Day 1: Temple of heaven

Successfully arrived in China today. Am slightly jetlagged, but so far what I have seen is better than expected.
I consider myself very lucky again, as the group I'll be doing the challenge with is very small (there's only 14 of us) and everyone seems really nice and interesting to speak to. I guess this was to be expected, if people are crazy enough to sign up for a Great Wall climbing challenge they would be one of a kind, wouldn't they?
We have been picked up by our Chinese guides from the airport, who call themselves Martin and Jason just to make our lives easier otherwise as the Chinese call the first names their given name is an indication to when and where they were born, e.g Jason's given name is Halo which means born at night at full moon, and Martin's Chinese name means born at daylight and down south.
The airport is truly amazing, it is quite an interesting architecture and at they same time they manages to sneak in something from ancient China the way we'd like to see it.
The same is not applicable to the parts of Beijing that we've passed by which looked like the Chinese part of towns anywhere else in the world with lots of neon and plastic.
We've been taken straight to our accommodation at the Wall, and the whole area and surroundings are breathtaking. Had a really nice Chinese lunch, where our guides were kindly explaining to us what is what, and so far so good no surprises.( Note to myself: loved this aubergine meal )

From egyszem

We had our first walk on, or should rather say up and down the wall. It was funny to realise that I could be a tourist attraction in a foreign country but apparently the Chinese who call us white-caucasians "big-nose" find it fascinating that we are walking amongst them, and were stopping us to take photos of us or with us.

From egyszem

Am back now at our lodge  and have a feeling I won't be up until late, but really looking forward for the real challenge to begin tomorrow.

Ready to go

It's 7.10 in the morning, the alarm just rang, but I've been already awake. Reisefieber as my Polish grandma would say it. Have 5 more hours until i need to leave for the airport. Which I would definitely need as my place looks as if a swirl wind would have touched base here last night. W I gave myself time until 8 to make myself acquainted with my new baby, a Google nexus tablet, which I have received from Praful as an early birthday present so that I could continue this blog while in China. A dream came true, the universe is treating me this year big time :-) This is the first attempt to post a blog with the help of nexus, which funnily is also the name of a product in our portfolio. Anyway :-) Ready to go, am really excited and can't wait to land in Beijing in the morning. And when I say ready to go it always reminds me of this good old song. Wish me luck, take care, and be good.

Last Miles

It's amazing how quickly time passes by. Next week same time I will have completed the first day of the track of the challenge.
And I wish I could say I feel prepared, which I don't. Have spent a fortune on gear, which should be all fine, but being who I am I wish I have trained more (though have trained enough I think, attending some amazing hikes in Surrey).
Have done some art sale in Belsize Park, which didn't work out well this time. Thursday was the only day last week not suitable for standing outside a shop, rattling for money, as there was a very cold wind, followed by rain. and despite the fact that I didn't manage to raise a lot of money for Diabetes UK, the day was very effective, I  have spoke to many people, who had diabetes, who feared to have diabetes, or who had loved ones with Diabetes, so I am hoping some of the advice, or flyers that I gave them were of help to them.
Also as a result of all the preparation I have a nice painting now, which is available on ebay  should someone fancy it, but I loved creating it, I think it was high time to create something with the creative energies I have.

From egyszem

So there's 350 GBP more to do until October 15th, which is the final deadline for getting to 100%. My friend will do some ruffle ticket sales while I am away, which I assume would account for around 60% for the missing amount, and I also need to collect my money collection boxes so am really hoping I'll be there in the end. 

Am very excited, can't wait to go and lament a little, as by the time I get back, I will have to make some decisions with regards to what's next in my career. 

However, I want to be there and enjoy it to 100%. 

And for those of you who would like t support  me by sending some positive chi energy, here's my itineary:

Sept 8: International Departure

Sept 9 : Beijing to Badaling Area

Sept 10: Badaling Great Wall – approx 6kms trek 1st day of the challenge

A short but demanding day of trekking along the un-renovated section of the Great Wall of China. 

Sept 11: Black Dragon Pools - approx 10kms trek

This morning you will transfer to Heilongtan and begin today’s trek in the lush environment of Black Dragon Pools National Park located next to the Great Wall. 

Sept 12: Gubeikou Gateway – 12kms

Sept 13: Jinshanling Loop – 10kms

Sept 14: Mutianyu Section – 10kms

Sept 15-16: Full Day City Tour of Beijing

Sept 17: Arrive Xian. Visit Terracotta Warriors & Xian Grand Mosque

Sept 18: Visit Yangling Tomb. Fly to Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Sept 19: Visit Pandas. Fly back to Beijing.

Sept 20 - Fly back to UK & celebrate my birthday on arrival :) 

20 seconds of courage

I don't know how about you, but sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected places.
I have been chilling out at my Mum's Monday morning, enjoying the last day of my short break in Hungary.
I have been watching different movies, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the We Bought a Zoo.
Do not expect some super exciting or very deep movie, it's just a nice family movie, about a widower and his kids who decided to buy a zoo, and live the story.

From egyszem

However the line, that stroke me from the film goes like this: "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it. "  It did echo in my head, and the next day I did something in work I never dared to do at work, that I am hopeful will bring great things. Sorry for not going into details (who knows who reads this blog:).
This is my new motto ever since, and I would need that extra courage when selling my artwork at the stall.
One piece is above, I'll have to buy a clip frame to be able make a couple more, also managed to get some crockery for the decoupage artwork, that i'll post when they are ready.
So until then... let's go crazy :)

My heroes

Life is really treating me recently. After a very successful Diabetes Week fundraising, I unexpectedly had to travel to Singapore, with which a dream came true, I have finally crossed the boundaries of Asia.
Absolutely adored Singapore, the food, the weather, the people and the architecture, and can't wait to go back, but that will have to wait until next year I am afraid.
But the fun didn't stop there. A night after I arrived back to London I went to Team GB and was trained on coaching by Adrian Moorhouse the Olympic swimmer who beat Karoly Guttler (HU) at the Seoul Olympics,  by Sir Clive Woodward  and Mark Richardson. The training had a slight boot-camp feeling as having been trained by these sportsmen necessarily means, that there were many sports anecdotes and even more sports videos, but it was an amazing experience to see how Team GB prepares for the Olympics, and also the training was really useful to gather my thoughts around fundraising again. I will revert back to the cooking- baking scheme. I will be end working in the charity shop on Saturdays, it was a great time, but don't have enough free time to do this, now that fundraising is approaching to the end, I need to focus even more on training and fundraising so will be volunteering only occasionally on Sundays at the shop. What I'll do instead is I'll hire food stalls at the local Budgens, and sell diabetic cakes. Will give it a try, people are always up to trying new stuff
But going back to the training Mark Richardson mentioned the story of Karoly Takacs, who was a Hungarian shooter and won two Olympic gold medals, that I wanted to share with you. He was righthanded, and a grenade exploded in his right hand, and he had to learn to shoot with his left hand, and won both Olympic medals shooting using his left hand.


Wiki

His story, and the story of Gyula Gurisatti who is hero from my hometown (sorry video only in Hungarian) attending London 2012, who has been a World Champion in diving but lost both his legs in an accident, just reminds me  how amazing will power is, and that however tough moments can be, to stop whingeing, and just keep going.
And that it's less than 40 days until the Olympics, so I need to a Hungarian T-shirt.
HAJRA MAGYAROK.

Get the balls rollin'

Today is 49 days until the Olympics, 90 days to my challenge, 42% to my fundraising target, and one of my greatest friend's Szilvio's birthday (boldog szuletesnapot!).
The Euros have kicked off, so am looking forward to some nice football (and footballers:), though I haven't yet made up my mind which country to support, by definition I'll support the Polish and the English until they are in :) off course.
As to keep the balls rollin' myself I have organised a charity bowling event at the Bloonsbury Bowling Lanes for next Tuesday, and it looks like it's going to be great fun. Have 2 lanes reserved, and it would be nice to do some different movement than the treadmills at the gym, because I am utterly bored with it, can't wait for the summer to come back for some longer tracks.
Besides organizing the bowling event I have written a press release for Diabetes Week and have sent it to local papers and foodie magazines. The press release focuses on my story practically, explaining why I am supporting Diabetes UK, and also includes a recipe for Hortobagy style pancakes (see below). I am hoping at least one of them will pick up the story, as it would be nice to share a bit more about my country's cuisine with the cease of the meetup group.

From Hortobagyi Palacsinta

I will be travelling second half of June on business, but when I am back end of July I'd like to organize a "glowing" fundraising event, I just need to find a sponsor. 

Details to follow, and now, I am off to the gym, to watch the match while cycling. 

Carpe diem

So finally, back to my blog. 2 months have past so quickly, I have a working PC again and my work life is finally getting back to normal.
The cooking classes have come to an end, have raised over 300 pounds by teaching people how to cook Hungarian dishes which was a great experience and resulted in many great friendships that I am very grateful for.
Have continued with hiking as well. At Easter time I have sent 5 amazing days climbing the Welsh coastline and then after UK have announced it was in drought, we had 6 weeks of rain, but luckily a climb with lots of bluebells sneaked in, which was truly amazing.
And then on a sunny afternoon in an arboretum in Cotswold my father called, that my grandma has passed away.

From egyszem

She has been 76 and though we were expecting this (she has been sick for a long time, mostly side effects of Diabetes 2), it always comes unexpected. I traveled back to Hungary for the funeral, and after the service, I've sat on my Mum's terrace, facing the sun for hours, just contemplating. We weren't that close after I moved from home at the age of 18, but she had an enormous contribution to the fact, that my cousin and I are friends for life, which I'll be grateful for to her forever. I also remember dearly those evenings spent together at her place when we were listening to tales on the radio, while having supper in the kitchen.
But she left for the eternal fields now, and I can't pop in to her place anymore.
What happened made me stop to think. In the evening of the funeral I had the urge to watch the Dead Poets' Society, which made me realize, that I have let my priorities slip slightly in the past 2 months, and I was not really doing what I wanted to do, and what I have signed up for when I have started this Challenge.
So am back, so is summer, and it's time to seize the day, I'll start organizing events where I hope you can join me, and contribute to make the life of those with Diabetes better and longer.
In Memoriam Mama...

From egyszem