It was a bit of a strange day for me today, lots of messages from my students and friends in Georgia about protests going on in the city, and remembering what it felt like to be living so close by to similar events late last year during elections and not quite knowing what would happen. Was it a one off, or would things get really nasty? On days like today I am always in awe of the young people I met in Georgia. As a westerner this kind of event is always unnerving for me, especially with the language barrier and difference in body language and my lack of understanding of the general psyche of the population. Even when Georgians are just ‘chatting’ about the weather, it is easy to mistake their serious faces, big hand gestures, and raised voices for some kind of disagreement. In 2008 Georgia was at war and following the soviet collapse, the country is still finding its feet. But this is all quite usual for my Georgian students, many of whom were born during the worst of the troubles and almost everyone you speak to has lost a loved one or witnessed war. My students go through everyday with that little bit of fear or uncertainty as to what will come next, so they just get on with their daily life as best they can.
Being for the first time, on the outside looking in, but receiving messages from friends who are diplomats and the young people I met across Georgia, was really strange. I remember how it felt this time last year the first time this protest took place, but not being able to speak about it openly because Georgia is small and we had been warned to keep out of such things for fear of our safety being affected. That was hard because you see things, like people throwing rocks or being violent towards other human beings, but you can’t speak about it without putting yourself at risk, but also not fully understanding the reasons behind such extreme behaviour, especially on the grounds of religion. It really just blows your mind. How can you condemn one thing, yet do something even worse and then justify it?
Being in Britain
So I’ve been in a bit of a strange place today, and I really appreciate how much freedom we have here in the UK, especially as I headed to the local school, and then thought of my students at school in Georgia, who would have to get through this chaos in order to get home, and would have been sat in class listening to the noise of this event, whilst trying to focus on their teacher. This event took place right by my old house, and close to my co-teacher’s home, yet she will have tried to go about earning a living as usual. I remember what it was like trying to teach during previous protests too, all the time wondering whether people might start shooting or smashing down the building or whatever.
School Visit
But Georgia aside, it was a fantastic day today though I’m still pretty exhausted from a busy week. I visited the head students at my local school and gave my first presentation about the ocean row and awaited their feedback. This was my first experience with UK students, and just seeing the lights, computers, pictures on the walls, and well behaved students in school uniforms was quite different to the rather more free range children I taught in Georgia, who were extremely vocal and bursting with energy as struggled to keep warm in our classroom or in summer sweated it out in the 35degree heat. I miss my Georgian students so much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the UK students just as energised and inspirational and I left feeling incredibly positive and excited to share the row adventures with the students and to learn from them in the process.
Weekend Planning
Time to return to the office and catch up on our emails and preparations, before heading off to Fawley this evening to get our stand and gazebo ready for the Fawley Steam and Vintage fair. Certainly going to be a busy weekend ahead, so I really hope the weather is nice to us.
Was still on a bit of a high after last night’s event, but also like a zombie after all the adrenalin of yesterday and feeling super duper tired. Physically fine but mentally on auto pilot! Walked the dog, did some jobs for granny, had my Vi-shape, walked into several items of furniture and acquired a number of bruises from not being awake at all. Proprioception deficient this morning it seems!
But, off to town for my training session at Purestretch, though I arrived to remember that my Tai Chi session has now been switched from first to second session of the day, so I ended up with Ciaran in Body Conditioning instead. I actually really enjoyed this, but my co-ordination was somewhat lacking this morning and I literally just copied everything Ciaran did, totally on autopilot and no connection to my body at all. Even the session didn’t wake me up, but I did manage it, was very impressed with core strength and stability (so much better than when I started), and though my balance wasn’t very good, I felt brilliant afterwards.
I stayed on for the Tai Chi session for as long as I could, but I had a meeting arranged for 11am, so had to duck out part way through, but felt good that even though I was tired, I had managed to get a little training in this week. A great meeting, loads of really useful feedback and advice, and then a long walk back home ready for some other bits of office work, but luckily my afternoon meeting was cancelled so I managed to try and catch up on my ever growing list of things that need doing. It is now midnight and I still haven’t finished, and lots of time dependent tasks that need completing still. Definitely on the edge of my ability to cope sleep wise right now, as just not having chance to recover in between, so I’m really looking forward to a session of downtime, whenever that might next be. Luckily for me, I’m doing a job that I love and am addicted to, because I think if I was oing anything else, it would truly be impossible. But at this rate, I might have to not train tomorrow, just so that I can prepare for tomorrow’s meetings, and for the Fawley Steam and Vintage fair this weekend, but will decide on that tomorrow. Looking after myself is crucial as it is me doing the backbone of the work right now and if I don’t do things then the expedition will fail before it has even started, so maintaining as much balance as possible is crucial, and stepping back can be hard when you are passionate about what you do.
So I’m signing off for the evening and off to catch up on some other jobs before sleep.
What an amazing and crazy busy day it was today, pretty exhausted now!! No fitness training today thank goodness, but lots of meetings, followed by our evening fundraising event. First off a meeting at a local school with all the heads of department and a quick presentation and overview of our project and ocean row and our aim to bring the oceans alive for young people worldwide through my charity Oceans Project Georgia. I was a bit spaced out as it has been quite full on recently and the fatigue is definitely kicking in, but all in a good way. Was a great meeting, loads of potential, and I’m itching to get started on the educational side of our 8000mile ocean row across the Pacific Ocean.
Liquid Lunch
Meeting over, it was a quick dash home, no time for a proper lunch, so thank goodness for the Vi-Shapes as they are super quick to make and drink, and contain all the nutrients you need, and don’t leave you feeling uncomfortably full if you are rushing about. Quick change of clothes and last minute jobs in the space of my ten minute window (thankfully our meeting hadn’t been as long as I had planned for, so that took the pressure off a bit). Not sure how great I came across, as I tend to waffle A LOT when tired!!
Business Coaching Session
A two mile walk into town, and arrived just in time for my next meeting, a business coaching session with Jenny McBean who had agreed to help me with the business side of project and how to deal with the personal side of developing a new charity or business and becoming better at time management, presentation, overcoming setbacks, for example. This was a very new experience and wasn’t at all touchy feely or about complaining about things or analysing them, so that was really great and different to my preconceived ideas of what a session might be like. It was also really good to have the first session on one of the craziest kind of days, at my most stretched to capacity because I could really tap into the things that challenge me at these times, like feeling overwhelmed or not knowing where to start, or just feeling worried that I might mess up or forget something important or give a bad impression. I waffled a lot, mainly because I was tired and unfamiliar with this new experience, and I’ve been so busy with doing things, that I’ve kind of parked the emotional side for a long time, so it was nice to off load some of that, de-clutter, and free up some space in my brain for the next things on the agenda.
Goal Setting
We spoke about my anxieties with presenting to large audiences and being professional, and also about my experiences with culture shock and having changed as a person over my three years in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, as well as the new role of being self employed and having to lead from the front, rather than being just one component in a team and following orders or being in the background. This was especially useful, as we are pioneers in what we are doing, and that means that there aren’t procedures as such to follow or to learn from, and inevitably means I will make mistakes but have to just learn from them and not worry too much. So the session really helped me to verbalise a lot of the things that have perhaps been bubbling under the surface but that I’ve not had chance to deal with and I felt much more confident and grounded afterwards. I think just having a sounding board will be a massive help in terms of project management, especially with our ocean row team being away on a ship in the Royal Navy, in South Africa, or taking their exams, so in the absence of the team at the moment, it was nice to be able to share the things and decisions that I’ve been making on my own for the most part. For anyone who might have thought about support whilst setting up a new business or taking a career break or change, I can definitely recommend having a session with a business coach, and Jenny is a really great lady, who has ben successful in her own businesses and has a wealth of experience to bring to the table. It isn’t about telling you what to do, but listening and then helping you to find your own solutions or the right path for you, and with you setting the agenda or goals for each session, and that can change each week depending on what you have going on. I really think this is going to be a massive help for both the ocean row and for my charity as a whole and getting that financial sustainable in the longer term.
Meeting with Tom
Meeting finished, and it was time to head to Henley Train Station to pick up adventurer Tom Allen (he writes a great blog, well worth reading), our speaker for the evening. But first we took the scenic route past the river (this was Tom’s first visit to Henley) as we needed to visit Asquiths teddy bear shop to pick up more of the nurdle free bears which make up the ‘Fourbirdsaboating Friend‘ packs for folks who donate £25 towards our Pacific Ocean row. We have a stand at the Fawley Steam and Vintage Fair over the weekend (thanks to Lady McAlpine), and without a car, I need to bring the 100 or so teddy bears home in dribs and drabs, as well as displaying them at our Regal Picturehouse event this evening.
Meeting Tom at the Royal Geographical Society 2011
I haven’t seen Tom since I first met him at the Royal Geographical Society weekend in November 2011. I’d travelled over for the week from Georgia for several meetings about Oceans Project Georgia, and had the pleasure of sitting next to the one and only Michael Palin who was the RGS President at the time, and on the other side of me was Tom, who took me completely by surprise because he not only knew where Georgia was, but greeted me with a ‘gamarjobat’ (hello in Georgian), and that’s how we got talking. Tom visited Georgia on his round the world cycling adventures, before settling in neighbouring Armenia for a year or more, after falling head over heals with his now wife Tenny.
Caucasus Connections
Talking to Tom about his experiences of the Caucasus and what it has been like for him in terms of returning to the UK and any advice he can give us for our own expedition was a massive privilege and something very special. So we talked for a while as we did all the various jobs that needed doing for the evening’s event and I felt a massive calming effect from being able to connect on that level in a way that I can only come about from someone who has been through a similar experience. Tom gave loads of advice which will really help in our own journey, just by talking about his experiences.
Tom’s Lovely Host
Next stop was Jean’s house. A lovely lady from the alto section of my choir (Henley Choral Society) who had agreed to host Tom for the night. I’m massively grateful to Jean as I knew that Tom would have a lovely restful place to stay, in return for supporting our fundraising event. I’m already crashing at my grandmother’s house, so it is difficult for me to invite others to stay, but we don’t have the budget for Henley hotels and are reliant on the generosity of folks like Tom to make our film screening and Q&A sessions happen. I was also still quite anxious about how many tickets we had sold, and whether or not I could do anything more to promote the event, because if we didn’t sell enough tickets, we wouldn’t be able to host our monthly fundraising event, or cover the cinema costs or film licence fees, or Tom’s travel. That is certainly the most overwhelming part about organising events, especially when the aim of them is to raise funds, so the last thing you want is to run at a loss!
Tea and Cake
Hanging out at Jean’s house was super. She hosted us with tea and cake in her beautiful home, and I think that really set the precedent for the evening as I soon became more relaxed and certain that everything would be fine, especially now the speaker and star of the evening had arrived, and at least one person (Jean) would be attending the event! Refreshed from a cup of tea and sit down, Tom and I headed to the Regal Picture House to meet the manager Scott and the team. I heard that we had sold some tickets, the books had arrived, as had the film we were screening, and everything was good to go. Lots of boxes ticked and my anxiety levels dropping every minute, though I was a lot more calm than our first film screening anyway as I kind of knew the building and how things would work now.
Dinner Time
With the cinema set, Tom and I headed to Strada for some dinner. Both on very tight budgets but knowing that Strada had some special offers and was right next to the cinema. A couple of calls about the evening whilst waiting for our pizzas, time to chat about Tom’s adventures and me hanging on his every word in the hopes of some magical knowledge to be applied to our ocean row, quickly grabbed the bill, and then back to the cinema.
Filming
Not long after we arrived, we spotted Henley Round Table Chairman Rob who had come to present my team Fourbirdsaboating with a cheque for £250 towards our boat build and a few moments later, Richard and Liz from Meadows Farm Film Studios arrived. Giving us the perfect opportunity to do a quick video interview with Tom and take a couple of photographs.
Filming is becoming a bit more familiar now, and I’m working hard to try and film little bits fo what we do, so that we can build up our story over time, but it is definitely a new skill!
Both Tom and Fourbirdsaboating have been lucky enough to be supported by Buff, so this was a great opportunity to give thanks to Buff with a photo or two (thanks to Richard).
Our filming session over and the cinema ready with guests, it was time to face the audience, for me to receive the cheque from Henley Round Table and for Chairman Rob to say a few words, and for me to then introduce the format for the evening and to say a few words about Tom and the film, whilst being filmed as I did so. An anxious moment as we waited for the film to start, but soon enough all running well. Watching the little bit of the film which features Tom as he cycles through Tbilisi, Georgia, I had to fight back a little tear as I tend to get quite emotional whenever I see Georgia on the screen these days. Though I can’t really explain why, as I’m generally not an emotional person and I rarely cry at films, but I guess Georgia really left a mark on me.
Tom and I nipped out to set up the books and run through a few things, and I made the most of the chance to asked Tom as many questions as I could so that I could prepare as best as possible for our own expedition, and I was especialy keen to find out more about how he had filmed his own journey to the point where it was now being shown on a large cinema screen. Tom literally just had a handheld camera, and this was before the days of DSLRs. Time for a quick cuppa before I went back inside to watch the rest of the film. Tom set up his books ready for signing them at the end of the film.
I was very excited to discover that the cinema also stocks Joe and Seph’s Gourmet popcorn as we’ll be taking some bags of this on our ocean row with us, and it comes in a whole load of crazy flavours, including goats cheese flavour, and whisky flavour!
With the film finished, it was time for me to face the crowd again and to chair the Q&A session. Loads of great questions, and I was pleased that I didn’t have to think of any myself and that the audience seemed eager and interested. I’m still learning how to chair these events and sometimes it is hard to know how long to run such sessions for, so this was a great experience, and to see how Tom went about answering questions as this is likely to be something we will have to do post ocean row. A nice big round of applause, time for me to do a little bit for the camera whilst Tom headed out to speak to his new fans and to sign some copies of his book.
Pretty exhausted but happy, it just remained for me to escort Tom to his digs, to thank Jean and have a quick beer with them, before walking up hill to my own house and crashing out ready for another day ahead. But all in all a great evening and lots of great comments afterwards, and lots of encouraging tweets. One such message was from 2016 Olympic rowing hopeful Rachel which was super cool:
Really touched at how many messages I discovered as I checked my emails on getting home, so pleased that folk enjoyed the night, whilst helping us to raise funds to build our ocean rowing boat. Massively rewarding.
Bit of an early start this morning, up at 6am to get all the jobs done before catching the 07.44 train to Twyford, Reading, and then Oxford. Unfortunately my train got delayed just outside the Oxford train station. I then missed the connection for the 400 bus to the St Clement area of Oxford, and ended up 30 minutes late for my meeting, but I wasn’t the only one thank goodness, and since that was the earliest I could get there, and cost me around £20 of my own funds in travel, taking a taxi wasn’t an option (my salary for the whole year is £800 whilst we get the charity relocated from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia to the UK). But it was all fine and I didn’t stress myself about it, because it wasn’t something I could change and wasn’t the end of the world. Living in Georgia has really decreased my stress levels on that front as Georgians are very spontaneous and generally just live in the moment, so I’m finding it quite a culture shock to come back to social etiquette on that front!
Pretty miserable weather today, but since I missed rain in Georgia I’m still finding the whole British weather thing quite a novelty though I do wish I didn’t have battered old trainers which leaked, as I ended up with wet socks pretty much the whole day.
Off to Science Oxford and my initiation as a STEM Ambassador for Berkshire and Oxfordshire, which gives me another hat to wear as I promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths to students through our Pacific Ocean row. Great to meet lots of other scientists and engineers, and afterwards to have a quick meeting with the STEM guys to see how we can work together in terms of the ocean row. So a very informative day, and on the way home, a chance to pop into Oxford city centre. Unfortunately, as always happens, the train from Reading to Twyford missed the connection with the train to Henley by a matter of minutes, with the result that I’d have to stand outside in the cold for over an hour before the next Henley train. Luckily enough, there happened to be lots of folks in the same position, including some tourists from Berlin, so we decided to jump in a taxi van together and split the costs (around £20! plus I’d already bought my ticket to Henley). But by sharing it knocked off an hour of my time or more, and meant that I wouldn’t then return home freezing and even more tired than necessary. All good stuff, and nice to chat with the German tourists about places they should visit in Henley and to see their reactions to the place, what with this being their first ever visit to the UK. They have literally come over for one night, flying to Heathrow, and will attend a cake decorating course in Peppard Common before flying back to Berlin today. Fascinating to talk to them about their plans, though a shame about the weather.
Back home at last, quick bite to eat and back on to the office work, and preparing for a crazy day tomorrow, including our film screening and Q&A of Janapar as part of our fundraising events at the Regal Picture House in Henley.
Just hope we have sold enough tickets to cover costs and make the evening a success!
At the start of the year (131 days ago) I set myself the challenge of rowing the equivalent distance of my Pacific Ocean row, on the indoor rowing machine. The equivalent of my 7200 nautical miles is 11584800 metres.
Today I rowed a total of 1019 metres, which leaves me with 11575797 metres to go before May 2014! I’ve now rowed 82,422m of my Pacific Ocean row on the Concept2 machine and outdoors!!
If you want to log the distance you’ve covered on a concept2 (or other) indoor rower, then you can keep a tally using their online logbook.
Had such a brilliant, and busy day today, but now on the edge of sleep and preparing for another hectic day tomorrow. Started off with my Vi-shape which gives me an extra 10 minutes in the morning instead of a regular breakfast, and recently I’ve been getting up 30 minutes earlier, because I need to check my emails first thing in order to have a chance of keeping on top of them. Dog walked, breakfast done, jobs for granny completed, it was time to walk into town for my session with Ciaran at Purestretch Studio, and what a fantastic session it was today!
Ciaran has put together a new programme, which includes some different glute stretches like this one:
Flat Abs
Super pleased with today’s Purestretch session, core stability is vastly improved and have lost a bit around my middle which is a great help in terms of flexibility. Loving that my abs are starting to feel more toned now and though I actively have to make sure I switch my abs on during walking, exercising, and everything I do, I think they are starting to come in to play on their own a bit more now. Posture also improved as a a result. Chuffed to bits to be able to do things like the chair pose and boat pose now as I couldn’t even do the basic steps of these 6 months ago and now I’m able to hold them comfortably for a few minutes. I’m sure with more practice they would get much better still, but sensing another shift in my body this week, which kind of makes everything else now fall into place. The missing link!
Short Training Session
Definitely on a high after today’s Purestretch class, it was off to Urban Fitness for a short but sweet training session, before an afternoon of meetings. Didn’t have long today, probably 30 minutes for training and then a quick shower before heading back out, but every bit of invested energy into the fitness side, will be a massive help for my row across the Pacific Ocean which takes place 389 days from now. During that time, I’ll row over 7200 nautical miles from California to Hawaii as part of the New Ocean Wave race, before continuing onwards to Australia over approximately 8 months.
Thirty Minute Challenge
With limited time today, I decided to cycle 5km on the bike, but not at my usual level 5, instead I’d have a go at level 6 as that would mean I could cycle 5km in less time (that was my theory anyway!). Managed that in 10.22mins, stopping occasionally to stretch out my legs as I tend to get sore knees otherwise. Pretty pleased with how I got on, as this has been the hardest piece of kit so far and took a lot of mental battle to build up my stamina and fitness on the bike. Cycled a total 0f 5.09km. With not long left, I had a quick stretch and then jumped on the Concept2 rowing machine rowing 1019m in 4mins and 41seconds at level 6, with 24 strokes per minute. Thirty minutes certainly goes fast! But still, a training session is always better than no training session. Quick shower. Then off to my first meeting of the day.
Meetings
Kicked myself as I realised upon checking my diary that I was 45 minutes early for my meeting! But that was ok as the first meeting was at Loch Fyne and meant I could check my emails and prepare for the afternoon ahead whist I waited. A great meeting, loads of potential and excitement, and I was feeling incredibly blessed at the network that seems to be building around our team Fourbirdsaboating. Little bit of an embarrassing moment as I choked on my coffee! I think I have have strained my oesophagus whilst coughing a bit with my cold the past week, or possibly have a little ulcer or infection as I get a little pain in my chest when swallowing at the moment, and sometimes it just catches me as fluid or food passes down. Is getting better though, but just meant that my coffee went down the wrong way, which wasn’t particularly helpful!
Great meeting though, meeting so many amazing and inspirational people on this journey so far. Quick pee and it was off to the Chocolate Theatre Cafe for the next meeting of the day. This went incredibly well, again, loads of exciting stuff, and then off to the River and Rowing Museum cafe for the next meeting, which was also brilliant. I think we are single handedly keeping the Henley coffee shops afloat with all our meetings!! Quite late in the day now, so time to nip home, eat some dinner, and then head back into town for my weekly session with Henley Choral Society.
We are preparing for a concert in Reading on the 8th June, Verdi’s Requiem and it is starting to sound quite impressive, to the point of already getting goosebumps on the back of my neck.
This is probably one of the most well known parts of the Requiem:
I believe that the tickets are on sale for the concert from here and there will be coaches from Henley too. Full concert below:
Was a bit sore on swallowing and lots of high notes, and was yawning quite a lot after a hectic day. But loved every minute of choir and getting excited about the concert and all the support I’m getting from choir folk in relation to the ocean row too, just wonderful. Realised just how tired I was when I tried to work out why the Conductor Will kept talking about Roald Dahl, thought I was missing something, and then twigged that he was talking about ‘rolled r’s’ when singing the words. Obvious really, but a good illustration of how the brain performs when tired, so goodness knows what my communication powers will be like after sleeping for a maximum of 2hours at a time over 8 months at sea! Polyphasic sleeping will certainly be interesting!
Not really much to say blog post wise, other than it was a really busy weekend of catching up with office things, and replying to lots of exciting emails. Picked up a new sponsor in-kind as well.But can’t really divulge the details of all the developments right now. Other than spending all of Saturday and Sunday in front of the computer, my evenings were made up of babysitting, which is just as well, because funds are super tight, and babysitting helps towards costs of coffee at meetings, and train fares to events. Feels like project is really coming together now and each day brings with it new and exciting opportunities that I could never have dreamed of, so I feel incredibly blessed.
