Startune- First

First time at Startune and an interesting experience.
I say interesting because kids are quite meh to me. We drew things and folded things.
There was a lot of action happening, especially because we had so many boys. At one point we made paper guns and a war literally broke out. They wouldn't sit down or be quiet and it was hard to get them to focus. They hardly listened to our commands as well. I make them sound like animals but at that age, and those boys in particular, they were like animals. The girls were okay though, they didn't talk much but they cooperated well.
It really confuses me how girls and boys at the same age can act so differently. Actually that still applies to my age group now. Do girls mature faster?

Another reason why it was interesting-
They really were just normal kids. You don't see them as kids from low income mainland Chinese families, in fact they all speak perfect cantonese. I've realised that mainland Chinese families/people who come to Hong Kong always make cantonese their kids' first language.

I'd say that it was fun overall for a first time. They all did what they were told (sort of). But there's always that one kid that tries to be the smarty poopy and be like I KNOW EVERYTHING. This said kid is the one I am talking to in the video. Enjoy.

Ski Trip- Dolomites, Kiens// Day Five

Last day of skiing!

I'm really going to miss it. It's been an amazing five days.

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. At the bottom it was foggy, but on top, blue, blue skies and a bit of snow.

We did a race today! I got second in our beginner group. Apparently I was meant to have gotten first because the other girl cheated. Oh well, not that I really mind. It was fun and I'm happy with my time! 34.04- it was an obstacle course thing. I don't know what to call it.

Fell once only today!

I got up in two seconds so it's okay.

Quite a chill day today. Still fun though! 

Some beautiful views and whatnot. More skiing.

Did more parallel stops today. Can sort of do it now, if that counts.

Goodbye skiing!
Final bruise count: ~7

Here is the final compilation video that I made!

Ski Trip- Dolomites, Kiens// Day Four

We skied for three hours today. Went up to the mountain again, fell twice in the first couple of minutes. Ha ha. After that I didn’t fall though which is great. I think I have more control now. Still no control, but more control. I hope I’m getting better. I feel like I am getting better, but slowly. Sadly tomorrow is the last day skiing! Benny has been a really good instructor though, he’s so patient and leads us through everything and gives us good advice.

After skiing we took a one hour bus ride to a biathlon place. Not sure what it’s called. There were special skis- very thin and light and poles that were sharp at the bottom. It’s easier to move with those skis compared to normal skis, but you are more prone to falling. This was cross country skiing I think. We had to go up and down hill as well which was not very good. My first uphill went crazy. I kept slipping because I couldn’t get my skis into the right position. I got it in the end though. The key is to dig the insides into the snow and walk up in reverse snowblau. Going down though, I could not go down without falling at the end. I did it twice, both times I fell. He said lean forward, so I did! Still nope.

My favourite part was definitely shooting though. We had proper rifles and they taught us how to get down with the skis on. First time I did it, I got 4/5 targets, seconds time 5/5 targets. Not bad I think for a first time! It was easier than I thought it was going to be.

We had a race at the end. Five people in a group. We went one lap around and then got down to shoot. If you missed a shot you had to do a penalty round. Again, got 5/5 targets! No penalty rounds done J

Not going to lie, it was tiring. Especially with skiing and the biathlon both in one day.

Tomorrow is the last day of skiing! Hoping it will be a good one. We got back late tonight from watching a ‘ski show’ yet I am still up. Yay. We’ve been sleeping so early every night from exhaustion, there is literally no time to do my coursework. Ugh.

Ski Trip- Dolomites, Kiens// Day Three

Another good day!

Went up to the top of the mountain today. Wasnt as bad as i thought. It was sunny and foggy at first, then it just became extremelt foggy and heavy snow with no sun. I still cant do the stopping woth parallel skis, and i cant really control my speed very well, therefore i fall. I also keep leaning backwards. I dont know how to lean forwards!! Its so hard and it just makes me go even faster. And so my thighs burn every day. I think im going to go behind Benny more, i just copy whatever he does and i somehow have more control. Tomorrow we're going skiing and biathaloning!

Ski Trip- Dolomites, Kiens// Day Two

Joined the beginners for real today.

I actually had a lot of fun today! We went at a nice pace, anything we weren’t too good at, Benny would explain to us. We did little exercises that helped us in full-on skiing.

Towards the end we started to go properly fast. I loved it! I fell twice but it was okay because I got up in about ten seconds. Years ago when I used to go skiing with my parents, I was known for going really fast and going in a straight line. Not sure where that has gone, but slopes in Asia are probably not as intense as they are here. I really am not sure, it’s been a while.

Quite proud that I can turn parallel-y now and drift. Pretty cool.

I wish I could do stuff on my own though, then maybe I’d be able to explore and see what level I’m really at.

Nonetheless, today was so SO much better than yesterday.

Found two bruises today. I know one was from yesterday, not sure about the other though. But they’re both quite intense. Oh well. Battle scars.

Ski Trip- Dolomites, Kiens// Day One

Wow I look so happy! This was before we started.

After the first day. As you can see, I am severely unamused.

Extremely horrible first day.

I signed up for the intermediate because I thought, well okay if I did it five years ago maybe I can do it now. Haha no.

Literally went straight onto the slopes and I just could not keep up. I mean I don’t even remember techniques and things, there was no warm up!

The number of times I lost control on that first slope is uncountable.

I decided that it was too much for me, so I joined the beginner group. They didn’t do much, so I asked if I could do my own thing, so I did.

Went on a little slope a few times to try to familiarize myself again. After lunch I went back with the intermediates, again, I died. This time we went to the top of the mountain which was meant to be ‘the same difficulty’. It so was not. The fog and snow and everything just makes it so much less happy and sunny. Which is what it is like at the bottom. Which is what I like.

Again, the number of times I fell is uncountable. The rest of the group behind me were pretty mad because I was going quite slow.

All of this mixed together was just a horrible day for me.

Running To Stop The Traffik' 13

(+lauren+xavier)

My team was GSIS A and we placed 18th overall. Not bad I think, compared to last place last year!
My goal (our goal) this year was to not get last. And we didn't!

I was team leader for the GSIS A team and Elaina was team leader for the B team. When signing up for this I had no idea that I had to run as well, being team leader. When I found out, which was a couple of weeks after getting the team leader position, no doubt I was shocked and in horror. Fit? Not me. Elaina and I went to several meetings held by the core directors of the race- mostly for getting our runners together and fundraising issues. That is still not over and fundraised money is due early December! I hope my runners have raised enough money.. Our target this year for each runner was $1875 because last year our school raise $5000 (i don't mean to be mean but last year's team leader, whoever it was, was no use at all). I myself have raised $3000 which I am quite happy about.

For preparation, I planned about five training days where we would go to the peak and run. People who said they would come, didn't, so that was a bit disappointing. In the end we had about four trainings, all in which I ran one lap. Haha. I am such a fittie. So lazy, much lazy, very lazy.

I decided that the most effective way to run the race was to have everyone run one lap each. This worked quite well, and we got quite a bit of rest in between. This race really needed a lot of team work and I am glad to say that I definitely saw that in the 24 hour span! When someone couldn't run due to injuries/was too tired to run, someone else would take over and run their lap willingly, and that really made me smile. I was not the one who ran other people's laps, apologies, I would have walked the whole thing since I already had trouble doing one round. I ran a total of 6 laps (19.2km), or well, I walked half of it, pretty much. But I still did it didn't I? This race challenged my fitness (almost?) to the limit. I have never in my life ran/walked 19.2km in 24 hours. My goal was actually to run 10 laps, but clearly I was too ambitious.

As team leaders we were specifically told at the meetings what cause we were running and fundraising for, what charity it was going to etc. Emails were sent out to runners about all this information of course, but I bet 80% of the people didn't read it or read the first paragraph. The core directors did give us the chance of getting the owners of the charity to come to our school to talk, but we couldn't find a time. I think that they could have promoted it a lot more, especially during the race. As for me though, I learnt a substantial amount about human trafficking and its prevalence in Nepal. I also just came back from a school trip to Nepal which is why during and after my trip, I kept thinking about the issue and observing the place, just thinking about how and where people would do this. Nepal is a wonderful place for tourists though. No human being should be sold or bought to be slaves of any kind. I wish our world was fairer but that's a big thing to wish for so all I can wish for is change.