Category Archives: Charity

BRAWL ON THE BUND!

13 June 2010 52 comments

Give it up for Shanghai’s ritziest boxing event – BRAWL ON THE BUND! Held in honour for the Sport for All and Leo’s Foundation charities, it was located in the spectacular Hyatt on the Bund. Everyone was decked out in “black tie” and it was total WOW checking out the very delicious-looking guys in their suits and the myriad of gorgeous girls in their gowns. I’ve never seen this many beautiful (Western) women all together in one place in Shanghai before, where do all these girls come from?! Total eye candy :)

It was total sensory overload when we stepped into the grand ballroom. It was LUSH – tables covered with flowers and tableware, gowns swishing all over the place, music, and a giant boxing ring smack in the middle of the room. We were treated to a 4-course meal that was very impressive and all perfectly cooked, considering they were catering for such a huge event.

And of course, the boxing, which is what we were all there for. It’s not professional boxing, it’s what’s called “white collar boxing”, which is basically just office workers like you and I, training intensely for a few months and then getting into the ring. The trainer is my trainer for my Boxing class too :) Except, erm, I am nowhere NEAR the quality of these guys yet…. ;)

There were 7 bouts of boxing with 3 rounds each. The boxers were matched to their height and weight, so it was a fairly even competition. They even had a bout of female boxers, very cool! I’d love to be up there next year, but that’s about 1% likely ;)

We also had a big charity raffle. I was one of the volunteers selling all those tickets and was so impressed with how people generously dug deep and bought the raffle tickets. There were a ton of prizes but sadly, Chris and I didn’t win any – so unlucky!

We had such a fun night. And as my girl friend was saying, it’s so nice to be able to get dressed up and go to a posh dinner sometimes. We should do it more often!


Us :) And me in the Alannah Hill gown I was originally going to wear as my wedding dress!

3 ladies in white. We were so colour coordinated ;)

With one of our favourite couple-friends

The ornate table setting. Our wines of choice were:
Mountain Pass cabernet-shiraz 2004, Mountain Pass chardonnay 2006

Great view of the massive boxing ring!

Vitello tonnato with mixed leaf salad

Cod brandade soup with leek

Roasted lamb rack with mustard and coriander seeds, spinach dauphinoise, green asparagus

Baked orange chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream

Cards of all the boxers. Jeff ‘left hook’ LeBlanc (at the front) is our mate
and the one we were cheering for :P

My lovely gf and I!

And so the action begins

Jeff entering the ring

Jeff boxing!

Videos of the boxing match

He won…. WOOHOOOOOO! Check out those arms..

Fun night with great company and fab food :)


VOLUNTEERING AT A MIGRANT SCHOOL

31 March 2010 50 comments

Chris and I volunteered at a migrant children’s school over the weekend, doing simple things like teaching them some English, drawing and playing games. Nothing life-changing or anything for these children, but we all had a good time :) The thing that surprised me most was the school’s location. It looked like a bomb site. With Shanghai going through crazy renovations right now (in preparation of the Expo), everything’s being torn apart. In this particular area, almost all the surrounding buildings were reduced to rubble.. so one minute you’re walking in a bustling street market, and the next it’s super dusty and dirty rubble with tractors all over the place. It’s not healthy nor safe for the kids, so it was a bit sad to see that this is where they are most of the day :(

The kids are from out of Shanghai. Their parents (called migrant workers) moved from other provinces to find work in Shanghai, but non-Shanghainese children can’t enter the government run schools in Shanghai (this is what I’ve heard, correct me if I’m wrong). I can’t understand why, but that’s just how it is. Fortunately, the federal government steps in by opening these schools that these migrant children can attend.. but the conditions aren’t great. Still, the school that we were at was one of the more fortunate ones – the teacher’s desk even had a computer and the classroom had a projector. However, the kids are crammed into classrooms and I didn’t get the feeling they got quality attention from the teachers, since there are just too many kids in the class.

They’re adorable though. So bright and inquisitive, and SMART!!!!! I don’t interact with many (or rather, any) 10 year old kids.. so I guess I don’t have much of a frame of reference. But I was pretty shocked at how quickly they absorbed knowledge, and how good their English was. Basically, they could speak more words in English, than Chris and I could in Chinese. Impressive, right?!

It was really interesting and fun to be with these kids, and I was just floored at how quickly they learned English words. In fact, they even taught me some Chinese words in return, *LOL*!


Found a wee, meowing kitten in the side streets. I could fit it in the palm of my hand.

*()#%*)#$!!! SO CUTE I COULD FAINT. It also had a (shy) sibling behind it

All snuggled up

OMGGGGGGG *heart melts into a quivery puddle*

Live chickens, ducks and quails! The Chinese get ‘em killed/plucked right there,
then take it home to cook. Talk about super fresh…

The migrant school area, looking like we’re in an Afghanistan war zone.
It was SO dirty and dusty, sad to think the kids study/play in this area..

A construction worker takes a break

An old man in a half-torn down house. Where’s he gonna go if/when the pull it down?

Outside the tiny entrance into the school

The classroom with a ton of very boisterous kids!

A very hot English teacher ;)

The boys were so cute, and man their English was good!
They knew more English than we did Chinese..

One of the boys writing/drawing stuff he likes

‘elo!

Pretty girls I was working with

One of the girls’ cute drawing

Me and another volunteer working with them on their drawings

Chris, me, and other volunteers with the kids

Girls playing during break-time

Playing “duck, duck, goose!” outside, with Chris being chased around by a kid :P

Tag relay game. Can you spot Chris?

A small snack at a dirty ‘ol Chinese shop afterwards. Dumplings and deep-fried pork cutlet!


SCAA ADOPTION DAY

12 February 2010 14 comments

The Second Change Animal Aid held an Adoption Day that I really wanted to support. It’s the same organisation that I volunteered with during the animal home visit a few weeks ago, but the purpose of this particular event is different.. as it’s cats and dogs that are ready for adoption to good families.

It’s held, oddly, in O’Malley’s, which is a pub in the middle of Shanghai. I can’t believe it would allow animals in there, since the cats are placed in large cages on top of the tables! It would never fly in Australia. Only in China ;) The animals were just gorgeous… such soft fur and some of the cats had such sweet personalities I fell in love. I REALLY wanted to adopt one! But we can’t have a 3rd pet cos it would be chaos, and I don’t think Misty and Star’s little hearts could handle the shock of a foreign animal living with them.

Quite a few animals got adopted by great families though, which was wonderful to see. But at the end of the day, I wish people would stop dumping their pets once they’ve grown out of their kitty/puppy stage – then there wouldn’t even be the need to hold adoption days like these!


In the cozy O’Malley’s

Me stroking an ultra sweet kitty

Dotty, cute dog!

Cats with super super soft fur..


VOLUNTEERING TEACHING ENGLISH

10 February 2010 4 comments

Spent some time volunteering at the Jing’an Disabled Centre the other weekend. The people there are always so warm and friendly, and they’re walking distance from our place.. so it’s a total pleasure to spend time there.

This time, it was teaching basic English to them.. in preparation of Shanghai’s 2010 Expo in May. Not many regular people would have heard of the Expo, but it’s to business what the Olympics is to sport. IT IS HUGE!! Shanghai is pumping with activity right now, with frantic preparations for the Expo – everything is being renovated and improved – so it’s actually great that we’re in Shanghai while the entire city is re-hauled and spruced up :) You can read all about it here.

Anyway, since Shanghai will be flooded with foreigners, the government is also doing a massive program to teach English. Primarily to restaurant staff, shop staff, and taxi drivers. It’s totally cute, they even rolled out a very spiffy looking uniform for all the cabbies, and they look so smart in them! So, our idea was to also teach some of these guys English, for when they meet foreigners on their outings, and also for a bit of fun.

I got the smartest ‘students’ so it was quite easy for me :) It was fun, but also exhausting talking and repeating the same words over and over again. But they did get it, which was very cool!


All the diligent students

Learning how to say “Goodbye”

In turn, one of them performed a traditional song for us – so sweet!


EBAY SHADOW DAY

30 January 2010 4 comments

There’s a different kind of volunteering out there – that doesn’t involve animals, or disadvantaged people, or children. This kind uses your own business knowledge, to help inspire and encourage young people. And this is what eBay does – corporate volunteering.

I’m part of the Giving Works volunteer team at eBay, and whilst we do all the above kinds of volunteering, the “corporate volunteering” part is especially interesting to me. In this case, it involved inviting a few university students to our offices for a day, where they could ‘shadow’ eBay employees and chat with us about our work. In turn, we can share our experiences with them, our thoughts about business, and provide advice to them whereever we can.

In actual fact, it’s having fun talking to them :)

My session was over lunch time – excellent! That meant we had pizzas ordered in, and could have a casual chat as we stuffed our faces. For me, they were mostly interested in what I thought about cultural differences coming from Australia to Shanghai. And many asked if it was worth going overseas for education and/or working for a few years. It was a very open and interactive session, which is my kind of thing.

Had a good time. I’m proud eBay holds programs such as this and supports us doing this :)

The running joke was – we look nothing like the people in this pic,
as none of us wear suits. Haha!