Hey Hey and a Big G’Day toya,

Some would say that I am clueless.

But once again I find myself totally key less.
When it comes to life, mate I am totally key less!
 
There really is something about the feeling of not having a single key to worry about or to keep you still like a stagnant pool of water or even a Gollum with a 'Precious' beside the said stagnant pool of water. Some would say that keys open doors yet I have always found that the door I walked through to change a part of my life was already unlocked leaving any sort of key unnecessary.
 
All I had to do was gather the courage, turn the handle and walk through.
 
I sit here in Nanjing City and tomorrow I'll wake and walk through another door and begin a new phase in what is a most wonderful life. There will be a new cuisine offered on the daily menu of life, new 'local peoples' culture, new beauties, new students and most importantly new bike riding adventures. The last week has been full on but in a good way. Turning up to class to find many students in tears begging me to stay wasn't a happy feeling at the time for any of us but it was one of self pride that so many honestly didn't want me to leave. 
 
I actually had two classes that refused to do anything at all unless I stayed.
 
They just sat there in silence with their heads down for five minutes, but things changed when I pulled the game 'Barrel of Monkeys' out of my hat. At first a student at the front said 'Monkeys', others heard and looked up and said 'Monkeys' then the rest of the class popped their heads up and everyone screamed MONKEYS, MONKEYS, ME TEACHER, ME TEACHER! I can not tell you how much all my students from Grade 1 through to Grade 7 love Barrel of Monkeys. 
 
In the classroom there is simply endless ways to use them. I do believe that I have the greatest job on earth! So more about the past weeks happenings.
 
For the past week each evening I've headed into town for a goodbye dinner with different sets of friends, there's been cleaning and then having to re-clean the following afternoon due to storms and me stupidly leaving all of my windows open, sorting through everything I have, throwing half of it into a pile to then have to find new owners for it and then re-packing to then pull it all out and re-sort and throwing more into another pile to then have to find more new owners. 
 
Everything now have a new home. So, what is my life's worth? 
 
If you look at the photo of my packs, the top part of my 45 litre pack houses all of my clothes besides the shorts and top I'm wearing. But, that top part also includes my 15 inch laptop and two books. The bottom part is filled with another book, cords and cables, bathroom stuff, a set of small speakers and other odds and ends. The small pack is my travel Day Pack when I am travelling but when I change schools it houses my small travel computer, my lonely planet, the computer cord, my camera, two pair of underwear, two pair of socks and a few other minor things. Yes it all does fit into that little pack.  

I do it this way just in case the other is stolen.  

 
It's the one that I put behind my head on the overnight train etc and it never leaves my hands or sight. I do though have one other piece of luggage, it is a wheelie case around the same size of the big back pack that houses all of my teaching 'things', the entire nine years worth so it gets sent by Electronic Mail to my new school. If I decided to leave China tomorrow I'd EMS it to Buckland's and then my life would simply be about my 45 litre back pack. 
 
Because yes, that is the be all and end all of what I own in life. You could pretty much say that I am not a material boy. And when it comes to life, I am totally Key Less! 
 
The last week has also been a lot about my beautiful girlfriend, it was ups and downs as to whether to leave her behind or bring her with me. At one stage I did actually decide to sell her to the highest bidder but each time I looked at her knew that it was the wrong thing to do to her. I mean like, what if some Sicko bought her and I then thought of the horrible things he might make her do. In the end I decided that it would be impossible to part with her so I took to her with a screw driver, put her in a box and freighted her to my new school.  
 
You can part a man with his beer and his wife but never his Heavy Metal nor his bike! 
I'm not sure if I told you, I finished teaching on Thursday, 19^th June 2014. I don't go back to work (I call it extreme fun) until Monday, 1^st September 2014 The 2014 summer 'Beers N Noodles' adventure has begun! Where it will take me, I actually have no idea. 
 
The Photos In This Entry Most of the photos in this entry are from my BIG bike ride, which is all of my rides connected and most were all taken over the past several weeks riding adventures. The food shots are from one of my favourite eateries in Dexing. It's a rice eatery joint called Fish La La and the dishes are amazingly delicious. 

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane  

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The soundtrack to this entry was by Placebo The album was ‘Meds’  

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