Apologies to all keen followers of my blog (Mum) for the lack of blogging of late. Despite a lot happening, there's been a distinct lack of pictures to accompany the tales of my travels, and with pictures being the more interesting of the two, I've been putting this off for some time. However, for fear of forgetting what I've actually done this month, I've decided acting now would be wise.
For those who don't know, February is the month for the Chinese New Year celebrations. As I live in a country with a vast Chinese population, I was setting myself up for a whirlwind of parties and feasts to fly my way, gobbling up 'ang pow' (money given in red envelopes) as I go. With just two days until the start of the Chinese New Year, me and Hugo had no plans, no invitations. Disappointing to say the least. We traveled into the capital, fairly deflated, but hoping to find something interesting to do. We stumbled across a Chinese parade where we observed two dragons dancing to the beat of the traditional gongs, expertly played by children far younger than us. During the parade we were briefly filmed by a cameraman, but I had no idea we were being filmed and continued to stare gormlessly at the dragons much to everyone's amusement (text book me).
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| Some fine camera skills to snap the dragon from behind.. |
In the absence of anything Chinese to do that night, we had a night out with a couple of the Monfort students, Saran Rau and Alex, a night where these lucky boys were exposed to the splendor of my dance moves.
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| Me and the boys at our favourite Shamrock Irish Bar |
Next day, our boss Remy saved the day and invited us to his house for a nice, chilled celebration at his house. We ate, we drank, we talked and we played cards. Good night.
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| Me and my students at Remy's playing China's fancy version of Rummie, 'Mahjong'. |
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| Plenty to contemplate in that fridge. |
With the help of Amy and Hatty, fellow Project Trust volunteers, we were then invited to another Chinese celebration a couple of days later. This one had the full works; traditional food, karaoke (Westlife got destroyed), plenty of drink, mini hand-held fireworks (simply a miracle nobody got seriously injured), ang pow and musical chairs, where Hugo literally came alive in the most brutal way possible, barging innocent old ladies off their chairs. He received 50 ringgit for his troubles, but the applause when he got his prize wasn't so generous..
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| Me receiving my ang pow, absolutely beaming. |
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| Westlife- Flying Without Wings |
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| Doing the old Sumazau dance, an absolute pro these days. |
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| I think that man passed out on the floor shortly after this picture.. |
Valentine's Day was the next celebration on the list. Me and Hugo devised a brilliant program to have a very romantic evening combining our hostel with the girls hostel next door for a night of ballroom dancing (taught by me and Hugo Du Beke) and love song karaoke. Annoyingly, but somewhat inevitably, the nuns at the girls hostel shot our splendid program down at first glance. Having no girls was certainly going to be a hindrance to our plans, but it wasn't going to stop us. Valentine's Day was to be re-named- 'Gay Night'. It comprised a fierce Waltz competition where the boys tried their best to master the steps we taught, and a Grease- style elimination process ensued until we had our ballroom winners. I didn't spot a John Travolta in the making (although I impressed myself at times, it seems I have a natural flair), but it was something a bit different; whether all the boys took to it is debatable, but it was certainly funny to watch.
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| Posture is poor but there's a significant height difference, I'm sure Len Goodman would understand. |
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| Top Gay Night |
In sport related news, we've been white water rafting for the first time in the Kiulu River, and now we have the taste for it we plan to go again to a more challenging river further south (no pictures I'm afraid). After unofficially becoming assistant manager of the local school team and helping them to cup glory in both age groups at a football tournament, I've now been asked to do some extra coaching at the school which is a great opportunity for me to expand my up and coming John Haswell academy. We've also purchased our bikes for our Charity Bike Ride across Borneo in July. The trip will be in July and will take us maybe up to a month, cycling through jungle, mountain ranges and in equatorial heat. We are doing it for Unite Against Cancer, so quick advertisement, if you would like to sponsor us or find out more about what we're doing, please visit our Virgin Just Giving Page by following this link:
http://www.justgiving.com/Hugo-Drummond
or if you would like to check out our facebook page the link is:
http://www.facebook.com/events/466601570067013/?fref=ts
OR if you would like to find out more about the charity, you can check out their facebook page:
Thanks for reading!
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| Our first day of training, the day we realised the sole disadvantage of living in a mountain range. |
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| Stopping off for some much needed fluid. |
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| Some beautiful views on our first bike ride, just 5 minutes from the hostel. |
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