First day of Highschool

Not sure how happy either of them looks - but I am sure they will do fine.

Heading towards Chinese New Year

So the fireworks is hotting up.
(Ok - so there are always fireworks... but there are even more this time of year).
These guys have had their fireworks licences for 3 years. Veterans!

Oh have I mentioned that I am home!  Cause for fireworks in my opinion!!

Last Day in China.

Today is my last full day on contract here in China.
I have seen and enjoyed many things here and learnt many more things.
But....

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to being home with my family!

Might be just cause it is really cold here!

But watching this (really) hot water bath open up in the plant looks really good today!!

Early Christmas Present

So, the kayaking that we did a few weeks ago was a test run to see if the boys would like a Christmas present we had chosen..

So we headed out on the local dam again for a lovely paddle with our own kayaks this time.
Huge fun... I can see some paddle adventures at dawn coming up soon.

Oh.... and there were seaweed fights!

Laser Skirmish

A fun afternoon out in the bush playing laser Skirmish.
As you can tell from our Cammo gear - we all took it very seriously!

Gold Coast Holiday

Kayaking

Some friends of ours came out to Cooby Dam with us for a bit of kayaking....
Here are the boys heading across the dam.

Good fun, but I will remember to put sunscreen on my shins next time!
Walking around the streets in shorts while having bright red lower legs.... not such a good look!.

Finished Primary School

Xan has finished primary school..

He is definitely growing up...

 Zak and Boppa looking on at the graduation...

Today's morning walk...

A few photos from my walk this morning... a couple of hours into places in Miluo I had not been before....

Life is not a movie

Izak wrote a play this year, that he performed with one of his class mates….

One of the more memorable parts of it

I:  Oh look…. a time portal!!

H:  How do you know it is a time portal?

I:  Well, cause it says so in the script!

But from what I have heard, life in not a movie…. Which unfortunately means we do not get scripts to work out what is going on.

As far as I can work out… if it were a movie, there would need to be more work on the sets!

 

If it was a movie… . I would hope it was something exciting!  Something like a spy movie where you get to paraglide over cities and stuff...

 

It isn't one... cause there are complicated bits, and parts with no scripts.
There are plot twists that make no sense - bits that are tragic or frustrating with no payoff.  There are things that seem important that are introduced to the story, but go no where..

Things that make good stories, are often terrible, confusing or painful to live through.
(but just cause something was terrible, confusing or painful does not necessarily make it a good story!)
People do not come in only 2 dimensions, they come in 3 (or many many more) and cannot be easily read.  (Luckily - this is my favourite type of person! - I must like being challenged or confused [of course being where I am right now, I have a lot of opportunity to be confused!])

But regardless of whether or not there is a director... I am happy to be here!

Wow - obviously feeling all thoughtful today!  I am in hyper-ramble....

Oh Look…. A  time portal!!  (it is not just mogwai and gremlins you find in Chinese shops!)

BBQ Time

Had out own little Thanksgiving BBQ again this week....
(Ok - really we just had a BBQ - which we do as often as we can!)
Imported beef (we tried we stuff we are able to buy here- and it really really did not work - it was like eating shoes)...

But this time, it was very good indeed.

Emergency Exit....

Exiting is something I am thinking about a lot at the moment....
So when the power went out at our hotel again... off down the only functioning stairs....
Down 6 floors... this is the junction between 4 and 3....

Pretty Site

The site looking pretty this morning....

Not what you want to wake up to in the morning!