TCATA

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Hola to all my special people!

I thought you might like to see some photos of my special 2nd birthday! I'm getting a big boy now. I had lots of fun with my new friends, but I was sad you could'nt come. Papa said it was too far for you to come, but I don't know why? Mum made me a train cake! It tasted good even before it was cooked!

I really liked all the lollies on the cake and enjoyed picking them all off and either eating them myself or feeding them to other people. That was the fun part!

I didn't like it when all the people were looking at me and singing Happy Birthday and when Papa made some flame for my cake I cried! Papa always says 'NO' when there is flame and so I was sad when Papa had flame right near me. I was so sad I sobbed my heart out, and even Georgia couldn't help. Papa tried to light my candle three times but it was awful!

Because I cried Mama said I could eat any lollies I liked off my cake cause it was MY birthday. I was really happy when I got to play inside by myself with my new truck.

Mama and Papa nearly cancelled the party cause Georgia and Mama have been sick all week and Papa and I still didn't feel 100%, but Mama and Papa managed to make things work and we had fun. Papa said to us that Jesus was helping us to feel better because lots of people have been praying for us. Thank You Jesus and thank you all people!

I love you much and hope you have a good day. Lots of smiles and sloppy kisses!

LUCA ELLIOT xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooo

Source: It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

August newsletter downloadable

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Here is the latest newsletter available in .pdf format for downloading:

[[pdf:2_newsletter-august2010.pdf]]

Source: August newsletter downloadable

Out with the old and in with the new.

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1200

A few weeks ago Bulfrano (our landlord) was re-roofing half of his house. His house is right beside ours with only 2 metres between. He lives in a very basic house with a thatched roof. I (Elliot) walked out one morning to see him on his roof pulling off the 10 year old thatch roof. I thought that this was a good way for me to do some physical activity and give my brain a rest (something I regularly long to do!) I asked if he needed a hand and if I could help.

We took the old thatch (palm leaf) down to the back of the property and spread it out so that it wasn’t in a big pile, wasn’t sure why but I just followed the orders. The pile grew under a couple of trees but they didn't seem worried about it.

Now I discovered a new thing! A thatch roof is a great hiding place for a lot of creepy crawlies. This made it a different experience to NZ! In NZ I would have got Luca and Georgia helping, and I would have rushed in to get a big arm full of branches, but not in Mexico. The kids were only allowed to watch, much to their frustration, and I had to double look at every hand full. When you see the Mexicans taking a smaller hand full than you and they are looking hard at every hand full, you know that you really have to be careful!

One side down and no bugs but the other side and we have a different story. As I went to grab a hand full of old thatch I saw something move. Yes it was the first of 5 live scorpions and one dead one. Work stops until you kill the scorpion, then it begins again. A good reason not to have the kids involved!

After it was all down Bulfrano lights the pile of old thatch and watches over it throwing water on it so the fire doesn’t get bigger than a flame the size of your hand. I’ve seen him do this before. Not sure why but he likes a fire of rubbish to smolder rather than burn clean. One day when I can speak more Spanish I will ask him. I think they were anxious to burn it quickly to burn the scorpions. While we were watching the fire and throwing water I felt something run across my foot and after jumping I looked down to see a scorpion running away. Bulfrano thought it was a great joke, but quickly threw the scorpion into the fire with a spade. The funny thing was they also badly scorched their good trees, but didn't seem at all bothered.

Once this is all burnt and gone Bulfrano starts putting the new iron on, caping the ridge off with clay roofing tiles. I worked with a guy in NZ that said that every nail hole is a potential leak so the less nails to hold the roof down the better! I think that Bulfrano must have had the same teaching but to the extreme, or he just ran out of Corona beer bottle tops. I think I have seen a new use for a beer bottle top after you open the bottle. The process is that first they open the beer bottle for a drink, then they take a nail and a hammer to hit the nail through the bottle top. Wa la you have a roofing nail. About a month later and we have had some decent wind and rain, and the iron is still on the roof with only 2 nails holding each sheet of iron! I am impressed.

The next day Bulfrano was the proud new owner of 1/2 a new roofed house and of a large swollen, red scorpion bite on his forearm. I was more than happy not to have either!

Well we are doing well with all our new adventures and life goes on with the language learning.

Bless you all

Que Dios le bendiga.

Amor de La Familia de Marshall

Elliot Jo Georgia and Luca

Source: Out with the old and in with the new.

We wore pajamas!

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1200

It got cold the other night as the temperature dropped to about 25 deg C that we had to put on summer PJ's and use a sheet over us so we weren't too cold to sleep! But the PJ's were only out for two days and now they are back in the drawer and the sheet is away!!

We got some rain for a day and everything cooled off - the Mexicans pulled out their jerseys and fleece jackets (we are still trying to work out why we even bought ours!) and we jumped for joy that we felt cooler. The temp is high again - but it was a nice treat!!

We wanted to laugh out loud at our Mexican friends shivering away under blankets as we though it was just right for t-shirts! We are told it gets quite cold in the mountains and that the nights can be quite quite cold, but our sleepy little fishing village on the coast doesn't experience that and its inhabitants are happy to bake in the sun!

We are starting to experience some interesting cultural events now and have attended a wedding and a kindergarten graduation! Yes the graduation was a big deal and had some very serious parts. It was a great insight into the local culture. We, all armed with lots of insect repellent, attended a ceremony of graduation, dancing, certificates awarded etc and we then went to share a meal and celebrate.

Honey, who is the daughter of Betty and Diego, our Mexican friend and the minder of the children, was the big 6 year old graduating! She wore a number of beautiful outfits to dance in including a lovely white dress which Georgia thought was the best thing ever!!!!!! "Look mama, pretty dress" was heard multiple times during the evening! It was a great time spent with new friends, and some fun laughs were had.

We have now passed Nivel uno (Level one) of our Spanish course - only 3 to go! Level two is now causing mass confusion so we will just have to wait and see what happens. Language learning is generally just hard slog - but that is just for a season we are reassured. We attempt to converse sounding like 3 year olds and occasionally make some daft mistakes. Jo apparently said something in a class devotion about being pooped on - oh dear!

From Mexico to you - Blessings - the Marshalls in Mex!

Source: We wore pajamas!

Who's responsible?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1200

So who's responsible - the drink or the drinker?

A member of Alcoholics Anonymous once sent columnist Ann Landers the following:

We drank for happiness and became unhappy.
We drank for joy and became miserable.
We drank for sociability and became argumentative.
We drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
We drank for friendship and made enemies.
We drank for sleep and awakened without rest.
We drank for strength and felt weak.
We drank "medicinally" and acquired health problems.
We drank for relaxation and got the shakes.
We drank for bravery and became afraid.
We drank for confidence and became doubtful.
We drank to make conversation easier and slurred our speech.
We drank to feel heavenly and ended up feeling like hell.
We drank to forget and were forever haunted.
We drank for freedom and became slaves.
We drank to erase problems and saw them multiply.
We drank to cope with life and invited death.

Bits & Pieces, May, 1990, p. 18.

Source: Who's responsible?

Portofino, Italy

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1200

The quaint little town or village in the photos is Portofino, Italy.

Liguria is the Provence that Portofino is in, it's not far away from Genoa (Genova). It is probably one of my favorite places to go in the Mediterranean. It's small, quiant, very popular, calm and pretty.

It is a rather romantic part of Italy and I know when everyone thinks of romantic Italy they think of places like Florenece but after having been to Florence it is nice and very interesting, it's also very busy mostly with tourists.

Places like Portofino, Positano and Rapello (which is on the Amalfi coast, west coast) are small, less toursits and far more pretty and peaceful. The Italians at one point (and I think they still do) have a building code that allows them to build on rock cliff faces, you see it all the way down the west coast and it's fantastic, the views are astounding, the water is beautifully clear and warm.

Unfortunately we only had one day at Portofino, I guess each person see things differently, our guests were only interested in shopping (Portofino has some very high botique shops) and not the scenery, a shame really but nonetheless I got to stand and soak in the beauty of this little town once again.

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Portofino, Italy

The battle of religions

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Every now and then at our language school we have a culture day. This is a day that we take a break from Spanish lessons and do or look at something that is about or part of the Mexican culture. Last week on Friday we had a ‘light’ culture day and looked at maybe the highest religion in Mexico, Soccer!!! OK, maybe second after Catholicism! Last Friday just happened to be the beginning of the soccer world cup and Mexico was playing the opening game against South Africa.

The village that we live in is said to have a pop. of about 500 people but when Mexico play soccer you would think that there was only a few kids living here and lots of TV’s! It is very quiet until Mexico score their goal and then all you hear is GOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL and on and on.

We think that the rainy season is about to start. We have had about 4-5 heavy rain showers over here in the last week, and the last 3 days it hasn’t really stopped raining. I think that the rain is going to bring out all the interesting bugs. In the last week we have killed a tarantula, 2 scorpions, a blood sucking fatal parasite carrying bug and Jo found a dead centipede under the bed and lots of little bugs. We also had some iguanas visit on our deck while we were having some food. Jo is thrilled about all these bugs- NOT!

Yahoo, bring on the chinese laundry and bugs of rainy season!

In this next week of classes for level one, we are really full on. We have a test on next week Tuesday and then our final on Friday which we have to get over 80% to move on. Fun!!!!!! as we are really tired.

Then we have 1 week off and then straight back into it again.

One week over here feels like one month at the moment while we make all the necessary adjustments to a different land and culture. BUT it is getting better. We can go to church and recognize some of the words being spoken but still have no idea what they are saying!

Speaking of church, last week we had a guy preach from about 11 to 2 ish (we left at 1 because of the kids). Mexican’s love to preach long messages! But great things are happening and people are being saved!

Que Dios le bendiga.

Elliot Jo Georgia and Luca

Source: The battle of religions

Andorra

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

I have just had the pleasure of spending about a week up in the Pyrenees Mountains in a very small 'Principality' called Andorra.

This Country although it claims to be a Principality, has no current Royal family!?

Another interesting fact about Andorra is the age of the Country. When you cast your eye over the quaint buildings they seem to blend in with nature and the surrounding landscape. Some are very old and others are new given Andorra's isolation from most of Europe until recent decades with advances in communications and transport.

It is now a bustling Ski Resort by winter and quiet by Summer although increasingly more Tourists frequent Andorra for walking and hiking in the Summer. As a 'tourist who has never really grasped languages in Andorra they primarily speak French & Spanish (Catalan) & Portuguese.

I speak a little French and a little Spanish but not enough to engage in conversation.

Andorra is very Catholic situated between Sapin & France this isn't really a surprise. Andorra has a population of about 80,000. I went to relax and downhill mountain bike. The relaxing was easy and great, the biking was steep and fast.

Now we have left Marseille (yes I am back at work) and have just arrived in Bonafacio, Corsica. More about that soon..

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Andorra

Shootout!

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Well the last few weeks have been eventful.

The Cannes Film Festival was very busy, I met Paris Hilton twice…she is not at the top of a ‘who I want to meet list’ (a list that doesn’t exist for me) although she was very polite and ‘normal’…ish.

Once the Cannes Festival finished we went to Nice (pronounced niece) in France, a City I know well and like, only to have my wallet relieved from me. This is a problem when you are abroad but I have done my best to get over it (even though they managed to spend over $1000 from my credit card, not to mention what was inside). Nevertheless I now have new cards and driver license, just need to get a new wallet.

I guess someone else needed it more than I did.

The biggest pain was that I was planning a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains in Andorra this coming weekend to go mountain biking but you need a credit card to book rental cars and hotels etc. That plan is back on as of today and my Captain has kindly given me some much longed for time off albeit an extra couple of days.

This leads me to today, we are now in Marseille, France, which as of this morning (see photo) I was one of a number of witnesses to the largest shootout I have ever heard. I have seen shootouts in the USA before which were quite shocking to someone from New Zealand, this one today was an organized attempt at armed robbery of a money truck. The shooting lasted about 10 mins before there were two large explosions then a fire. Strangely it was exciting. The News reports have been conflicting so far but there have been estimates that the money truck was carrying between 4 to 6 million Euro’s. I can’t yet say if the robbery was successful.

The last week has reinforced for me the question, what kind of world do we live in? I know these happenings are not new and I know that a lot of us are never exposed to these things, I for one after almost ten years abroad have never lost a personal item until the other day, but I always hope that good outweighs bad and that good people do not let ‘evil prevail’.

I guess that can be a tricky topic itself so I won’t engage in it, but it seems to have no end.

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Shootout!

Surf's up!

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Surfs up!!!!!

We live by a very very beautiful beach with long curling waves.

Last Saturday morning we decided to have a nice fun family outing, breakfast picnic and a walk on the beach. So early in the morning (BEFORE it got to hot), we packed our food, put los ninos on the bikes and rushed off down to the beach. The plan was to sit on the beautiful white sand and watch the birds flying along the waves.

But NO!!! God had other plans. We arrived to a very high tide (a one off high tide/swell). So there went our nice picnic! All we could do was have a picnic on the grass at the mission base, take some great photos, and watch the fishermen rescue their boats from being washed away. We still had fun. And wow! the mightiness of God was evident in those huge crashing waves. The weird thing was there was no storm.

3 weeks of spanish classes and it feels like we’ve been here for 3 months. They say that the best way to learn in to be submerged in the language and then you either sink or swim. Feels like we’re doing the doggie paddle but we’re going to get there!!!

Georgia was having a little cry about something yesterday, so I gave her a big hug and had a few minutes talking with her. I asked her if she likes living in Mexico- she said ‘Yes’. I said “what do you like the most” and she answered with a big smile “ello ekos mama”. It took me a few moments then I realised that she was saying “yellow geckos”!! She said “I love ello ekos the most”. Wow I love the simplicity of a child’s mind and have realised that we make life far too complicated at times!

Bless you all
The Marshalls

Source: Surf's up!

News, news, news

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

We love long newsy e-mails telling us about everyday life- they are great! And don’t stop sending news regularly as we can often download and read your news. It’s just more difficult to reply from our end. We have trouble communicating because a) we have no phone line and no chance of one. b) the nearest internet cafe is 40 min by taxi away or 1 hr by bus! c) Our cell phone doesn’t work in our village.

Elliot can climb to the top of one of the high buildings at the missions base - Roca Blanca to send a text. He can also go up there to send some e-mails using the wireless connection at the mission base - as well as a few other corners of the base. So basically we can get connection which is quite poor at times, and because it’s poor we are restricted by rules about what we can send etc. We can’t download anything big etc.

We try to check our e-mails daily and can download them, easier than sending anything out, but we don’t want it to put people off from sending us stuff- we love news. Just thought we would offer some sort of explanation so that you see our situation. Apparently we can Skype but without the picture.

We are doing well over here. Man is it hot! If it is not 40 deg then is must be pushing it, plus the humidity is right up there. One of our friends helped us get a portable air con unit so that was a great help once I managed to install it (with a few complications). We think that Heaven is going to have A/C.

It just cools one of our small rooms- needless to say we all sleep and study in that room now. We just put the air con on in the evenings/overnight so we feel we can survive. Haven’t got a power bill yet!

We live in a very basic house. The only running water is from a black tank on the roof so this gives us warm water. It runs to the shower, toilet and 1small basin in the toilet. The house is a 3 roomed, single block plastered house that soaks up the heat of the sun then heats up the rooms. The walls are still very warm at midnight. We have one room as some sort of kitchen. the other as a lounge and the last one as the bedroom (with air-con). To get from each room you have to go onto the patio first.

Our house is an the same section as our landlord, about 6 meters away. This is great for cultural experience but not so if you are wanting a quiet day at home and they have their family home with their kids. Sort of like a fish bowl. They have a little puppy that loves G and Luca. He’s a little bit like Luca in temperament.

We live close to about 3 local style restaurants that have music going from half an hour before sunrise (about 6.30am) till about 11pm just about every day. Not sure if it’s this or that it’s just plain hot but at the moment Luca is waking at 5 every morning then he wakes G up between 6-6.30. Makes for a long day.

Our eating times are quite different to New Zealand. Breakfast 7am (cereal to keep us going), Almuerzo (brunch) at 10am and lunch/tea at 3pm. Then we might have something light before bed. This makes for some interesting routines.

Nothing gets done or can get done fast here. Either you don’t have the correct things, or you just can’t find them with out going to about 5 different places to get it. Now the first place that you go to might have it, but they just can’t be bothered to do or get it so you go to the next and so on. Makes a half hour to 1 hour job take all day.

We have no kitchen bench, sink or tap which is quite a challenge! Our kitchen is also about 40 deg most of the day so needless to say I’m not the most motivated to cook! I long to bake brownie, but so far haven’t found any cocoa or baking powder etc! But I have found butter- I think it may be NZ butter! And I don’t have any recipe books.

We use a well that is out in the yard (sandy dodgy water for rinsing, soaping dishes, cleaning floors, washing us etc and then we buy big gallaphons of water (big refillable containers) each day.This is for drinking etc. The locals all use the bought water for drinking as well which says something.

We soak all veges and fruit in special iodine or disinfectant solution so as to not get sick. Currently we are eating 2 Mexican meals a day which is simple and very inexpensive as the food is made by the Mexican ladies at the missions base.

We both long to have a couch to sit on- plastic chairs is it for now. We found a huge plush couch, but it was expensive and it just doesn’t suit the simplicity of the village or the environment. Everything is constantly covered in dust no matter what you do to try to avoid it. We are still looking when able for a little cane 2 seater love seat! We are so tired of our bed being the couch!

We have now bought 2 bikes with a seat for Luca at the back and a home made seat for Georgia at the front. Elliot has both the kids, and me the big bag. I just can’t manage Georgia’s big 16kg body in front of me! It was like a huge relief time wise getting the bikes, as we were doing a total of about 40 min walking a day in the full heat dragging the kids along- and Luca weighing a ton if carried on Elliot’s back. Much better with bikes (which were quite inexpensive (made in Mex). But my butt does hurt all the time! The kids think it’s fun and Luca frequently has a tantrum when we try to remove him from the bike! We must look a sight !

Language learning is very hard work. After much discussion and listening to people’s recommendations and praying we decided to both attempt language learning at the same time. There is a lady called Betty (Mexican) who’s husband works on the mission base as the carpenter. She is caring for the children for four hours a day. They are Christians, very gentle and kind and we can’t speak Spanish yet so there’s lots of guess work. They live very simple and plain (by Western standards), but have happy kids. And our kids love her. I think she is struggling with changing the nappies as her baby, and other babies I see around, don’t have any nappies- so I think it grosses her out! She has trained as a nurse. She’s probably around my age.

We drop the kids off at 8 and then go back at 10.15 ish to pick them up for the morning meal at the base. We then rush them back before class at 11.10 and we pick them up after class at 1.30. We are all rather tired but the children seem to be adjusting to being at Betty’s house. Luca only cries a little bit when we leave now. It breaks our hearts to leave them, and it is like babysitting only- and sometimes we wonder if we have made the right decision. We were worried that if one of us stayed home for this 1st 8 weeks we could feel very isolated, not having any language at all. It was good advice to try for us to both do the course but it’s very intense with about 4 hrs study a day on top of class work. And with daily life being hard work and time consuming, and with the heat and grumpy kids all out of routine- it’s posing to be a big challenge to get through things and have TIME to study each day. We sat our 1st 3 exams today (I know- already) and I Jo feel quite bad about how it went- I’m sure I failed. Anyway please pray for us as it can be a bit discouraging. There doesn’t seem to be options for at home language helpers etc.

Luca and Miss G seem to be coping with the heat slowly- and in typical fashion- love the food , chili's and all. Some of the food is too hot for them, but we can normally find an alternative. The kids are constantly touched, ruffled and squeezed but they seem to cope most of the time- Luca’s very curly hair is a novelty of course. Luca and I have been attacked by bugs of some sort, and his have healed nicely (not mine though) and miss G has just developed her bad cough again in the past couple of days. It’s quite bad a times so we would appreciate your prayers. She has sadly reverted back to square one with toilet training- arghhhhhhh!! We decided to give up for now as it’s just crazy. She also refuses to drink any water somedays which I think doesn’t help anything! She can have only 200 mls a day sometimes- drives us mad- please pray for that. She has also taken to screaming the entire village down (seriously- it’s loud- Elliot now wears earplugs!) when she has to have a wash. We’ve even prayed over her cause it’s really bad. Everyone in our quiet fishing village on the coast of Mexico knows when our kids are having there bath!

Some exciting news: Elliot bought us a washing machine- hand washing takes tooooo long when we are studying. We have to the bucket or hose the water in from the well (using a cloth to sieve out the sand) but it beats washing by hand.

We saw 2 snakes the other day, one dead (fine by me) and other just outside the classroom. The young girls tried to make us hold it- I don’t think so- even elliot wasn’t brave enough. We also saw a really big scorpion squashed on the road- think I’ll never give up checking everything i.e shoes etc. The medical clinic 5 min from our house has anti-venom for the crawlies that bite. Good news I suppose!

The Mexican People are very friendly and gentle and very forgiving of our poor attempts at conversation.

Anyway have probably rambled enough. More in the next installment!

Source: News, news, news

Monaco

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

I have just 'completed' my 4th Monaco Grand Prix and I must say this one was as exciting and fun as the 1st one.

The build up and anticipation was great, the whole event was exciting and we were berthed at arguably the best spot in the Port with a great view. The race cars sounded good this year. By that I mean you could withstand being outside all day listening to them, unlike some years when they change the engine rule and they sound horrible.

You had all the pomp and glamour of European high society mingling and boat hopping in the evenings.

In order to secure a berth in Monaco for the Grand Prix you have to be affiliated with a race team. This year we were with the Renault Team. Our charter guest are owners of that team. We had the team drivers onboard, team members etc. Unforntunately I couldn't quite get my hands on a 2010 Renault Team Jacket, but that's the way it goes.

The lead up to the race is often more exhilarating than the race itself and this year was no exception when the race finished under a safety car.

Now we move to Cannes for the Film Festival.

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Monaco

Mangos are sweet!

Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Mangos are sweet!

When I was a teenager we used to sing a song that went. ....I like papaya, I know that mangos are sweet...... referring to the sweet love of Jesus. Well ,Jesus love is sweet and so are the mangoes in Mexico- very sweet! Luca and Georgia have discovered the joy of finding mangoes on the road side and sucking on them chilled after a meal. It keeps Luca busy for a long time. They have a variety of different kinds, our favorite ones are small and orange. The abundance of tropical fruit here is awesome- and really cheap. We bought a rock melon from someones car boot for equivalent to $1. Papaya grow in the back yard and mangoes are all over the road and paths. Pineapple are cheap at the mercado (market).

Our new home is in a small fishing village on the coast, and the beaches are beautiful. We live in a very basic house by NZ standards, but pretty flash for around here. There’s alot of dust and it’s hot! The only running water is from a black tank on the roof so this gives us warm water. It runs to the shower, toilet and 1small basin in the toilet.

The house is a 3 roomed, single block plastered house that soaks up the heat of the sun then heats up the rooms. The walls are still very warm at 12 at night (midnight). We have one room as some sort of kitchen (no bench,sink or water), the other as a lounge/storage and the last one as the bedroom. To get from each room you have to go onto the patio first. Our house is an the same section as our land lords, about 6 meters away. This is great for cultural experience but not so if you are wanting a quiet day at home and they have their family home with their kids. The family are very kind to us and forgiving of our poor attempts at conversations using the few spanish words we know and lots of gestures. We think they have built the extra house on the property with money from family working abroad. It’s usually the only way in this sleepy village to get enough money to make improvements,They have a little puppy that loves Georgia and Luca. He’s a little bit like Luca in temperament!

We have the opportunity in life to be content with very little and it’s a challenge to make life uncluttered, not rushed and to take time for the important things. The people around here make us realise that we can make our lives unnecessarily complicated!

Remember- the love of Jesus is sweet and so are Mexican mangoes!!!

Source: Mangos are sweet!

Monaco

Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Yesterday we arrived in Monaco and stayed at anchor. This afternoon we go to dock and will remain there for the next 6 - 7 days.

A lot of the crew are excited for 2 reasons.
1. They have never been to Monaco before.
2. They have never been to the Monaco Grand Prix before.

This will be the 4th time I will attend the Monaco Grand Prix and I am excited although today is my birthday and I can't even get off the boat and go for a walk around...oh well. In the old days yachts would simply pay to go into the Port of Monaco and secure a birth for the Grand Prix, rather a first in first serve basis.

These days it's different. A client has to have secured their berth by January of the year of the Grand Prix and they also have to be affiliated with a sponsor of an F1 Team. In 2007 our sponsors were Credit Suisse and the BWM Racing Team. It was fun. We had passes to the BMW Racing Teams Pits etc and the BWM Team came onboard for small party (including drivers) of about 120 people, 80 of the BMW Team members.

This year we have direct affiliation with Renault Racing and the Premier birth in Monaco, arguably the best seat in the house. It has been raining here for a week with some very bad weather last week, I hope I gets fine for the racing. The 'vibe' in Monaco on race day is ecstatic which is hard to quantify with words, rather it needs to be experienced. The race is this Sunday so I will update then.

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Monaco

Barcelona adventure

Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Barcelona being the large European tourist destination that it is, does not lack in ‘the common’ adventure sports.

A couple of hours drive North you have Andorra and with it a huge Skiers play ground in the winter and a hikers and mountain bikers domain in the summer at Val d’ Nord.

You have the Grand Prix Circuit of Cataluña and right beside that a massive outdoor Go kart track for superkarts.

Beaches galore in the City and 40 km South you have a rollercoaster park.

In the weekend we chose paintball for a bit of fun and we got a surprise. 150,000 m2 with 10 different ‘parks, guide/instructor/referee different terrains and obstacles with different objectives. Team work was a must and that proved difficult because there were 12 of us and we were firstly split into 2 groups then paired with Spanish players who were also split into 2 groups.

It took us a while but both teams figured out a way to communicate and strategise. There were about 350 people playing while we were there. A bruising but immensely fun day.

This weekend will be our last in Barcelona before moving off to France and Monaco for the Grand Prix and long days in the sun.

By travel correspondent Shane Carlisle

Source: Barcelona adventure

TCATA

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Hola to all my special people!

I really liked all the lollies on the cake and enjoyed picking them all off and either eating them myself or feeding them to other people. That was the fun part!

Because I cried Mama said I could eat any lollies I liked off my cake cause it was MY birthday. I was really happy when I got to play inside by myself with my new truck.

I love you much and hope you have a good day. Lots of smiles and sloppy kisses! LUCA ELLIOT xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooo

August newsletter downloadable

Out with the old and in with the new.

We wore pajamas!

Who's responsible?

Portofino, Italy

The battle of religions

Andorra

Shootout!

Surf's up!

News, news, news

Monaco

Mangos are sweet!

Monaco

Barcelona adventure

I love you much and hope you have a good day. Lots of smiles and sloppy kisses!

LUCA ELLIOT xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooo