A walk on the beach

Tonight's hash was a bit of an "emergency hash"; as until last week no one had yet signed up to lay it. Two brave hares offered to take it on last minute, but only had time to do an easy "walkie"-one, without any checks, out at Serasa.
Everybody was happy with that, any hash is better than no hash!



So, I walked out to the end of the spit and back in no great speed. Actually I rather enjoyed the different hash, even though there was no jungle at all! :) Instead we had sand, beach, breeze and lovely views of the sea!

Cool dood

Linnea surprised Nathan this morning with a beautiful Father's Day card, with all the words that describes him, love it!

Snapshots

We had another beautiful Greet&Treats cake and gorgeous 3D butterfly cupcakes at the BBQ yesterday.
Since Mallory's birthday will fall while she's back in Canada for the summer holidays, it was a bit of a birthday cake for her. It all looked fabulous and tasted just as good as it looked!





Linnea told a joke at the Kids Hash today:
- Knock, knock.
- Who's there?
- Isabel.
- Isabel who?
- Is a bell necessary on a bike?

Crazy busy June

This weekend have been one of those June-weekends that occur every year, it's always the same. November and June are the busiest months in the bubble, people try to fit everything in before the go away, or before they leave for good.

This weekend, apart from the normal stuff, I had a 'Ladies Lunch' on Friday, followed by a Birthday party/House Warming that we all attended in the afternoon. Saturday Linnea had another birthday party in the morning, we all had a family BBQ in the afternoon and then Nathan and I went to a Farewell Party in the evening.
Today we chilled a bit in the morning, but then it was Kids Hash, time to gear up and hit the jungle.

Tomorrow the family from Aberdeen arrives, and they are here until we leave Brunei for the summer, so busy, busy, busy!

Always

We went to a combined birthday party/House Warming this afternoon, and the hosts had booked a couple of face painting artists who turned all the kids faces into art. They were really super clever.
Of course, Linnea was right there, she loves face painting! Even Lucas got a little drawing done, after a while!





They looked super cool!

Early practice

I wasn't quite prepared that my CPR skills would be put to a test already a few days after the course - but today during Zumba class, one of the participants fainted!

Her friend caught her when she started going down, and I was right there helping her to lie her down. I was about to start checking for vital signs but luckily the girl came around again nearly straight away. As usual when these things happens it feels like it's all in slow-motion, and she sure had time to give me a fright!

It was probably due to no breakfast, not much water and over-exhausting herself. Luckily it ended happily this time and wasn't a too serious situation after all. But it sure gave me food for thought on how sharp you need to be in these kind of situations - and how glad I am that I'm keeping my First Aid training and skills up to date!

WOD

I had mixed feelings about CrossFit this morning. Since I was away in Bangkok and then Singapore, I missed the last couple of times and you quickly get out of habit. It had now been so long that I was dreading it a bit, fearing it a bit more - but also looking forward to it so much!

Today's WOD, followed by 3 RFT of 10 leg lifts and 10 Russian twists, and finished with a round of Tabata in the plank..!



I'm going to feel this tomorrow...

DR CAB

When I was an air hostess I used to do regular First Aid and CPR courses as part of my training. As Cabin Crew, we always needed to be up to date and have all the medical routines fresh in our head to be able to help if something happened on board.
I was amazed to realize yesterday how much was still there in my head! Even though it's been nearly 10 years since I last flew!

Yesterday I took part in a CPR training course here in Brunei, together with a big group of fellow Zumba Instructors. It was at the 'National Resuscitation Center', organized for us by the Ministery of Health, and it was a very informative and educational morning.

Like with everything else, quite a bit had changed since my last First Aid and CPR courses back in the day. We learned, amongst other things, that the procedure you follow nowadays, is called 'DR CAB':
D anger
R esponse
C ompressions
A irways
B reathe



It feels good to be up to date on these skills. I wish everybody would take the time to take one of these courses, it's important knowledge to have!

Power shopping champs

Nicole and I went to Singapore yesterday for a spot of shopping.
The day trips are not as good as they used to be, since they've delayed the departure time out of here so you don't land until about just after 11.00 and don't reach shops until midday. (Before you would have hit Orchard Road already by 10.30!) I've been known to feel a bit stressed before trying to fit it all in in one day...

But, yesterday was a different story. We only had very few things we really needed to do, so no stress involved. We took our time, knew our itinerary and made sure we had plenty of coffee to fuel our continuous shopping throughout the afternoon!
We had such a lovely day and luckily, we had brought an empty suitcase just in case. We both ended up with far too many shopping bags of course so the suitcase was full on the way back! My loot included, amongst other things, 3 pairs of shorts, 3 t-shirts/tops, 3 belts (see a pattern?), a skirt and 2 outfits each for the kids from the lovely CottonOn.

Finally we concluded our day with meeting up with the Roses at the airport for a quick dinner before it was time to fly back home again.
It was Luca's 1st birthday yesterday (how time flies!), so he got some big birthday smootchies from his Simpang Aunties!

Jag hälsar dig vänaste land uppå jord

While we are on the subject of patriotism we might as well also send a big "Hipp Hurra" to Sweden today, since it's our National Day today, the 6th of June.

Not that it's all that celebrated in Sweden, not like they do in our neighbour country Norway, or in the States - but still, a day that calls for celebration somehow!
Enough reason to be whipping up a 'kladdkaka' a bit later! :)


(Picture borrowed from here.)

Diamonds in the rough

The Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee this year hasn't passed unnoticed even out here in Brunei. The British ex-pats have been celebrating at the High Commission, the Loan Service Team had their own celebratory Jubilee Lunch - and even at the Hash yesterday, we honoured the impressive 60 years at the throne.

After a lovely jungle run we found our tent all decorated in Union Jacks, blue-red-and-white and with big photos of Queen Elizabeth II.
All the hashers had been asked to pull out their pearls, tiaras and other royal bling - Anna and I were happy to be able to reuse our "White-Tie-and-Tiara-Ball"-tiaras once again!



We got nice gifts last night too, reusable bags, a Union Jack-coloured lollipop and a coffee mug, all to remember the big occasion.
The 'Hashing Queen' welcomed us with some Gin Fizz, and 'Pomp and Circumstance' was playing on full blast before the shout-up.





There was a lot of impressive dress-ups, I must say hashers really go that extra bit! :) Lots of bling and fancy clothes!





Another really great hash night in the Bruneian jungle! On-on!

Close encounter

In our office, my desk is placed right by the window and I often look out into the jungle across the road while working on the computer. Yesterday whilst glancing out, someone was right there looking right back at me!
The monkeys were down from the jungle, and were hanging out in a tree just across from my window, just chilling:



It was a huge troupe and they were down for a really long time, even went all the way down to the road and took a stroll, ate some leaves and hung about. They weren't even really bothered when the dogs came storming around the corner. Cool dudes!

My Zumba weekend, part 2

Today - it was time for even more Zumba, actually all day! Enrique did a Zumba B2 training, here in Brunei! There was about 25 of us at the studio from 9am to 6pm today.
We learned six new rhythms: quebradita, tango, soca, flamenco, samba and belly-dance. A lot of fun!





Enrique and I again! With my latest license, Basic Steps 2:



Obligatory group photo after completed training.



It was really nice spending a whole day with my fellow Brunei Zumba Instructors, and doing a training at our "home court", with all familiar faces. A great day and a super boost for sure! I feel super educated and super excited for my next Zumba classes!
Zumba ♥!

A Zumbatastic weekend

Phew, what a weekend... Zumba, Zumba, Zumbaaaaa!

Yesterday I took part in another Zumbathon for charity. A two-hour event, again, with the most charismatic ZES (=Zumba Education Specialist) from Australia - Enrique Salomao. (You can read about last time he came up here.)
This time 500 tickets got sold and the place was packed!

Here I am, with Enrique, and Margarita, a fellow Zumba Instructor, and her daughter:



A few friends and I, before the workout:



The hall was filled with people in colourful Zumba wear, and vibrating with happy energy - I love these big events!







In action:



Here we are, after the 2 hours:



A fun and fantastic Zumba Fitness workout, an exciting goodie bag, nice company, fab energy = a great night!

One night in Bangkok

Well, I've actually just spent two nights and one day in Bangkok. Doesn't sound like much, but one day was actually just fine, for what we wanted to do anyway. Which was getting out of the bubble, see something new, and... shop!
A nice little break away.

Wednesday was a totally hectic day for me, with Zumba in the morning, back home for a Superman-fast shower and change; then I had a hair appointment and my Zumbatomic lesson at school (believe it or not, but I managed to squeeze in a pedicure somewhere there too, as the haircut didn't take as long as I had thought!); then home for another superfast change and off to the airport to catch the evening flight to Bangkok, that Nathan was operating.

Pretty feet, off on mini holiday!



Unfortunately the crew stay in a hotel quite far out from the center of town, so when we got in it was already rather late, and no point going anywhere.

Checked in at the hotel:



We just went out the back to the Beer Garden, and had some drinks:



It got even better! We also had some Parma ham with melon and chicken wings, mmm!



View from the hotel room the next morning:





After a big breakfast, we took a taxi to MBK, one of the big shopping malls in Bangkok. Taking taxis is cheap in Bangkok, but it sure was some interesting trips, traffic is crazy! No seat belts in the back seat, and we saw plenty of motorbike riders with mouth guards, but no helmets!



MBK is where they sell all the copy stuff, and we wandered around for quite a while having a good look; Nathan found some cool stuff for the kids!



We did a little bit of shopping in MBK, but unfortunately I didn't manage to haggle enough to get my handbag and wallet I was after... :( Next time!
Then we moved over to Siam Square, Siam Center and Siam Paragon, where the "real" shops are:



But first, some lunch - nice sandwiches:





Bangkok is really hectic, even inside the malls... Actually there was just so much on offer, that I ended up buying nothing! I came home with some facial cream, some gifts for other people bought at Daiso and a book, that was all.

Much needed Häagen-Dazs break!



We got pretty tired by the end of the day, and since wake-up was going to be at 04.15am (!) the following morning, we didn't bother as initially planned to go to the big "bar-and-restaurant-area" for dinner. We just had an early quick bite at the Hard Rock Café.
We decided that a new family rule is that ordering ribs is from now on mandatory, when real ones are on the menu!



Back at the hotel it was time to pack our bags again already, and go early to bed, but not without another yummy treat..!



Landed about 10 am this morning and went straight to pick up the kids, who had been on a double sleepover at friends' house and were rather tired too..!
Less than 48 hours away, but feel totally refreshed! Bring on the rest of the school holiday!