Step Aerobics

I'm very excited this afternoon. Tonight I'm teaching a Step Class for the first time in a little while. It's an intermediate to advance class, so I finally get to re-showcase some routines I wrote back in March when I covered another instructor's Step class on Easter Saturday. I haven't had the opportunity to do those routine since, because the only other time I teach Step is on a Thursday morning for 20 minutes - not really long enough for me to delve into my beloved routines.

I love Step aerobics. I love it way more than Hilo. I mean, I do really like Hilo... but I absolutely LOVE Step. I can't wait until I get to regularly teach a full Step class of my own every week.

You get such a great workout whilst minimising the impact on your joints. You work up a sweat easily because for the entire class you have to step on and off a Step. For Hilo, I find I have to consciously work harder to try and get the same level of sweat factor.

Step absolutely rocks! If you've never tried it before and are considering it, do give it a go! But make sure you go to a class with a good instructor - in the world of freestyle aerobics, this makes a HUGE difference between whether you enjoy a class or not, whether it be Step, Hilo, THT, or any combination of these and other styles of classes.

Super-Challenge Results

Recap - my guesses were:

1. Cosi's 200g Nestle Diet yoghurt ~ under 100cal
   
2. Kirsten's can of baked beans ~ assuming it's a small can, maybe 150-180cal?
   
3. Garry's 60g of Carmen's fruit muesli ~ 250-300cal
4. Sam's 55g Cadbury milk chocolate ~ 250-300cal
   
5. Alison's 74g McDonalds french fries ~ no idea! I would hazard a guess at 250-300cal, but
   I'm putting it as higher than the chocolate because it weighs more, and I'm not sure which of the two have the higher fat%. I know chocolate is typically quite high... french fries might have a lower fat % because despite being deep fried the fat is on the outside not mixed right through the middle like chocolate, but then french fries have a large surface area.*
   
6. Michelle's 600mL bottle of Fanta ~ at least 300cal

According to the show, the actual caloric figures were:

1. 200g Diet Yoghurt ~ 80 cal
2. 220g Baked Beans ~ 181 cal
3. 74g French Fries ~ 250 cal
4. 60g Carmen's Muesli ~ 277 cal
5. 55g Cadbury Chocolate ~ 290 cal
6. 600mL Fanta ~ 304 cal

So in summary, I had 3, 4 and 5 mixed up. Some additional lessons to take away from this exercise:

1. Whilst some might "shudder" at the muesli being a higher calorie content than the fries, don't forget that 60g muesli is a MEAL for many, whereas 74g frieds is a SIDE that many adults buy for their children whilst they consume a medium or large size of their own.

2. Beware soft drink! A 600mL bottle has close to the same calorie content as a meal should contain (bearing in mind, women who want to lose weight should aim for 1200-1500cal per day... so a soft drink would be one quarter to one fifth of a woman's daily allowance!). Aside from the high caloric content, that amount of sugar in one sitting is not good for ANYONE.

3. The chocolate and muesli are almost the same calories... again, however, you would eat a bowl of muesli for breakfast, but there is no way a 55g serving of chocolate would be as satisfying (or good for you).

The Biggest Loser Super-Challenge!

This was on TV last night. If you're a fan - wasn't it awesome to see the six contestants achieving what they did during the race? a 500m uphill run, followed by 4km bike ride, 3km canoeing on the sea (which included turning around a small island so it wasn't just canoeing in a straight line).

But then the nastiest part of all - six food items to choose from. The person who arrived first got the first choice of course, and the person who arrived last didn't get a choice at all. And whoever ended up with the food with the highest caloric content would be eliminated immediately.

Here is the order in which contestants finished the race, plus their food choices:

1. Cosi - 200g tub Nestle Diet yoghurt
2. Sam - 55g Cadbury milk chocolate
3. Kirsten - a can of baked beans (I'm not sure of the size but it looked like a smaller rather than larger size)
4. Michelle - 600mL bottle of Fanta (I think the normal kind rather than a diet variety but again, not sure)
5. Alison - small McDonalds french fries (weighing 74g)
6. Garry - 60g of Carmen's fruit muesli
   

What a dilemma. I actually think it would be worse to come 2nd or 3rd last instead of last because you could potentially not be the last to finish the race and yet have a hard food choice to make. Last year Damien got knocked out ... even though his amazing effort got him in 2nd last place (remember the guy was still carrying close to 200kg of body weight at the time) he chose a healthy food - eggs - but there were six of them, something he forgot to take into account!

My main issue with this challenge is that some of food items are clearly unhealthier than others (e.g. McDonalds vs muesli) and yet might have a lower caloric content due to portion sizes. However, when I thought more about it, this issue does teach a few important lessons for anyone wanting to lose or control their weight:

1. Portion size matters! You can still eat too much of a healthy food item and not lose weight, or gain weight. An example of this is fruit - yes, fruit it healthy, but it is also filled with sugar. Now if you were to eat, say, more than 4 servings every day in addition to your normal meals, this could be a contributing fact to why you're not shedding those unwanted kilos. Or you could be eating muesli for breakfast every morning but having double or triple what you need to have.
2. Many of us are aware that one factor of weight loss or maintenance is allowing ourselves to have treats, as long as the portion size and how often we have them is under control. Chocolate is a good example - many people, if deprived of this simple pleasure for too long, are likely to get out of control and have a binge. Again, the principle of portion control needs to come into play. Have a piece of cake on your birthday if that's what you've been looking forward to in the weeks leading up to it... but decide in advance to have one slice, decide on the size of that slice, savour and enjoy that slice, and don't go back for seconds!

So... what's my personal verdict on the above food items and their caloric order? Well it's a very tough call for a number of them, I wouldn't be surprised if several of the items are less than 30 calories apart, but here's my guess, from lowest to highest, plus my estimate of calories they contain (I'm really testing my knowledge here!):

1. Cosi's 200g tub Nestle Diet yoghurt ~ under 100cal
   
2. Kirsten's can of baked beans ~ assuming it's a small can, maybe 150-180cal?
   
3. Garry's 60g of Carmen's fruit muesli ~ 250-300cal
4. Sam's 55g Cadbury milk chocolate ~ 250-300cal (would have more fat than muesli)
   
5. Alison's 74g McDonalds french fries ~ no idea! I would hazard a guess at 250-300cal, but
   I'm putting it as higher than the chocolate because it weighs more, and I'm not sure which of the two have the higher fat%. I know chocolate is typically quite high... french fries might have a lower fat % because despite being deep fried the fat is on the outside not mixed right through the middle like chocolate, but then french fries have a large surface area.*
   
6. Michelle's 600mL bottle of Fanta ~ at least 300cal
   

What do you think? How would you order the foods? Most importantly, which food would you have chosen and would you have been eliminated as a result?


*side note - knowing the fat % of these foods is importance because, gram for gram, fat is double the calories compared to carbs and protein. Fat is about 9cal per gram, carbs and protein are 4cal per gram. Hence the McDonalds chips being heavier than the chocolate should not be the only factor to consider... if this doesn't make sense to you, pop me a question.

My First THT Class

Just to explain up front - THT stands for Tummies, Hips and Thighs. A popular one amongst the ladies... but remember, girls, you can't spot reduce! If you have no idea what I'm talking about I'll explain that one in another post ~ just remind me!

Tonight was fun. It wasn't the most challenging class I've ever delivered, but that was to be expected, as I had already explain to my participants that it would take a few weeks for me to get to know them and cater the class more to them.

Half the class - basic Hilo stuff. Anyone out there wanting to learn how to do aerobics, this would be a good class to get you started as I'm sticking to pretty basic choreography for a few weeks to get the newbies into it.

The other half - lots of sweat, ab crunches, butt crunches, and more. Fun stuff. Love it. Didn't used to, but somewhere along the line I learnt to.

Anyway my reason for writing this has nothing to do with describing my class and everything to do with what happened after. I left my CDs in the studio! Anyone who is a fellow instructor knows what a disaster this is. And it wasn't just the typical, "oops, I left one CD in the CD player", I left my entire folder of 18 CDs, $350+ worth just sitting on top of the stereo! How silly of me. James told me tonight at least I'll never do that again... I have my doubts.

I discovered this about 10 minutes before the gym's closing time, frantically called them, threw on a jacket and raced out to get my precious CDs, arriving within minutes of closing time. Knowing they were closing soon I didn't even get changed so there I was, my first night on the job rocking up to reception in pyjamas, a jacket and crocs.

At least I happened to have my nice pyjama pants on tonight.

BodyBalance - A Review

One of the great things about being a group fitness instructor is that you typically get to use the facilities of the gyms at which you teach. This, for me, has opened up a whole new world of classes to try out.

One of these such classes was BodyBalance. Trying it for the first time yesterday morning, I felt so good afterwards that I went back this morning for more.

BodyBalance is a combination of Tai Chi, Pilates and Yoga. I have done Pilates but not the other two so I have no idea how well BodyBalance has incorporate the various aspects of these different practices. What I do know is that yesterday morning, my hamstrings felt tight, and at the end they were looser than they had been in several days. I also know that one of the Ab exercises was very effective - in a nutshell, it HURT! A lot!

I think this is one class I could definitely start attending regularly. In particular, because of my recent increase in aerobics activities, in particular and all the leg curls, double leg curls and single single double curls (you have to be a participant to know what I'm talking about here) I've been doing, I could certainly use the added support of additional stretching.

We spent almost an entire song ("Kissing You" from the Leonardo DiCaprio Romeo & Juliet movie) stretching our hammies. We also spent an entire song on balancing, first one foot then the other, and not just standing still on one leg but making all sorts of shapes and stuff using our arms. That's GOT to be good for me! I mean, I thought my balance was pretty good til then! Plus that'll help strengthen up my left ankle, which has been weaker than my right for months since I sprained it badly last year trying to hop in a 360 degree turn on my left leg.

I'm sure there are plenty of other benefits too - increase body and muscle awareness, relaxation... there are even strengthening components to the class. All I know is that I had fun and I'll be back for more.

A New Career for A New Year

Thanks for those comments, Devi, Lowell, Athel, May and Chandre. Apologies if I missed anyone. I promise it wasn't just a cheap ploy to get comments, unlike my previous attempts. I forget though that sites like Multiply are good for letting people know you've actually written a post despite 6 months' silence.

Anyway I don't really know how to write this next post without it being really long so here it is in point form. If you have any further questions, you can comment, or message or email me, and we'll go from there. But who knows, a succinct series of bullet points may just about answer all your questions.

**I'm not longer working for Donna. I stopped about a month ago. I'm not exactly changing careers, in the sense that I'm still working in the fitness industry. But rather than being a personal trainer full time I want to split my working hours between personal training and aerobics instructing.

**I'm not currently working full time. In fact I seem to be playing a combination of house wife and aerobics instructor whilst I work on re-building a new client base on the personal training side of things.

**I've been teaching on average about 5 aerobics classes per week - which is more than enough for me right now. Mainly because my feet can't really take much more at this point ... I'm waiting for the blisters on the balls of my feet to turn into calluses. That's when I'll truly know that I have tough (and slightly ugly) feet. haha.

**For anyone who might be interested in coming along to one of my classes, my weekly regular classes are:

1. Tri 20, 10am Thursdays at Bennettswood Fitness - a combination of hilo aerobics, step aerobics and upper body exercises using hand weights
2. THT (Tummies, Hips & Thighs), 7pm Tuesdays at Aqualink Nunawading
3. Coming soon... Aerobics, 6pm Wednesdays at Deakin Uni YMCA - for all students out there this is a 6 week class starting April 9th.

My days as a personal trainer are, however, far from over. More will be revealed. I must admit though that teaching aerobics is such a refreshing change.

A commonly believed myth by many is that it is easy for personal trainers to stay in shape because we are around exercise all the time. This is FALSE. Like any job it can be easy to get so busy working that you don't set aside time to look after your own health. In case you haven't noticed, most personal trainers spend their days prescribing exercise and then supervising their clients ~ we don't exercise all day long with them!

Aerobics instructor world is, however, a completely different ball game. A personal trainer can work for 40 hours per week and not necessarily do much exercise, albeit the job is more active than a typical desk job. However if an aerobics instructor works for 20 hours a week, you can safely bet that he or she exercises that many hours too!

So a combination of the two will work nicely for me. I will no longer have to go to the gym or for a run just for the sake of getting some exercise. In fact, I find I work harder in a class that I teach myself compared to one that I participate in, because I'm setting the example. Fun stuff! I know, for some of you readers it would probably be your idea of hell on earth.

Making a slow comeback to BlogWorld

I know I've been AWOL for a while. I think I'm back. There's a lot to update you on (so much!) but given I've been away for so long, I have no idea if anyone out there even reads or checks in on this anymore - I wouldn't blame you if you don't, after all it's been so many months I can't even count.

According to my sitemeter there's still a lot of weekly hits, maybe everyone's finally got themselves a Google reader? Or you're just really persistent. Scarily persistent.

So give me a holler (drop me a comment?) if you're reading, so I know whether I should even be writing on this thing still or not.

Love you all, miss you more.

I'm (Not Quite) Famous... in the Sunday Herald Sun!

I was greeted by my boss this morning with, "Did you see your picture in the paper yesterday?"

No... I hadn't!

Several of my clients greet me in a similar way... it felt strange that everyone had seen a photo that I had not yet seen myself. I am not in the habit of reading newspapers - largely because I don't have time, but also because I don't like the smell or the way the ink gets all over my fingers. James thinks this is really weird, but I have real trouble eating when there is a newspaper within smelling distance of me, it's just really off-putting.

Upon discovering the news via sms from me, James - wonderful husband that he is - headed straight to his parents' house to see if they had a copy of yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun, and then when they didn't he went to the newsagent and got a copy. Speaking of which, I never knew that newsagents kept copies of previous days' newspapers for sale. But I'm thankful that they do.
So here's to my first ever photo in a newspaper. Mind you, I am most definitely the least famous person in the section, but it was still nice to have my photo in there. And my name, too. :) I've scanned the newspaper clipping - below - found in the "Snaparazzi" section of yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun, page 125.


P.S. I know I've been off the blog scene for a while now. Been working 6 days and attending a Group Fitness Instructor course on the 7th, which has left little room for much else, let alone surfing the net. But I'll be back and regular someday... I love it too much.

"I knew you were going to say that!"

This is a phrase James and I often say to each other. Another common one is, "I was just thinking that too!"

I find it fascinating that after 3 years of marriage (we celebrate our 3rd anniversary a week from today) we often think the same thing at the same time. This phenomenon becomes particularly apparent when travelling in the car or during ad breaks on TV, when one of us will make a particular observation, to which the other will respond, "that's what I was just thinking!"

Even less coincidental is when an event or observation reminds both of us of the same thing that needed doing or discussing. The two may be mildly related but are unrelated enough to still generate surprise that the other was thinking the same thing.

And then there's that ability we seem to possess to accurately predict the other person's reaction to an event, comment or joke.

Is it just us or does it happen to you too?

You MUST check out this site!

http://www.ropeartist.com/

My boss showed it to me at work today. The amount of control Aaron has over his body is amazing - in his own words, he "performs ballet on a rope".

My boss is having an official launch party for our new studio and this guy will be performing at it. Cool!

Another thing - I now feel like an official part of the team. My profile is on the website and everything! If you want to check it out, send me a message or email and I'll email you the link. I just don't want to put it here for the world to see cos it's got my work address and everything on it.

Been Offline A While... here's why

Sorry, friends. I know I've barely been around in Multiply/BlogSpot/Facebook world. I've been at work. As of late my average waking time is 4:30am (for a 6am start at work). I've transformed from "I'm not a morning person" to "7am is a major sleep-in for me"!

... and I'm often in bed by 8:30pm.

Oh, and I now work 6 days a week.

Most other people would find this tiring. Apart from often being well and truly ready to go to bed by dinnertime, I am loving my current situation.

At one point in my life, I wanted to study to become a doctor. But now I'm glad I didn't. I wanted to do it to "help people". But what I'm doing now helps people too! I believe that what I am doing is saving lives... Sure, I'm no heart surgeon. But I'm playing my part in helping to reduce the number of people who need a heart surgeon - one life at a time.

And this is what wakes me up and pulls me out of bed on a cold, frosty Saturday morning at 4:30am (that and my husband, who is so dedicated to supporting me that he also gets up with me!)

What does it take to get YOU out of bed?

Something to Do

It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I am stuck with a problem so extraordinary that I don't remember the last time I encountered it.

I have nothing to do.

It feels weird. And yet, I feel like there should be heaps to do - only a month ago I felt like 24 hours was not enough in a day and yet I am sitting here, blogging, for lack of something to do. Usually I blog when I should be doing something else (probably sleeping, studying or reading a book).

And I haven't been lazy. Really! I mean, I was up this morning, bright and early (okay, more like DARK and early cos it was 4:30am). Did my first shift at the new studio - as of today my boss opened a second studio which is now my new workplace... more on that in the future. Finished work at 1pm, came home, lunched, and now here I am.

I acutally did have all these grand plans to work on our home budget but the laptop is nowhere to be found - I think James has nicked off with it. So I'm sitting here blogging. And probably boring you to bits.

I supposed some of you have read this far and are still stuck on learning that new fact about me getting up at 4:30am on an average morning. Well, it's not every morning - on Saturdays I don't have to be up til 5:30am (yes, to answer your question this will probably kill off what little Friday night social life I once had), and Wednesdays may become a sleep in day because I work evenings. And who knows? If I am somehow able to acquire that elusive skill of being able to put an entire face of makeup on in 10 minutes like some people claim they can (how the HECK do you do it? and it always looks so great. *sigh*) I may be able to push all these wake up times forward by 10-15 minutes.

Now I've just got to think hard - what was on that seemingly endless list of tasks that I had to do?

Oh yes... I could clean out my closet. You know, finally sort through and chuck out those clothes that I haven't worn for almost 2 years because they're two sizes too big (yay) for me. Except that I actually really like some of them... and given that an average healthy weight gain for pregnancy is about 10-12 kgs... I could find those clothes useful. Only, will they be out of fashion by the time I even think about having babies?

Gosh, I CANNOT believe that I am planning ahead for pregnancy. What is wrong with me? I really do have nothing to do.

I think I'll just go now and clean out that closet.

Super-Sized Ambulances for Super-Sized People?

I can't believe it.

On my way to work this morning one of the news reports on the radio was that of customised extra-large ambulances being built. There is a growing need for these as the percentage of morbidly obese people in our population rises.

These ambulances will be able to transport people to a maximum weight of over 400kg. This includes the installation of a custom-made lift on the side of the ambulance to help paramedics get patients into the ambulance.

The cost of one of these babies is estimated at about 200, 000 per contraption - and that's just the lift, not the entire ambulance!

I wish someone out there would take that same amount of money and put it into the health and fitness industry so we could better equip Personal Trainers, Fitness Instructors, Life Coaches and others to do their job properly.

There are too many radio ads stating "become a Personal Trainer in 8 weeks and be your own boss." Stupid ads! They attract people who do it for the money, or for themselves. Where are the people who are doing it for their clients?

Balut - Delicious Delicacy or Disgusting Duck?

Responses to some of the comments on my Balut photo album:

*****

Brave? I wish I had a video - James ate his with ease, instantly recognising that this was "simply" a test of mental strength. It took me 5-10 minutes of staring at mine and making funny noises before I could bring myself to eat it. The funny thing is, I've eaten this stuff once before so I already knew how it tasted... but the little baby ducky looked so sad, so forlorn, so... dead.

*****

It tasted quite nice - like the yolk part of a hard boiled egg, only softer and creamier. I know... just the word "creamy" in relation to an embryo is making some of you grimace. In fact, it even tasted healthy, especially after having eaten out so much and feeling like I've had at least 2 years' worth of my fried food allowance in the space of 2 weeks!

*****

But... who came up with the idea in the first place? Does anyone know? Did someone hard boil an egg only to crack it open to discover it had an embryo in it, but then being Asian didn't want to waste good food so they ate it anyway? This question shall be added to my list of food questions (e.g. who thought of putting chicken together with avocado?) until I find an answer.

*****

Regarding the Fear Factor comment - somehow I don't think Balut is anywhere near as bad as drinking an entire raw Ostrich egg (or some other large bird - it looked like about 2 litres of the stuff!). Did you happen to see that episode? I also think I'd much rather eat Balut than live worms... or coackroches. Ugh.

*****

Filipinos - you will be pleased to know that your national delicacy does have international fame. Balut-eating was featured as a challenge in one season of Survivor, although I forget which one. And they didn't just eat one, they ate up to four or more... the person who ate the most won.

*****

Stay tuned for a Balut-eating tutorial video... coming soon to a Multiply site near you!

My Dad & Mum - random thoughts

My Mum is working in a kindergarten teaching cute little kiddies. I never knew my Mum was so great with kids. On Saturday mornings she gives small group private tuition to three of the kids in her class. Can you believe that kindergarten aged kids in Malaysia need tuition? That's how early Asians instill the "workaholic" mindset into their children. And by kindergarten I mean 2 to 4 year olds!

According to my Dad, within weeks of my Mum tutoring these three girls, their performance in school improved dramatically. So much so that there are other kindergarten parents who want my Mum to tutor their kids! However she wants to maintain a high level of service to her students so she refuses to take more than the three she currently has. My Mum, in high demand! Wow - I'm so proud of her.

***

Every time we go back to Malaysia there is always that inevitable list of items we are requested to bring over from Australia. Things that either cannot be purchased in Malaysia or are of a much better quality in Australia. Without fail, on that list is a 500g bag of jelly beans - the kind that can only be found at your local Amcal pharmacy. My Mum uses these to "bribe" some of her children to behave. I shudder to think that one day my children's grandmother could be bribing them with jelly beans... or that they would prefer to stay at my parents' house because they get access to junk food there that their Mum wouldn't allow them to have at home. Haha. Perhaps that will be a funny story for a day in the future.

***

For the last 4 years or so, my Dad has put his heart and soul into working to turn around the family business in Malaysia. Just like any other type of change, it has involved a lot of negotiating, conflict, and heartache. All this time, I thought my Dad was doing it mainly as a service to my grandmother. As a part-owner, it forms a large part of her livelihood and therefore essential to a comfortable living particularly as she gets older.

It never occurred to me that the business also employs dozens of locals, therefore in turning the business around my Dad is not only trying to do what he considers his duty as the oldest son to look after my grandma, he also recognizes that if the business closes down, literally hundreds - all the employees plus their families - could be left with nowhere to turn. Some of the employees have worked for the business for 25-30 years, ever since their teenage hood. They would definitely have nowhere else to go for employment! This has given me an even more profound respect for my Dad.

My Dad hopes that when the employees realize how much he cares for them and how willing he is to be loyal to them, this will generate loyalty amongst them. He's the sort of person, however, who will never tell them that a large part of the reason he's making some of the changes is to keep the business going and therefore to benefit them in proving them jobs. I hope, for his sake, and for theirs, that they do find out one day. If I could speak the language, I'd tell them myself.

***

No one is perfect. Sure, I have my disagreements with my parents. But my love, admiration and respect for them reaches far beyond any irks I might have with them. Compared to how much they have given and sacrificed for me, my brother and my sister, compared to how much they clearly love me, compared to what a wonderful example they have set for me with their lives... the rest is most definitely inconsequential. I hope one days my kids will say the same things about James and me.

Filipino Food Adventures

I must admit, I had a challenging time finding food that I was willing to eat for lunch and dinner in Manila. I suppose I could have just made life easier and settled for fast food, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Thankfully, from 15 July we will be staying with some Filipino friends so will have the advantage of insiders' advice on food, but in the meantime I am left subject to the food on offer at the malls.

My first dinner experience was at Megamall food court: I ordered a pork steak grilled on a hot plate and an additional plate of vegetables. They were my favourite veggies - “tung choi”, also known as “morning glory”. However, they arrived swimming - no, drowning - in oyster sauce. The pork steak was also drenched, covered by some sort of gravy thickened up with a mound of corn flour. Nothing like what the picture displayed - a nice, clean pork steak - no sauce - sitting next to very neat pile of rice. I did manage to rescue my dinner out of their sauces as much as possible… the sauce on the pork was so thick that I could just scrape it off with a fork.

For lunch the next day, we found a lovely Asian store where I ordered a delicious piece of steamed fish fillet, complete with an Asian-style dressing of coriander, soy sauce, ginger and probably fish sauce. Ordered my favourite tung choi again. This time it had soy sauce instead of oyster, a much preferred option to the previous evening.

For dinner that evening, I discovered a Mongolian store in my search for fabulous food. I purchased a bowl which I then filled with whatever I wanted. This gave me complete control over exactly what and how much veggies, meat and sauce went into my meal. A fabulous feed for a fabulous fee.

So concludes part 1 of my Filipino Food adventures. Now it's on to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - home of my parents, sister, grandma and other extended family. I'm looking forward to some good, familir home-cooked food after 3 days of eating out.

Filipinos seem to love their Fast Food

I have never seen so many fast food outlets in one single place in my entire life. Megamall, one of many shopping centres, boasts a huge array of fast food outlets. Yes it certainly lives up to its name - it is massive - yet it can’t be more than about 2 ½ times the size of Chadstone shopping centre, and it definitely has more than 2½ times as many fast food outlets.

The following is but a small sample of what I saw at Megamall, and by no means extensive: McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Donut King, Krispy Kreme, Mrs Fields, Wendys, Jollibee, Greenwich, Gonuts Donuts, BreadTalk. I can’t keep going because I don’t even remember the names of half the stores.

Do humour me and allow me add to the picture being painted:

• A number of stores had more than one outlet – I saw two outlets for McDonalds, KFC, Krispy Kreme, Pizza Hut, Donut King, a store that sells Brownies… and three Jollibees!! Jollibee seems to be the premier fast food joint in Manila, as opposed to the traditional McDonalds in most countries.
  

• Not only were there multiple stores for many fast food outlets, the stores themselves boasted a floor space of double, sometimes triple that of the average clothing store. And they were always filled with people.

• It seemed to me that 50% of Megamall's occupancy was food stores, of which 50% or more were fast food.
  

• There was a vast array of non-franchise fast food stores too, including at least half a dozen different donut stores, multiple bakeries (Asian bakeries often stock a lot of sweet breads and are more like fast food than what you might find at a bakery in Australia), brownie shops, ice cream vendours, bubble milk tea, “fruit juice” stores, fried chicken, all-you-can-eat buffets, Mexican food, pizza stores… the list just goes on.

• Even James thought there was a huge amount of fast food on offer - if that isn't telling you something, then I don't know what will!
  

• There seemed to be deep fried versions of just about any food you could possibly name.

The thingis - they're all so little.... where does all that food go?

Kids

I'm not clucky. Never have been. I can appreciate a cute baby but I have never, and will never, use the phrase "you're so cute I want to eat you!". I enjoy holding the odd baby here and there but will never join the crowd surrounding one for hours on end cooing at him/her.

I think I prefer kids when they're just a bit older, starting to learn a bit of independence, and can communicate with me using words.

Why am I sharing this? It was really just an excuse to send you to a link - click here for a video of Nathan Staggers displaying his newfound reading skills. The conversation he has with his Dad before and after the reading portion of the video is a demonstration of his intelligence. Enjoy!

Gyms in Manila?

James and I depart for Manila on Saturday 7 July. My first ever visit... finally! I've been wanting to go there since I was 17. It only took me 8 years to finally get around to it.

We'll be there until 24 July. Which means that if you are reading this and you know your way around Manila, you can help me. Is there a local gym you can recommend I check out whilst I'm there? I'd just love to see how another country does stuff and how it differs from Australia.

Gosh... if I have to, I might even pop into a Fitness First. But what I'd really prefer is a true blue Filipino-branded gym, if indeed this does exist.

If you currently live in Manila, any chance you can find out whether your local gym accepts day visits or guest passes (e.g. do they sell a one or two week guest pass)?

Get it right... please!

I have been spending every spare moment of my time studying, studying, studying to get this Certificate III & IV done once and for all. My final exam is booked for Tuesday 26 June ~ I can't wait til it's all over and I can be let loose to blast the fat of Australia out of bodies and into oblivion.

Which leads me on to a minor... complaint, if that's what you want to call it.

There have been errors scattered throughout some the text books I've been studying. Typos I can handle. Even the occasional incorrectly spelled word that is clearly not a typo. The odd wrong formatting... pushing it, but still bearable.

But incorrect usage of words? Forget it. It peeves me that whoever wrote the texts cannot tell the difference between AFFECT and EFFECT.

A child's development is not effected by their participation in physical ability, it is AFFECTED!

Affect is a verb, effect is a noun. Learn the difference and get it right... please!

Once in a while I see this misuse and I can let it go, but it's been sprinkled so liberally throughout my texts that I just had to vent and let it out somewhere.

Am I the only person in the world who has issues with stuff like this?