Monday 30 December 2019

Sunday outing

Yesterday was Sunday, so we went to church.


I mean, we went to the zoo.

I mentioned earlier that we got a one year zoo pass, so we used that again -- it's our third visit so far.

Laolao came with us, too.  She's visiting us from China for the summer.

We saw the baby zebra,


listened to several zoo talks, and generally had a pleasant, relaxing day.

Friday 20 December 2019

Monday 16 December 2019

Athletics

I still haven't got around to writing about the ballet show, as promised.  But anyway ...

On Saturday we were at Mt Smart Stadium for the Auckland Athletics Relay Champs.  Mulan was in the Takapuna Club Grade 12 girls team.

This was the first time ever that Mulan had competed in an athletics interclub competition.  (Miya competed last year in the North-West-Central Auckland zone day.)

The girls came third in both the 4x100m and 4x200m, and were awarded bronze medals.  They also competed in the field events relay, where Mulan did the long jump (one girl did shot put and another did discus).

The organisers really don't make it easy for the competitors.  The long jumpers are only allowed one run-through practice before attempting only two competition jumps. (In a normal competition jumpers would have a few practice jumps, and at least three competition jumps.)  Understandably no one is at their best and it means that luck plays a huge part in who is able to hit the board well in one or other of their jumps.  Too many field eventers got two no-throws/jumps.

I really hope that Auckland Athletics organisers consider changing this.  It seems that their motivation is to hurry everything through and finish at lunchtime.  In my opinion it would make for a more genuine competition if they stayed there a bit longer and allowed the children a fair attempt at their best.

Mulan's first jump was well behind the board, and while her second jump was on the board it was off her wrong foot.  At 3.94m, the second jump was her best on the day, though still far from what she can do (in practice she has done around 4.50m).  Nonetheless the other competitors were all in the same boat and Mulan came 4th out of 8.

Combined with the other two Takapuna girls this was good enough to get them another bronze medal.

Congratulations Mulan and the other Takapuna Grade 12 girls!  Awesome effort from all of you!!

The funny thing was that due to a quirk in the points system, had Mulan jumped a bit further in the long jump they would not have got a medal -- they would have been given 4th place.

This was the points table:


So, if Mulan had have got 2nd in the long jump (jumping between 4.00m and 4.21m) then she would have got 8 points (giving Takapuna 18 points) and Waitakere would have got 7 points (giving them 19 points).  So, Papatoetoe would have got 2nd (20 points), Waitakere 3rd (19 points) and Takapuna 4th (18 points).

When I showed this to Mulan she was delighted by her strategically perfect jump!

Monday 9 December 2019

End-of-year music concert

We had a busy weekend.

First up on Saturday morning Belmont Music Centre (BMC) had its end-of-year concert.

We were up bright and early for that, arriving soon after 8am to unlock and help set up before the concert started at 10am.

(I wrote previously about how we've recently got more involved at BMC.  With still no manager as yet, my Big Sis has been helping out by doing the essential manager-duties to keep the Centre from closing.  I've been there when needed as her assistant.)

A few dozen BMC students (and most of the teachers) performed in various ensembles and bands during the concert, which lasted an hour and three quarters.  They all did an amazing job, and we were thoroughly entertained throughout.

The concert also doubled as a 50th anniversary birthday party for BMC, which first opened its doors in 1969.  Apparently, BMC started when the headmasters of three local schools -- Belmont Intermediate, Belmont Primary and Bayswater Primary -- got together and set things in motion for a Saturday morning Ministry of Education-(partly-)funded music centre.

The schools' opinion was that the local children's music education would best be developed by the schools joining forces and recruiting specialist expert music teachers to teach their children out of school hours.  Lesson fees were to be kept as low as possible to reach as many families as possible, with volunteers donating their time to help the kids.  A committee was formed, and teachers and a supervisor (now manager) hired.  The rest, as they say, is history.

It was all a bit like a Dr Who special, with previous supervisors and managers attending as VIP guests.  It was inspiring to meet BMC's first supervisor Oonah Caldwell.  Betty Dance, the supervisor when I was a student there in the mid-80s, also attended.

Mulan and Miya were also kept busy.  Before the concert, in between band warm-ups, they joined in with several other children to set up the decorations.

They were also active participants in the concert:

  • Mulan and Miya played recorder together as a duet (and trio with their teacher).
  • Mulan played flute in the wind ensemble (with one other student and their teacher).
  • Mulan played cello while Miya played violin in the string ensemble.

Immediately after the string ensemble finished playing the final piece of the concert we had to pack and go, driving straight to the girls' end-of-year ballet show (we arrived at the ballet theatre less that 30 minutes before the dress rehearsal started -- we'd warned their ballet teacher in advance that they'd be a bit late!).

Unfortunately this meant that we missed the BMC prize-giving and party.  Both Mulan and Miya were awarded prizes in absentia.  Mulan, who will be too old to re-enrol next year, was one of a few students who were awarded medals for senior excellence.

(I'll write about the ballet show when I get time later.)