The Big Time

It appears I've become a published author/writer!  In relative terms, it means absolutely nothing.  But for me, I'm pretty stoked to see my name in flashing lights in a well-respected newspaper.

A friend from my old school put me in touch with an editor of the TES (Times Education Supplement), a website and weekly section of the Times Newspaper.  It's got a huge following of teachers in England and the world round as most all state school jobs are posted there and teachers post myriad resources for other teachers to kindly steal.  It's a glorious website.  

So five drafts later (I'm a perfectionist) my piece for the 'A Day in the Life' column has gone live.  Although stylistic changes were made to my use of similes and paragraph lengths and there's currently an irony in me talking about work-life balance, I'm pleased with it.  

As such, I give you my  'Day in Shanghai' piece: A Day in The Life.  

Gili Trawangan

Perhaps our time in Indonesia was diminished by the fact that it took us so bloody long to get there. I should start with the fact that I put myself in the hands of Jimmy, a friend known for his ability to bring people together but less so for his organisational foresight. This is how we ended up on a fifteen-hour journey involving two flights, a four-hour layover, a three-hour mini bus transfer, a two-hour boat ride and a horse and buggy. No exaggeration. 

For a one-week trip, the journey seemed a bit much. And by the time we arrived, I was set to stay put. Fortunately, I'd made the accommodation choices and the six of us ended up in two two-bedroom villas with private pool on a rather secluded side of the tiny island. Off the coast of Lombok, Gili Trawangan is the kind of place where quiet repose is easy to come by. There's no cars on the island so your options are foot, bicycle or horse and buggy. We did a bit of both but we also did quite a bit of nothing. 

Jimmy, Andy and Mandy went diving. Karen, Clare and I went cocktailing and swimming. I did a bit of yoga. We hid from the intensely direct rays of the sun. 

We wandered to the beach for sunsets. 

 We cycled our way to the main strip where a gamut of restaurants and dive resorts dotted the shore:

 We checked out the turtle conservation centre:

 And we dodged brief tropical rain showers underneath trees and in hip indie cafes whilst the sun worked its magic and kicked away the clouds:

It was beautiful but it didn't feel like travelling. And I can't say that I have a definitive feeling about what Indonesia is like. The country itself is comprised of fourteen thousand islands, a number that doesn't quite sink in. Much like the Philippines, you'd have to do a lot of moving around to even begin to understand the myriad cultures, religions and ethnic groups that comprise the nation. The one reminder of any of this was that three mosques dotted the island's interior and our bikini-clad revelries were briefly interrupted by the call to prayer. With bare skin and gin and tonics in hand, it almost felt a sacrilege.

Though it was beautiful, I can't say our fifteen-hour journey was worth the travel time. Maybe on a stop through; maybe I need to give it another chance. But with neighbours like Bali, Lombok and Komodo, volcanic islands to tantalise the geology nerd in me and coffee to rival its neighbours, there's just so much more to see.

Time Flies

After a drizzly not-so-exciting winter, the sun seems to have found Shanghai once again.   My Chinese evolution is probably best noted by the fact that when I arrived in August, I was too afraid of the pollution to sit on my balcony and take it the street scenes below.  And now--I've stopped checking the app.  It's 22c outside and by God, I'm going to enjoy it; April in London rarely sees these temperatures.

I've been low on the upkeep of my travels in the last two months.  Having just arrived back from Indonesia, I am acutely aware that the holiday memories fade the longer I take to write.  Our February Chinese New Year holiday to the Philippines was filled with so much random weirdness, I'm not quite sure where to begin.  Off the back of that, I headed to Tiger Leaping Gorge on a school trip.  And last week's trip to Indonesia was simple--beaches, poolside, not much to write home about.  Beautiful, don't get me wrong, but possibly rather uninspired.

What's difficult to fathom in all of this is that I'm rounding off the last ten weeks of my first school year in Shanghai.  Ten weeks, one exam class, one International Award Gold trip and a series of report writing deadlines is what separates me from a 7-week summer that's loosely, roughly, haphazardly planned.

One thing's for certain, it promises to be a busy one.