We are home! Or at least stateside again. This flight was slightly shorter than the flight going to Hong Kong, but 15 hours is still a tremendously long time to be on a plane. Alicia and I are spending the night at the Torsilieri's tonight and then getting up early in the a.m. to head back to the Carolinas. Derek is also spending the night here. Poor Sara and Elizabeth are still travelling- they had connecting flights that will get them back into the South late tonight. Jetlag is catching up to me already.
I can't tell you how proud I am of our team. They made USPC proud. We had an amazing trip and I've made many new friends. Alicia and I are already plotting on how we can get appointed for next year's IPE that will be in New Zealand!
Thanks for your support and well wishes, they were greatly appreciated!
Janna
We are the United States Pony Clubs’ team representing the U.S. in the Inter-Pacific exchange this summer in Hong Kong and China. The team is as follows: August Torsilieri (H-A), New Jersey Region; Sara DePape (B), Carolina Region; Derek Alvey (B), Capital Region; Elizabeth Fite (H-A), South Region; Coach: Janna Bankston Ritacco; Chaperone: Alicia Henderson. Thank you for your support!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Nations Cup Results
Three cheers for USPC. We placed 3rd. Our riders were brilliant, a credit to USPC for their horsemanship and sportsmanship. Our coach Janna Ritacco was exceptional in terms of sorting out the best possible horse rider combinations and advising our riders on how to give their horse the best ride possible. I am awed by our members and and their coach. They validate all of our USPC goals and beliefs. I am grateful and proud to be part of this team.
Team members:
Gus Torsilieri - NJ
Elizabeth Fite - GA
Sara De Pape - SC
Derek Alvey - MD
Coach:
Janna Ritacco
The final results were:
Australia
Canada
USA
New Zealand
Hong Kong
Camelot Riding Resort has been an amazing and generous host manager Phillip Sun anticipated all needs and was unfailingly cheerful and supportive. Massive kudos to Phillip and his staff.
The Hong Kong Pony Club can't be lauded enough as hosts and organizer of this Inter-Pacific Exchange. I just don't have the words to clearly describe the experience they created for us.
The memories and new friendships from this trip are priceless.
Alicia
Monday, August 2, 2010
Results from Day 1 of the Nation's Cup
Australia in 1st with 40, Canada in 2nd with 44, USA in third with 49, Hong Kong in 4th with 78, and New Zealand in 5th with 111. Our guys rode great- wish them luck for tomorrow!
Janna
Edited to add: (Wrote this before Day 1 of Nation's Cup and wasn't able to get it on the blog in time!)
Janna here, reporting live from China!
Tonight is our first stage of Nations Cup show jumping. We will jump under the lights in the huge ring at Camelot. We had a practice last night under the lights so that the horses could get accustomed. (These horses are almost exclusively ridden in the indoor arena during the day.)
We have a mixed bag of horses and tonight should prove interesting. One of our original horses is lame so we were given a back-up horse last night. He is nice but has a naughty habit of jumping exuberantly and then landing and planting his feet like a bronc- Gus was on him first and it was amusing to see him nearly go over the horse’s head. Sara got on next and he tried it with her too. Sara was able to figure him out though and he looks like he’ll be a reliable ride now. Derek’s horse is a steady guy but in the stable he looks rabid. He bites incessantly and tries to attack anything that walks by. He likes to leave rails up though so we can deal with his crabbiness. Elizabeth’s horse is the nicest one of the bunch. He is a warmbloody looking horse that is uphill and has a to-die-for canter. He should give us some nice scores tonight. Now onto Gus’ horse… He is… well, he is a horse. He is a bay horse. He is a bay horse that could have a career as a lumberjack because he likes to annihilate wooden rails. At high speeds. But it is not only rails that he likes to annihilate, he also doesn’t mind plowing through metal standards from time to time just to keep things interesting. Fingers crossed that tonight goes well!
The last few days we have been just hanging out around Camelot, there have not been a lot of formally organized activities. The team has gotten creative on their quest for entertainment. We have had team Family Guy viewing nights in the movie theater (the complete six season DVD box set of Family Guy was one of Sara’s buys in Shenzhen- good choice Sara!). Derek and Gus have been flying Gus’ remote control helicopter around Camelot (on a completely unrelated note, a few nights ago some team coaches and managers reported UFO sightings…). One night Derek sang karaoke with two Chinese couples. Everyone enjoyed Chinese cooking classes too and were impressed by the very sharp knives and inferno-like flames used to prepare the food.
We are all excited about our Nation’s Cup rounds tonight… wish us luck!
Janna
Janna
Edited to add: (Wrote this before Day 1 of Nation's Cup and wasn't able to get it on the blog in time!)
Janna here, reporting live from China!
Tonight is our first stage of Nations Cup show jumping. We will jump under the lights in the huge ring at Camelot. We had a practice last night under the lights so that the horses could get accustomed. (These horses are almost exclusively ridden in the indoor arena during the day.)
We have a mixed bag of horses and tonight should prove interesting. One of our original horses is lame so we were given a back-up horse last night. He is nice but has a naughty habit of jumping exuberantly and then landing and planting his feet like a bronc- Gus was on him first and it was amusing to see him nearly go over the horse’s head. Sara got on next and he tried it with her too. Sara was able to figure him out though and he looks like he’ll be a reliable ride now. Derek’s horse is a steady guy but in the stable he looks rabid. He bites incessantly and tries to attack anything that walks by. He likes to leave rails up though so we can deal with his crabbiness. Elizabeth’s horse is the nicest one of the bunch. He is a warmbloody looking horse that is uphill and has a to-die-for canter. He should give us some nice scores tonight. Now onto Gus’ horse… He is… well, he is a horse. He is a bay horse. He is a bay horse that could have a career as a lumberjack because he likes to annihilate wooden rails. At high speeds. But it is not only rails that he likes to annihilate, he also doesn’t mind plowing through metal standards from time to time just to keep things interesting. Fingers crossed that tonight goes well!
The last few days we have been just hanging out around Camelot, there have not been a lot of formally organized activities. The team has gotten creative on their quest for entertainment. We have had team Family Guy viewing nights in the movie theater (the complete six season DVD box set of Family Guy was one of Sara’s buys in Shenzhen- good choice Sara!). Derek and Gus have been flying Gus’ remote control helicopter around Camelot (on a completely unrelated note, a few nights ago some team coaches and managers reported UFO sightings…). One night Derek sang karaoke with two Chinese couples. Everyone enjoyed Chinese cooking classes too and were impressed by the very sharp knives and inferno-like flames used to prepare the food.
We are all excited about our Nation’s Cup rounds tonight… wish us luck!
Janna
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Some Busy Days Since The Last Post
We had two shopping days. We rode the bus into Shenzen where there are probably several thousand shops under one roof selling everything made on the planet. Completely overwhelming with the sights, sounds and choices. The price is NOT the price. Bargaining is expected. Our exchange organizer, Kate Budge, gave us a brief tutorial on the basics and the fine points of bargaining and how to play the "game". It is definitely a competitive sport. Gus really got into the spirit and into the role. He acted as buyer's agent for the team. Great theatre!!! We came with one carry-on and 1 checked bag. We may need an ocean going cargo vessel for the return....
The first shopping day included a foray into a Chinese restaurant for Janna and I. Holy moly! Again the sights, sounds and choices were all new and amazing. We knew two words of Chinese. (Thank you). Not extremely useful when viewing a menu of Chinese characters. So once again we fell back on acting and miming skills previously untried. It was hilarious and all the patrons of the restaurant were entertained. We thought we ordered some kind of fish and eggplant. And lo and behold that is what we got. We again entertained the other patrons with our choice of utensils and crockery. We put our food on the small plate provided, did not use the bowl (as we had not ordered soup). During the Chinese cooking lesson we had the next day, I learned that the plate was for bones and trash and the bowl was meant for the food we intended to eat. In China it is expected that you will lift the bowl close to your mouth when eating. Something my mother and grandmother would have smacked me for doing when I was growing up. I am proud to report that we used our chopsticks. Janna's side of the table was much cleaner than mine. Again local custom saved me, I learned that a messy area around your plate is a complement to the cook!
The second shopping day was fun filled and action packed. A tale best told by one of the others. Check back for that adventure.
Now about the bus trip...
As Janna said, driving is a full contact sport. Bicycles do not hesitate to take on a 30 passenger bus. The number of lanes drawn on the pavement is merely a suggestion. Miss your turn at the intersection of two roads of 3-4 lanes each? No problem! Back up and turn right across those lanes, it's all good! Traffic travels soooo close together that you could reach out an touch the vehicle next to you. The really amazing thing? In 10 days and lots of hours traveling to see incredible things, we have seen only 1 fender bender and it was so minor I wondered why they stopped. We did see two bus drivers dismount and duke it out at one point.
The Kangaroo Cup was hilarious and everyone had a superior time. There were 4 teams of six with a team member from each country and one of the resort's Chinese instructors. The Cup included mounted games, a bicycle race, a game of hoops, a climbing wall, and a swim meet of sorts. The mounted games included a baton race, egg and spoon, a leading relay and an apple bobbing. I have blackmail quality video of Gus being bucked off 3 times in 50 meters by a sassy 11 hand pony. I have no idea about the results of this competition because I was laughing too hard.
I love the little Mongolian ponies they have here. Phillip, the manager of Camelot Riding Club breeds them for the school. They are the size of Shetlands but with a ground covering stride. However, a pony is a pony is a pony. Refer to paragraph above about the fate of Gus in the first race.
We visited the fortifications built during the Opium Wars along the Pearl River. Then traveled across an impressive suspension bridge to Chimealong Circus. The circus is performed in a huge amusement park. The sets were elaborate and beautiful (similar to a Cirque de Soleil performance). The aerial performances were Highly entertaining (get it? highly?) and the diving act was brilliant.
Yesterday was a laze around the pool day. The pool at this resort/riding club is absolutely beautiful. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. We drew horses for the Nation's Cup and got acquainted with them in the first of two training sessions last night. The Nation's Cup will consist of 4 jumping rounds. Two will be ridden on Monday and the final two on Tuesday. We have another training session this evening (under the lights). We are seriously excited about the jumping Monday night in the arena by the lake under the lights. A very dramatic setting. We should get some great pictures.
We have learned a lot about horse keeping in a challenging environment. The heat and humidity are unlike anything we experience even in our gulf coast. We will all come home and be newly appreciative of our home bases.
Alicia
The first shopping day included a foray into a Chinese restaurant for Janna and I. Holy moly! Again the sights, sounds and choices were all new and amazing. We knew two words of Chinese. (Thank you). Not extremely useful when viewing a menu of Chinese characters. So once again we fell back on acting and miming skills previously untried. It was hilarious and all the patrons of the restaurant were entertained. We thought we ordered some kind of fish and eggplant. And lo and behold that is what we got. We again entertained the other patrons with our choice of utensils and crockery. We put our food on the small plate provided, did not use the bowl (as we had not ordered soup). During the Chinese cooking lesson we had the next day, I learned that the plate was for bones and trash and the bowl was meant for the food we intended to eat. In China it is expected that you will lift the bowl close to your mouth when eating. Something my mother and grandmother would have smacked me for doing when I was growing up. I am proud to report that we used our chopsticks. Janna's side of the table was much cleaner than mine. Again local custom saved me, I learned that a messy area around your plate is a complement to the cook!
The second shopping day was fun filled and action packed. A tale best told by one of the others. Check back for that adventure.
Now about the bus trip...
As Janna said, driving is a full contact sport. Bicycles do not hesitate to take on a 30 passenger bus. The number of lanes drawn on the pavement is merely a suggestion. Miss your turn at the intersection of two roads of 3-4 lanes each? No problem! Back up and turn right across those lanes, it's all good! Traffic travels soooo close together that you could reach out an touch the vehicle next to you. The really amazing thing? In 10 days and lots of hours traveling to see incredible things, we have seen only 1 fender bender and it was so minor I wondered why they stopped. We did see two bus drivers dismount and duke it out at one point.
The Kangaroo Cup was hilarious and everyone had a superior time. There were 4 teams of six with a team member from each country and one of the resort's Chinese instructors. The Cup included mounted games, a bicycle race, a game of hoops, a climbing wall, and a swim meet of sorts. The mounted games included a baton race, egg and spoon, a leading relay and an apple bobbing. I have blackmail quality video of Gus being bucked off 3 times in 50 meters by a sassy 11 hand pony. I have no idea about the results of this competition because I was laughing too hard.
I love the little Mongolian ponies they have here. Phillip, the manager of Camelot Riding Club breeds them for the school. They are the size of Shetlands but with a ground covering stride. However, a pony is a pony is a pony. Refer to paragraph above about the fate of Gus in the first race.
We visited the fortifications built during the Opium Wars along the Pearl River. Then traveled across an impressive suspension bridge to Chimealong Circus. The circus is performed in a huge amusement park. The sets were elaborate and beautiful (similar to a Cirque de Soleil performance). The aerial performances were Highly entertaining (get it? highly?) and the diving act was brilliant.
Yesterday was a laze around the pool day. The pool at this resort/riding club is absolutely beautiful. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. We drew horses for the Nation's Cup and got acquainted with them in the first of two training sessions last night. The Nation's Cup will consist of 4 jumping rounds. Two will be ridden on Monday and the final two on Tuesday. We have another training session this evening (under the lights). We are seriously excited about the jumping Monday night in the arena by the lake under the lights. A very dramatic setting. We should get some great pictures.
We have learned a lot about horse keeping in a challenging environment. The heat and humidity are unlike anything we experience even in our gulf coast. We will all come home and be newly appreciative of our home bases.
Alicia
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