#blogflash2013

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day 17 Water

I don't drink enough water.  Quite frankly I think it’s boring, tasteless and plain.  Teaching young ones means that I am talking all day: explaining things, reading things out loud, repeating things …. repeating things.  Talking. Talking. Talking.  I should be drinking much more water than the ‘at least a litre a day’ we are advised.  I’ve tried enticing myself with new and cool water bottles, bribing myself (probably too old for this!), and buying lemons and limes to sweeten the taste.   

Any suggestions?

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day 16 Community

It wasn't until I lived overseas that I really valued the idea of a community and being part of one. To me, a community can be a group of people with something in common – something physical, or a belief or idea.  Just people getting together for a common purpose.  Whether they are formal or informal, for a serious cause or for laughs, for sharing information or just lending your ear - they have us feeling that we are one part of something bigger.

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day 15 Friendship

Yesterday I told you about my favourite pale blue and white clouds bedcover.  I loved it. Anytime I was feeling a little homesick, a little displaced, a little lost, my favourite bedcover would get pulled out and put on the bed.  A security blanket, pun intended.

On one trip home to Australia, I was telling my sister that I thought the bedcover was coming to the end of its life, and that I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, as I needed it.  Needed it!

On the final day of my stay she presented me with a pen – pale blue with white clouds.  She said I could let the bedcover go to bedcover heaven, as I now had the pen to hold on to.

That’s friendship. How lucky am I that she is my sister too.  xx

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day14 Home

Home. Where is home for an expat?

We move about every 2-3 years, each country is chosen for us – our home is decided by an employment position.  I quite like the surprise, the challenge, the adventure, the daunting task of finding doctors, hairdressers and some new friends. However, it does pose a difficult question:  Where do you call home if you hardly have time to set one up?  For me, home is where my stuff is, home is where my partner is, home is where I cook most nights and use my familiar kitchen utensils. 

Home used to be wherever my favourite pale blue and white clouds bedcover was, until it started to tear and had to be thrown away, I had to get attached to something else …. but that's all part of finding how to make my place, my home. 

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day 13 Darkness

We were in Jordan last summer and spent a night sleeping in tents in the middle of Wadi Rum.  After a day riding around in the most run down Nissan Patrol I have ever seen, it was lovely to be relaxing around a camp fire with super sweet black tea and newly formed friendships.  At 9pm they turn off the electricity, leaving us to enjoy the darkness of the desert. I looked into the sky and discovered it full of stars!  Not one or two, but thousands of tiny twinkling and flickering specks and I realised that I couldn't remember the last time I had seen such a clear and peaceful star filled sky. Unexpected surprises are the nicest.

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day 12 Music

Well, this is going to be embarrassing.  Music.    

My taste is generally pretty bad, and pretty old school. I get attached to songs and I can’t let them go.  My iPod is a messy and mangled mix of songs from my favourite movies (think Grease and The Sound of Music!) and 90’s and 00’s ‘classics’. I'm the girl that was very excited when Cotton Eye Joe was on the radio during my drive home last week. 

I like songs that make me dance, I like songs that make me sing a long. Not a bad thing, right? 

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash2013 Day11 Running

We ran a lot in Australia too, however when we relocated overseas 5 years ago we realised running was a sport that we could do anywhere, with very little equipment, with as much or little time as you have. 

We’ve run with scary stray dogs in Mumbai, hurdled fishing rods and their owners in Istanbul and are very much enjoying the serenity of a breezy evening along the Corniche here in Doha.

You'll find us running a few times a week, as long (or short!) as we feel like.  We participate in races as much as we can and will even travel for them – what a good excuse for a weekend away!

[whereiskate]

#BlogFlash Day 10 Time

A timely topic, this one.  Considering this post is two days late!  Thursdays are chaos for me.  Technically a shorter work day for me, but after a busy week I’m always exhausted and usually cannot string a sentence together - in spoken or written form.

I manage to fit a lot into my days and I consider myself pretty efficient and organised, but there is usually something that drops off the end. 

Would I like to be less busy, sure?  However, I know that the more I have to do, the more I can manage to squeeze in.  My husband’s Mum says “If you want something done, ask a busy person”.