One step ˙ One pedal ˙ One education

Ok, so the alarm was set for 04.30am this morning, and we had cut a lovely BBQ at friends short last night to get home and try and get some sleep, which we did, luckily.
I was pretty excited about my first big riding event! Not so worried about the 53k distance as about riding with so many other people, the organizers thought there would be about 300 riders.

Got up, got dressed and kitted out, had breakfast, got the bikes ready and loaded onto the truck, got all our "stuff", got our coffee to-go and off we went down to the Stadium. Apart from the "Bike Expedition" there was also a 2,5k Fun Run and a 5k run; and a 10k race and a 21k Half-Marathon race with price money awarded. They all started after us though, so I only saw a few of my running friends, because we were already off at 6am.

Here's my friend Hana and I before the start:

 












As it's all about look, I had borrowed some kit from Nathan, which had the Swedish colours on it! It's actually a team shirt for an English team, but hey - it was blue and yellow and had an angry viking on the front! I also borrowed the bib, since I wanted one that matched the grey in the shirt! So I wore a pair of Nathan's Swedish branded (Craft) bike shorts. I looked good!


















Off we went! Pretty exciting!
I tried to get Nathan to take a few photos as we were riding along, but he's not really much of a photographer... We did take these at the end of the highway by Ripas, where we did the first "regroup stop" to keep the whole group together.










































You see, as I've mentioned now a few times, it was not a race, but an expedition.
We had four marshalls riding as pacers at the front of the pack, and police on motorbike and support cars in front of them - not to keep the pace up, but keep the pace down so that everybody would be able to stick together!
As they don't close off the roads for these biking events, I guess this is the way they have to do it, and for me it was ok for a first "race" experience. I got very relaxed as I was riding along in the group, and after a while I started to just enjoy it - and even took back the camera and took some photos whilst riding myself! It was a lot to look at, funny bikes, funny people and other exciting things!
These guys for example to the left, had been pretty nifty and altered the race shirts and put on pretty pink back pockets on them! Clever!

 
















Here's Nathan at one stage, he's in blue, and another Kiwi guy to the left of him. They looked good both in NZ riding shirts:

 












This guy upset me though. It wasn't just the fact that the organizers didn't stop him from riding although he didn't have a helmet - but why on earth would he choose to take part in a big ride like this and not wear one!?! Just plain stupid.

 












I guess they could have put the pace up just a little bit though, I am not joking when I say that I think I was rolling more than pedaling all together today!!
Because of the big group, and because they didn't want any gaps, you had to pedal to keep up of course, but then roll or even hit the break frequently not to run into someone. Poor Hana even got a blister from all the breaking! Ha ha!

Here I am while passing the Istana. The weather was just perfect, nice and cloudy and not too hot. A great day for a time consuming ride like this!

 












At 31k we had a stop for... makan! (= food) Again, it was time to regroup, you could go to the toilet, have some juice, water or raisin bread, shake your legs. A last regroup was finally done at 47k so that we would re-enter the Stadium in a big nice group!

The makan stop at Jerudong Park:






































Hana had her name on her bike, very cool:






























Last regroup stop by Little Gadong, now only a few kilometers to go:






























All in all the ride took us about 2h54min (!), and that was excluding the stops (we were out 3h35 all together...)! Of course by the time we got back all the runners had finished their races since a long, long time already, so I didn't catch up with anybody then either..! :/
But I did find this guy with the same shirt as me! 














Anyway, I so enjoyed this morning!

It was nice in many ways for me, nice to go easy and slow and get familiar with my bike, and it was nice to see how riding together in a big group worked. Every time when there was something on the ground, or when the group stopped, hit the breaks or someone fell over - different hand signals and sounds were made to call attention. Good for me to see and learn all that in a very relaxed environment like this.
It was also exciting for me to ride along roads I would never go riding on without this safety in numbers and escorting police! Although I do think it should be doable to close off the roads and organize a proper race, all the roads we used today were dual lane anyway, and traffic wasn't heavy that early on a Sunday morning.

Finally I enjoyed chatting with other fellow riders - everybody was very friendly. Not many women though, I think we only spotted about 10 girls riding in total.
It's important too I think, to take part and support these kind of happenings here in Brunei, to keep them happening! They are truly getting better and better and the organization today was flawless, very well done. Plus, it was all for charity, win-win.

Thank you Nathan for coming with me. Not a biggie for you I know, but it was a first for me! :)

Mirror, mirror...

The weather really hasn't been on my side lately, with lots of rain in the afternoons for nearly two weeks - hindering me from training for the 53k biking "Expedition" we're taking part in tomorrow. It's tricky as it is trying to fit in with Nathan's flying (and training!) schedule, but then having the weather to consider too - not easy.

Yesterday, finally, we managed to get out and do another just about 30k along the coast road. Just for me to get a bit more riding experience. (It's not the distance of the race that worries me you see, it's more the handling of the bike, and riding in a big group of people...)
Unfortunately, I wasn't all with it and wasn't getting the gears right at all! Here I was thinking I had finally sussed it all out last time, but apparently not really. Or do I just forget easily..?

Anyway, I now do have something that I think gives me a bit of an edge (although Nathan is convinced I'll get teased for it tomorrow..!) - a mirror!

Well, I don't care if I get teased! At least it makes me feel a little bit more safe, and I'm now aware of what's coming up from behind - and I like that. It's just a tiny one anyway, hardly noticeable at the end of the handle bar. (I did want a big one that would've stuck out a bit, ha ha, and double up as a kind of bicycle safety flag - but that's where Nathan drew the limit..!)

Getting down and dirty

Ha ha, I couldn't believe the state of me the other morning after our CrossFit session! Oh my, just look at those dirty legs! I looked worse after an hour in the Box than what I usually do after a couple of hours in the jungle at the Hash!



The CrossFitBox is brand new, but obviously sweat combined with brand new, black floor mats will cause them to rub off, just a bit...

 Note to self: Wear long leggings to the next CrossFit training...

The Big Top

Here's a lovely creation Linnea brought home the other day. Although it might look a little bit like a birthday cake... it's actually a Big Top (= a circus tent)!

Preparing for Book Week

Book Week is happening next week at JIS, and the excitement is growing by the day, it's always quite a happening at school! The theme for this year’s program is 'Tell Me a Story', and the children will be focusing on telling stories about the imaginary world.

The invited author that is coming visit Junior and Middle School is a lady called Tanya Batt, from New Zealand. She is an author of fiction and non-fiction for children; and also works as a professional storyteller who uses her huge collection of costumes to visit schools, libraries and festivals worldwide.

All the children in Junior School will get to participate in workshops with Ms Batt, and even us parents will get a chance to meet her on Tuesday, during a special Welcome Assembly for her in the Arts Center Auditorium.
I'm just as excited as the children about this, and luckily I've been able to rearrange my Zumba schedule for next week so that I can participate too!

The school librarians started today to sell some of the books that Tanya Batt has written. Lucas and Linnea got to choose one each, which they will get her to sign in their workshops next week.
They are starting to build quite a solid little book collection, with all these books from the visiting authors of each year's Book Week. Really special mementos!

A little teaser

Whereas I'm really wondering how they are going to pull this together in just over a month, Mrs Moran (who's done it before numerous times) is cool as a cucumber. So I'm trusting her and do believe it's going to be GREAT, eventually!
Here's a little teaser from their dance practise on Saturday:

The Beast of the South East 2012

This weekend the new Box where I'm starting CrossFit next week, hosted a CrossFit competition here in Brunei, called 'The Beast of the South East 2012'. It had participants from the Philippines and Malaysia as well as from Brunei; and a few of my friends were there all weekend as volunteers.

Due to bad logistical planning and too much happening at once, I unfortunately missed out on the first part of the competition, which was held down at Berakas Beach yesterday morning. My friend Maria was there to have a look - please visit her blog to see some of those happenings.

This morning I took the whole family and we went down to the Box for the second part of the competition. We didn't catch the first WOD but came right on time to see the athletes compete in the second and final WOD of the day, and the competition.

I really, really enjoyed watching not only the competition itself, and how amazing these guys (and girls!) were - but I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the comradery between them all. They gave each other constant encouragement and cheered each other on, no matter which team they represented. There was such a strong feeling of community, that I'm very excited to become a part of.

Of course it was also real fun to see them do the exact same skills as Anna, Maria and I in our little Thursday group has been working hard on, during our CrossFit sessions all throughout this year. But on a completely different level, of course..!
At least now we know what we're aiming for! :)

Some of the spectators were less interested by what was going on inside the Box..:

Here's the overall winner, Tanner Shuck, competing for the Philippines:

And this is the overall winning girl, Pey Huey from Malaysia:

I did like this girl's t-shirt though: "This beauty lifts like a beast!".

Tinies Tap & Jazz

Another Saturday, another photo shoot!

It's been very busy already for this upcoming dance concert since everything needs to be ready in time obviously. On Saturday it was time for the group shot for the program. Here's Linnea (upper row to the right) together with her whole little 'Tinies' Group:







With Mrs Moran, their teacher:





They were asked to all come in their black dance gear and with their hair gelled back in a bun. Nicole had promised to do Linnea's hair too - but then she decided to go to Singapore over the weekend!
Panic!

Well, I had to bite the bullet and just do it myself, and look, it didn't turn out too shabby actually! I was pretty pleased with myself! :)



They also had their measurements done for their costumes, so now they're all set, and "just" need to practise and practise and practise their routines... Just...

Summer hair

Lucas got it in his head the other day that he wanted to shave his head again. This time more for style than necessity (like last time...) so I said yes. (Not my favourite style for him, but hey, it's just hair, it'll grow out again!)

Nathan got to work on it straight away, and Lucas was very happy with the result!

Press and dip...

Today at CrossFit we were learning the progression of lifts that moves from the shoulder press, to the push press and finally to the push jerk. A staple exercise in CrossFit since a long time.
It's tricky and takes time sometimes to get the techniques right, both for maximum effort and result, but also so that you're performing the exercise safely.

We weren't doing any huge weights, hey - you gotta start somewhere! I did manage 25kg while perfecting technique, but for the WOD Maria and I had to lower to 20kg, only Anna kept her bar loaded with 25kg. Here's while I'm learning the proper stance, still with the big discs on the bar:



These were the "baby weights" we used later for the WOD. Not that much lighter, just a lot smaller, ha ha!



Our WOD of the day:



At the GetFit Box:





Some of the toys!



This was our last time with our current trainer. From next week we are all starting to train at this new CrossFit Box, which will be really exciting! All fresh and new!
I have to start thinking about what goals to set for myself with the future training, hmmmmm...

Rocking the recorder

Lucas started playing the recorder last year, in Year 3. It wasn't by choice, it's something all students have to do during music class.

He seems to enjoy it and actually asks for me to help him practise, or listen to him playing; and believe it or not - it's really enjoyable! He's pretty good!
He doesn't blow too hard in it, he knows his rhythms and beats, knows how to read his music and rarely hits a wrong note.

This week he's practising a 'German Folk Song':

JIS Coin Drop

JIS had their annual 'Coin Drop' yesterday.

The idea is for the kids to bring into school Brunei coins that they have been collecting over a few weeks. The emphasis is on donating the coins to help others - The “Every-little-bit-helps”-idea; and getting to think about others less fortunate.
The money collected will be donated to children in Brunei with special educational needs, all in consultation with the Special Education Unit.

Every year this collection has been done differently. One year I remember they laid all the coins out in a snake-pattern on the playground and another year they laid them in an Indian rangoli design.
This year, the drop was an actual "drop"! The kids got to drop their coins down a chute, into water! Here's a photo of the set-up.

Nee-nah, nee-nah

There is certainly a first for everything - last night was a first for me, having to take someone straight from the jungle at Hash, to the hospital!

Since it was our hash, and there was four of us hares - Anna and I volunteered to drive the poor woman (and her car) first home, so she could get changed out of her sweaty hash clothes; and then to the hospital to get x-rays done.
She had slipped in the jungle, banged her shoulder against a big stone, and was in a lot of pain. She is a physiotherapist herself, so she knew it could be something serious. It turned out fortunately that nothing was broken, but she has sprained or potentially torn a tendon.

Apart from that - it was a great hash!
Actually, it was probably the longest (measured in time) hash I've laid, the first people didn't come out until after 1h05min, and the last took about 1h35. We had a choice of two 'outs', one through the jungle, and the another longer one along the road, if you felt like finishing off with about a 3k road run.

A shame that because it's school holidays for the local schools this week, quite a lot of people were away, there was only about 30 of us at the site. But hey, another hash under my belt at least, and one I wont forget in the first place!

For dinner we offered four different salads, three different freshly homemade breads and four different cakes! Lucky for us there was still plenty of food left for Anna and I when we came back from our ambulance run, yum yum yum!

Circus Boel

As I've mentioned before, the current theme at school for Linnea and the rest of the Year 2 is 'Circus'. Of course Linnea disclosed all information to her teacher about my previous experiences with the circus - so, I was asked to come in to class and talk a bit about that. Today was the day, and 2 out of 3 Year 2 classes were gathered to hear what I had to tell!

I'd been preparing by asking my parents to scan through some photos that I could show, and both them and I have had a lovely trip down memory lane the past weeks, reminiscing over these pictures...

You see, my father is magician by trade.
He doesn't perform anymore but ever since I was all little, I've been his assistant on and behind the stage and even occasionally participated in some of the bigger illusions.
Look at this photo, aaahhh, don't they just look so elegant!

We used to travel around Sweden with the circus too when I was younger and that's why I have a pretty good idea of what circus life is all about!
Here are some of the photos I showed the kids at school today:

Fabulous snaps from the late 70s, early 80s!
Here's a slightly later one:

It was great fun talking to the kids, they were very excited and very attentive. They had prepared questions and were very curious. F.e they wondered what the elephant got to eat, how it was living in a caravan and if I got fat eating so much candy floss (I told them I was allowed to eat all I wanted!)!

And here's one last circus related photo, quite suited too - my parents were pretty elaborate and creative when it came to their gingerbread house building..! :)

Finally October!

I have a rule when it comes to Linnea's birthday, I refuse to plan anything for it before Nathan's birthday, and preferably not either before it's October.
Well, today it's October - so today the invitations went out..!

This year we are having a party "Under the sea"! It'll be great fun!