Beijing Day 1: 2x games

So today is the day: our first hockey and football games of this tournament. After a quick breakfast both teams left at 8am and travelled in opposite directions to their respective venues.

The football team went to Beijing Qinghua Yucai School and were welcomed formally by the Principal. Ian responded with a quick speech and the respective captains also spoke - Olivia B did a great job considering she wasn't expecting it! The team then performed one of our cultural items which was well received and to finish, a student from the host school performed a short song/ speech and dance. Pleasantries now complete it was now time football!

In a very even 1H, Bex scored St Oran's very first international goal after a sweeping attack up the field - it was a fantastic feeling but the advantage was short lived as the hosts scored soon after and we went to half time even-steven. The second half was frantic and high paced as both teams searched for the winner, and unfortunately we let in two easy goals at the end to lose 3-1.

We headed off for lunch at a local restaurant which specialized in donkey (unfortunately for us, and the donkey too I guess). Most of us had a try of the donkey and I think it tastes like beef really and not too unpleasant. Otherwise the lunch was fantastic and everyone enjoyed it.

Back to Qinghua Yucai for game two. Our opposition now was Daxing Technical School and when they were warming up we could see they were slick and well drilled. After kick-off it was all on and before we knew it, they were up 3-0!! We stepped up a couple of gears and didn't let them score for the rest of the game. There were some exciting moments- in the first half when they fired four shots in quick succession Kennedy saved three direct shots and Olivia's head saved the fourth. Kennedy certainly put her body on the line and will bear the battle scars for a while!! Following the game we discovered their coach was also the current coach of the China national under-17 team! I think the team can be pretty happy with that result..

Play of the day for football was (of course) the goal from Bex!

Now, for hockey's first day out. They travelled for half an hour to Lucheng Sport & Technical High School. This is one of the high performance training facilities in China and home to the only indoor hockey stadium in the world. We were facing two teams from high-performance institutions today. These girls typically attend school for the morning and then train for 4 hours in the afternoon, 5 days a week! Wow!!

We did a double take when we arrived and saw SHEEP wandering around outside the stadium. Who would've expected we would see sheep in China, let alone the middle of Beijing! Furthermore, a sizeable vegetable garden is sited in the midst of the playing fields!

The first game was an eye-opener for us - the opposition were highly skilled and tough, and we would end up losing 6-1. A very bright spot was Lucy scoring the first international hockey goal for St Orans however. Following this game's result and knowing the challenge we had in front of us, we decided to play game 2 the very best we could and to leave the field with our heads held high!

We had a quick lunch in the college's cafeteria before hitting the turf for game 2. This time we were up against it and we're trailing 6-0 at half time. After some tough talk we went back on and played our hearts out. It was some of the best hockey we've played and the final score was 9-0. And we DID have heads held high at the final whistle.

Sue and Kirsty are very pleased with the team and the way the structure has continued to develop. The team is looking really sharp. Special credit to the two keepers - it was a tough tough day and they both did a great job against world-class competition!

On a final note, today was the first day for everyone to experience the unique sanitary appliances found in most Chinese toilets in Beijing, ie floor level toilet bowls (or holes in the ground). The football team were extremely lucky Diane was on hand to demonstrate the correct techniques, stance etc (although Barb had to video it in case she forgot...).

Some photos of today attached below and more will be loaded to our store soon...

Beijing!

Well here we are - Beijing!! We arrived in the vast airport and were stunned at how big it actually is. It took a 10 minute train ride to travel from our gate to the baggage carousel!! This airport was opened for the Beijing Olympics so it is modern, airy and clean. After a short wait for our hosts, our buses arrived and we were off.

The first thing you notice is how grey everything is- what a shock it is coming from the almost explosive colours of Singapore to the drab grey everywhere here! Beijing is coming out of winter, and here and there you can see a splash of bright white as the blossom trees wake up to spring, but otherwise everything looks quite grey from the barren dirt where grass struggles to grow to the leaf-less trees.

And the next thing you notice is the traffic!! We were expecting traffic problems and we got an early taste of it; it took us longer than an hour and a half to get to the hotel! Traffic was bumper to bumper the whole way and we were treated to some unique driving maneuvers along the way... One of our girls was heard to remark "wow, getting a drivers license must be REALLY easy here" while others noted the interesting signage around the place. Olivia Ross made a special friend in a taxi driver parked across the road while we were at a longer traffic light and then decided not to wave at anyone else...

We finally arrived at our hotel accommodation. This is a Chinese hotel so things run a little differently to your usual Holiday Inn setup. For example, our accommodation is a separate building and there's no lobby. And while the building is only about a year old there's a few glitches like air-con that only half works and some dodgy electrical wiring that means some power sockets don't even work. But we're happy to be here and after half an hour to unpack and freshen up, we were collected by our hosts and taken to a banquet dinner opening ceremony.

We joined our hosts and the two other foreign schools (Crawford and Uplands colleges from South Africa) for the obligatory speeches and then tucked into some good Chinese food. The entrees included an interesting black 'thing' that some thought were mushrooms or even jellyfish - texture was crunchy-chewy and the taste wasn't terrible. It turned out to be black fungus, so mushroom was close. Otherwise it was pretty much standard fare, and very nice, but I was surprised at how little our South African friends ate- maybe they weren't hungry? It was pleasing to see our girls didn't hold back and tried lots of food.

Towards the end of dinner we were treated to some Chinese cultural items of music, magic and dance. For me (and I think most others) the Incredible Face-Changing-Man was the favourite. This guy performed a dance in traditional regalia and switched masks with a wave of his cloak at intervals during the dance. It was very well done and a good way to cap off the night. We returned to our rooms ready for some zzzzz's after being up since about 4.30!

Today we play sport- hockey and football, what we've travelled half way around the world to do!

Please forgive the lack of photos on the post today. We're having some technical difficulties with the blog so I'm writing this on my phone... Hopefully more photos tomorrow!

Day 2: Singapore Universal Studios!

One day down here in Singers.  Today we had a short bus trip and arrived at Universal Studios at 10am.  Wow - what a place.  It's huge!  And today was a public holiday here in Singapore so every man and his three dogs had decided to come today too - there was just sooooo many people!

After the obligatory team photo in front of the iconic Universal globe, we all went off (in several directions) to fight crowds, and the occasional rain, to get on as many rides as possible.  Your intrepid blog writer ended up with quite an adventurous team who wanted to try as many action-packed rides as possible...  But unfortunately most of the action-packed rides had queue times of >60 minutes and so we made do with some of the less popular rides but still had a fantastic day.  Highlight for me was Waterworld, with explosives, lots of water AND a plane crash!

Dry spectators before Waterworld starts

All the girls will have their own exciting tales to tell, for sure.  There was something for everyone - from the world's highest DUAL roller-coaster (that's two separate 'coasters going at the same time and barely meters apart), getting absolutely soaked in Waterworld, and spending some $$$ at the souvenir shops!!  Every now and then I would spot another group of St Oran's girls and it was obvious they were having a good time and packing as much as possible into the day.

Luckily Barb wasn't late today and we managed to get away on time, even with Ian extracting the girls from the Hershey's chocolate shop. The team managed to perform an impromptu flash-mob rehearsal of Utaina Mai Ngā Waka in front of the crowds outside the exit - fantastic!  It was recorded so we will try and upload a copy of the video soon.
 

 A couple of quick final photos and we were finished for the day... almost.  

To finish we stopped at China Town for a bite to eat and a quick wander around the markets.  A few bits & peices were bought for very few $$$, we had some food and then some pretty tired people traipsed back to the hotel for a good night's rest!

Tomorrow, we're up bright and early!  We depart at 0530 and head to Changi Airport to catch a plan to Beijing!!  Yee haa! We've had a good time here in Singapore and enjoyed the hospitality of the Copthorne Kings, but it's time to go and perhaps that's why the grumpy old bellman is now smiling... 


PS: see our photos (click the photo top-right this page) for more images of our journey!!

 

Day 1: Singapore Tour

Day 1 in Singapore dawned warm and grey, with the sun held back by low misty cloud.  It's hot and humid here, and with all the buildings well serviced with air-conditioning, the heat always surprises you when you step out from your hotel/ bus/ shopping mall!

At around 9am we left the hotel, first stop the Singapore Flyer.  This Ferris wheel on steroids is apparently a couple of meters taller than London's Eye and offers an incredible view of the island country.  It was a little grey this early, but you can still see for miles - towards the east of us hundreds of ships at anchor waiting to unload/ reload their cargo,  apartment block upon apartment block stretch northwards, and directly in front of us office skyscrapers and fancy hotels, and the incredible Marina Bay Sands hotel.  It all takes your breath away!!

After the obligatory trawl of the souvenir shops, we were off again, stopping across Marina Bay at the iconic Merlion park - the Merlion (half lion, half mermaid if you didn't already know) is Singapore's national icon and a must-see for tourists.  We stopped here for a quick photo opp and ice block - 10am and we were already cooking!!  From here, we toured the colourful districts of China Town and Little India and while just a few minutes away from our hotel, they were distinctly different suberbs in the middle of Singapore, with street markets, food centres and beautiful temples.

Driving a little further north, we stopped to smell the flowers at the world-famous Singapore Botanic Gardens.  With about 30 minutes alotted to this stop, we made quick work of the orchid gardens and got to see some incredibly colourful flowers of the kind you just don't see back home.

Next stop: Singapore Zoo!  We had lunch here and had the choice of real authentic Singapore KFC
(!!), pizza or local cuisine Ah Meng for the more adventurous...  The rest of the day was spent wandering the huge zoo and seeing some cute, incredible, and sometimes wierd animals like white tigers, zebras, lemurs, mice deer, naked mole rats, football coaches, elephants, pygmy hippo, snakes, more scary football coaches, lizards, otters, orang utans, and more and more and more.  Was an

amazing time and enjoyed by all - even in the 30 minute torrential downpour late in the day!

So we were all a bit tired heading back to the hotel, but we made a small detour and had dinner at a local food centre below a shopping mall.  Here we found that $5 bought you a great dinner of pad thai or green curry or mango salad or anything Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian, etc, etc.  Unfortunately Ian couldn't find any ethnic NZ food like a ham'n'cheese toasted sarny, so maybe there's an opening for that here...

Today there's only one thing on our agenda: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!

We've arrived!! Singapore!!!

Musical chairs at 10,000 feet

We're here!  Was a great flight with those Singapore Airlines folks and about 300 movies at your fingertips ;).  I must say, it took about an hour for the musical chairs to finish and everyone to find a seat they were going to be happy with...

And after about 11 hours 'on the road' (so to speak...) we arrived at Changi Airport in Singapore, and were blasted by the 30+ degree heat.  Although that was for only about 2-3 seconds as
we passed from jet plane to airport terminal and back into the comfortable air-conditioning. 

St Oran's: COME ON DOWN!

Everyone was pretty stunned at the huge size of the airport terminal buildings and it was actually very quiet as we came through customs & immigration processing.  Perhaps they had closed off the airport when they realised they were about to get invaded by 40 loud and exuberant teenage girls! 

Grabbing the gear

Processing our passports, and picking up our suitcases, and then passing through customs was an absolute breeze - this has got to be one of the simplest and hassle-free airports to get through!

We had another 2-3 seconds of acclimatizing before climbing on to two busses for our 30 minute transfer to the hotel.  We had tour guides to provide a quick overview of Singapore on the way, and we found out that there are four (!!) national languages here: English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil although English is the main language for business and administration.  Furthermore, Singapore has evolved their use of English to Singlish!  And Singlish switches words around from the normal grammatical structure that we would be used to - for example, "where are you going" becomes "you go where".  I'm sure we'll get used to it soon enough...

We got to see the Singapore Flyer (not a bus like we Hutt people might assume but in fact the world's largest observation wheel, ie a gigantic Ferris wheel!) and passed under the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel!  It was a great way to see the city at night.

We arrived at our hotel at around 8.30 pm and eventually got settled in.  The old Chinese bellman wasn't too happy with our party spread all around his foyer and I think he would've liked to have a sheep dog to corrale us all into one corner!  We eventually made it to our rooms and I think it was nightie-night for all!   

Waiting, waiting, waiting

It's 6.30am now, and I think everyone will be waking up - considering their body clock is telling them it's now 11.30am in NZ!  A big day ahead of us with a bus tour and the zoo.  See you later!

We're outta here!

We're here and now we're off!  Here's the two teams, with supporters and crew, ready to depart on our Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore!!  Everyone's super-excited and keen to get to the other end.  We're going from 17 degrees (here in AKL) to 33 degrees in Singapore - WOW!

Team photo on departure from AKL (and Craig's already dreaming of Singapore!)

And as we depart on this incredible journey, it's a great time to say a few words of appreciation to some significant people that have worked hard to make this happen.

To Craig, Barb, Sue, Ian, Sally, Kirsty: here's a BIG THANKS from all of us parents, players, supporters for putting in so much of you own time into this.  We could not have done it without you.

To the fundraising committee members Anna, Meryl, Ann, Rachel (and anyone else I've missed): thanks for coming up with the ideas, coordinating the teams and bringing 'it' all home.  The fundraising efforts have been phenomonal!

To Dawn and the St Oran's college family: thanks for all the support!

To the parents: thanks for supporting your girls, and their teams!

To Kerry, and Orbit Travel: thanks for the work, the help, the advice, and the sponsorship.

And finally, to our sponsor, Action Physiotherapy: Alan, you guys rock, and we appreciate you coming on board to help us reach this goal. 

Hey, the conductor is calling "ALL ABOARD", so we better get on! NEXT STOP: SINGAPORE!

This is your Captain(s) speaking...

Olivia Browne (with the rather long nick-name of LiviLivBrownes) is one of three Olivia’s in the China Stars Football team and is the most important as she’s also Captain Olivia.  Brownes plays on the left wing and is looking forward to challenging herself during the China tour, and to seeing her players get closer as a team.  She said she’s so excited for the football team in 2013!

Outside of the games, Olivia’s keen on seeing the Olympic stadia and the cultural diversity in Beijing, as well as the shopping.  Like most of us, she’s not looking forward to the pollution and (possibly) dodgy food – although I would say that anyone who likes chop suey and wontons is probably used to dodgy food by now...

As Olivia’s final piece of advice, she gave me this quote from Maria Robinson: “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” I think that sums it up nicely!

Lucy Lancashire has no nick-name, and is quite sorry about it.  In fact, it’s something she dearly wishes could be resolved on the imminent passage to China!  That and shopping of course...  

Lucy’s the skipper for the China Stars Hockey team and usually plays striker, or centre-half.  She’s looking forward to seeing her team bond as a group on this tour, and personally she’s really looking forward to experiencing the new and different culture.

She has some advice for her team: Don't be afraid to try new things and push yourself harder. Take as much advantage of this opportunity as possible.  Lucy certainly will be trying new things – even though Chicken Chow Mein is her favourite Chinese dish (and apparently one of the 10 most popular Chinese dishes), let’s hope she gets to try more challenging cuisine such as Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐) and Fried Bee Pupae (油炸蜂蛹).  Yum!

 

A Snapshot of Sally

Sally Lancashire, or Sal to some, is our Hockey Team Manager for China Stars, and has been a key person behind the scenes on the logistics committee and with the naming rights raffle.  She’s been involved with hockey since she could get her fingers wrapped around a hockey-stick so it’s fair to say she knows a bit about the sport...

Sally’s looking forward to seeing a bunch of girls get thrills and excitement during this trip, and to building new friendships with players and supporter alike.  She expects to hear lots of stories from the girls about who got the best bargains at the markets (and who got ripped off...)!!  And she expects to hear lots of gripes about the traffic – the one thing she’s not looking forward too!

We’re lucky to have Sally with us - as well as having travelled extensively throughout Asia, she was involved in HIBS previous hockey trip to Malaysia.  And like Kirsty, Sal wants to use this tour to provide a base for the St Oran’s hockey team in 2013, improving their abilities prior to this years’ college season.

Final words from Sally read like a chant:

• All give of your best.
• Support your team members.
• Enjoy this wonderful opportunity as a team.
• Yaaaaaa, we are going!

Spotlight on Kirsty Cole

Kirsty (aka Pinky or KC) Cole is one of our China Stars hockey coaches, and in her spare time she likes to teach at Rangikura Primary School...  She's travelled to numerous places all over the world including parts of Africa and Europe but hasn’t had the pleasure of China yet, and is looking forward to spending some quality time in the Beijing traffic!  Like all of us, Kirsty isn’t looking forward to seeing the Beijing smog, but we have been told that spring weather often clears this all up and the days are a lot clearer.

Kirsty and Sue Gall (our other hockey coach) have worked the team pretty hard prior to this tournament, and are hoping this provides an excellent base for this year’s local school competition. Kirsty is interested in how the other China Stars teams approach their hockey.  It will be a great experience for coaches and players alike.

Off the field, Kirsty is hoping our girls enjoy the culture in China, and grow individually and as a team. She’s also hoping this trip will be memorable for herself, a significant addition to her life experiences!  And if she comes across her favourite Chinese food (sweet-and-sour fish) in Beijing, then I think that will be the icing on the cake...

Kirsty’s parting message for the teams: Have fun! Enjoy new challenges. Be open minded!

Introducing Barb Bialy...

Recently B-RAB (as she’s known back home) and I sat down to have a chat between sorting out netball teams, arranging hockey gear, emailing Craig about football stuff and coordinating an athletics meet.  If you hadn’t guessed it already, Barb’s the head of sports for St Oran’s College.  She’s travelling to China as part of the football support staff, but has been a key part of the overall China Stars organisation. 

Having already travelled to most parts of the world already, Barb is looking forward to getting the 50+ people on this trip to march to the beat of one drum, while we’re all coping with the obvious shock of being in China for the first time...  Lucky we’ve got Barb to look after us and her motto of “no worries” will probably be well used throughout our adventure.  I’ve also heard she’s a dab hand at driving the van and has volunteered to take over the driving duties in Beijing should she be needed.

Barb is also looking forward to tasting her favourite Orange Chicken while we’re in China but I’ve been told that authentic 陈皮鸡 is a little different there – the literal translation is “old peel chicken”.  Hmmmmmm, count me out I think.

Barb’s final piece of advice for me was “live for the day” – which is right on the money.  We’ve all got a fantastic opportunity during the 10 days we’re in Asia and we need to make the most of every single day!

5 minutes with Ian van der Meulen

Ewen is Craig Darby’s right-hand man and is the current St Oran’s 1^st XI football team manager.  He was invited to be our China Star’s Logistics Manager and then we decided to give him the Finance Manager role too.  Needless to say, he’s really looking forward to heading to Ho Chi Minh City...

Ian can’t wait to sample the Chinese cuisine. Apparently he’s pretty adventurous on that front and is keen to taste anything that’s put in front of him, especially grasshoppers, snake-blood cocktails, bird’s nest... On a more serious note, Ian really wants to see the team enjoy their time playing sport and partaking in the cultural experience that visiting China is.  He hopes it opens their eyes to how big the world really is!

Ian provided this photo for the blog.  You'll note how the infra-red heat-map imagery picks out the white-hot area in the centre of his forehead, where that razor-sharpe analytical mind resides.  Or maybe it's just a camera-flash reflection...

When I asked Ian for some sage words of advice for everyone, all he had was “Vespa Rules” – and he followed that cryptic remark by saying we have to wait for more details...  More soon!