A different life


As I've said before, part of our trip was not just about travelling but changing our lives for the 
better, and I want to record and share some of that.  Over the last few months we've talked a lot about what aspects of our lives we liked and what we wanted to change or improve about ourselves.  It came down to just our family and friends, and our flat that we really liked.  And those are the things that we are really missing now and we wish we could pick up and move with us.


There were several areas that I wanted to examine and try to improve on in my life:


Work: 

I did really enjoy my first 2 years of teaching and I really landed on my feet, in most ways, starting out at OJS.  I met a lot of great people who were extremely supportive and will continue to be good friends and of course the kids were fantastic.  But and I knew after 2 years I wanted a change and that I wanted to go back to working in 'special education'.  This is where my heart is.  I am really interested and passionate about working with young people with Autism, in particular.  Now I am in Vancouver this is the area of work I am pursuing.  I have now added another page, about getting back in to this line of work, my experiences of working with young people with Autism and also anything I've read or watched about this area that I think might be interesting to people!

I also decided that when I go back to being a teacher I need to find a way to have a better work/life balance.  I'd lost who I was apart from being a teacher!

Fitness:


In the year or so before I left the UK, I finally discovered a sport that I enjoyed doing - Pole Dancing.  In fact I became a bit obsessed with it.  So I have added a page to track my progress, when I can finally afford to go classes again that is!  But so far I have added pictures of some pole that I did while travelling and also a video of a pro!  Watch this if you still have a 'sleazy, lap-dance club' image of pole dancing!

Diet and Cooking:


Now, I've always felt that I ate a reasonably healthy diet - 'everything in moderation' being my motto. But I was aware that we could eat more fruit and veg and that some foods didn't agree with me! I knew that my repertoire of recipes was very limited and based on convenience.  So my quest now is to experiment more with cooking, buy more organic food and increase my awareness and understanding of how different foods and minerals can effect our bodies.

I've created a page to add any info I find out about diet and any recipes I think other people might like!

Creativity:


Before I started on the long road (well it was longer for me than most!) to teaching Fine Art was my passion and it consumed all of my time as a teenager.  Unfortunately, this is an area of my life that has almost completely disappeared, especially since teaching.  So I have vowed to spend more time being creative, therefor one of the first things I have done is ordered some wool to make felt!  I plan to make the most of the time I have free while I'm waiting to start work!  I have also been working hard at doing some basic photo-editing of all our thousands of pictures I have taken over our travels and I'm trying to learn how to be more creative with Photoshop.

I've created a new page to show off some of my projects!

Artifacts.

So...we have been in Vancouver a month now and it continues to be really exciting and promising! I'm really chuffed with how well we've done in such little time and what we have done in the last 6 months with such little money. It's been a real adventure.

We are now settled in to our flat and are really enjoying living with Ami and Michael. It's really great to be living with such positive and open-minded people who are always looking at their own lives and striving to improve themselves and achieve their goals. I think it's going to be a really positive experience for us. Throughout our travels we have done a lot more reflecting about what it was we wanted to change about our lives and it's helpful to be around people who live very different but fulfilling lives that we can take inspiration from!

Having said that, sometimes it feels very lonely and frustrating to feel like we're starting again. And also because we're not properly earning again, money is tight. I'm actually really missing all my belongings and clothes, jewellery etc. All those things that make me feel like I'm home and like 'me'. I've been feeling guilty and ungrateful for feeling a bit down that I don't have all my belongings and such a limited and cheap (!) wardrobe. Martin and I had been talking about this being a chance to reinvent ourselves and that we could create whole new identities for ourselves. But the reality is we don't have the money to do that and actually I don't want to reinvent myself - I quite like who I am!

At home I often feel guilty (see a theme?!) for buying clothes, accessories or something for the house that isn't absolutely essential. I feel it's gluttonous and that I don't deserve to when other people don't have any disposable income and can barely feed themselves. I've been thinking about why I want particular clothes or jewellery or a new haircut and for me I think it is to individualise myself, show some of my personality. Although I suppose other people have different reasons - to display wealth, to fit in, to stand out, to attract the attention of the opposite sex etc, etc.

Last weekend, I went to the Museum of Anthropology here in Vancouver and I spent a good few hours admiring all the beautiful objects and artifacts from aboriginal cultures from all over the world. Many of these objects were colourfully and intricately decorated. Some of the objects were purely decorative and others had some function, lots of a spiritual or religious nature.



I was trying to decide why these objects seemed less frivilous and acceptable to me. Because they were displayed in a museum?...

I decided it was because all of these objects had been hand-made. Each one was individual. Time and love and been invested in these objects. They represented a moment in that person and family's history. There was something inherently spiritual about these objects regardless of their purpose. And there is something special about that. I know that the few belongings I have of my grandparents are very special to me and are treasured, because they are representations of their memory and how important they were to me. It is the same for these objects in the museum, a lot would have been past down through generations. They were a record of history, the story of a culture.

I don't think we have that any more in the developed world, or very rarely. How often do we buy something handmade or even make something ourselves. Most things that we buy and own are mass-produced. There is also this attitude that everything is disposable. We buy things so cheaply that we think we can wear a dress once and then throw it away. We are so distanced from the process involved in making these things and we can get things so easily. Most things we buy are easily replaceable - we could buy the exact same object again. We haven't seen it being made or know who made it, in fact it's often made by a machine, so there is nothing of ourselves invested in that object.

After the visit to the museum I decided that I want to create 'artifacts' for my family and have some kind of skill/craft that I can pass down to my children, that becomes part of our heritage. I thought about all the happy times I spent as a child 'creating' something with my mum and sister (usually a mess) and the happy afternoons I've spent with friends or family crafting. I think of the wonderful homemade gifts and cards I've been given and how treasured they are.

The visit to the museum also made me realise that every culture throughout history has sought to decorate and identify themselves and their homes. It is a 'human' thing to want to do. So does that allow me to buy a new wardrobe?;)

Our first few days in Vancouver.

We arrived on Friday night, after 2 days in Taipei, which was a really interesting experience. Taiwan has such an interesting history, governed in the past by the Dutch, Portugese and now working towards gaining acceptance of their independence from China. I would love to go back and explore the country, which is supposed to be beautiful - showcasing volcanoes, mountains and jungle.

Our visit helped us to acclimatise to the cold as it was about 15 degrees, a nice mid point from the 30 degrees plus we are used to and the 4/5 degrees we were about to experience. A big part of our few days was shopping for warm clothes! The rain is taking a bit of getting used to after having only 12 days when it rained in 5 months!

When we arrived in Vancouver we were greeted by our host for our first week, Dianna. She made a very good first impression of Canadian peeps. She is very accommodating and friendly and we are really enjoying our stay with her. So far Canadians in general are making a great impression. We have had so many people say 'Welcome to Canada'; shop staff who strike up conversation at the till, fellow patrons at a bar who overhear we are new to Vancouver. Literally everyone we have spoken to has been so open and friendly.

We had thought we would head to one of the nearby ski resorts to find work but we have decided to stay in the city. It will be easier for me to find work here and also Martin can play live poker throughout the day here in the city. Which will be great, as it means hopefully we will be working similar schedules, which will be a big improvement to how things were at home.

The city has so much to offer. We haven't had a chance to explore properly yet but downtown has great shopping, loads of bars and restaurants, lots of theatres, 2 stadiums. At the moment the ice hockey season is in full swing and Canadians are BIG on hockey. So we are hoping to get to a Canucks game asap. There is also international womens football taking place. The mountains are only an hours drive from the city, Whistler 2 hours and Vancouver Island a few hours away. Within the city there is also Stanley park and the beach is 10 minutes walk from where we will be living.

We have hit the ground running. So far we have found a place to live. We saw an ad on Craigslist and went to meet the couple. We ended up spending a couple of hours chatting and they offered us the room. They have a beautiful basement flat. They are both artists and have really made the flat their own. We will have a 'suite' of 2 rooms, a bedroom, an office and a huge walk in wardrobe. They also have an art space, which they've said I can use! I'm very excited.

I also have applied for a few jobs and I have some interviews lined up. If I can get the jobs I'm applying for then I think it will really help me career wise.

Last night we went to a Couch Surfer social, which was really good fun. There must have been about 50 people there, all people who were travelling, new to the city or 'ex' travellers who just enjoyed meeting people. Everyone was really open to speaking to new people and it was easy to 'mingle' and chat with different people. We'll definitely go regularly.

So far I have a really good feeling about our move. We left England as there were several things we wanted to change about our lives and so far it seems being in Vancouver will help us to achieve these changes and hopefully lead to a more balanced, active life. Of course at the price of missing our family and friends, so we'll see how it goes.