house.

Yup them be Fire Works

Nails being done!  Bunny's painted on!

Go Bunny!

 DAY 2:  Jing Shun Park, Forbidden City,  Tienanmen Square and Capital M for Lunch!

Momma Dragon

Jamming in the park!

Trying not to freeze!

Fabulous doors to back entrance of Forbidden city

Almost caught, but not quite!

Where is Renee?

The progression

Found her!

Peace Baby or is that Bunny Baby?

The boots-  waiting for their owners?

Did you find your boots?

Only on China!

I love this shot!!!

Proof we were there!

DAY 3:  ICE BIKING, HOT POT LUNCH AND THEN THE FIRE WORKS SHOW!

CAN'T STOP LAUGHING!

Had to have the Panda hat picture!!

You can rent one of these chairs as well.

Keeper of the peace and trash!

Sweet potatoes on the ice yummmm!

This man is sooo cute!

Everyone wants fuzzy muffs, right??? !!!

Hot Pot!

LATER THAT EVENING:   Fireworks in Beijing are hard to explain other than people save up all years to set them off..  There are no government sponsored one, they are all from individual owners.

It is scary and fascinating and just breathtakingly amazing!

The reso!

Renee, Jo and me!

The leftovers..

Shrapnel

Renee amongst it all

DAY 4 Was spent at home watching a zillion movies and not being able to move very well....ah the joys of getting older!

DAY 5:  Temple Fair to celebrate Year of the Bunny at Ditan Park!

Traditional Singer

Split pants with a diaper....hummm

Scary Pig.. stall worker..ahh!

Oh the people!  Hold on tight!

More fabulous Chinglish

Who knew Bugs would show up?

Working hard!

Now we end the trip at Black Sesame Kitchen- one of my favorite spots! Where you sit and drink good wine and have a 10 course meal!  Renee even got to participate!  It was Renee, Jo and I!

A redo from Paris days I think!

Chairman Wang- as mentioned in the book we have called Serve the People!

dumplings a la Renee!!!

hair in the dessert!

More Shrapnel... these things are scary!!

Never would be allowed in the US!

paper shrapnel every where- so loud!!

What a whirlwind week and fantastically fun!  Happy year of the bunny!!!

Photos and Stories from Melbourne

Red and Silver Christmas Table

CHRISTMAS 2010- FERN TREE GULLY at the NORMOYLE'S HOME:  

We had a lovely Christmas - the table was set elaborately and beautifully! The theme of the table was red and silver and Sue has these fabulous Santas that hang from the glasses! I loved these!  We had a lovely pre-breckie and then waited for Mark and Lauren to arrive..  then we ate and open prezies.    Even the dog got to come and celebrate!

Santa hanging from my glass!

Monty in the middle of it all!

After Christmas we headed down to the beach for about 5 days.  The Normoyles have a camper superbly located in Torquay (pronouced tor- key).  This is about 5 km away from Bells beach which is where a famous surf competition happens every year!  This small lovely town is home base for Rip Curl, and there are outlets for Billabong, Roxy, and other surf related stores!  Shopping there was quite fun!

These are people going out for a surf lesson

I loved seeing the progression of them getting onto the water.

ready to feel the water and learn from a pro!

A Norfolk pine, singularly beautiful right next to the water

Brookie at dinner!  I think those are fish balls!

Thought I'd prove I was there!

We decided to drive along the Great Ocean Road to go see the 12 Apostles.   These are rock formations that the sea has eroded over time.. There are no longer 12 of them as some have collapsed into the sea.  They are beautiful and breathtaking!

We also drove into the  Otway National Forest to see if we could see some koalas in the wild!  They have had an epidemic of Chlamydia and have been vaccinating them and then moving them.  We believe this area is where they have been moved to because we saw at least 30 koalas in the trees. Brooke said she has never seen so many. They were amazingly cute, "drunk" on the Eucalyptus leaves.  I know they are not "bears" because they are marsupial but you sure want to snuggle with them like a bear :)  I guess that is a fallacy as well because you would not cuddle a bear... but you get the picture!

Mommy alert and looking right at me!

I am scrunched up but comfy!!!

Look how close I am.. I could nab him!

Is this guy for real????

 Oh how I love these little guys!!!!!

My new screen saver at work!!

 These are the 12 Apostles!  Beautiful.. what more can I say!!  It was a little windy that day but the crispness adds to the beauty in my opinion.

Wind swept but happy!

See we were there!  Trying to get a picture!

Flora and fauna

Hilarious sign!

I love the waves on this photo!

Beginning of regrowth after last year's fire.

5 colors:  death and rebirth....

 















This was such a fantastic trip.  

Lovely food, traveling, camping, walking, beaching, sipping copious amounts of champagne, boating, driving, viewing, site seeing, coffeeing, shopping, movies in pure luxury, family time, and friend time! 

Brooke and her family made me feel so at home.  I was relaxed and entertained and just all around loved my experience of Australia! 

Christmas Giving in Mukbo, China December 2010

Since I will not be able to be at home in Colorado this year for Christmas, I decided that giving a gift that will benefit a whole family in need is the best way of celebrating family.    I decided to buy a Yak for a family  in need (detailed below) through the Pentok Institute from the Staffords, Andersons and Hills.

Lhapal and his family are nomadic herders, living on grassland quite a long way from any major towns. Lhapal is 30 years old and he and his wife have two children, a preschool boy and a school-aged girl. The girl is not attending school because the family cannot cover the expenses and the school is so far away.  Additionally, the girl has to help with household chores because the mother is always sick with an undiagnosed illness. The family has no money to send her to a hospital.

Lhapal and his wife started their herd with 5 yaks from Lhapal’s parents. Over the last 10 years he and his wife have worked really hard and have raised 15 more yaks.  Lhapal also helps other families to graze their yaks and sheep for additional income of around 1,000—2000 RMB a year. His wife makes around 500—1,000 RMB a year from selling surplus butter and cheese. They now have enough money to buy food and clothes but no surplus to save for their children’s education or pay for medical help for his wife. Their primary desire is to have enough money to raise some more yaks and be able to send their two children to school.

Pentok means “to benefit and positively impact others.” The Pentok Institute, founded in 2007, is a not-for-profit, grass-roots initiative based in Qinghai Province. It aims to empower women from rural areas to take the lead in improving the quality of life in their communities. Projects include education, women’s leadership development, cultural preservation and community development. To date, 100% of the money Pentok has received has gone directly to projects benefiting local communities.

How does the yak-loan system work?

Pentok formed the Yak Loan Project Committee consisting of a local highly respected Lama named Samdan, the village leader Darbum, and a respected elder man named Uncle Drolby. Fifty low- income families from the Mukbo region were identified using the criteria of the number of livestock they own, additional caterpillar fungus income resource potential, the amount of debt they have as well as the number of school-aged children in each family. (Caterpillar fungus grows in the ground and is widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine)

The poorest six of these families were identified and interviewed. These are families who are barely able to meet their basic needs, let alone repay debts or educate their children. The Pentok Yak Loan Project Committee aims to provide 10 milking yaks for each family. The families can keep their loaned yaks for five years during which time the families will keep all by-products, such as off-spring, milk, meat, wool, butter and cheese. Most of this will be sold to generate cash income; some will be kept for their own families’ use. They will repay half of their loan in Year 3 (5 yaks or equivalent funds) and the other half of the loan in Year 5 (5 yaks or equivalent funds). By Year 3 of the project The Yak-Loan Project Committee will therefore be able to distribute milking yaks to another very poor household in the village so the project can be self-sustaining.

G'day Ow Ya Goin Mate- Tales from Down Under

Yes I am Down Under for Christmas! 

The stressful trip to Australia:  The taxi man picked me up and made a bad turn and we moved 20 feet in 20 minutes.. the clock was ticking (I was trying not to stress)... good thing I try always to leave early.. one hour later I get to the airport... Get to the 1st class counter (thank god for air miles and elite status) and I was told I could not board as I needed a visa (of which I did not even think about, nor did I get- go silly American traveler)... the ticket agent said I could possibly get an instant e-visa and took me down to the business center.. where the Internet was not working.. (a little more stress) then thankfully I got taken down into the depths of the Beijing Capital Airport.. get my instant visa!  (YEAH Thai Airways and YEAH Australia for having e visas for those of us who never think of needing a visa!)...  Get my ticket with a few minutes to spare... get through customs... realize that I forgot Brook's dads present at the ticket counter.... The security man said I did not have time to go back and get the Chinese made walking stick... he saw my face of stress.. and asked a lady to call over and see if it was even still there... I sat down and she had the Thai airways person bring the cane to me :)  Drama OVER!!  Get on the plane and all is smoother from then on! Brooke came and picked me up with a coffee in hand! (LOVE HER) and barely anyone in the airport! We even missed all the storms!

 I am definitely missing my family, but getting an amazing experience here and the Normoyles are taking me in and treating me like family! Trevor is making sure I learn some Strine! (That's Australian- Mate!) It has been unseasonably cold here and quite rainy so far, but each day the weather is getting warmer and I think it is supposed to be a beautiful 28 degrees Celsius.

I got to have a Melbourne experience... We saw Flinder Street Station on Swanson which is where everyone meets under the clocks.   (Here comes a little 'strine (Australian) verbage..   "Went into Young and Jacksons had some tucker (food) and VB "(Victoria Bitter beer other wise known as Vitamin B) and saw the famous Young and Jacksons Chloe (Naked woman portrait- google it) I got a chance to see the Australian Philharmonic Choir sing in St. Paul's Church.  The acoustics were amazing and you can listen in... It was a beautiful experience!

We went and saw the Myers Christmas Windows where each year they depict a theme.. this year was the Nutcracker.  Each window depicted and told part of the story. 

Then Brooke and I went and visited some of her friends down by the bay.  I knew one of them, Carla, who came out to Beijing last year, so that was fun.  I tasted a famous Australian fish called....  and it was lovely! 

Lauren, Brooke's sister and i went shopping at....  which was quite fun and yesterday, Brooke and I biked down the Dandenong Range which was really fun and invigorating!  We rode through huge forests of Eucalyptus and Paperbark trees.

It is hard to download pictures here as they don't have quick in all of Australia, so I will add more pictures when I get home!

So far I have been welcomed into the Normoyle household with loving and open arms and I feel so lucky to get to be here with Brooke and her family!

More updates later

Christmas Cheer Beijing Style

I was trying to get into the Christmas spirit here in Beijing because it's December already. I'm listening to my favorite Christmas music and lo and behold...what to my wondering eyes does appear? No not Santa and his reindeer, but this Christmas display (not really sure what else it could be called).... This is what the "Village" gives us to bring us great cheer and get us in the mood for Christmas! I have been trying to figure out what is happening here, maybe you will have a better idea than me... There seems to be some wigged out penguins and someone jumping out of a cake.. there is also a random bear... I'm not sure if my spirit is enhanced but they sure are trying (especially since they do not celebrate this holiday) and I say thank you.. I think!

Dragon Dispatch- New School Update

My new school has told the world I am coming so I guess it is true even if it feels a million miles away!  It feels really good to be in a bulletin and see your qualifications written out for the new community to see!  WOW! I have to say I a really excited!!!

Dragon Dispatch - December 3, 2010
Updated: December 3, 2010, 1:33 pm

From the Director

Dear ISB Parents and Colleagues,

It is ISB’s good fortune to announce Ms. Devon Stafford as our new Lower School Counselor for the 2011 – 2012 school year.  Devon joins us from the internationally recognized International School of Beijing (the other ISB).  She has been the upper elementary school counselor (grades 3 – 5) and the head of the entire K – 12 counseling department.  IS Beijing has a student population of 1800 students.  In her current position, she provides student support, parent education, and teacher support, while coordinating and administrating the student support services team and collaborating with the Department of Admissions.  She organizes/coordinates all external testing (International School Assessment, Iowa Test of Basic Skills) for the school as well as leading parent book clubs and workshops on Parenting Tips.

Ms. Stafford has received training across a wide spectrum of areas from in-house PYP/MYP/IB training to training for the Virtues Project, a program related to character education.  She received her MA in Counseling from the University of Phoenix and is a certified counselor in the state of Colorado.    Prior to her employment at ISB, she worked as a K – 12 counselor at the International School of Helsinki.  She has 10 years of counseling experience in the United States.