Post #179 29 July 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes some of our activities in July 2018.

Vera & I spent almost 3 weeks in Sydney during July, babysitting grandkids; first a stint of 2 weeks while Caroline and Andrew attended a friend's wedding in Mexico, then back to Canberra for a week before heading to Sydney for another 5 days while they participated in a big furniture fair in Melbourne. Great opportunity for us to connect with Fast Eddie and Little Jay-Jay.

But first a look at international happenings.

The biggest international event during July was the Football World Cup, with the Quarter Finals (France beat Uruguay, Belgium beat Brazil, England beat Sweden, and Croatia beat Russia), then the Semi Finals (Croatia beat England and France beat Belgium), the finally the Final (Belgium beat England to claim 3rd spot, and France 4 beat Croatia 2 to win the World Cup).

At Wimbeldon the Men's Semi Finals saw two very long matches: Djokovic beat Nadal in 5 hours 16 minutes and Anderson beat Isner in 6 hours and 36 minutes. In the Final Djokovic took just 65 minutes to beat Anderson.  In the Women's singles Angelique Kerber beat Serena Williams.

The whole world was transfixed by the rescue of a junior soccer team in up-country Thailand.  The team of 12 boys and their coach were exploring deep inside a big cave network when they became trapped by rising waters.  They were found intact after 9 days (a miracle!) and then it took another 8 days to get them out.  Aussie, British and American teams participated in the rescue effort.

President Trump attended a NATO meeting in Brussels where he blasted members (especially Germany); he then visited Great Britain; finally he met with Putin in Helsinki - afterwards he faced wide-spread criticism for  not confronting Putin about Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

In Brazil, Ecke Batista was sentenced to 30 years in jail for corruption; in 2012 Batista was rated the 7th richest person on earth (net value estimated at $35b). The bigger they are the harder they fall!

This photo by Zhang Kuang Long of the famous mosque in Isfahan won an iPhone photo competition (found it on the internet).  Isn't it stunning?  We were at that mosque in April - composing a shot like that takes special talent.

Here are some photos of July:

We took the train from Canberra to Sydney and return.  It's just a 10 minute walk from our apartment to Canberra Train Station.  Then it's a 15 minute walk to Andrew & Caroline's place at Surry Hills.  The photo shows the main board at Sydney's Central Railway Station.

One of the entrances to platforms at Central Station. The NSW Govt has announced plans for a major upgrade of Central Station; it is a grand old building, a landmark, but definitely could do with a face-lift.

The train we travelled on from Canberra to Sydney. The 300km journey takes 4 hours (a Chinese fast train would cover that distance in about 1.5 hours). Although slow, it is a comfortable way to travel.  There has been talk of a fast train connecting Brisbane - Sydney - Canberra - Melbourne but I doubt it will happen.  Our population is just too small and our love of cars too great.

Some of Vera's relatives (from her father's side) came for dinner.

We had lunch with old friends Carole and Rob Hodge, in a great little Chinese restaurant on Broadway. Carole works just up the road at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

We had lunch with Yu Zhi Chao (Charles) who was one of my students at the China University of Petroleum in Qingdao.  Charles went on to do Engineering at Wollongong University and is now working in Sydney (at this stage he is running special courses for Chinese students - finding a job as an engineer has proven difficult).

With Charles we went to a Sichuan restaurant on George Street, called YX Taste. 

While in Sydney we visited the venerable Queen Victoria Building on the corner of George and Park Streets.

We always like to get down to China Town in Sydney. Lots of great restaurants.

Another lunch, this time with two of Vera's relatives, Maggie and Sianny at a Thai restaurant called "Home" on Sussex Street. 

The Thai restaurant had an open, and very busy, kitchen. It was very popular due to its delicious food and reasonable price.

I spent some time manning the Reddie shop, 322 Crown Street, Surry Hills. They normally have more furniture on display, but had to take some to the Fair in Melbourne.  

The children, Eddie and Jay, attend the Surry Hills Child Care Centre 4 days a week.  It is a 15 minute walk from their apartment (and 10 minutes from the Reddie shop).  Actually, it recently celebrated its 100th anniversary - founded in 1918 as SDN, to provide care for children of low-income families who lived in the district.  It is still a "not-for-profit" organisation; doesn't mean it is cheaper than privately-owned Child Care Centres, but at least profit isn't the main motivation.

Eddie with a teacher at SDN, and Vera talking to three of Eddie's class. The staff and students are multi-cultural, from many different backgrounds.  Andrew and Caroline have been very happy with the service provided. The kids are in a safe, clean, well-run place with dedicated staff and good facilities.  We dropped the kids off at about 9am and picked them up at 5pm.

Eddie, almost 4 and a half, is developing into a great little person.  We are known to Eddie and Jay as Oma and Opa (German-style) to differentiate us from Caroline's parents, Paul & Niniek, their other grandparents.

Fridays the kids have swimming classes at the Indigenous Sports Centre in George Street, Redfern; Eddie is first, and then Jay has her lesson.

Vera looked after Jay during this lesson.  Because Australians love the beach, it is very important for children to learn to swim at an early age.

Andrew & Caroline's apartment is across the street from Prince Alfred Park, which has good facilities for children.

Snack time in the Park.

A chance to roll around on the grass.  After a couple of cool days (after all, it is winter here), it warmed up and we had some lovely warm days (but the nights were cold).

Vera showing the kids a video on her phone. How quickly kids develop these days, they are exposed to so many creative experiences from an early age.

Eddie and Jay-jay engrossed in a TV program.  

Big brother feeding little sister.  Jay-Jay is always hungry these days - certainly enjoys her food.  She is strong and healthy, not quite walking yet, but a champion crawler. 

Eddie and I playing a version of Scrabble - instead of words Eddie likes to put names of school friends to letters.  

Time for the nightly bath.

After bath, time to brush teeth before bed.

Jay in her pram. On Sunday we took the kids to Darling Harbour (about 25 minute walk), then jumped on a ferry which took us to Watson's Bay and back to Circular Quay.

We took the ferry from Pyrmont Wharf near Darling Harbour. Beautiful clear, sunny day, but a cool breeze.

The ferry went under the Harbour Bridge ...

... and past the famous Opera House.  We went all the way to Watson's Bay and back to Circular Quay.  From there we took a train to Central and walked home.  It was a "day of discovery" for the kids.

Parents are back - happy times!

Andrew & Caroline back from their travels; and we headed back home to Canberra.

Back home in Canberra.  We attended the opening of an exhibition of photos of Beijing in 1901-2 at the China Centre, ANU.

A photo with Emeritus Professor Richard Rigby who officiated at the opening.  We served together at the Australian Embassy, Beijing in 1984 - 6.  Richard was in the Political Section and I was in the Trade Section. He later left Foreign Affairs for an academic career in Chinese Studies at the ANU.

We met Rod and Judy Power at the Photo Exhibition.  I worked with Rod at the Chief Minister's Department of the ACT Government in 2007.

A photo of Beijing 1901 - street barber.

Old Beijing had a big wall around the inner city, which was pulled down in the 1950s.

Another photo of Old Beijing - man with birds.  How life has changed!

Canberra Winter Festival in Civic.  The weather has been cold (night minimums regularly down to minus 7C, daytime maximums around +12C).

A skating rink was set up in Garema Place, Civic.

As part of the Winter Festival the Australia China Friendship Society ran two "Lantern-making Workshops".  I was responsible for getting families to come in to the tent, while Vera helped with making the lanterns. Good free family fun.

A family at the Lantern making Workshop.

Three children delighted with the lanterns they made.

We saw two French films: "Back to Burgundy" a lovely, easy-paced story about 3 young people who inherit a vineyard when their father dies, and "See you up there" a much more complex film set in the aftermath of the First World War. We love French movies - so much more "real" than most American movies. 

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On a personal note, Vera had a shock diagnosis and is booked in for a minor operation next week.  We are very grateful that Canberra has such great medical facilities, albeit expensive.  

A few weeks ago my right knee suddenly "blew up" after using the leg-press at the gym for the first time.  I hoped it would self-correct, and it is now getting better, but it has taken much longer than expected.

Vera & I discovered "Nordic Noir" on TV and enjoyed watching programs such as MODUS, GreyZone, Blue Eyes, and The Bridge.  All sub-titled of course, but that didn't detract from these excellent series.  Our normal go-to television channel is the govt-sponsored ABC but its programming is suffering from continuous budget cuts by the conservative government. 

I read "Finding My Virginity" by Richard Branson (2017).  He is an extraordinary person, a 'doer', who loves challenging himself both in business and in his personal life. His (limited) experience of Donald Trump makes interesting reading.

Another book about another extraordinary man is "Captain James Cook" by Richard Hough (1994).  What drove Cook, the son of a Yorkshire labourer, to explore largely unchartered waters?  Three amazing voyages around the Pacific Ocean: 1768 - 71 to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti (his ship, HMS Endeavour, was only 30m long x 9m wide and carried 94; in 1770 he discovered the east coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain); 1772 - 75 to search for the Great South Land; and 1776 - 79 to look for a North West Passage. Explorer, navigator, surveyor, scientist, captain, leader, negotiator, husband, the list goes on and on.  A truly remarkable person.

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That's it for this post.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah

Canberra, Australia

Sunday, 29 July 2018

Post #178 2 July 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes some of the events in our lives in June 2018.

Two big international events this month.

First, the on-again, off-again summit meeting between President Trump and President Kim Jong Un of North Korea in Singapore on 12 June.  A lot of razzmatazz, President Trump clearly loved the limelight and all the attention.

But what will actually result from the Agreed Statement is anybody's guess - the DPRK has signed at least three similar Agreements in the past and reneged on all of them. Certainly Trump's assertion that the North Korean nuclear threat has been removed seems premature.

The other major event was the month-long Football (Soccer) World Cup hosted by Russia which kicked off on 14 June. Like the Olympics, the World Cup is a truly international event with a huge following around the world - when we lived in China we were surprised at the widespread interest in the World Cup even though China is only just emerging as a soccer nation (it has only made the World Cup once).

Australia (world ranking #36) was in Group C, together with France (#7), Peru (#11) and Denmark (#12). A difficult challenge and that is exactly as it turned out - despite a valiant effort by the Socceroos, we came last in our Group.

The biggest surprise in the Group Stage was the elimination of Germany, the current Champions, beaten 2-0 by minnow South Korea in their last game. Other surprises were penalty misses by Messi (Argentina) and Ronaldo (Portugal) - although both teams advanced to the next stage.

The next two weeks will be fascinating - which teams will be in the Final?

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Here are photos of some of the activities we were involved in during June.

On our way back from Brisbane we stayed with Bob & Siri Morrison in Nambucca Heads on 1 June.  Took a drive to Bowraville where we had lunch at the old Bowra Hotel.  Nice countryside of green, rolling hills; then through Macksville and on to Scott's Head a lovely seaside village.  We can see the lights of Scott's Head from Nambucca, but had never been there.  Very nice beaches (as seen in the background in this photo).

It is difficult to see them but there were several surfers catching the waves off this point at Scott's Head.

Watching the surfers at Scott's Head.

These two posters show some of the beautiful farming country in Northern NSW.

This poster shows the town of Taree (population 25,000) on the banks of the Manning River.  It is 20 km inland from the coast (Forster-Tuncurry) and 370 km north of Sydney.  We love the 1,000 km drive from Brisbane to Sydney along the Pacific Highway; a much improved road these days.  Several large, impressive rivers, beautiful rolling hills.

June 7, dinner with Sharon and Ian Loiterton to celebrate Sharon's birthday.  I first met Ian at University way back in 1965 and we became fast friends.  We lost touch for a while, but were delighted to re-connect and now see them often - a wonderful, caring couple.

The Canberra Old Time Dance Club had a big weekend of dancing: Friday night 8 June (above) a Pre-Ball dance, then the annual Ball the following night (see below).  It was a lucky night for us as Vera won two raffle prizes - we rarely win one, let alone two!!!

The 38th Annual Ball of COTDC was held on Saturday night 9 June 2018 in St Benedict's school hall in Narrabundah. One hundred people attended.  We do "New Vogue or Sequence Dances" - all get in a big circle and do the same steps (like the Pride of Erin or the Swing Waltz).  It's not as easy as it sounds, because there are literally hundreds of dances.

This photo features two couples who are stalwarts of COTDC: Bill & Maree and Bob & Kay Stoddard.

Yours truly taking a break between dances.  We normally dance at least once a week, usually on Thursday night; we are glad to have started dancing again in the last 6 months - it is a nice social activity and involves music and exercise as well.

The music was provided by a talented organist - he came all the way from Shepparton in Victoria to play for us.

I attended three talks at the Australian Institute of International Affairs during June.  The first was by Thomas Albrecht, the UNHCR representative in Australia; the second was a panel discussion on The Commonwealth by HE Menna Rawlings, British High Commissioner and Dr Justin Lee from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (see photo above).  Of course they talked it up but my instinct is that The Commonwealth has passed its use-by date.  

The third AIIA event was another panel discussion this time on the Trump - Kim Summit in Singapore by Prof James Cotton and Assoc. Prof Brendan Taylor (see poster in photo above). I was in two minds about going, because the Summit had been done to death in the media, but the two academics had interesting perspectives and it was a very worthwhile discussion.   

On Friday 15 June the Indonesian Ambassador HE Kristiarto Legowo and his wife Cecelia invited Canberra's Indonesian community for lunch to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting month (about 90% of Indonesians say they follow Islam).  The photo shows the Ambassador and his wife with some guests.

The crowd spilled out into the Ambassador's garden.  It was a cold day, about 8C at 12 noon, but fortunately the sun finally broke through the clouds and it was quite a pleasant afternoon. 

Vera with some of her friends at the Ambassador's lunch; a good looking bunch, don't you think?  Many women wore traditional Indonesian garb.

On Saturday 16 June the Australia China Friendship Society had a lunch to celebrate Duan Wu (in English known as Dragon Boat Festival). The photo shows President Carol Keil welcoming everyone and providing some background on this important Chinese festival.

Vera about to hug a new friend!

Five friends have lunch every Wednesday; from left: Neale Emanuel, me, Paul Flint (two other regulars David Evans and Noel Cock were away).  This tradition started about 12 years ago when we all found ourselves retired and with time on our hands. We go to different restaurants every week - it is good to stay in touch, and also try new venues. 

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Three friends passed away in June: John Allgrove, Ivan Potas, and Marta Fabri.  May they rest in peace!

We want to acknowledge American chef Anthony Bourdain who died by his own hand on 9 June.  His wonderful travel programs focused on food around the world. He once noted that Iranians were the friendliest people he had ever met.  A sad loss.  RIP.

On a positive note, we were delighted that old friend John Milne received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to Australia - Thai relations. Congrats, John; well deserved.

I have joined a University of the Third Age (U3A) course called "Why is it so?" organised by Dr Ron Wells on Thursday mornings.  He invites retired professors to talk about subjects close to their hearts.  These are clever people, experts in their fields.  I've found it a very thought-provoking course.

I'm a regular at talks at the National Library of Australia (NLA).  Perhaps the most interesting in June was a panel discussion related to a "What if ..." book launch.   The book speculates on what might have happened if certain events had taken a different course; for example chapters cover:

What if Western Australia had not joined the Australian Federation in 1901?
What if the ANZACs had won at Gallipolli?
What if the Socceroos had won the 1994 World Cup?
What if the Cold War had turned into a hot war, and Europe was destroyed?

Apparently "What if ...?" has become a bit of a fun approach amongst some historians in recent times.

During Q & A the audience suggested the following possible "What if ..." subjects:

What if President John F Kennedy had not been assassinated?
What if Robert Kennedy had not been assassinated?
What if the Zionists had been able to acquire Tasmania to create a Jewish homeland?
What if Captain Cook's ship had sunk on the Great Barrier Reef?
What if PM Gough Whiltam had not been sacked by the Governor General in 1975?

During June I read two autobiographies by former colleagues, the first from DFAT and the second from Austrade:  "Driven" by Richard Broinowski (published 2009) and "Never carry your own briefcase" by John Allgrove (2015). Both entertaining reads.

All-in-all an interesting month.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Monday 2 July 2018

Post #177 8 June 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes some of our activities during the month of May 2018.

We had such an exciting month in April (Dubai, Iran, Penang, Singapore) that being back to our normal routine in Australia seems a little tame.  Still, life continues to be busy.

The weather was great in May - late Autumn - sunny days, nights getting colder.

The first week back involved dental (Vera, implant) and medical (Alex, prostrate) appointments.  Alex saw Dr Al Sameraaii who recommended a "re-bore" (he called it an "endoscopic enucleation"). It was all done very quickly, and relatively painlessly; seems to have been a success.

We had a long-weekend in Sydney to catch up with Andrew & co there, and then drove up to Brisbane (about 1,300km each way) to see Jen & co.

In Brisbane we had lunch with Kristine Cant and Ross Stewart who were part of the Iran tour group; they are an interesting couple, widely travelled, and we are delighted to have met them.

Here are some photos of activities in May:

Sunday 6 May picnic lunch with the Australia Indonesia Family Association; on the shores of Lake Ginninderra. Lovely day.

Ducks and swans on Lake Ginninderra, where we had the AIFA picnic.

We caught the train (11 - 14 May) to Sydney to see Andrew, Caroline, Eddie & Jay.  Here is Andrew with little Jay-Jay; she is almost walking.

Fast Eddie at home; he is standing on the jigsaw puzzle he and Andrew completed.

Big hug for Vera on Mother's Day (13 May 2018)

Two young German guys, Moritz (20) and Valentin (19), came around to Andrew & Caz's apartment; Moritz is the grandson of my cousin Oda.  He and Valentin have one-year Working Holiday visas; they plan to travel around Australia.  Vera knocked up a quick dinner for everyone.  The following day they drove to Canberra, met us at the train station, and stayed with us for the week.  Two very nice young men.

Back to Canberra, and I attended a meeting of the Committee of the Australia China Friendship Society.  Here the President Carol Keil, is thanking Shirley Jones for the 20 years she was on the Committee; for many years Shirley ran a monthly "Conversation Evening" in her home - first hour Chinese, the second hour English.

Carol, Shirley and Suzie with the beautiful patchwork quilt made by Suzie and presented to Shirley on behalf of the ACFS Committee.

I took Moritz and Valentin up to the Australian Parliament House.

We did a guided tour of the Parliament House - impressive building - here are the boys in the Senate chamber.

Dinner at the Ainslie Football Club, from left: Vera, Valentin, Peter Carey, me, Moritz, Aniko Carey.

We showed Moritz and Valentin around Canberra - found this mob of kangaroos in a local park.  They were amazed to see wild animals so close to habitation.  Canberra isn't called the Bush Capital for nothing!

Lunch at home to introduce the boys to Britt and Angie.

From left: Valentin, Britt, Angie, and Moritz.  Both boys are over 190 cm, so Angie asked them to kneel for the photo!

 Valentin and Moritz saying goodbye when they left Canberra.  They bought a VW Transporter (Trakka),  they can sleep in it.  But Canberra and Sydney are too cold now, so they are heading north to warmer climes.   Actually, we also left shortly after them, headed for Sydney and then Nambucca and finally Brisbane to visit Jen & Tom & co.  We ran into Moritz and Valentin in Coffs Harbour, and then again at Jen's place in Brisbane.

In Nambucca Heads we stayed with good friends Siri and Bob Morrison.  I accompanied Bob to a Lions Club meeting - here is Bob making and announcement.

Nambucca has a sea-wall built to form the mouth of the Nambucca River.  Visitors draw on available rocks - here are some of the interesting images.

We called on old friend Hugo Hofgartner who has retired at Helensvale, in the hinterland of the Gold Coast. Hugo is a gentle giant, and one of the nicest people around.

In Brisbane Vera & I caught up with Michael Tjoeng, with whom I worked at the Australian Embassy Beijing 30 years ago. 

Dinner at Jen & Tom's place.  From left: Vera, Tom, Nate (partly obscured), Valentin, Sid, Moritz, Jen and Kurt.

Tom checking out jobs and accommodation in Brisbane for Moritz and Valentin.  Tom identified a possible job for Moritz (a qualified mechanic) and helped Moritz submit an application, a couple of days later Moritz went for an interview, and got the job (a 4 month contract doing pre-delivery inspections for a hoist importer). They like Brisbane and will spend a few months there before continuing their journey up the coast to Cairns and beyond.

We watched Nate and Kurt play rugby, Nate for GPS (he made the Districts team) and Kurt for Marist Ashgrove. Sid is recovering from a broken collar-bone (bike accident) and can't play rugby for another month.

I took their dog, a Ridgeback called Ketut, for a walk in the mornings. Some early mornings were quite cool, below 10C, but then it would warm up to over 20C - that's winter in Brisbane!

With the three boys.  From left: me. Nate(11), Vera, Sid (9), and Kurt (almost 13).

The Roberts Family. From left: Sid, Tom, Vera, me, Jen, and Kurt (Nate took the photo).

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That's all for now.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah
Canberra Australia
Friday 8 June 2018