Chinese New Year

Last Friday I went with some PhD students and Philippe with the train to Brisbane to celebrate chinese new year. We had lots of Chinese food and during the dinner we saw some Lion dances with lots of noise/loud music. In a lion dance, the lion is operated by 2 persons who are in the costume. The Lion Dance is performed accompanied by the music of beating of drums, cymbals, and gongs instruments synchronise to the lion dance movements and actions. For me it sounded like lots of noise... 


Here what I found about the lion dances on Wikipedia:


"During the Chinese New Year, lion dancer troupes from the Chinese martial art schools or Chinese guild and associations will visit the houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform the traditional custom of "cai ching" (採青), literally means "plucking the greens", a quest by the 'lion' to pluck the auspicious green normally 'vegetables' like lettuce which in Chinese called 'cái'(菜)that sound like 'cái'(财)(fortune) and auspicious fruit like oranges tied to a "Red Envelope" containing money; either hang highly or just put on a table in front of the premises. The "lion" will dance and approach the "green" and "red evelope" like a curious cat, to "eat the green" and "spit" it out leave it in a nice arrangement, like an auspicious character but keep the "red envelope". The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the troupe is rewarded with the "red envelope"."


Some pictures:

Chinatown

The lion dance

We took the train back home and as we passed the veggie shop on the way home we decided to do groceries. Very convenient a 24h veggie shop!


On Saturday, Phil and I did not manage to wake up for the Parkrun at 7am :-( BUT, we did wake up a bit later to go to the surf lesson at 8am! We had a great surf! After a good hour of surfing we had breakfast at the Surfers Paradise Life Saving Club and then we rented a surf board to practice a bit more and to take some pics:

On Sunday afternoon it started raining... and raining and raining. Today, Wednesday it rained a lot here. Some roads were flooded and some water got in our garage, but everything is ok. It's wet season here...I hope the weather gets better soon.


Today we went to the church because the ashes of Barry (our neighbour at Robina) were put in their final resting place. We miss him an our thoughts are with Beth and their daughter Denise. 


Tomorrow it is Australia Day, the National Day of Australia but of the festivities are cancelled because of the rain... Not sure yet what we will do... Maybe work :-) Lots of work to do!!!! 

Activities!

PhD


I have been working long days last week. I am working on a paper. I had feedback from two reviewers on a paper (2nd review) and they require again some major changes in the paper. It is a difficult process and very frustrating sometimes. I have been changing the introduction and literature review of the paper over and over... but it is difficult to make a very clear argument. I will keep re-reading it and try to change it.... Hopefully the will accept the paper.
After making all these changes in the paper based on the comments of the reviewers, I have to write a letter for the reviewers stating whether I agreed with their comments, why, and how I exactly changed this in the paper. Also not easy!

Anyway! I also need to relax and do some sports, about what I want to write a bit in this post!

Toastmasters

Last Wednesday I went with Phil to a toastmasters meeting. Here some more information about toastmasters:

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Today, our membership is 270,000 strong. These members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 13,000 clubs that make up our global network of meeting locations. 


A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a no-pressure atmosphere. 

Source: http://www.toastmasters.org/

We enjoyed the meeting and had a lot of fun! Lot's of jokes and laughing was part of the meeting too!
First everyone had to introduce himself and we had to try to talk about "having a chance" and to include the word enrich/enrichment/enriched (meaning improved) in our introduction. Two of the members of the club had to do a 7minute speech and after the speech they got feedback from the other members. Then there were also some prompt response games which is good to practice your speaking when you don't have much time to prepare your answer. In two weeks we will go to the next meeting and if we enjoy that too we might sign up. It would be a great way to improve our english and our public speaking!


Tennis

Last week I went to play tennis with Philippe a few times. He is a good student and improving very quickly! It would be nice if he could improve a little more so that he can join the social competition on Wednesdays. Last weekend I also had a long hit on Saturday and Sunday! And every Monday and Wednesday I play at the social competition at the Queens Park tennis club, close to our place. Sometimes I play from 7pm till 11pm! Most of the time it's doubles, but sometimes also singles. Last week I met a German girl at the social competition and I am training some more with her!

Running

I still try to go for a run 2 or 3 times a week! Last week we went to the 7am Parkrun at Main Beach again and Phil and I both had a personal best time! Also today (this morning) I went to the Parkrun (Phil couldn't make it today because he had a Skype meeting). Again I did a personal best time: 29.40! First time that I managed to stay under 30 minutes!

Surfing

After the morning run today, I went to surfers paradise to join a morning surf lesson! Only 15$ for one hour! I started at 8am so I had to hurry after the run, but I made it on time! I had a great surf! The waves were good and I managed to stand up on the board different times! Good feeling! Especially because the last 2 or 3 times we rented a board ourselves, I did not manage to stand up at all and I almost gave up on the surfing! But Katrin (the German girl from the tennis) told me about the surfing lesson on Saturdays, so I gave it another shot and it worked!

Swimming

Before I forget... Swimming! Last Thursday phil and I went for a morning swim at 7am! It felt good to wake up early and swim in the 50m outdoor swimming pool! After the swim it was working time at Griffith!

Conclusion: I am getting used to the Aussie Style of living! Waking up early and doing sports in the morning! I just have to make sure I can continue with it :-)... Only the "going to bed early" is still a problem...

So that was my sporty-update!

Regards,
Jessie

Brisbane International

Two weeks ago the Brisbane International tennis tournament was on. I went on Wednesday with Philippe and two other guys that I know from the tennis club where I play every monday and wednesday.

We arrived at 11am and we bought 2 ground passes (only $15, 12 Euro!!) and to tickets for the Rod Laver arena so that we could all see some action on the side courts and in the arena.

Phil and I started with a doubles match on the side court. Jamie Murray, Andy Murrays' brother was playing with Paul Hanley against Marach and Peya.

Murray-Hanley

Then we saw the second set of Gilles Simon (FRA) - James Duckworth (AUS) at Centre Court. Of course the French guy won :-)

Simon

Then we saw the first set of the match of Sam Stosur, but unfortunately for the Ausies she lost the match

Sam Stosur

Me @ Rod Laver Arena

After the game we went to the Circle where Philippe had some fun...

Philippe

Me

Then it was time for Serena's match! What a power!

2nd round - arena full!

Serena

After one of the very long rallies she twisted her ankle! 

But she managed to win her match (later she stepped out the tournament)

 Then it was time for the side courts again. We saw an awesome match between Dolgopolov and Andrev. Both of them were playing so well and the crowd went Crazy!

Dolgopolov

Andreev

Eventually Dolgopolov won the game with 6-7 (3) 7-6(9) 6-2. As you can imagine the second set and the tie-break were very close! Andreev had about 4 matchpoints but he couldn't finish it!

Awesome day! Unfortunately there is not enough money to go to the Australian Open again... Maybe next year!

Cheers,

Jessie

Christmas Break

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since I have posted so I don’t know where to start…

First of all: 

Happy New year and all the best wishes for 2012!

But let’s go back in time first…

Barry – Rest in Peace

Phil and I lost a very good friend, Barry. Barry was our neighbour at Malanda Place. He was 76 years old and lost the fight against leukaemia when he wasn’t strong enough to fight against a lungs infection. Barry was a great person and felt like family to Phil and I. Barry taught Philippe how to fix the motorbikes, how to make furniture for our apartment and many other things. Philippe has spent hours with him making the furnitures we have now in our apartment. We are so thankful that Barry shared his knowledge and skills with us. Often Phil and I went for afternoon tea at Barry’s and Beth place. We did so after Phil’s graduation were we managed to make some awesome pictures of Barry, who doesn’t like cameras and pictures.

Barry & Jessie

Phil, Beth, me

Barry

Phil - Barry - me

When Beth called us that Barry wasn’t well at all, we immediately went to the hospital to see him. He was sleeping. We said goodbye to Barry. Five hours after we left he passed away. It all went very fast, it was only 1 month after they diagnosed him with Leukaemia. Barry was a very friendly, happy, smart, handy and warm person. We will miss him and he will be missed by many others.

Beth and their daughter Denise organised a very nice service on the 22^nd of December. We have spent quite some time with Beth and Denise since then.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Pierre and Nemo’s place. Nemo did some great cooking! The food was delicious! Thanks Nemo and Pierre J

Stuffed mushroom

2nd serve :-)

Christmas Day

On Christmas day we went for lunch at Beth’s and Denise’s place. Philippe made some delicious appetizers based on Gordon Ramsey recipes. They are worth trying!

Aubergine Caviar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tSfgIa_hG0&feature=related

Stuffed Courgette rolls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7z8vAwdt_M&feature=related

It was very nice to eat outside next to the pool in a very nice garden! For dessert/dinner we crepes with Nutella, bananas and strawberries.

Mountain Tambourine – Curtis Falls

Between Christmas and New Year I took some days of to relax. Phil and I went with the motorbike to Mountain Tambourine where we went for a nice walk in the rainforest to some waterfalls and rock pools. After the walk we had a hot chocolate in a Dutch café.

The rock pools

Sport

The past weeks I am doing a lot of sport! I go for a run 3 or 4 times a week, I try to swim once a week and I play tennis once or twice a week. On Saturday morning (7am!) Phil and I went to the Parkrun at Main Beach. This is a free organised 5km run where your run is timed. Over 80 people participated! Philippe did his run in 28 minutes, me in 32 minutes. I want to run 5km in less than 30 minutes! Once I went for a run along the Broadwater and I did it in 30 minutes 3 seconds…

Here a picture of the Southport pool where I go for my swims:

New Years Eve

On new years eve Phil and I went for afternoon tea at Beth’s place. Then we went for dinner at an Indian Restaurant where we used to go quite often when we were at Bond University. Food was delicious! At 10pm we went to the Fire Work at Robina Town centre. Here in Australia they have fireworks at 9pm or 10pm for the families with children and fireworks at midnight for adults. After the firework we went to Beth’s place for drinks, delicious cake and we watched the Sydney’s Firework on TV… I want to celebrate NYE in Sydney next year!

At the restaurant

At the restaurant

Robina Town Centre (Shopping centre)

Fire works

At Beth's place

New Years day

On New Years day Phil and I went to the beach. We went to Main Beach this time. We wanted to go surf but the waves weren’t good. So we just relaxed at the beach, we swam and we did a walk along the water.

Working

Now it is working time again! Philippe is applying for jobs. I am working on my PhD. I just got a review back from a journal and I have to make changes again to my manuscript… The reviewers were happy with the changes that were made after the 1^st review, but still had some comments. So I am working on this paper again… Fingers crossed.

That was the news so far J. On Wednesday I am going to the Brisbane international with some guys from the tennis club and Philippe, so I might post soon!

Cheers,

Jessie