Running with the Tarahumara ...

Last week, I mentioned a book I was reading, 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall.  I've just finished it and thought I'd mention what a perfect book it is for me ... it satisfied my love of true adventure stories and even better, it called strongly to my inner running nerd.  The whole book came about when the author questioned the reason behind his feet hurting when he ran.  He was curious about why his feet hurt while running a few kilometres when the ancient Tarahumara tribe in Mexico could run hundreds and hundreds of kilometres without any injury and ... in bare feet.  The book is a wonderful mix of adventure, science, history and humour.  It has certainly inspired me to think more carefully about the way I run and provided some more motivation to keep running  (it also allowed me to self diagnose myself with plantar fasciitis ... and to think that I thought it was normal to hobble around with painful heels for the first hour of each day!)  If you're in need of a little more inspiration to head out for a run, check out this great video about the Tarahumara and their amazing abilities:

The Sydney Festival ...

The Sydney Festival began on the weekend - a month long festival that overtakes the city of Sydney with artistic events galore.  I decided to get my cultural fix on Sunday with a trip into the city to soak up the atmosphere and check out some museums as well as a festival event.

The Harbour Bridge towers over the streets in The Rocks

I began at the Justice and Police museum in Circular Quay.  Here, there was an exhibition titled 'Sin City' which documented the history of organised crime in Sydney (I have a weird fascination with that kind of stuff) ... the corruption of the police and politicians is quite unbelievable.  And to think that all of this was only 'cleared up' in the mid 1990s.  It certainly makes you wonder about the current lot of police and politicians.

View from the STC's Wharf theatre bar

My next stop was The Rocks Discovery Museum, a free museum in the heart of the historical Rocks.  Here, I learnt about the history of The Rocks, both the Aboriginal and white history.

End Artwork sign in the theatre district in Walsh Bay

In the evening, I headed to the Sydney Theatre Company in Walsh Bay to see 'A Life in Three Acts', which was totally not what I expected!  I booked the ticket without looking to see what the play was about (I admit, I was lured in by the $30 for under 30 ticket).  The 'play' was, in fact, not a play at all, it was a scripted conversation between Bette Bourne, a British drag queen, actor and gay activist and playwright, Mark Ravenhill (who was actually stuck in London with an illness and therefore played by another actor).  The conversation began with Bette's early life growing up as a gay boy in London, progressed into his involvement with gay liberation groups and ended with a discussion of his theatre group, Bloolips.  The performance was interesting, humorous (Bette told some incredibly dirty but funny jokes), sad and informative.  Now, I'm kind of glad that I didn't read about the performance beforehand, otherwise, I may not have gone.

Sun setting on the Opera House

There's certainly plenty happening in Sydney at the moment, and I'm hoping to get back into the city and enjoy a few more performances before the festival is over.

Busy Manly beach ...

Manly is one of the busiest beaches in Sydney it seems and lately, I've been trying to avoid it on the weekends because it's just too crowded.  Right near the Corso, the beach is packed with sunburnt tourists, but even as you get further away from the Corst, it's still busy.  This weekend, there was a beach volleyball tournament going on as well as a surf carnival.

Queenscliff surf carnival

Girls racing

Beach volleyball tournament

One year ago ...

One year ago, I arrived in Sydney feeling more than nervous about the people I was about to meet and hoping that I'd made the right decision to leave my great job in China for this unique opportunity.  It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I began my job as a private teacher, home-schooling two children.  On Friday, the family threw me a small 'Happy Anniversary' party ... B made home-made fireworks (slightly alarming, but very inventive), R made me the above piece of art and we all sat in the sun and ate gluten-free chocolate cake and drank wine.  The year has certainly had its ups and downs but am I happy I took the job?  For sure.  In the last year, I've had the opportunity to do so many things that I would otherwise never have had the chance to do ... learn to play polo, attend conferences across North America, live on a private island, participate in cowboy activities and many other wonderful things.  I have one more year left on my contract ... I wonder what the year will bring.

Reading madly ...

My mind is going a little mad at the moment ... my job isn't very stimulating and because it's the uni holidays, I have no reading to do for my Masters.  So, I'm spending a lot of time devouring other books.  Here is a selection that I've read and I'm reading this summer ... 

Written by one of my favourite authors ('Year of Wonders', 'March', 'People of the Book'), this book looks at the horrific lives of Islamic women ... makes me feel very lucky for the freedom I have.

Not as wonderful as his other book, 'The Book Thief', but still a great read.

Nothing like re-reading an easy book over the summer!

This is an incredibly inspiring book about the Tarahumara people in Mexico and their amazing athletic abilities.

This is my next book to read, it's been on my list for ages.

                  

I love planning trips, so I'm always dipping in and out a Lonely Planet of some kind ... this week, I've been looking into San Francisco where I will visiting in March for a conference.

The only teaching book in my reading pile at the moment.

This is the house that Jack built ...

Well, not really.  It's actually the house that my Mum and Dad renovated before I was born.  It was the first house they bought and it's where I spent the first 6 or 7 months of my life.  For a long time, my brothers and I have been hearing stories of O'Grady Street in Clifton Hill and on Christmas Day, Dad finally took us there for a look.  I'd seen many photos of the renovation process, so it was great to finally see the house, albeit having gone through many renovations since the young Davidson family lived in it.

3 mouldy saddles and 1 dirty dog ...

One of my most favourite Melbourne things to do is to head out to the Yarra Valley farm where my horses used to live.  Obviously, it's not the same without having them there to ride, but it's always good to visit my dear friend, Anita and her family.  For this visit, I also planned to get out all my saddles and give them a clean off.  I wasn't prepared for the amount of mould covering them though ... nearly 3 years of storage will do that, I guess.  I cleaned them off and wrapped two of them for storage and packed the third into a lovely new carry bag ready to take back to Canada (my rear end is very much over riding in hard polo saddles and will appreciate the padding on my dressage saddle!)

Mum in the rose garden

We also took Lexie, my brother's dog, with us ... she always loves a trip to the farm.  For her, it's an excuse for all manners to go out the window while she chases the cats, goes swimming and rolls in the dirt.  In several hours, Lexie went from being a cute, 'My Dog' white dog to a hot, dirty, farm dog.  

Sending the dog in to scare away all the mice, rats, spiders etc.

3 mouldy saddles

It was wonderful to see the farm looking so green, it's been a long time since I've seen the Yarra Valley looking so spectacular.  After several hours of eating, drinking, chatting, cleaning and admiring the views, we headed back to the city with a car load of fresh Yarra Valley produce, one clean saddle and one very dirty dog.

Scrubbing the mould away

1 hot dog cools off in the water bowl

1 dirty dog after a swim in the pool

1 unhappy dog waiting to have a shower