The life of a teacher....do they even have a life?

I have spent the last two weeks on and off setting exams. The stress levels in our house are...to say the least... mild to hot with occasional outbursts. Child A does not want to study and cannot see why he has to even make an effort. Child B has a memory processing issue and has to spend extra time working just so that she can get all the information into her head. I am busy setting exams and marking assignments and hubby who is also a teacher is setting papers.

Feel sorry for children of teachers...their life is not happy around exam time. This picture kinda sums it up nicely.....

Picture credit: https://nubianq.com/2013/04/16/cry-my-beloved-onion/

So....changed the name of my blog. I am no longer in limbo but still struggling to find a balance in my life.
Been in SA for over four years and I am now officially a faceless worker contributing to the national economy. What would I rather do, you ask yourself? Well I could think of a few exciting things.....

• travel all over the world sightseeing and visiting friends
• do something completely new and crazy - if I knew what it was, I would have done it already:-)
• Go teach English in Asia or the Middle East

The truth is, I was never happy to stay in one place for any length of time. I constantly moan about how I hate change but it has taken me most of my life to realise that the change I so resist is the very thing that keeps me motivated and on track.

Being here for four years has made me realise that I need a change.....

Welcome to my new form of therapy, writing about my feelings and 'stuff' online and not giving a crap who sees it or reads it.

Not sure if that is liberating or terrifying..........

Here goes....this is me jumping out of my safe life and into ?

New Year....yet another new start

Well I was waiting for New Year.  Because somehow it makes it easier to start a diet in the New Year, or at the beginning of a week or month.  So 4 days down of pure protein. Not sure what to do next.  Weight Watchers or stick to Dukan.  Best success I had was Dukan but have struggled the whole year to keep on it.
Do I try again???  Oh help! This year - 2013 is the year I am going to lose 15 kg.  There are no ifs and buts....I simply am going to do it.  It is also the year where exercise will be a large part of my life again.

Watch this space people for I plan to kick some butt!!!!!

Green Protein Shake - ugh!

Woo too call the Guinness Book of Records - I finally started Dukan again yesterday.  Really a spectacular time of year to be going on a diet!!!!NOT
It is still cold and the type of weather where I feel like buying a Milky Bar and cuddling up with my kindle for the afternoon.
But I was inspired to get moving and get started with Dukan again.  As I always say, I felt amazing when I was on Dukan.  No tummy gurgles and gases and embarrassing noises in quiet moments......Plus the weight loss which was why I went on it in the first place.

So I had a good start yesterday and then I decided to buy a protein shake so that if I fancied something different I could have one.  It came in sachets and I decided to buy 2 just to try them.  My first shock was that the stuff was dark grey - when I aded it to my water/milk mixture then the whole drink turned green. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter book about to drink some disgusting concoction from a potion class.  However I poured the drink into a travel cup so that I did not have to see it while I was drinking and managed to get 90% of it down.  I will not buy it again as I am pretty sure you are supposed to enjoy what you eat and drink.  It was like drinking a mixture with a powder that did not dissolve so it was like drinking sand - YUCK and double YUCK.

I must say I was so disappointed as I had really hoped that I would find a nice alternative for a meal every now and then.  The other shakes in the shop came in HUGE tubs so I am so glad I did not buy one of them in case they taste woful too.  I will have to keep searching.  I need to search the Health shops here and see what I can find.  Anyone who reads this blog live in SA and know about protein shakes????
Will update my weight on Friday as I am doing 4 Attack days according to what Dr Dukan advised.

This blog will include my Dukan updates but also be my personal diary so it will not be exclusively Dukan.

Hope everyone out there had a good day.
Jeanette xx

Groany MOAN

Seriously - the weather has been awful!  It is cold and we have gone from 1 cold front into another.  How people live without the sun I do not know......
So of course all the cold weather means lots of eating.  Today was a carb loaded lasagna...yummy but not helpful.
We heard from the shippers today - our stuff will be delivers tomorrow afternoon YIPPEEEEE.  And we heard from the school for the kids - tomorrow they have to go in and see the teachers to check  their levels.  Both the shippers and the school meeting - are at the same time - CLASSIC!!!

But we are happy that they called - 2 prayers answered!

Travels, arrivals and settling in

Geocaching adventurers...

After quite a few weeks of traveling around, staying in other people's houses, driving other people's cars, eating other people's food, having Abby and Josh involved in a wedding and going on a geocaching experience that was exhaustingly fun..........we finally bade farewell to the mountains of Lebanon.
Farewell to the heat, lack of electricity, crazy traffic,  friends and climbed on a plane to have an adventure in Turkey.

Lunch in Jbeil with some good friends

Bye bye Beirut......hello Istanbul.  Seriously one of the most amazing times in my life.  My husband spent many hours planning this holiday and we had a the greatest time.  We stayed in a modest hotel near the Sultanahmet and we were within 5 minutes of most of the touristic sites.

One negative thing about our hotel - well there were a few but the absolute worst was the COFFEE - it was disgusting.  One of the best things about our hotel was the air conditioning in our room.  We would have died without it....
We walked around late at night - in fact the best time to be out and about was at night.  Cooler!
The place was seething with people....absolutely jam-packed streets.  It was the height of Ramadan so the restaurants offered iftaar everywhere and you just had to pick the deal you wanted.

Standing outside Haggia Sophia

Thankfully none of us got tummy bugs - our tummies must be used to Beirut food.  Some of the places we visited included:  Blue Mosque, St Stephens Basilica, Grand Bazaar, Turkuazoo, Cruise down Bosphorous etc etc.

It was one of the most exciting places we have visited and i will not forget this time in Istanbul for a while I can tell you.  Oh I also found Starbucks so managed to find some decent coffee eventually.

Finally it was time to say goodbye to the bustling city of Istanbul with it's beautiful markets and mosques.  We arrived in FREEZING cold Cape Town a week ago and have been rushing around ever since.  Hopefully I will post more often although we have not moved into our house yet.  Life is going to be very different here.......full of challenges but maybe it is time to move out of our comfort zone?

Beirut Blues

When we first left Beirut 7 years ago to go down south I was sure I would hate it.  The opposite was true - I loved Tyre the moment I got there.  The people were friendly, the prices were cheaper, you could walk everywhere instead of driving, it was safe....etc etc
I was not sure how I would handle leaving yesterday.  We have been having goodbyes for weeks now - going out with people, having visitors and just living in an unsettled way.
Yesterday when I got in the car to leave I felt surprisingly numb - I am waiting for it to hit me.  After a long drive to Beirut, the kids and I arrived at the house  where we will be staying for the next 2 weeks and I felt so lonely.  Dave was away for the afternoon and only arrived back late.

It reminded me of the first time Dave and I arrived in Lebanon, also staying in Mansourieh.  After we moved our stuff into the house we looked at each other and just didn't know what to do.  Yesterday I felt exactly the same.
It was also Josh's birthday and I was trying to think of how to make it special for him. So we dragged ourselves out of the house, walked down the hill, and up the next until we got to........you guessed it MacDonalds.  Yep, I know - VERY HEALTHY.
The kids were feeling blue like me so desperate times called for desperate measures!
We had a great time and when we walked home again, the mood was much lighter.

It is going to be a challenge to make this place home for 2 weeks.  I will go grocery shopping this afternoon so we can eat some healthy food tonight.

How nice to have a blog where you can rant about whatever you want!!!