Don’t Burn The Day

Just 3 hours on the road outside of Shanghai is an awesomely calming, bamboo forest retreat area of Moganshan. (“shan” means “mountain”)

Fun Factoid! = Famed film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was filmed in Moganshan.

Over the last couple years, this has become quite the hot spot for mini weekend getaways from the hustle and bustle of the ‘Hai life. While there are a good handful of lodging spots spaced out in the Moganshan area, we opted for a brand new spot called, Prodigy Outdoor, and came out BEYOND satisfied with our experience with them.  From super dee duperly courteous, helpful and smiling staff,… to uber clean and comfortable facilities,… to a great variety of fresh and delicious home-made dishes at every meal,… to beautiful, lush bamboo greenery all around us, to… refreshing calmness all around us, Prodigy gets a thumbs up!!!

We received roundtrip transfer Shanghai-Moganshan (3 hour each way) + lodging + meals… all for a total of roughly $100usd from Friday night to Sunday late afternoon. Plus, we (myself, Wan Hing and Brittany) lucked out in that a 20-person traveling group had a last minute cancel, which allowed for us to have our own room – that was designed to fit 10 people total…. That was an uber score for us!!

Check some flicks:

Outside our balcony…

Hiking…

Various patches of bamboo were marked off by family names/owners:

Our guide dog, “Happy”…

I’m practicing my fighting moves with bamboo stick, just in case some crouching tigers and/or hidden dragons attack..

All of our meals looked a lil’ something like this!

Then, back to the wilderness where we ran into a herd of goats!!

But I fought them off with my guns…. LOL!

And here’s the full reel for your enjoyment!

. . don’t burn the day. .

First is Paihia, Bay of Islands in North Island of NZ:

The highlight was most definitely a life-long dream of swimming with dolphins out in their natural habitat, courtesy of Awesome NZ! (with a name like that, I couldn’t resist!)

and off we were!!

..with our skipper on the look-out for our finned friends!

..spotted a few super close to our boat!!

..and the money shot!!

…done and done!! … a happy dolphin swimmer I am!!

… then off to a stunning outlook via hiking up a lil’ hill filled with sheep poo!

…and it was worth it!!

…and on our way back … I saw a lovely rainbow!!

Look at how tiny our boat was in comparison to a cruiseliner…

Just a short and scenic 20min walk from Paihia is Waitangi – best known for being the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1840 between the Maori and British crown. The introduction of the Treaty effectively revoked the Declaration of Independence; making New Zealand a British colony, and the Treaty is generally considered the founding document of New Zealand as a nation. Waitangi Day is the annual celebration of the signing, and is New Zealand’s national holiday.

a present-day Maori family’s home….. check the pride!

A 15minute ferry ride from Paihia is charming, Russell:

… the arrival….

Even the police station looked like a nice place to be found in!!..

I immediately trekked up to an outlook…. this was quite a workout with its steep hills!!!

and again, it was worth it!!

…taking it all in… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

… then the downward trail…and over to the other side of the island for some beautiful chillax time at Long Beach…. (again, VERY WORTH IT!!)

..and the full reel, enjoy!

. . don’t burn the day. .

NZ is not just about naturally beautimous landscapes, but culture too!

We got a lil’ bit of it all up in Rotorua in the North Island: Geysers, Mudpools and an evening with the Maori people– who kept us entertained by teaching us traditional games, performing song and dance …and feeding us an awesome all-you-can-eat hangi dinner meal!

Daytime = Chill time to enjoy the park and natural surrounding beauties.

Evening = Lundy got re-acquainted with his seemingly long-lost ancestry, aka.. he REALLY had a natural connection with the Maori way of life!

Opening ceremony: welcoming the chiefs aka 1 male representative from each tour bus (3 in total).

We were welcomed into the village, where L wasted no  time to volunteer himself to partake in a traditional Maori game…

L (that’s his hand in top left corner) learned a Maori chant: “Hoo! Hoo! Ha! HA!!”

I couldn’t help myself, but to let loose w the Maori warrior…

and did ya’ll know that LENNY KRAVITZ is a Maori????!!!…

The show was super entertaining with traditional story telling, song, dance… Here’s the chief of the tribe as host..(who I thought looked like a turkey)…

Next, feast time and L couldn’t take his eyes off the buffet table..

….and he had good reason to! Look at the spread! It felt like Thanksgiving all over again!

Traditional Hangi meals are cooked on firewood…

And the full reel, enjoy!

. . don’t burn the day. .

(Yeah, I know.. I’m STILL not done with my NZ posts… )

We eventually made our way up to the west coast of the South Island for some glacier adventure. My partner-in-crime last year, Lisa had visited NZ and boasted of some amazing shots of her glacier hike experience in NZ….so of course, I had to check it out for myself!  Though, Lundy and I weren’t blessed with as nice and sunny weather as Lisa’s in her pics, we made the most of our day there. In fact, upon nearing Glacier Country, it started drizzling quite a bit. L & I, being both extremely tired from our previous adventures and drives, found ourselves both secretly hoping that the hike would be cancelled. Me, being me, opted to call the booking office with 15 minutes to spare to a hike call time of 3pm on Tuesday, February 9th 2010.. to check to see if the hike would be cancelled. But, I was almost laughingly corrected by the woman on the other side of the line, “Honey, it rains 300 days of the year in this part of the island, so the hike is still on.” I hung up the phone, relayed the message to L, and after sulking for a half a second, we rallied up our energy for a pretty nifty experience!

After being given jackets, overpants, socks, boots and spikes, we headed out to battle Mother Nature’s rain spittings and magnificent glaciers!

If ya look closely towards the top of the glacier on the right, you’ll see a trail of folks hiking… we would be following suit shortly there after…

Don’t I look like your local meteorologist, fresh on the icy scene??!

Ice Hammock anyone?? Lundy said, “Yes!”

Lundy and his urge to mess with the emergency aid barrel…

I couldn’t resist an ice angel….

On our way down…. some perrty perrty waterfalls…

We sooooo rewarded ourselves with an awesomely hearty home-cooked meal of garlic toast, pesto fettucine, grilled chorizo and lamb chops! Mmmmmmm….

I was soooooo hungry….and ya’ll know, I ain’t got NO shame in my eating game! LOL!

And now of course, the full reel, enjoy!

. . don’t burn the day. .

Lake Wanaka:  Where the “leisure” rowing excursion turned into life or death (kinda)… Well, umm ridiculously fierce winds picked up and turned our kayak multiple times while we were deep out into the lake, causing us to battle Mother Nature for our safe return…. and we succeeded with great teamwork and tired arms!

And super awesome deep canyoning … seriously SUCH A WORTHWHILE ADVENTUROUS EXPERIENCE!!

A pretty damn good shot of Lundy jumping under a waterfall with rainbow.. (Yeah, I was jealous…and still am…. trying to get over it…. )

and here’s a video clip of yours truly sliding down a 10meter waterfall… at pretty much a 45 degree angle….

Our new friend and great company on our wet n’ wild deep canyoning experience, Jana, originally from Germany, currently living in Mallorca……

along with our awesome guide, Scott…

And the full reel here for ya’ll to enjoy!…

. . don’t burn the day. .

Midterms are next week, which means I gotta show a movie as I conduct them individually outside the classroom. Sooo I decided to preview Disney’s latest, The Princess and the Frog, to see if it’d be appropriate/entertaining enough for my kiddos. I’d have to say, it’d probably be a bit slow and too much verbage for my kids to understand, but nevertheless, the story carries out a great message, that I wanted to share…. as sung by character, Mama Odie  in the flick, from song, “Dig A Little Deeper“…..

You got to dig a little deeper
Find out who you are
You got to dig a little deeper
It really ain’t that far

When you find out who you are
You’ll find out what you need
Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed
You got to dig (dig)
You got to dig (dig)

Enjoy the video clip here:

. . don’t burn the day. .

My patience, persistence, determination, confidence (and barking) with efforts to improve and implement systems and organization amidst the school’s deficiencies have officially paid off!

Alas, yesterday, March 22, 2010 marked a fresh start to a new deal @ la escuela.

Old Deal:

• - I taught (3) classrooms of Grade 1 students; each classroom having HUGE disparity gaps in children’s English levels, ie. Native chit chatter students to students who straight up still learning how to say and learn what the difference between “ball” and “doll” is, causing major classroom interruptions btw. those who are bored with those who find the class content way over their heads.
• - I taught (2) classrooms of Grade 3 students: each classroom having varying levels and lazy kids who’ve never had to do anything in English classrooms before because the school had hired in/out part-time teachers who came in and played games and allowed the students to run (literally) the classrooms.

Intervention:

• - With much research in placement assessments used in the States to gauge student’s levels in fundamentals: Phonics, Reading, Writing, Comprehension. Speaking etc., along with the school’s current texts/resources in the school, I created a placement assessment that would ultimately shed tangible light to the much needed divide of students according to appropriate learning levels in Grade 1. (Hey, I would’ve loved to do it for all grades, but …exhale….one battle at a time.) I proposed to Admin, rallied up support from parents and other teachers, and eeeeevenutally, BAM! was done! With the scores all calculated with fancy formulas and discussions amongst teachers/parents, we narrowed and divided the students according to their real English level:  (1) classroom of advanced/native speakers/English as First Language students  and (2) classrooms of true English as Second Language students.
• As a result of this, we needed more staff to cover, so the school went ahead and hired a part-time teacher, South African native, who had just finished teaching in Taiwan for (3) years.

New Deal:

• - I now teach only (1) classroom of Grade 1 students; Class A for Accelerated. Already in Day 2 of this new deal… It is SOOOO MUCH different from before.  ALL kids can understand and speak English in the class, thereby giving them a good challenge and opportunity to learn from each other in addition to the gibberish they hear coming out of my mouth! And it is awesome to see the kids from the (3) different homerooms merged into one, to realized they might have been the smarty pants in their respective homeroom classrooms, but now they’ve got competition! Healthy learning environment competition!
• - I still teach (2) classrooms of Grade 3 students; Wow! I have seen some tremendous improvement in their comprehension and speaking levels in these students! They are still lazy, but they dare not to mess with their moi. I’ve DEFINITELY challenged these kids to the utmost. But for real, other teachers and their parents have also remarked on how much their vocabulary have improved. Whoo!
• - I picked up (2) classrooms of Grade 4 students;  First impressions = so nice to have older, a bit more mature students! aka less disciplining (esp vs. Grade 1).

Current Thoughts:

• - I gotta give it to the school for entrusting and valuing my critique on how things should be run, albeit they still heavily (tooo much) relied on parents’s opinions (but I got wiser on them and went straight to the parents that I knew would be the most outspoken, and preached my gospel to them for their choir skills to Admin). The school took action and made things happen all within one school calendar year!
• - The split for Grade 1 is oh so necessary for countless reasons, and this will set them up right for their remainder years of study at the school. I just saved soooooo much headache for teachers, kids, parents alike!
• - Before, I only had (2) grades to plan for, now I have (3). So, obviously more work for me. But not only because of the increase in grade levels, but because the textbook in Grade 4 is absolutely retarded. Sooooooooooooo, I gotta create all content and curriculum for Grade 4 ANDDDD this newly accelerated Grade 1 class. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I just sorta gave more work for myself… in exchange for possibly, less childish disciplinary stuff. I gotta breaaaaaathe…..

Attention: Handy (Teacher) Helpers Out There!

• - I know a good bunch of ya’ll reading this are in the Education field, so feel free to share with me some of your favorite go-to sites for all things Phonics, Grammar, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Speaking etc.!  I’d be much appreciative!  Meanwhile, I’ll be spending some time at the Foreign bookstore picking up some more suitable workbooks and such for the kiddos…

. . don’t burn the day. .

Yeah, I’ve been ranting quite a bit about this new school that I’m in. (and I still have fondness towards my former kiddos…. and their parents are still in touch with me.) But most of my rants have stemmed from the ridiculous large range of students’ levels in one classroom….to the point where the divide amongst kids are totally noticeable because the Native Speaker Students have become irritated by the Nons. Aye! It’s been a battle, but I am coming out on top… slowly, but surely.

Alas, the Director has agreed to allow me to create and lead an assessment procedure in which students in my first grade will undertake. So, not only was I gearing up for my NZ trip towards the end of Semester 1, I was busy developing an Assessment Placement Exam, that my lil’ rugrats will take at the start of Semester 2 (current day).

I asked for it, and now I’ve got it. After much research and comparison with various ESL/EFL placements exams conducted in the States for reference, along with tweaking the exam so that it also is in accordance to the school’s curriculum, resources and tools, and discussing matters with the Director and staff, the exam has been finalized, and has already been administered.

Today marked the 1st of 3 days of testing. Class 1 results are in….. awaiting for Class 2 (tomorrow) and Class 3 (the following day). And so far, I am very pleased and not tooooo surprised with the results of my students in Class 1. Let’s say 20% of the students in Class 1, look to be advancing into the soon-to-be EFL class, while the rest will be split between (2) ESL classes…. which is sooooo necessary as since EFL and ESL teachings have different objectives, thus need to be taught using different methodologies. I’ve been preaching and preaching and preaching….and they have listened, and now we’re taking action!

I find this all so exciting!! Stay tuned for more…

. . don’t burn the day. .

And here we go again… kudos LB on the ghostwriting… and eventually my tweaks….

Oh my sooo, here I am again..this time at blazing hot Lake Wanaka.  Well I’m going to make this report as brief/cliff notes as possible due to my exhaustation from the extreme adventure activities Mimi and I have done.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

• Drove 3 hours from Te Anau to Milford Sound and the view was absoluetley AMAZING!!!  Several thousands feet snow capped mountains with  turquoise-rivers rivers flowing into the pine forest dense valley with a small 2 lane highway snaking it’s way there.
• The drive was filled with crazy tight twists & turns, so TIGHT that when I made a sharp left turn on a bend…our bug spray and pen flew out the open window!  We were only driving 15km/hr but Mimi can attest that she had to keep her elbows inside the car to avoid “brushing” against the mountain wall.
  Then we drove through the one lane Homer Tunnel through a mountain and eventually made our way to Milford Sound.
• Eventually we made it to Milford Sound harbor, where stood mountains, dense ferns and trees, and the inlet of Sea Water from the Tasman sea.
• Mimi & I took a 1.5 hour cruise (*sound like Gilligan’s Islands) around Milford sounds and here are the highlights:  Surrounded by High Mountains, Sea Lions, Light house, dotted with water falls as high as the Empire State building and even DOLPHINS! 
• Then Mimi & I took a long well deserved nap in the van for 2 hours and drove back to Te Anau for another 3 hours to camp out.
• With the recommendation from Pete (Soan’s fiance) we had dinner at RedCliff.
  We started out with battered oyster served with Soy Sauce and chives.
  Mimi’s main Entree consisted of: Medium-Rare cooked Hare servered on top of a heaping pile of sweet potatoes and the most amazing sauteed Shitake Mushrooms EVER!..cooked in olive oil and garlic, served with a 2007 Pinot Noir.
  My taste buds enjoyed: Venison (deer steak) laid on top of the same amazing sauteed Shitake Mushrooms, with large beets and soft & moist turnips, and I washed it down with a 2007 Reisling White Wine.
  For Dessert we had good ol’ finish Rice Pudding served with local strawberries and cream….absoluetly DEELUSH!

Sunday, February 7, 2010
The next morning, we went grocery shopping at “Fresh Choice” in Lake Te Anau then drove to Lake Wanaka. (left at 9:30am and arrived at Lake Wanaka airport at 12pm)

• Mimi & I enjoyed a lunch of crackers, cheese, Pancetta (Italian Bacon), Dijon Honey Mustard, and 3 cheese Black Pepper Corn & Chive Cheese.  Then washed it down with water and Mango/Orange “Just Juice”.
  We checked in at “Sky Dive Lake Wanaka“  at 1pm by the Lake Wanaka Airport.
  After selecting the 12,000 feet dive (45 seconds) option with 2 DVDs (a video of your free falling with your tandem parter and another video taken from a seperate sky diver) and Free T-shirt.  We signed the liability waiver (including medical condition notification) and a personalize sound track of our 2 DVDs!
• Mimi & I both took seperate video interviews as a our Intro for our Sky Diving DVDs.
  Then we hopped on a small puddle jumper single propeller airplane and took off the air field.
  The plane was circling around the airport, every increasing it’s speed to catch the altitude of 12,00 ft; during this time we got a great view of Lake Wanaka and town, several smaller lakes, flowing of the river, green grasses, cows, sheeps, clouds and of course the surrounding Mountains!
• The plane ride was pretty smooth;there was 11 people in about a 20sq ft space with a ton of parachute gear.
  During the flight, I was actually really clam and relax throughout the ordeal, even ask Mimi herself.  I kept going over the instructions for the pre-jump.
  1. Put your legs behind the plane.
  2. Move your hips forward.
  3. Lay your head back on the right shoulder of your sky dive partner…then off you go.
  I heard the constant “thump, thump” of the propeller engine, then the door on my left hand side, slowly opens, the gush of the cold 12,000 ft altitude wind fills in the tight compartment of the plane.  I heard my heart beat but I remained calm and breathed in slow-consistent patterns.
  Being the FIRST PERSON out of the plane, I know I had to set the example and did my best to follow the instructions.
  As instructed, I reached up and grabbed the cold white metallic pole above me on the ceiling of the plane’s interior.
  Then I sat down on the edge of the plane and feeling the gash of the wind go across my body.
  I tucked my legs tight underneath the body of the plane, with my breathing picking up pace…moved my hips ever slowly forward and then laid my head back on my tandem partners shoulder.
  Then ALL of sudden, the coolness under my butt from the plane was gone and I felt nothing but a push forward,..then I tumbled and rolled forward into a tight flip.
  Next thing I know; I see clouds flowing passed my face, then the hurdling speed of wind going across my body as I flew down to the ground at 200km/hr.
  My instructors tapped my shoulders; indicating that I can release my hands from harness and be free to do what I want.
  I instinctly started dancing with my hands as I was ecstatic of “flying” again through the wind (went Hang Gliding at Queenstown a couple of days ago). 
  The surrounding view is totally breathless…words can’t express so it I won’t go any further.
  45 seconds later; I float down in a parachute and land on my bum on the field.
  I actually remained calm throughout the experience and I have the DVDs to prove it!
  Overall I must honestly say, it was one of the most thrilling and exhillerating events in my LIFE.
• After sky diving; it was soooo hot in the upper 80s; we took a dip in the cool refreshing Lake Wanaka.
  We rented a kayak and let’s just say that was an ADVENTURE itself…as Mimi would put it “It was supposed to be Relaxing!!!”…however the winds from the mountain proved to make it another adventure…our shoulders & arms got a work out…which would be needed later in our next Adventure (“Deep Canyoning in Niger River”)
• After we battled the elements of Wind & Water, we arrived onto shore with my broken sandals.
  We got a well deserved ice cream dip: Mimi had “Cookies-N-Cream” and I had a “Hokey Pokey” (New Zealand ice cream of Vanilla with chips & bits of caramel…hhhhmm”.
  So we ate our ice cream on the park bench as we watch the sunset over the mountains and lake…HOW ROMANTIC!
• Then we settled into the Holiday Park for our camper van and prepared a home cook meal of Spaghetti, Spanish Chorizo and Fresh Garlic bread; with “Speichter” to wash it down. “Local New Zealand beer…kinda like an IPA).
  After the scrumbtious meal, we settled in the night to gain our rest for “Deep Canyon of Niger Creek”.
   
  I wrote A LOT MORE than I originally intended and I apologize if it takes to much time.  However, I highly recommend sky diving and ice cream if you’re in the mood for adventure & relaxation!  Till the next time….Cheers Mate!
   
  -Lundy

Sooo basically…… I ditto the above, aside from me being #2 off of the plane for skydiving…. To be honest, I was totally chilled out about it all… wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be/should be. I more or less, had a “ain’t nuttin to it, but to do it!” mentality. Wanaka Skydive staff and instructors were super calm, professional, funny and fun to work with. I most certainly recommend them for sure!  But I will admit, after I saw Lundy just tumble off like a lil’ nugget, I had the immedite: “oh shit, I’m next” thought whirling ’round my head. But I really didn’t have time to react to my thoughts as my tandem instructor, Eric said.. “Ok Mimi, move to the edge.” I did as told, tucked my legs under as had been advised, flipped my head back and gave him the “OK, GO-SMILE”….AND DOWNNNNNN I WENT!!! I closed my eyes for the first .2 seconds but quickly opened them because I knew closing would just give me a more heightened/faster fall experience, and plus, I wanted to enjoy the freeeeeeee fallllllll riiiiiiide. Eyes Wide Open…… the scene was beautimousssssssssssss as described by L. I was totally rockin’ out to the camera lens (esp with Mac, my cameraman who flew besides us to capture it all — he was super charged up in getting me all pumped wayyyy up in 12,000 ft above ground!!!)  Landing was super smooooooth…….. and all I can say is, the next time…. I’ll opt for higher!

Monday, February 8, 2010

We just finished another magnificent adventure of deep canyoning today, which involved: hiking, climbing, waterfall abseiling (repelling with harness; think: rock climbing), jumping, sliding, zip-lining, swimming through AMAZING creeks, crevices, gorges etc etc…

Tomorrow: Hiking up Franz Josef Glaciers

. . don’t burn the day. .

OK soooooooooo much has happened in the last ummmmm 4 days!!! All thrillingly and chillingly worthwhile!

I’m gonna have to introduce a guest blogger and my travel buddy, Lundy this time around and give him credit because these are his notes of our trip so far…(with just a few tweaks by yours truly) Enjoy!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

• Landed in Christchurch, checked into uber-futuristic So Hotel and dined at Stone Grill restaurant for some ridiculous lamb shank with potatoes and Land Lover’s selects: lamb, pork, beef cooked on a slab of stone!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

• Met up with my former co-worker at my school last year / Kiwi friend / Christchurch native, Charlotte for some brunch at C1 Espresso and city frolic with our local tourguide.

• Picked up our campervan from hospitable and attentive Andrew of Cruzy Campers and drove from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

• Slept in the camper van and awoke with a breakfast picnic spread alongside Lake Tekapo -stunningly blue-turquoise waters, surrounded my snow capped mountains, while feeding duckies…
• Drove from Tekapo to Queenstown, roughly 4 hour drive.
• Checked into a fab-luxurious hotel The Rees
• We have a balcony view of the turquoise color Lake Wakatipu surrounded by several mountains with tiny building and hamlets making up Queenstown.
• Celebrated my birthday w/ an  8 course dinner at the Rees restaurant which was absolutely delicioso!…including but not limited to: Pan Smeared scallops, grilled salmon salad, organic raised beef cutlets, lamb with white wine sauce, strawberry Pavlov dessert…and local brie cheese platter.
• Celebrated the rest of the night popping a bottle of champagne w/dessert on our room balcony overlooking Lake Wakatipu under with a clear night sky filled with beautiful bright stars…with some gift exchanges… let’s just say that “I’m alla dat and a bag o chips!!”

Thursday, February 4, 2010

• Today, we went JetBoating on the Shot Over Jet – a white knuckle, fast paced, adrenaline packed trip, consisted of blazing fast boat ride through turvy mountainous caverns and splashing waters….We felt like a James Bond – Indiana Jones mash up!!
• Then to dry off, we went hang gliding off of Coronet Peak  (about 4,000 feet)…flying even higher between soaring, majestic mountains with a pine forest, lush green valley…dotted with several sheep….hahaha.
• Now we’re about to head out to the Queenstown waterfront for some Fish & Chips and possibly a Pub Crawl.
• Planning to finish the night with a bottle of red wine on the balcony and watch the sun set over the mountains and feel the cool pine fresh air.

• Hitting the road early tomorrow to go bungee jumping.
• Then driving down to Te Anau & Milford sound for some glow worm caving, kayaking and cruise!
• Afterwards will be heading to Franz Glacier for some ice glacier hiking.
• Andddd.. to get a better perspective of the south Island, we’ll hit up Sky Diving at heights of in/around 15,000 feet!!!!!!

Pictures to come… but here’s one for now to keep ya’ll smiling…. I AM FLYING!!!! (errr hang gliding!!!!!)

. . don’t burn the day. .