Gentlefolk,
This post describes some of our activities during January 2019.
First international issues.
The three stories dominated international news during the month: (1) the US Government partial shut-down, which lasted 35 days, (2) Brexit, (3) Venezuela. Continuing drama - the next few weeks will be fascinating.
China's GDP grew 6.6% in 2018, the slowest since 1990 but still solid. In 2018 China's exports decreased 4.4% and its imports decreased 7.7%; a record trade surplus with the USA of US$324 billion (reducing this enormous imbalance is proving difficult). I am intrigued how quickly China compiles and releases economic data - much faster than other countries - super-computers?
Here are photos of activities during January 2019.
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| My brother Andy Olah has lived in Rarotonga, Cook Islands for 40 years - a pretty amazing story of guts and determination and ingenuity. He is multi-skilled, successful businessman and recently completely renovated a house with great result. Andy turned 70 on 2 January 2019. My sisters flew over to celebrate this significant birthday; Vera & I had booked tickets, but had to postpone our visit when Vera started chemo. |
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| Proud Papa Andy with new grandson Etu who was born at the end of December; brother to Hinamoana. |
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| Aniko, Sasha (Angie's daughter), and Angie in Raro for the birthday celebrations. |
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| The family in 1949. Andy only a few months old. |
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| The family in 1965, Angie 18, Andy 16. me 19, and Aniko 10. |
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| Andy with kid-sister Aniko skiing, probably 1967. He was a very good skier - a natural - won Gold in an Inter-Services Skiing competition a few years later when he was in the Army. |
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| Lunch in Cooma with Mum, Angie and Ankio, about 1975. |
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| Andy with good mate Michael Boland. |
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| Andy looking strong, about 1976. |
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| Andy 2018, still going strong! |
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| My first session as a Volunteer Guide at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Old Parliament House, Canberra, with colleague Gavin Ford. I did three more sessions during January (the busiest month for MoAD). Nervous start, getting better. |
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| The main entrance of Old Parliament House where I am now a Volunteer Guide at the Museum of Australian Democracy. It was the site of the National Parliament for 61 years, from 1927 to 1988. A relatively-old building in attractive art-deco style, the architect was John Smith Murdoch who designed and built many buildings in Canberra and Melbourne. |
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| Jen and her youngest son Sid visited us; Vera wearing a 'turban' because of her chemo. |
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| Jen and Vera. |
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| Family dinner: from left Jen, Angie, Vera, Aniko, and me. |
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| We watched some fine tennis at the Lyneham Tennis Centre. The two finalists then flew to Melbourne for the Australian Open where Hubert Hurkacz lost in the first round, and Ilya Ivashka lost in the second round. |
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| Action at the East Hotel Tennis Tournament. It's great being just a few metres from the players. |
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| Jen and I checked out the latest additions at the National Portrait Gallery. This portrait is of Andrew Gaze, basketballer. |
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| Andrew Gaze is an icon of basketball in Australia. He still holds the NBL record for averaging 44.1 points per game in a season. Now coaching. A champion. |
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| Photograph of Tan Le (see below). |
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| Tan Le - what an inspirational story! |
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| Mal Meninga played Rugby League for the Canberra Raiders; also captained Queensland in the State of Origin, and captained the Australian Kangaroos. A legend. |
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| At Canberra Airport before Jen's flight back to Brisbane. "Thanks for coming down, Jen, and supporting Vera. Much appreciated." |
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| A week later Sid flew back to Brisbane. He had a great time with his other grandparents at Broulee. Here he is with his cousin Isaac Roberts. |
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| Sid's plane getting ready to take off; in the background a big Qatar Air flight just arriving. |
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| Lunch to celebrate John Holmes' 94th birthday. From left: me, Vera, John Holmes, Jan Lynch, Dal Hyde, Margaret, and Gerry Lynch. John was Senior Trade Commissioner when we were posted to Bangkok in 1973-4; he and Elise welcomed the newly-weds; a wonderful boss and colleague. |
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| Saying goodbye to Diane and Alex Hackett who are relocating to Noosa - wise move. |
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| 23 January 2019 Vera with her wonderful chemo nurse, Sam (American, from Atlanta). This was her 4th (and final) treatment. We will see the Oncologist, Dr Malik, in a month and, hopefully, get the "all clear". |
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| I started riding my bike again, after a break of 9 months; doing about 50km a week - great fun - why did I ever stop??? |
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| The Guard of Honour at the Australia Day Citizenship ceremony on 26 January; the Army, Navy and Airforce were all represented. It was a lovely warm summer's morning (reached 38C in the afternoon!). |
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| Part of the parade. Note New Parliament House in the distance, across Lake Burley Griffin. |
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| First the flag-raising ... |
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| ... while saluting. |
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| The Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, made a speech, followed by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Then the PM led the Oath of Allegiance and presented certificates to the new citizens. There are similar ceremonies taking place throughout Australia. |
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| A group of about 20 primary school students from Nanjing watched the ceremony (I don't think they understood much of what was going on). |
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| After the Citizenship Ceremony I rode my bike to the National Museum and watched an Aboriginal smoking/welcoming ceremony. |
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| That evening I picked up my old boss, John Holmes, and we watched a trial rugby game between the Canberra Brumbies and the Melbourne Rebels. Despite the heat (it got to 38C) the action was fast and furious; the Brumbies emerged winners 52 - 38. The Super Rugby season proper will start in 2 weeks (it's crazy playing in this heat!!!). |
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On 23 August 1914 Japan declared war on Germany (Japan was an ally of the UK in WW1) and 4 days later started operations against the German colony at Tsingtau (now spelt Qingdao). A large force landed on the north shore of Shandong Province, marched south, took a month to get into position and then laid siege to the city of Tsingtau. The Germans gave a good account of themselves but in the face of overwhelming odds (5,000 vs 50,000) they surrendered on 7 November 1914. Japan occupied Tsingtau until 1922 when it was, reluctantly, returned to China.
We spent 2009 - 2016 teaching English at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, hence my interest in this event. |
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In the Australian Tennis Open finals last week Novak Djokovic beat Rafa Nadal (Djoko has now won the Aussie Open 7 times, and has a total of 15 Majors); while Naomi Osaka beat Kvitova. Roger Federer and Serena Williams were surprise early losers (to Tsitsipas and Pliskova respectively).
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I know it's summer, but this month has been very hot even by our standards - almost 3 weeks of 35C+ temperatures (4 consecutive days above 40C, a record). Climate going crazy?
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I read 4 books during the month, a personal record:
Mutiny on the Bounty, by Peter FitzSimon
Batavia, by Peter FitzSimon
Travels with my aunt, by Graham Greene
The Siege of Tsingtau, by Charles Stephenson
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Vera had two chemo treatments, on 2 and 23 January. She suffered some side effects, but overall she handled it pretty well - a tough little trooper!
We will see the Oncologist on 20 February and hope/expect to get the all clear. It's been quite a journey since July 2018 when the fist lump was detected, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. I guess we will never completely get over the fact that Vera has had cancer, but hopefully our lives will soon return to a semblance of normality.
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That's it for this post.
Best wishes for 2019, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Thursday 31 January 2019
