Pages

Sunday, March 24, 2013

A Drop in the Bucket

If any of you have been to mainland China, you would have noticed people using the washroom in public place on a regular basis. This would include peeing or pooping anywhere! One time in the Xi'an airport, we were waiting for a delayed flight back to Shenzhen, and this little girl whipped down her pants and took a nice long leak right next to a garbage can. That's fine and dandy, but is that acceptable when there are public washrooms 20 feet away? I suppose if you've ever been in some Chinese washrooms, public may be a better option! As she was relieving herself, Kaidyn was laughing and amazed that she would use the can in front of everyone.

Usually here in Macau, you may see a parent getting their young child to relieve themselves on the street, but most of the time your eyes are on the sidewalk scouting up ahead for any dog crap you may encounter! Most of the time, dog owners are good here as they pick up any pet waste that they are responsible for. They even bring the daily newspaper along and try to place it under the dog to catch the feces as it PLOPS down! Even when the dogs urinate, they bring along a water bottle to wash off the tree, sidewalk, car tire or scooter that the dog may pee on. It's actually quite considerate when you think about it. Can you imagine someone back in Canada walking their dog and rinsing everything their dog leaks on? I had never seen it before, which brings us to today........

Kaidyn and I were in Taipa getting him a haircut and then we stopped for some pizza at Le Cesar, which has excellent Italian fare. We were sitting upstairs along the windows people watching when I noticed this particular dog owner. He definitely had some sort of  husky cross and he was carrying a medium sized bag and a plastic bucket. He caught my eye, so I was curiously watching his every action and wondered what the heck the bucket was for. Eventually, his dog began to urinate and he quickly placed the empty bucket under the dog to catch all the pee. It was like the dog was peeing liquid gold the way he was chasing the mutt around, anticipating every move. I continued to watch in amusement as I told Kaidyn to look at the guy catching the dog's pee (it may have been the longest pee in K-9 urination history). We both laughed and laughed, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to catch the mutt in action, but did get a pic of them walking away.

After the dog was done, the man hastily took out some newspaper, anticipating a triple coiler to emerge, but alas, the dog was finished. The man did take the 1/4 full bucket to the storm drain on the street, dumped it out, and rinsed it with his water bottle a couple of times, before leaving the scene.

It's little things like this that make living here in Macao so enjoyable and amusing!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Lantau 15 and My First Race

Yesterday, March 16, Amanda and I ran the Lantau 15 in Hong Kong. The Lantau 15 is a 15 km trail run up and down the trails of Lantau Island. Spectacular views surrounded us throughout the race and the scenery was just beautiful!

We signed up for the race a couple of months ago and figured this would be a good warm up for the Singapore half marathon in May. We ran the trails of Coloane for a couple weeks which is a 6 km loop, but has nowhere the gradient of the trails we encountered yesterday.

In the previous 3 weeks, we only trained 2 times (1 trail and 1 treadmill) so I wasn't too sure how this would turn out. The night before the Lantau I munched on some poutine and chicken wings, then just before the race started, I powered down an Egg McMuffin to fill the tank. Please note that I opted against the Sausage McMuffin because I thought I was too greasy to eat before a run. The furthest I had ever run before was about 7-8 km so finishing 15 was exciting for me, and honestly it was easier than I thought it would be. Amanda felt that despite the shorter distance, it was harder than a half marathon. She finished good and strong, but had some pain in her one leg. It was definitely nice to sit down in the ferry ride home and relax!

The Lantau 15 is the baby race! There are the Lantau 50 and the Lantau 100 as well on the same day. Our friend Nicole ran the 15 with us, but our other friends/coworkers Ed, Martin and Nick ran the 50! They started at 9am and finished at 8:25 pm! Craziness, but congrats to them for accomplishing such a great feat!

Next up is the Sundowner half marathon in Singapore on May 31 and we also found out that our friends Lisa and Jason and their boys Jake and Josh are moving there earlier in the month! So not only will we get to run, but we'll get to visit with good friends too!







Friday, March 8, 2013

Warm Up Race

On May 31, Amanda and I are heading to Singapore for the Sundowner Half Marathon. This race starts at 1145 pm when it's only 30 degrees and not 35!

Next weekend, we are participating in the Lantau 15 which is a 15 km trail race up the hills and down the beaches of Lantau Island. I haven't run since before CNY so I'd better get going. If I die in Lantau, I'm in trouble for Singapore!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Christmas in Canada and Chinese New Year in Palawan

Let me first apologize for the crazy amount of blog posts I've been posting. I just can't control myself! For real, sorry for the boringness of posting once every year.

This past Christmas was the first Xmas we had gone back to Canada. Our first Christmas was spent in Thailand and second with Dane and Kirsten in Perth so we figured it was time for a white Christmas. We had a fabulous 18 days back in the snow surrounded by our families and friends. We managed to squeeze in all of our quadding, tobogganing, visiting, eating and collarbone breaking and returned to Macao super jetlegged and working the next morning. The long travel and no sleep was definitely worth it.

We ended up working for 5 weeks and then it was Chinese New Year! We once again headed off for the Philippines and decided to try out the island of Palawan. Amanda and I decided that we now declare the Philippines as our CNY vacation destination. We have had such awesome times there and the people are just some of the best people you'll ever meet. My Tagalog is improving each and every time we go! Our coworkers Jaclyn and Connie joined us and all we did was eat, sleep and read. It was the most relaxing vacation I've ever been on! We only had electricity from 6 pm till midnight! Anyways, here is a slideshow of our latest holidays and I promise to post more frequently!