a little frosty

Its November. ..Correction: It is now coming to the END of November! How did we race through yet another year? I feel as if it was only yesterday I was frantically preparing for my wedding--when in real time its been exactly 125 days since I've said 'I do'! This time last year I was sweating it out in the Middle East prepping for our trip back to England for Xmas. This year I am freezing my mitts off in China and prepping for a trip back to Borneo--we may do Nepal first! I really didnt expect it to be this cold at this time of the year.. I am currently sitting in my room, wearing every bit of clothing I own! The significant difference between being cold in the UK and being cold in China-- there's central heating in the UK, houses are designed for cold weather. In China, houses are designed for the extreme heat in Summer. So come winter, its just as cold indoors as it is outdoors.. In fact there are times where we get home and instead of reducing the number of layers we have on we increase our layers and then dive into bed and pray to the duvet gods that our miserable duvet will keep us warm through the night. I think some of my colleagues are now thinking twice about their incessant whinging of the British weather: The Chinese weather goes from one extreme to the other; blistering hot or blistering cold.

I have actually developed a rather bad/annoying habit recently : When asked "How are you today?/How are you?/ What have you been up to? Fancy going for a drink? Want to try someplace new?"
I will reply with the same annoying answer "Its frickin freezin!"

So if you have been wondering what I have been up to and why I never blog its purely because:
"Its frickin freezing!"

Thats a lie, here are some of things I have been up to and some of things I have learnt:

1) Having only been here for 2 and a half months, I had to learn about the organisation. I have been working lots;doing random jobs as I had to start from scratch.

2) I have also been promoted (twice): and have taken up more responsibilities. I am writing, designing, marketing, selling, instructing.. amongst other things!

3) In the past 2 weeks, I have spent a week away in the mountains camping, looking after camp, as well as preparing food for 50 people, I have carried water from the river, trekked, dig holes, put up tents, built a kitchen etc. I have also lead an Orienteering session in an area called the Dragons Plains, I have also spent way too much time on the computer for work purposes. I have also been complaining about how cold I have been whilst doing all of the above!

4) In the past 2 and half months I have been to : Guilin, Shanghai, Nanbeihu, Ziyuan, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Yangshuo and stopped in many little towns on the way to all these places.

5) The longest time its taken me to travel to get to my destination: a 24 hour train ride from Guilin to Shanghai and then 2 hours on the bus to get to our final destination Nanbeihu.

6) Sessions I have instructed since I have been here: Camping, Orienteering, Rock Climbing, Team Building, Low ropes, Trekking, Kayaking, High Ropes.

7) I am working for a company that has been awarded "Best Adventure Co. in the world" by National Geographic for 3 consecutive years! ( I only knew about this 2 weeks ago! )

8) C.h.i.n.a media censorship board for internet browsing is one of the worst in the world. They have banned Facebook, twitter, blogs, international news, google (!). People are using proxys and software to access these websites.

9) Table manners is non-existent in this country. You can do WHATEVER you want at the dinner table: spit, blow your nose, throw food on the floor (not just at the restaurants but at family homes).

10) They have the 'talent' and 'skills' to fake everything: not just watches, bags, DVDs.... but also water, eggs, cheese and meat!

11) Heavy lead content in the tap water: tap water is basically not suitable for anything --consumption, showers (my hair is ultra frizzy!) ..am wondering whether continual use of tap water when brushing your teeth will have long term effects on your gums and teeth!

12) China is a beautiful country, rich in culture and history. Breathtaking scenery and is a brilliant giant playground-- however, how people live here for years on end is beyond me. The pollution is terrible, theres an entire city(the size of Singapore I reckon!) of factories 2 hours from Shanghai!

13) Medical facilities here are scary, even the Chinese send their sickies to Hong Kong, Taiwan or Malaysia!

14) Its all about 'face value' here. The whole society and culture that revolves around 'not losing face' even when you're wrong! It sucks and makes working difficult.

15) My back has been giving me problems: the beds in China are hard, they dont believe in soft mattresses here..

16) I am loving life here though. Staff benefits are amazing: food, accommodation, free beers, free ice blended drinks, staff lounge/bar with a Wii console. Makes working hard worth it.


Till then : "Oh the weather outside is frightful.."

Christmas is around the corner..

When 'Pink' is just a colour.

Cancer is a word, not a sentence. ~John Diamond

If you didnt already know (or if you have been living under a rock!) --The entire month of October is dedicated towards the awareness of Breast Cancer.
Ribbons have been used to express solidarity on the part of the wearer with the identified cause since the early to late 20th Century *wikipedia*. Across the globe Pink Ribbons (and the colour pink) are used to express support for women (and men) who are diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Show your support donate/volunteer or wear a pink ribbon for the month of October!

Things to know:

Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present.

Approximately 1400 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2000 and 400 of those men will die.

About 1.2 million cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

About 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of breast cancer.

You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast Self-Exam should begin by the age of twenty.

Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, delaying pregnancy until after age 30 or never becoming pregnant, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.

My personal mission;

"Spreading the word and this year; raising funds for women who cannot afford to pay for a mammogram."

Some people wonder why I'm a die-hard 'pink ribbon wearer'. Its a cause that has been close to my heart for many years now. It has been 11 years since my mum was first diagnosed with breast cancer. It changed her life and has affected the many people around her forever. She now volunteers for an organisation called Reach to Recovery and the work I have seen the group do is nothing short of a miracle!

When my mum was diagnosed with cancer, she wouldnt take s*it from anyone. She ate what she wanted, worked, travelled and wouldnt put up with negativity. She ignored all the 'so called' restrictions (dos and donts and what NOT to eat whilst battling cancer.) She was however prepped to losing all her hair! (I actually recall a very bizarre wig shopping trip with her!)

Guess what?

By being ultra positive during those times (although still suffering and in pain!):

- she survived. Doctors arent always right! (shes still with us till today!)

- she didnt lose her hair (that wig is collecting dust at the back of her closet)

- she has spent 11 years helping cancer patients, running campaigns, travelling the world for Breast cancer conferences.

- shes still my mum and shes still with me in all those important 'growing up moments'. When she was diagnosed i remember giving myself a timeline; 5 years to graduate, get a job, get married and have a kid! Its been 11 years i havent done all the things on that list but I'm doing it at my own pace, because she's still with me :)

Dont take life for granted.

Get yourself checked, nag your sister, your mum, your wife, your girlfriend, your fiancee, your best friend!

Remember girlies, men can be diagnosed with breast cancer too.

The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart. ~Nikolai Lenin

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death. ~Author Unknown

snippets

Its been a crazy month! In fact its been a crazy year-- I have experienced so much in different areas of my life; personal, social as well as on a professional level. There have been stories/rants/experiences/conversations that I have been wanting to blog about but have been struggling to do so due to internet access and restrictions in the big C and previous countries I've been living in. (big C = China.. from this post onwards I will not mention China due to restrictions in the country).

China is interesting. (I will elaborate on this.)

I am currently back in Sabah, Borneo for an unexpected trip and am swamped with work mainly writing...bizarre but true.

I not only work as an outdoor consultant/instructor. The company has now assigned me several other tasks: in depth research on bamboo (one of the most random tasks), marketing, travel writing and web content.

I miss non-chinese food.

Its great being back in a country where it takes about 30 minutes to order your food, eat your food and pay your bill and not spend 30 minutes just trying to order your food.

*post has been edited*

Check out my new home-Yangshuo!

Well my home at the 'current' moment!

P.s: Yangshuo is in the County of Guilin in the GuangXi province.

Spectacular view from Moon Hill! Far from being a large, congested, polluted city (ie. Shenzhen aka Shitsend is one city in China to avoid!)-- I'm definitely a 'countryside' girl..

I have read reviews of the town (some are hilarious--couldnt understand some of the websites/blogs written by the Chinese, they may not be grammatically correct at times (similar to the author of this blog!) but they are an 'interesting' community. I spent a day in Yangshuo in 2005 and I loved it!;

' Thousands of hills stand in different poses and with different expressions, such as Moon Hill, Mural Hill and Schoolboy Hill which is the natural stage of the world famous opera 'Impression on Sanjie Liu'. Sanjie Liu is a fairy singer in the legend of the Zhuang minority group. Big Banyan, a huge tree with a history of over 1,400 years, is said to be the place where her love story happened. The 'Little Li River'- the Yulong River – is a paradise for a cruise because of its green hills, silky water and ancient bridges. You can also go to Xanadu, a primitive minority village full of folk culture and tranquil rurality.

Streets in Yangshuo are well kept in the original style, presenting the simple and primitive atmosphere of the ancient town.'

review from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangxi/yangshuo/

The plan: we fly on the 29th of August to Kuala Lumpur and on the 30th we fly straight to Guilin (where we had the option of taking a boat 80km down the river-- but since we are there for work, the company is sending a car to the airport for us!)

No clue as to what living in China will be like (random bloggers and travellers have mixed emotions about the place!) However, it will definitely be different from our time in United Arab Emirates.

What I truly believe: Have no expectations. Thats what makes travelling and working in different countries an experience!

Goodbye Borneo (for now!) Ni Hao China!

A travelling we will go..

A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
~Lao Tzu~

Paragraphs and Punctuation!

What is wrong with blogger?

Yo pointed out how incredibly 'unreader' friendly my previous post was! The font was set on LARGE and squished into one paragraph and bloody font was set to Georgia (oh the grammar teacher in her!). Fine I have a problem with punctuation-I admit. However, when I typed out the post it was in paragraphs and the font was set at normal and the font style was set to 'verdana'! I tried to edit the post and bloody blogger is still stubborn and insisted on the same settings.. and i'm eyeing this post as well and I think blogger is doing the same flippin thing again. How rude!

I should be so lucky.

Its August already??!!

Beyond popular belief.. I am one who cannot sit still and Mr Idle and I do not see eye to eye, after one adventure has ended I crave another almost immediately.

I got back to Sabah at the end of April and spent 10 days with a group of 26 students and 2 teachers being their guide/leader in Sabah as well as instructing several sessions of snorkelling, kayaking, climbing etc. That stint ended early May and then W arrived back from the middle east and we spent time catching up with our many friends and family.

From May to Mid July we were kept busy running around trying to cross the many barriers/obstacles to get married as well as organising the wedding (tasks that people take a year to plan & complete-we completed in 2 months, thanks to friends & family and our amazing bridal party!).

A week before and after the wedding was spent playing tour guide to W's family and our friends. We finally had a cheeky little break (if you can call it that?!) at Manukan Island and then it was straight on to leading a trek, working for Camps Int. and my previous boss Mr. R. Hall. I spent 4 days with a group of 24 students and 2 teachers from Bristol--needless to say it was very entertaining and I have never heard adults whinge and whine about dirt and leeches as much as I have from these 2 (2 male teachers who claim to be one with nature and 'dabble' in all things adventurous! Yeah Right!).

When I got back, we were both indecisive as to where and what we were to do next so we said whatever comes first- which was Wills interview in Sabah-- turns out he needs one other qualification before any visas can be offered and working freelance is definitely not an option. Oman -- I, in all honesty was not looking forward to heading back in that direction, I know its completely different from the UAE (where we spent 6 months or so) but there are aspects of the Middle East that does not appeal to me.

By some miracle we were browsing through an adventure job site and stumbled upon the advert, within 2 days we were offered the job! I have been to this part of China and it is amazing I only spent one night at this town but I am looking forward to living there for a bit. The beauty of this job: being so close that if I wanted to; I could fly back to Sabah for the weekends and it makes travelling around the region super duper easy. Thank you Air Asia!

So I am starting to research the country, learn mandarin, pack my bags, get my gear prepped, .. apparently an apartment of sorts has been reserved for us and we're ready to go!

We have always been lucky and have always been able to acquire work not for one but for both of us! Hopefully our luck will continue!

Maasalama Middle East Ni Hao China!