}

1 January 2010

2010 Highlights

A new lease on life, teaching English



Priceless Moments
  • Hurtling down the water slide at Matt's 7th birthday party.
  • The delicious sea food at The Strandloper, all cooked on the braai and potjie on the beach.
  • Taboggening down the hill with Sam without her applying the brakes even once.  She was screaming in exhilaration, me in in fear! 
  • The sun setting over Llandadno Beach.  So beautiful.
  • The amazing colours of the fish at the  Oceanarium at the Cape Town Waterfront.
  • Wonderful family walks at Constantia Nek walk and Silvermine.
  • The stunning view from the top of Table Mountain, a view I'll never grow tired of.
  • A beautiful walk from Muizenberg to Kalk Bay, my last ever walk with Ally.
  • The wonderful penguins on Boulders Beach and the colour of the sea.
  • Walking along the ridge at the tip of Cape Point and looking out at the ocean.
  • Riding an ostrich in Oudshoorn.
  • The stunning view across the vast beach and lagoon from a high place at Nature's Valley.
  •  Doing the first day of The Otter Trail at Storm's River.
  • Doing my first official photoshoot which produced some lovely portraits of Meggan's children.
  • Visiting the Botanical Gardens in Singapore on my way home, especially the stunning orchids.
  • Getting back to Sydney to discover I'd got an A for my Teaching English (CELTA) course, coming top out of 40 students. 
  •  Photographing the Chinese New Year Parade, the Mardis Gras. 
  •  A fun weekend away with the Mosman Camera Club to Port Stephens.
  • Chilling out with hundred of doggies (and Mack) at the Bark in the Park and capturing lots of doggie portraits. 
  • Getting an i-Phone which soon became of my favourite possessions.
  • Becoming a fair dinkum Aussie citizen. 
  • Photograph surfing at Narrabeen and getting some great shots with my 500 mm lens.
  • Taking up teaching and discovering I really enjoyed it.
  • The creativity that English teaching afforded me in being able to create my own materials and class content including special themed lessons for the Melbourne Cup and Halloween.
  • Receiving some positive feedback from students that really touched me.
  • Mack running away after getting a fright from Craig and being found by Liza who then became a big part of Mack's life. 
  • Getting to write  stories with a twist, stories from school and stories about Mack.
  • Creating a class blog that all my students contributed to.  It became very popular.
  • Getting closure on my divorce from Ally by collecting all my favourite memories of our 17 years together. 
  • Writing down my memories from childhood, school, university, Old Mutual, London and Cambridge. A wonderful trip down memory lane.
  • Reading mum's memoirs which she wrote after being inspired by my memories.
  • Feeling very proud of South Africa for putting on such a successful football world cup.
  • My best friend, Russell coming to Sydney - so wonderful to see him again.
  • Performing Myburghian leaps together with Russell in beautiful locations.
  • Plenty of geocaching with Russell - including in the dark.
  • An amazing three hour hike in the Blue Mountains down into the valley created by the beautiful Wentworth Falls - including skinny dipping in an ice cold mountain pool
  • Leaping into the the emerald green waters of the Watamola Lagoon in the Royal National park.
  • A walk along the cliffs of the Royal National Park with its beautifully shaped and colourful rock formations.
  • The annual Vivid Light Festival and the Bondi Sculptures by the Sea with Sue.
  • Going to Clontarf with Lizzy with Mack and Gem and discovering there was a spark between us.
  • A lovely picnic in Brennan park with Lizzy.
  • Going to a theatre show with Lizzy: Good Cop, Bad Cop with a delicious curry dinner before.
  • Inviting Lizzy for a dinner for two where I tried out my "secret peppercorn sauce" on steak - a great success.
  • The beautiful rock formations at La Perouse. 
  • Christmas with Brendan and Eva and getting some lovely portraits of the kids.


Less happy moments
  •  Having to leave Mack in kennels for 6 weeks while I was in Cape Town and getting sent photos of him in which he looked unhappy. Thank goodness Liza then came into Mack's life.
  • My divorce with Ally becoming finalised. 
  • Mack getting a little grass seed in his neck necessitating an operation to remove it. At first the vet thought it might be something far more serious.

Purchases
  • i-Phone 4

2010 in more detail


It's been a quiet year - a year of coming to grips with a life without Ally and a year of both consolidating and trying out new things.


Spending time with the family in Cape Town

After a wonderful Christmas with the family in December 2009, I remained in Cape Town for another 5 weeks.  I was able to share in Matt's 7th birthday party with a water slide and lots of splashing and fun.  I also went taboggening with the family which was a great adrenaline rush, especially when I discovered that Sam has no fear of speed and sees no need to apply the brake on corners!

Other family outings included a trip up Signal Hill to see the new World Cup  football stadium, a picnic at  Llandadno Beach and a day out with mum and the kids at the Waterfront and Oceanarium.  We also did a a lovely Constantia Nek walk as well as walks at Silvermine.

I also got to see Ivor and I caught up with the people from the Hardcore Hiking club at a braai with James and Fiona.  We also went to Scarborough for the day to see Sean.

In addition to family activities, I took many photos in and around Cape Town at places like Table Mountain, Paarl, the Muizenberg to Kalk Bay walk, Kirstenbosch, Franschhoek, Hout Bay and Chapman's Peak, Cape Point, Camps Bay, Boulders Beach and the World of Birds.

During the last part of my holiday, I did the Garden Route including Knysna, Nature's Valley, Oudshoorn and Robberg (in Plett). It was good to see this beautiful part of the world again. As usual, a highlight for me was the gorgeous Storm's River National Park where I did the first day of the Otter Trail. I love the way the ocean pounds the coast along this park's rocky shoreline and the sensation of walking across the suspension bridge.

In Cape Town, I did my first official photoshoot which produced some nice portraits of Meggan's children.  It was my first paying "gig"   I got a great shirt out of the deal!

After I left South Africa, the Botings continued to have a busy year.  The big events were renovating their kitchen (which was very disruptive but well worth it in the end) and gearing up for and enjoying the World Cup Football which was hosted in South Africa this year.  This included lots of loud and jubilant  Vuvuzela blowing in the Boting household.

Another milestone this year was that Sam celebrated her 10th birthday.  She is as gorgeous as ever with a lovely sunny personality.  It's amazing to think that soon she'll be in her teen years and breaking hearts.


Trying out teaching

The second highlight this year was discovering I loved teaching.  I did a CELTA course from October to December 2009 to learn how to teach English as a secondary language.  The main thing that attracted me to teaching English was the fact that it was a change from the corporate world for a while and it would allow me to travel and work at the same time.  When I returned to Sydney after Cape Town, I decided to try it out in Sydney and see if I would enjoy it or not.  And I soon discovered that I had a passion for it.

Here are some of the things I loved about teaching this year:
  • Teaching adults who are extremely eager and motivated to learn
  • Meeting students from all over the world - the classroom is a veritable melting pot
  • Really feeling like I am contributing to people achieving their life dreams.  For most, being able to speak and write English provides a gateway to all sorts of opportunities back home 
  • Receiving some positive feedback from students that really touched me
  • The other teachers in the school - I have never worked with a nicer bunch of people, except maybe for Volvo.  The teachers at Kaplan come from an amazingly diverse range of different backgrounds and they are all happy to share ideas and experiences
  • The creativity that English teaching afforded me in being able to create my own materials and class content including special themed lessons for the Melbourne Cup and Halloween as well as my own written stories (including stories with a twist, stories from school and stories re Mack)
  • Having a captive audience to photograph including student portraits and class portraits
  • The ability to experiment with the use of the Internet in teaching - including the use of a class blog.
  • Creating my own site for teachers which provides access to information and resources I would have loved to have when I started teaching
  • Some hilarious studentisms
The only real drawback to teaching is that the pay is very low and for that reason, it's probably not a viable long term career.  But it has opened my eye to the fact that I love teaching and training, so I can start to look at other rewarding options like corporate training, for example.


Russell coming to Sydney to visit

The third major highlight was Russell, my best friend, coming to Sydney.  He spent close to two weeks here, on his way to Melbourne, and we had a fantastic time as always.

Some of the highlights were:
  • Performing many Myburghian leaps together in beautiful locations
  • Plenty of geocaching - including in the dark
  • An amazing three hour hike in the Blue Mountains down into the valley created by the beautiful Wentworth Falls - including skinny dipping in an ice cold mountain pool
  • Leaping into the the emerald green waters of the Watamola Lagoon in the Royal National park
  • A walk along the cliffs of the Royal National Park with its beautifully shaped and colourful rock formations
  • Playing lots of games of tennis
  • Taking lots of great photos of our adventures
  • And plenty of other highlights


Photography

Things were quiet on the photography front this year but I did manage to take photos at some big Sydney events like the Chinese New Year Parade, the Mardis Gras, Bark in the Park, the Vivid Light Festival and the Bondi Sculptures by the Sea.

I also went on outings to Narrabeen (to photograph surfing), La Perouse (for beautiful rock formations) and a weekend away with the Mosman Camera Club to Port Stephens.

Also, on the way home from Cape Town, I was able to stop off in Singapore for a day and photograph the beautiful Botanical Gardens.


Finally...

It was a year for lots of travelling down memory lane.  Mum wrote a wonderful memoir of her life's most vivid memories.  Inspired by this, I helped collate memories about Poppa George and Nana Win, Gramp's parents as well as Auntie Lottie.  Finally, I fleshed out my own memories from my childhood years, school years, university years, Old Mutual years and London years.  I found the process to be very therapeutic and it gave me fresh perspective and the desire to live life to the full again.

I (very quietly indeed) celebrated my 40 th birthday this year (as did my good friend, Brendan).  I also became a fair dinkum Aussie citizen which I was more excited about.  

Our great friends, Andreas and Ingrid, found a house to buy this year and they are settling into it very happily.  Anna continues to be a wonderful photographic model.

Little Mack is as cute as ever - he ran away when my house mate left the gate open and unintentionally gave him a fright but all ended well when he met Liza who now looks after him during the day and several nights a week.  Read the story here.  

Mack has also recently been in the wars when a little grass seed became embedded in his neck necessitating an operation to remove it - but he is now well on the road to recovery.  I wish him much good health in the new year.


Favourite Movies this Year
  • Inception
  • Man on Wire 
  • Shutter Island
  • The Prophet
  • Up in The Air
  • Up
  • The Social Network

2010 Index of links


Family


Me and Mack


Friends


Cape Town holiday



Photography


Teaching


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1 comments:

Jill said...

When you see it like this you realise just how much you have done this year but more importantly just how far you have come and what you have achieved. Well done. We hope 2011 will be a fantastic year for you and bring fulfilment to many of your dreams.

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