Post #161 22 December 2017

Gentlefolk,

This post covers our activities during the period 4 - 22 December 2017.

4 - 6 December we spent in Brisbane to attend Kurt's graduation from Primary (Elementary) School. It was quite an impressive occasion.  There were some motivational speeches, and then a personal introduction was read out as each 6th Grader received their graduation certificate. That was followed by supper for parents and students, after which the kids had a disco.

9 - 17 December we were baby-sitting in Sydney while Andrew and Caroline visited Lane Crawford stores in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.  Lane Crawford is an up-market Department Store, headquartered in HK, which is now stocking Reddie furniture (Reddie.co) and Andrew & Caroline wanted to meet sales staff, introduce their products and provide training.

My next post will cover the Christmas period.

A photo of the main stage in the hall of Hilders Road Primary School, with the Head Master giving his speech.  We were sitting just behind the graduating Year 6 students.  The girls, in general, looked more mature than the boys, and many of the girls had dressed up for the occasion. 

A photo of some of the Graduating students.  They are all around 12 years of age; good, healthy, smart kids!

Richard and Barbara, Tom's parents, also came for the Graduation.  Here they are next to Tom who has Sid on his lap.  Sid often pulls faces.

Vera and me with Kurt, the graduating student.  He is now taller than Vera.  Kurt was Captain of Taylor Sports House this year; he represented the District in swimming, soccer and rugby.

Jen was chair-person of the Parents Committee which organised the Graduation and related activities. Everything went smoothly, which was a great credit to the organising committee.

Jen and Tom in the kitchen; both excellent cooks.

Dinner at the Roberts place.  From left: Vera, Sid, Nate (hiding his face), Barbara, Richard, and Kurt. Vera made the rissoles.

The three Roberts boys, in the uniform of Hilder Road Primary School (HRPS), from left: Nate (10), Kurt (12), and Sid (8).  The Primary School is a bit more than one kilometre from their house, so very convenient.  It is a very good school and the boys have thrived there. Next year (2018) Kurt will go to Marist Brothers Ashgrove, Nate will be in 6th Grade of HRPS, while Sid will be in 4th Grade.  Nate has been elected Captain of Taylor Sports House for next year - following in Kurt's footsteps. 

Tom normally rides a bike to work (about 10km from The Gap to Brisbane City).  Here he is with his parents, Richard and Barbara Roberts who live in Broulee on the South Coast of NSW (about 2 hours drive from Canberra).  With some friends Tom recently did the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea (about 100km of tough jungle walking, up hill and down dale).  This is where the Aussie Diggers stopped the Japanese army during WW2.

Our arrival back in Canberra.  The direct flight Canberra to Brisbane takes 1.5 hours (by road it is about 1,300 km and takes us at least 2 days).

On 9 December we took the train to Sydney (300 km, 4 hours, slow but comfortable) to look after Eddie and Jay while Caroline and Andrew went on business to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.  Lane Crawford, an up-market Department Store based in HK, is stocking Reddie furniture so they visited the stores to meet and train sales staff.  I dropped them off at Sydney International Airport for the Qantas flight to Hong Kong (10 hours).  It's tough starting a new business, and this could be a big break for the young entrepreneurs.

Fast Eddie, here fast asleep but he is usually a very active little three-year-old.

Princess Jay (we usually call her Jay-Jay) 9 months old.  Gorgeous.

Vera applying sun screen to Jay's face.

Photo in a mirror; Jay has just had a bath.

The kids were very happy to welcome Caroline and Andrew back after their trip.

I saw this sign not far from Andrew's apartment in Surry Hills.  Same initials but very different to the UPC (China University of Petroleum www.upc.edu.cn) where Vera & I spent 6 years as English teachers.  

In Sydney I had lunch with two friends, Michael Kramer and Howard Eakins, both of whom worked in Indonesia for many years. Michael was a Chemical Engineer with Dow Chemical and Howard was a Civil Engineer building roads, bridges and golf courses.  We had lunch at the Medan Ciak Indonesian restaurant - delicious!

Back in Canberra, we had coffee with good friends Helen and Neil Moffat. We met them about 20 years ago when we were into Latin Dancing (salsa and Argentine tango).  Vera and I are back into New Vogue (Sequence) dancing, but have thankfully given Tango away (too difficult!).

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Xmas is only a couple of days away; I'll do a separate post on that significant event.

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Stay healthy and keep smiling.

Best wishes to everyone for the Festive Season, and for 2018.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Friday, 22 December 2017