The Quest for a Dragonbaot Team

...just in case you've been wondering where I disappeared to these past weeks...read on...

After reading in AWARE magazine that AWA was in search of a coordinator to revive their dragonboat tradition my inner voice whispered immediately – “you have to do this, it will be fun” and without hesitation I signed up for it an hour later.

The quest for my team started out with me “patrolling” the Foyer of the Clubhouse of the Hong Kong Jockey Club where the annual AWA Kick-Off breakfast was taking place. Monitoring the end of the staircase like a hawk on the hunt, I eyed up dragon boat athletes-to-be as they trotted unsuspectingly upstairs, S. was rolling on the floor when I urged her dead serious to be on the look-out for anyone taller than 5.7 and no heavier than 120 pounds -that’s discrimination, we’re Americans ! – and I was being ironic of course, living out my European sense of dry humor! By the end of the morning front and back page of my activity list were scribbled up with names of aspiring paddle enthusiasts and I began shivering from the sheer thought of having to manage 2 dragon boats over the next couple of months. During the following weeks I came to experience many drop outs for various reasons and feared we might end up below the magic number of 24 participants which I considered essential to start this enterprise. With new arrivals to HK and new members signing up for AWA the list gradually filled up again.

My next task to tackle was finding the right coach who would be willing to take on the lovely assignment to instruct a group of rookies for free. I decided to activate a friend to send a lout shout out into the universe of the HKIPC yahoo.groups and was soon rewarded with a very nice email from a guy called J. who volunteered to instruct us. I was suspicious to have found someone who was able to commit to a practice time of 10-11am and set up a meeting right away to discuss details – turned out the guy was German and my immediate thought was – oh my God, my teammates will suspect I was trying to organize a German conspiracy, but this was a cause worth fighting as J. has paddled for the HKIPC for years and seemed to be really experienced. Done!

Next in line was to secure a gracious sponsor willing to finance our private fun. I expected this to be a minor detail being convinced that all of the American corporations would fight to be the first in line to support us – not so, big error in judgement from my side! We needed the relatively small amount of HKD 40.000 to cover the fees and all I got to hear was – for Charity anytime (take note AWA fundraisers!!) for dragon boating, no way!! Sigh! Thanks to J. who set up the initial contact, I was able to win over CROWN RELOCATIONS for our cause – quasi a last second rescue before I had to cancel the whole mission. It was such a great relief to hear D./Crown Re speak the words “ I can see us being your sponsor, why not”? Jippijeihhh and a hearty THANK YOU to CROWN RELOCATIONS – we will be wearing our racing shirts even to the Hong Kong Philharmonics!

Then february dawned and the Fertility Gods had no mercy and stroke heavily – minus 4 paddlers due to pregnancies and I was ready to ban anyone below 44 years from the boat, just to be on the safe side ;-) This must be a super fertile year....

More bad news were heading my way – our coach had to withdraw his offer, he was ordered to move, completely unexpected – 1 ½ weeks before our 1st practice session, in the midst of Chinese New Year – I was tempted to start tearing up my dragon boat file.

Out of the blue a quick rescue was on the way – K. knew someone who was ready to take over and we ended up with G. Thank you K. – Hong Kong really is ALL about networking! Our new coach turned out to be a real pro – having paddled in New York and participating in various international competitions and in the Stanley DB races during the past years. We managed to catch an ace to train us – thank you G., for donating your nerves and your spare time to our team – we won’t disappoint you, promised!

With 2 days before our official practice sessions begin on feb 29th with an inviting temperature of approx. 14 degrees and announced rainfall we’re back to 24 Dragons (only 8 left from the original sign-up list) who are all burning with the desire to become part of one of the true remaining icons of Hong Kong – the dragon boat competitions. The AWA Globe Paddlers are determined to lead their team to success - Ready, Steady, Go…….!

In case anyone wants to come to cheer us on, you can find us on Tuesdays and Fridays between 9:30-11:30 on Stanley Beach, rain or shine. Our Warm-Up race will take place on Thursday, may 1st and the main event will follow on Sunday, june 8th.

AWA = American Women's Association

HKIPC = Hong Kong Island Paddle Club

The Big Chill Blues

picture source: South China Morning Post

The reason why I didn't write a Blog in a while - well, I was sitting on my hands to warm them up - Hong Kong experienced the second largest cold spell on record and together with the mostly grey skies and the pollution most people were either pretty depressed or cursing. We had a strong winter monsoon and whenever the temperatures drop below 12 degrees, the HK Observatory issues a cold weather warning which we had 25 days in a row. Europeans and Americans used to icey winters might be rolling on the floor reading this but trust me - in a subtropical climate where most of the people don't have heat in their flats, an indoor temperature of 16/17 degrees (for the well built ones) is not enough to lighten your spirits. You run around in multiple layers to fight the damp feeling caused by the humidity and volunteer to do the dishes several times a day to warm up your fingers - and we are the priviledged ones, living in upscale apartments, imagine the poor and the elderly - not funny!

I am sure you've heard in the news that this was the coldest winter in China over 50 years and that it wreaked havoc all over China to the extent that we had major travel delays over Chinese New Year with many people being stranded for several nights at the airports, stations, highways, etc. In addition more than 150 tonnes of fish stock have died in the fish farming zone off Lantau Island causing losses of about HKD 10 million which is huge. Relief is not expected any time soon since the fish can hardly recover with the low sea temperature. At the moment temps are warming up slightly but it's announced that they'll fall again next week due to cold air blowing from Siberia - and why does that frustrate me probabely most of all?

Well, on feb 29th we'll begin our dragonboat practices and we'll be basically drenched with salt water for 1 1/2 hours on tuesdays and fridays. Yes, it's this time of the year again, remember last year's Blogs about this event? This time around I am Coordinator & Captain of the AWA Globe Paddlers which is the all ladies team of the American Women's Association - it took me quite some time to come up with a sponsor to cover our costs (about HKD 40.000 = approx. Euro 4.000) but in the meantime we're happy that Crown Relocation is eager to sponsor us and get their name out there. We're 24 paddle enthusiasts and I hope that good comradeship paired with a common goal will carry us all the way through raceday on june 8th which is the official Dragonboat Festival Day - keep your fingers crossed that it'll become a memorable experience!

Other than this the HongKong Arts Festival is in full bloom and we're lucky to having secured tickets for the New York Philharmonics/Lorin Mazel, the famous Stuttgart Ballet with "Onegin", the modern dance troupe of Pina Bausch with "Vollmond", their newst dance piece and a modern dance company from France, Marie Chouinard, who is performing after the music of "Ode of Joy". In addition Carlos Santana and Maroon 5 are coming into town and of course - we'll be there!

OK, got to sign off for now, just wanted to give you an update and say HI.

The Year of the Rat

Michael & I had the fantastic opportunity to watch the Chinese New Year Fireworks on board of a junk in the middle of Victoria Harbour which was a very exciting experience - see the choreography of the lucky number 8 below....

February 8, 2008Promise Of ProsperityChinese Year Of The Rat

Chinese New Year this time around is the Year of the Rat, which brings with it the promise of prosperity. The Chinese admire the rat for its quick mind and ability to gather valuables and save them for the future. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, the year ahead should offer many opportunities to acquire wealth, as well as the ability to make choices that enable us to provide comfort for a long time to come. Since the rat sign is the first in the Chinese zodiac calendar, we may feel the energy of a cycle beginning. We may also feel a pioneering spirit that helps us to forge ahead with a completely new endeavor. Looking beyond Western culture’s distaste for rats, we may be able to appreciate their ability to thrive in less than ideal conditions. This quality might offer us hope that whatever challenges we may face will only serve to make us stronger and more able. The rat’s ability to solve problems is well-known, so we can choose to enjoy any challenge that helps us keep our minds sharp while also making life more of a game. A competitive nature may develop within us, leading us to use the rat’s ability to focus on priorities. The rat can also remind us to be less worried about pleasing everyone we meet and more focused on our goals. We should be aware of the rat’s habit for collecting and not allow ourselves to become so focused that we neglect those around us. Being constantly on the alert for opportunity can be stressful, so we can make the decision to balance our pursuit of prosperity with the enjoyment of good food and atmosphere and the people we trust to offer us both support and space. With the energy of challenge and possibility, the year is likely to be exciting without being explosive. The Year of the Rat is sure to offer the type of enjoyable challenges that will enable us to become all we can possibly be.