kwak kwak

Time is flying... We're not aware how fast the time is going here in Xiamen...
We had a beautifull day with the kids, they sailed very well and were extremely motivated. We let them sail around 2 buoys, same as yesterday but the wind came from a different direction, they had to beat to reach the mark.
On of our Chinese coaches (Martin) is scared of water and sun, so the child in me said today: fill your bailer and start a waterfight! we had a lot of fun and Evelien was playing the game with me...
While we were teaching the kids, an OP came by : Tom at the rudder, enjoying his bottle of soda, and Zu next to him, taking a nap! 8 years old! Can you imagine how funny this was?! They both had a great time, so we had a great time too... !

Like usual, Mother Nature gave us a very strong wind in the afternoon (about 20-25 knots), so sailing was almost impossible... But, some of the kids (6) were so motivated, that we decided to make a plan so they could go on the water for a while. Evelien would stay inside, giving some theory about the Olympic games and rules of priority, while I would take off with 1 OP, and give some 'private lessons' to our best and most motivated sailors.
Because some of the kids speak very well english, the 'private lesson' was a big succes. They were all very excited about the strong wind and the 'speed' of the little OP...

The sun and the heat made our minds a little crazy, but maybe this is the best ingredient for such a succesfull day as today. We were really acting like clowns, but this is the best way to motivate the kids and make them enjoy sailing. It's absolutely fantastic to see progress, to see those kids 'trilled' in a boat with a smile from here to Tokio...

By the way, we had an amazing duck-dinner this evening, we said again a little prayer to that poor little cuty flying kwakking duck, and ate it with so much pleasure!! yess, that's the way life goes... Mother Nature gave us a big apetite... and great ducks!

After our dinner, we found some coffee beans in Mother Nature her garden...transformed into a steamy cappucino - little Italy? We had a great view over the skyline from downtown Xiamen, and decided on that little terrace that life is really amazing when you're young!

kisses,

The Xiamen girl power team!

Laundry day!

Extremely hot and sunny, like usual, think we will miss the sun so much once we're back in Belgium...

By the way, we had a very nice day with the kids, they all did their very best. We organised a little circuit and told them to go round clockwise. Result : everybody in the wrong direction, but they sailed!

The wind was very light this morning, so perfect to train on manoeuvres. I (Paulien) jumped in an OP with a kid and told him from there what he had to do. Some of the kids are really 'dangers with sails', because they really don't know what they are doing in the beginning... But most of those dangers or gone now, so we have a nice group which we can learn all the basics skills of sailing.

Mother Evelien with all her little ducks, following her on a nice line, while we're explaining them how to make speed and how they ave to beat (to reach the upwind mark - very difficult to explain!)

In the afternoon, Mother Nature was again present with a lot of wind, so Evelien and I decided to give a demo on the water for the kids. We divided the kids over 2 motorboats, we jumped in an OP and teached them while we were sailing.

Later in the afternoon, it was time to test them concerning 'knots', big test! As a reward they all got a nice NOCSP tshirt, and they yelled 'HAPPY!!'

When we got back into the hotel, we fell completely in love with our beds... so tired! We went for a swim, had a lovely buffet-dinner, and now we are sitting on our beds, thinking how we will manage tomorrow, and where we will have dinner!!

Kisses,

The Xiamen girl power team

Weeeeiiiaaaaoooooooo!!!!

Dear friends,

Let us start by explaining the title of our blog, or better, let's have a try.

This morning (like every morning), we took a taxi to Wuyuan Bay with very sleepy eyes, wondering about what would happen on this beautifull sunny day. All of a sudden, the taxi driver answers his mobile with a HELL OF A YELL, we almost jumped with our head through the roof, we woke up! This might sound very insipid... but it was a very chinese way to start the day! Just yell at each other! Just pretend like everybody around you is deaf!

Anyway, this morning we dropped al the OP's on the water with 2 buoys, and the kids were great! We were surprised! Except for some OP's which turned around like tornado's, they provided all excellent work!

Our sponsor stickers are big, very big, what a job! But look, much more colourfull, isn't it? Much more professional, isn't it? do we are pride!

In the afternoon, Mother Nature gave us too much wind, like usually. So we decided to capsize, to large pleasure of the kids! Evelien jumped in the water, and took the kids one by one with her.

From left to right : Tom, Zu, Zen and Jin. 4 tiny little boys, but making noise like 40 chickens. They're all eating so much, we think they have 4 stomachs? Or a super digestion machine inside?

Lunch time @ Wuyuan Bay (Lovely lunch with fresh schrimps, rice, spinach, colliflower, a lot of garlic and a piece of fruit) , having a rest, drinking a coffee and making some jokes with the local staff.

Today was again extremely hot, our hair begins to look like straw and hay, not talking about our noses, because that's really like a circus act...

Lot's of grilled kisses,

The Xiamen girl power team!

New kids!

Did I already mentioned that chinese kids can be really cute?
They all have those very bright eyes when they are looking at us, they all speak a very confusing language with a very high voice, and sometimes we hear some 'first english words'... - tank joe - ludda an dagga bord - hello - happy!

Today, we welcomed our new group, 10 boys and 4 girls. In the beginning they're always a little shy, but after they hear that we can make noise... the whole group is in the mood.

We finally received our sponsor stickers, so tomorrow we will have the first pictures of our group sailing with an advertising frame!
The temperatures are so high... too hot! we are almost in overdrive, my body is like a soda-machine!

We ended our exciting day by taking a taxi to downtown. And yess, even a taxi-ride makes you wonder how wonderfull it is to be alive... Oh dear, that car was shaking our blond hairs in one big knot and Evelien had some street-sightseeing under her feet! By the way, the taxi driver his car was like a fridge, and one little detail: we think he forgot to brush his teeth, because the airco ventilator was running like crazy and the air in the car was not so fresh... but we survived the ride and ate a lovely pasta with a huge ice cream in downtown Xiamen next to the lake!

Our days are filled with surprises... so we are very curious what will happen tomorrow!

Kisses,
The Xiamen girl-power team!

amazing weekend...

Hi everybody!

Saturday was really fantastic with the kids, we spend a great time on the water (a big race in the morning) and in the afternoon we cleaned the optimists... that turned out in a huge waterfight!

The race was very professional! We had 3 marks (one was the motorboat of Evelien) and very motivated salors. They had a lot of fun, and Henry won the race and got the nice book of Ellen McArthur. Second and third price were cookies, and we promised them a nice afternoon!

The weather was again extremely hot, temperatures above 36°. Everybody was drinking as much as possible, so at the end of this day we were like waterballoons...
Rounding the mark was very funny, because the wind was sometimes very light.

Our translator Suzy - she was like the paparazzi!

In the afternoon, we organised a cleaning session for all the boats... with a huge waterfight! Everybody was running around like chickens and making noise for the whole bay, while lot's of parents were taking pictures of their crazy kids.

After the 'course' was done, all the kids came to us with their tshirts and books, asked us to give them our signatures and phone numbers, mail adresses and a nice picture, so cute!

Saturday evening, with had a lovely dinner on the beach, with a kid and his parents and some friends. We both ate so much... Evelien had to roll me back to the hotel, my legs were like chopsticks compared to my tommy...

Today, we visited Gulang Yu, an island next to Xiamen. Everybody told us it was very nice, and it was. But, we had little problems with the heat... today was really too hot, and it was so crowdy on the islet that we decided to keep our visit shorter than expected, and enjoy our day off here at the beach.

We had a very mice weekend, and remember certain moments for the rest of our lives...
Nature here is very mice, so I think Mother Nature has done a good job here!

Tomorrow new kids!

Kisses,
The Xiamen girl power team