Running the Great Wall

Getting ready to go!

In the middle of May, Val and I headed to Beijing to run the Great Wall Adventure Marathon.  We ran the half marathon (21.1 km).  It was awesome!  We had to work on Friday, so we weren't able to head to Beijing until the evening.  We didn't arrive to our hotel until about 11:30.  We headed straight to bed, because we had to be picked up at 3:00am.

The start and finish gate, Ying and Yang Square

After a solid (restless and nervous) 3 hours of sleep, we headed downstairs and loaded onto one of the busses taking us out to the wall.  The run was really well organized, and we had already pre-registered for the pick up at one of the sponsored hotels.  That meant that despite the hour, things were relatively easy!  I managed to get a wee bit of sleep during our long drive out of town.  We didn't arrive to the wall until about 6:00!  That meant we had about an hour to check in our bags, have a last minute bathroom break and stretch our sleepy limbs before the gun.

The upwards climb...

We managed to sneak into the same starting gate, and began to run at around 7.  The first 5.5 km were straight up hill!  Just one...long...winding...mountainous road.  Up and up we went, until we arrived at the Great Wall.  From there it was stairs and roughly cemented trail until about km 10.  There were some parts were you simply had to walk; you just can't get much speed going up stairs and some sections were only made for single file.  Despite the intense start - it was amazing!  The views, though hazy, were spectacular.  People were (mostly) smiling and excited to be there.  Even though my legs were hurting, I was so amped on blending my two favourite things - running and traveling - that it really wasn't so bad!

What goes up must come down

Val and I stuck close for the first 10 k, but we split for the last half.  It was a mostly flat out and back, with a few small hills and a lot of rocky trail.  Trail running is definitely hard on the knees, but, again, the scenery was distracting.  The path went through a small Chinese village and winded through their streets.  There were a ton of kids yelling out "Let's Go" and sticking their hands out for high fives.  I am glad I know a few words of Chinese so I could soak up their encouragement!

Finished her first half!  Woop!

I finished in 2:45, and was really happy with that.  Although it is my slowest half time by far, it was up steps and giant hills!  I normally don't walk at all during a half, but here you have no choice.  I was warned that I would complete the race in double my normal time, so I was surprised that I was much faster.  It was an awesome race and I would do it again!  We were super exhausted at the end, but we just packed right up and flew home the same night to recoup in our own beds!

The reward at the end, a fancy medal

Smog and a Great Wall

My Finisher's Certificate

Being a Beach Bum in the Philippines

Views from our boat trip

Views from my sandy home for the week

For May Holiday this year, Labour Day, Chris and I headed to the Philippines!  We spent a week on the island of Boracay, which is probably the most popular island in the archipelago.  We were hoping to go somewhere a little more isolated, but with only a week it was a bit hard to find flights that fit and avoid doing any 9 hour bus rides.  I am happy we went with Boracay though!  It was SUPER relaxing, beautiful and HOT!

Where we set up camp each day

We left Dalian on a Saturday afternoon, and we didn't reach Manila until after midnight.  We had a pretty long layover in Hong Kong, but that is a massive airport with no end of things to do.  Since we had a final connecting flight between Manila and Boracay at 4:00 am, we simply stayed in the airport.  But we didn't sleep, as it was really more like a bus terminal than an airport!  It was the smallest, sketchiest looking airport I have been to in all my travels of South East Asia!  Nonetheless, our plane from 1962 safely landed on the island, and then we took a quick bus and a very short ferry to the hotel. We hadn't slept since Friday night, so we immediately headed to the beach to set up our napping location for the rest of the morning!

Cruising around the island

We spent each day at an isolated spot near the end of the long beach.  It was white sand, beautiful clear water, and enough palm trees for shade in the afternoon.  I did nothing but swim, nap and read books all day.  At about 1 or 2 we would have a smoothy break, and then continue swimming and soaking up sun for the rest of the afternoon.  Perfection.

One of the catamarans circling the island

One day we did a boat trip around the island to do some snorkelling.  We were able to see a decent amount of fish right by the boat.  The stops themselves were a bit crowded, but the views were lovely.

Getting ready for another swim

The island had a lot of great choices for food, so we loaded up on Western treats.  We had greek food, great pizza, burgers and wraps and even pancakes.  Living in China for two years really makes you crave Western food!  It was fun to stroll around and check out the sites on the island once the sun went down.  It was a bit too hot to explore much during the day!

Chris is so excited to be in the Philippines!

On Friday evening we headed back to Manila.  Everything we read said that Manila is one of the least safe cities for travellers, and that we should go with a tour group if we were to go out and see any of the sights.  Since we didn't arrive in Manila until really late Friday night it was too late to sign up for any groups, so we went to the biggest mall in Asia.  I know that is really not culturally sensitive, but again, I live in China.  We do not have nice stores in China.  There are only English movies every couple of months.  There are certainly no donut shops.  We packed in a little bit of home sweet home into our one day!  

Checking out the sunset on our last evening

All in all it was a great trip, and exactly what we needed after an extremely busy (and cold) term.  February, March and April were ridiculously busy.  We had worked a string of Saturdays, marked a million exams, attended a thousand meetings and were just plain exhausted.  I highly recommend the Philippines, and would go back and check out another island anytime!

Sunset sailboat cruises

Our sustenance for the week - smoothies!

Only 11 000 km to home!

Another Year of MUN

Making a speech at Beimun on Environmental issues

This year I am one of the Model UN sponsor teachers again.  The club has been going really well this year, and we went to four conferences.  I went to one in the fall, simply down the street at the American International School, and one in Beijing.  The BEIMUN conference is one of the largest in Asia, and we brought 13 students to contribute to the group of over 1000.

The whole group dressed so lovely

The trip to Beijing went from a Wednesday morning to a Sunday afternoon.  That is a long time to be working!  However, the trip went great (despite a few tears, some very late nights and one very determined smoker).  The students did very well in their debates, made some new friends, and enjoyed touring around Beijing.  It is a great chance for the teachers to connect with other international teachers, have fun with the kids, and get out of the traditional classroom for a few days!

Voting on how best to change the world

We also had our own annual MUN conference at the start of May.  This year we added another school, and had 100 students from 3 different schools participating!  It was a lot to organize, but we had a great team of students and teachers that worked super hard.  The day went perfectly, and the kids had an awesome time showing off the school.

Debating back and forth (my students are Morocco)

MUN is almost done for another year (which is a relief and also sad to see some of our great students moving on).  Some of our MUN grads are going to NYU, Berkley, U of T and even UBC.  I am already looking forward to next year, and a new group of students!  I will be directing the club next year, and we are already planning a big trip to Korea!

At Maple Leaf MUN deciding on how to fix relations with North Korea

Although this is not my most exciting blog post...teaching kids is actually what I do with most of my time here.  Contrary to popular belief I am not on vacation ALL the time... I just wish I was.

Hard at work at Maple Leaf MUN