reframing some ideas

Recently I have been trying to change two of my negative ideas.

"Long haul flights are a chance for some quiet me-time." I have decided it would be better for everyone if I no longer hated long journeys. So instead I will enjoy them as a chance to sit quietly, create my own quiet, read, and rest. My weekly life is very energy draining so perhaps I can use a long flight as a chance for napping and calm. Also, I usually feel quite introspective on planes, perhaps because ideas of home and belonging have always been somewhat hard to pin down. So I can capitalize on this by using my plane time as planning and goal setting time.

"Saying no to something I shouldn't do is also saying yes to something I should do." I have realized that  deciding to say no to bad food can be looked at in a more positive vein. It is saying yes to good health. (A recent post on Mark's Daily Apple inspired this thought.) Saying no to wasting time means saying yes to feeling great when I get things done. Saying no to being annoyed with someone is like saying yes to a better relationship and a more patient me.

Reframing my ideas is really just a fancy way of saying I am trying to look at things from a more positive angle.

poor, neglected blog

Well, I have been food blogging regularly and now I have a work blog too. This personal weblog has been neglected. Sorry, friends. I post lots of picture on Facebook, but I love reading others' blogs. So I guess I shouldn't shut down this space just yet.

This picture was taken in the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia two weekends ago. It's a carved wooden mirror from 19th century Iran.

my summer holiday in numbers

34: days away from home



5: cities and towns visited:
Kelowna (BC, Canada)
London (UK)
Halifax (NS, Canada)
Miramichi (NB. Canada)
Ann Arbor (MI, USA)
Shanghai (China)

14: take offs and landings


14 hours 52 minutes: longest flight, from Chicago to Hong Kong
1 hour 3 minutes: shortest flight, from Detroit to Ann Arbor

17: sleeping tablets used in the avoidance of jet lag
12: times I went out jogging in the avoidance of jet lag
6: jogging partners: Pari, Judith, Claude, Nyarku, Andrew, and Katie

4: farmers' markets visited



21 kg: luggage with which I left
37 kg: luggage with which I returned
900: the number of snack-sized zip lock bags I brought back to HK to use in my classroom
1.2 kg: mass of 900 snack-sized zip lock bags

1: wedding attended, for Sarah and Eric


1: bridal shower attended, for Dawn
2: baby showers attended, both for Helen


3: pregnant bumps I stroked, and 1 smaller one that I admired: Sonya, Helen, Sara (below), and Carolyn


1: happy-you-finished-your-PhD party attended, for Micah


1: baby baptism attended: Julia Iris



5: novels read: Room by Emma Donoghue, Who Do You Think You Are? by Alice Munro, Safely Home by Randy Alcorn, Still Alice by Lisa Genova, Little Bee by Chris Cleave
0: airline movies watched

1166: photographs taken

Sydney

I have just come back from a week in Australia. What a nice surprise--I asked my school if I could get some International Baccalaureate training and they booked me on a three-day course in Sydney. I stayed on a few days more so I could visit Micah & Anna and Chris & Tam. I didn't do too much sight-seeing this time, instead I visited, ate food, did some window shopping, played games, drank wine, went to church, and read books. What a nice holiday!


Micah and I spent a day in Newtown, a shabby and hip suburb of Sydney. There is a shop there that sells only buttons (above). We browsed at the used book stores and the antique stores. I bought a few pieces of old cutlery, since food styling seems to be one of my main hobbies at the moment. Micah bought a book and we ate some excellent Mexcian fast food. But it was really just the time chatting and wandering that made this a memorable day out.

I went with Anna to her work and saw the offices that she is soon to leave for good as she takes a break. We ate food, which is actually my main hobby, I admit. I got a tour of the complex in which she works. Since I have never worked in an office I was quite interesting in how noisy it was (not that much) and how friendly her co-workers were. I think it would be strange to see everyone else making phone calls or working on their computers while you were doing your work.


I had dinner at Chris and Tam's place and saw Ethan--now a big boy who can almost walk and has learned a few words. He also knows baby sign language. Wow--what an idea! I had never heard of it but I guess it's quite well known in Australia. Ethan can communicate that he is thirsty, hungry, or done eating using signs Chris and Tam have taught him. Tam says it keeps him calm and less frustrated and that it also helps toddlers learn to speak more confidently in time. What a great idea.


After meeting Tam for coffee at her work, I wandered around downtown Sydney and saw the Queen Victoria Building, with its beautiful floors and windows.


The QVB is a very upmarket mall; the main attraction for me was the building itself. I love the tiling on the floors (and took more pictures so I might be able to turn them into a lesson activity one day).


The rest of my time was taken up with relaxing with Micah & Anna and meeting Norman & Natalie, their flatmates. Anna has started a blog, Anna's Ambles, and we talked blogging a bit. Please have a look at it: each post shows a beautiful image from Anna's travels and she shares the story behind each memory.

visit to Guildford with Geta

Geta and I went over to Guildford for the afternoon yesterday. I have never been there despite how close it is to London, but I have heard frequently how lovely the historic buildings are. Below is a building called Abbot's Hospital, which is assisted housing for the elderly and infirm that was founded (and has been in operation) since 1619.


The highlight for both of us was Guildford Castle, founded soon after 1066 and used for royal accommodation for hundreds of years thereafter. We went inside and looked through the spacious (and draughty) rooms. We climbed to the roof and saw some amazing views of the town.


Geta was so thrilled to be wandering around the Castle. And taking pictures!


Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) lived (some of the time) in Guildford. This little statue of Alice through the looking glass is tucked away in a nice little park near the Castle grounds.

Munich

Pari and I have just returned from a wonderful long weekend away in Munich. It's a very pretty, clean city. The people there were friendly and I got to practice my German quite a lot. I could have stayed in Munich.


One evening we happened upon this quartet busking along the side of the main square. Busking! With a baby grand piano!


One highlight for me was visiting the Residenz Museum, the palace where Bavarian kings lived. There are so many rooms to see that half are open in the morning and a different group are open in the afternoon. The audio guide was excellent and the historical rooms were fascinating.




Another highlight was all the interesting food I tried. Of course, there was some Bavarian food, for example on Monday when we went to the Englischer Garten and had lunch in the beer garden. I quite enjoyed my bratwurst and sauerkraut! I even managed to drink (and perhaps enjoy) a half litre of Hell Bier.


Pari enjoyed the pretzel that is bigger than your head.


But apart from the Bavarian food, we ate lots of other cuisines as well. I had a meal in a Japanese noodle bar with Sutapa (Pari's friend). Then we all went out for a tasty Tibetan meal. The next night Bipro (Sutapa's husband) cooked us a Bengali meal (which I ate with my hands, in the traditional style), and then we ate Ethiopian food another night (which I also managed to eat with my hands). Ethiopian honey wine was delicious (although very sweet, and I needed help finishing it).

Our visit to Schloss Neuschwanstein was excellent as well. It's a couple of hours outside Munich. First we travelled by coach to the base of the mountain and went for a cycle tour to Swan Lake (Schwan See).



Then we hiked up to the castle itself and took a tour inside.


Oh, how I enjoyed Munich! I feel newly inspired to continue working on my German. I brought home some children's books for language practice and Ant and I read a few pages last night--slow going but very rewarding! Our German lessons start up again in mid September.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

Here are Pari and I during our day trip to Schloss Neuschwanstein yesterday. It was beautiful. (More pictures and details later!)

trip to Hong Kong

We had a short stopover in Hong Kong on our way back from Australia. What a good idea! It turns out that our friend Pari has an aunt and uncle there, so we were really blessed to be able to stay with them. We loved talking and eating with them, so we actually ended up doing less sightseeing than planned and spent our evenings with them.

The weather was hot and humid, quite a change from Australia's moderate winter weather. It was between 30 and 32 degrees while we were there and mostly raining, or on the verge of raining. It was hot, steamy weather. How did Ant survive? you ask. All the buses, taxis, and buildings are air conditioned. So we walked a bit, then stepped inside for a bit, all the time we were there. Our stopover was two days and three nights in total.

One of our main plans in Hong Kong was to have suits tailored for us. We got these from Sam's Tailors, quite a famous shop in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong. Ant got a navy pinstripe suit with two pairs of trousers and I got a charcoal suit with a skirt and trousers. This was Ant's first fitting (only six hours after we ordered the suits and were measured). They were complete the next day by the close of business!


Sam's keep your measurements on file for ten years and so if we ever want another suit in the same style (perhaps in a different fabric) was can just contact them and they will make it up and send it to us! I reckon we will get Ant another at some point because his suit just fit so well. He could really use a new suit each year so that he starts to build up a collection for work. But I doubt I will ever need more than one bespoke tailored suit since my work is a little more relaxed. I often wear a blazer with any dress trousers or skirt. But this will be my best suit and I will wear it for interviews and parents' evenings. The suits have our names and reference numbers stitched into the inside of the jackets. Wow, that made me feel so special! Ant says he likes the way I look like I am breezing out of Sam's like a natural!


We had a great journey on a traditional Chinese junk boat.


The views of the Hong Kong skylines were wonderful. The city is bustling, but from the water everything seemed much more calm.


Ant and I discovered over the course of this holiday that our favourite parts were all the things we did that involved being on the water. We loved travelling by ferry in Sydney, and especially kayaking in the Sydney harbour. Last summer we kayaked in Halifax as well. We have decided to keep doing water things, and to try to sea kayak any time it is an option.


On one of our two days we walked around the flower market and the bird market. I loved the flower market. There are several streets of flower and plant shops. I wanted to buy so many things! (But of course, flying with plants is not really an option.) There was one flower and plant store that had four levels!


Down the road is the bird market. Since space is at a premium in Hong Kong and almost everyone lives in a small apartment, birds are a common pet. They are more valuable when they have a delicate voice. The rows of bird salesmen were lined up over several streets. (Pari's uncle said that since bird flu the bird market has become much smaller.) The bird market was very noisy.


The birds on sale were mostly very small and pretty. There were lots of vibrant colours. The stalls also sold dry bird food and live crickets to be fed to the birds.


This mosaic was on a wall between the bird and flower markets.


By this time Ant and I were tired and hungry, so we came upon a conveniently placed cake shop. Ant opted for the mini chocolate mousse, no surprise there.


I chose the mango coconut mousse, also not unusual since I always choose fruit over chocolate.


This was my favourite plant. It reminded me of one I saw at Kew Gardens with Mum and Dad a couple of years ago. The leaves are green on the upper side and purple on the underside. The little plant cost about £1!


There was lots more to Hong Kong we would have liked to see. But we tired easily due to the weather and our time there was really short. It was such a natural stopover between here and Australia and we would definitely go there again. A lot of people spoke English due to the ties with the UK (and the vast number of tourists and business people), so my main fear of being stuck and incomprehensible was avoided.

Blue Mountains

Here are a few photographs from our weekend away (a couple of weeks ago) with Chris and Tamra. We drove out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains and stayed overnight in a cottage in a small village called Leura.


The scenery was beautiful as you can see. It was quite a bit colder there than in Sydney, especially when we went down to the valley floor, where there is a rainforest ecosystem.

We visited a beautiful historic house in Leura called the Everglades. The gardens there were stunning, from formal lawns and lines of trees to a waterfall and swimming hole, and also beautiful views off into the Blue Mountains.


The Everglades house is a beautiful art deco building with some rooms open for tea and others furnished in an original style.


We spent quite a lot of time just relaxing and walking around the village. We had cream tea at a little shop that also houses the largest private collection of teapots in the world. This is just one of the six or seven rooms lined with teapots.


Chris and Tam's son Ethan is now three months old and absolutely adorable. Ant and I were very impressed with his expressive face. Chris and Tam are such relaxed and comfortable parents; we think this has rubbed off on Ethan because he is a very relaxed and predictable baby.