Bangladesh journey drawing to a close...

James and Jess are winding up their time in Bangladesh with a week long holiday, a conference, and in early December, on their third wedding anniversary, they will leave Bangladesh and head off on a meandering journey to London, New York, spending Christmas with my brother in Vancouver, and then home via Australia. No idea when they actually arrive back in New Zealand, but sure the plans will filter through in time :) I think it is Febuary! So still four months away. They have put up some great photos - do check out their blog entries
http://jamesandjess.synthasite.com/news/malumghat-paradise-in-bangladesh#
http://jamesandjess.synthasite.com/news/new-photos-

Darling Phoebe has been very ill this weekend, requiring a trip last night to the Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland to be rehydrated. A worrying time for everyone, but she is home today, and a nurse will be visiting her to check that she is alright. Not sure what the cause is - hard to tell with babies and viruses and bugs... but she is a tired wee girl, as are her parents!
Sure they will write about it when they have caught up on some sleep - watch out at: http://treacytravels.blogspot.com/

While my partner worked last night, I had a girls night with my friend, and we rewatched the wonderful Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. It is a great story of not only the support of female friendship, warts and all, but a brilliant illustration of how we need to appreciate that our mothers were people, with their own lives and dreams and aspirations, before we were born, and hold a horde of stories that we may never know about, unless their friends make sure we hear them! So, today, I am going to have a lazy Sunday and catch up with my parents...who knows what I might learn!


and just because - my smile for the day is:

Bangladesh journey drawing to a close...

James and Jess are winding up their time in Bangladesh with a week long holiday, a conference, and in early December, on their third wedding anniversary, they will leave Bangladesh and head off on a meandering journey to London, New York, spending Christmas with my brother in Vancouver, and then home via Australia. No idea when they actually arrive back in New Zealand, but sure the plans will filter through in time :) I think it is Febuary! So still four months away. They have put up some great photos - do check out their blog entries
http://jamesandjess.synthasite.com/news/malumghat-paradise-in-bangladesh#
http://jamesandjess.synthasite.com/news/new-photos-

Darling Phoebe has been very ill this weekend, requiring a trip last night to the Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland to be rehydrated. A worrying time for everyone, but she is home today, and a nurse will be visiting her to check that she is alright. Not sure what the cause is - hard to tell with babies and viruses and bugs... but she is a tired wee girl, as are her parents!
Sure they will write about it when they have caught up on some sleep - watch out at: http://treacytravels.blogspot.com/

While my partner worked last night, I had a girls night with my friend, and we rewatched the wonderful Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. It is a great story of not only the support of female friendship, warts and all, but a brilliant illustration of how we need to appreciate that our mothers were people, with their own lives and dreams and aspirations, before we were born, and hold a horde of stories that we may never know about, unless their friends make sure we hear them! So, today, I am going to have a lazy Sunday and catch up with my parents...who knows what I might learn!


and just because - my smile for the day is:

One Year of Blogging

It is my one year blogging anniversary - and 195 posts... I nearly missed it as it was really yesterday! I just reread the very first post.... the ice breaker. The scary thing is that all the sentiments expressed could have been written again today! My first comment was from my friend.. who I have just got off the phone to, although this year she is up in hospital and I have had her daughter here for the night.

Has life changed? Yes in many ways it has, inevitably, as the world would be pretty dull if it was constantly the same. However, I am still in the same job, living with the same man, in the same house, with the same pets, the same children are at home and my parents are near.

Since a year ago, my son and DIL have gone to live overseas for a year, where they are well and happy. You can find them and their pictures on their site - Life in Bangladesh 

This photo was at the airport as they left this year - but he now sports a red bushy beard...
Sorry no photos of that - we just see it on skype!

We also gained Phoebe, an adorable new and third grand daughter in our lives.

Sadly, they have now moved to Auckland, but Phoebe will be one year old in October  and in just five sleeps from now we will fly up to visit them all for a week :) Their blog and latest pictures can be found here: Treacy Travels.

or find her on youtube  - here she is getting jiggy with the push chair we got her...

I guess the other thing I am reflecting on is have I changed? I would like to say yes; certainly I have grown. Until very recently I would have said I felt more serene, happy in my relationship, not anxious. But, as happens, we hit some speed bumps this week which slowed us down for a while and I had to face some anxieties. Challenges often do that.. hit you from multiple directions at once. Guess that juggling it all will mean you drop the ball occasionally. On reflection, I did cope pretty well - I didn't cry, or curl up in a ball, or over react so this means I was able to keep it in perspective and focus on managing it!! Today I feel like I am back to that serene part - growth indeed.

I am still relieved the holidays are almost here as the time with no classes gives us all a moment to breathe, reconsider, prepare and recover. Like anyone involved in education, the frantic pace we have been working at, the high enrolment numbers, the expectation and demands from industry, procedures, technology, staff changes, audits, moderation, assessment and the relentless worry associated with ensuring the needs of the students are being met has left us all feeling battered. We badly need to recharge ourselves. I guess one high point I, and I hope my work colleagues, did get this month was the team spirit we gained from uniting to support each other against a raft of difficult situations. You know, the ones that knock you sideways when you least expect it. It always makes me think of The Suncreen Song:

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

We also know the words of Abraham Lincoln:

"you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time".

I think this should be engraved on our office doors... the need to discuss the issues and recognising that it is a problem we really are all facing together made such a difference to how it made me feel. I know we will continue to do our best to meet the needs of as many as we can, and try not to hurl ourselves under a bus over the ones that we can never please. To each their own jouney. People are defined by their experiences and their actions will determine their path in life. What goes around, comes around. I have been lucky that nearly all my work brings me in contact with awesome people that I enjoy being with and teaching. Many others are not so lucky. Here are two pix ttaken in our class yesterday... one scenario from the groups, involving many hours work sorting out the right and  wrong ways to handle issues they will face in practice.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying a peaceful and sunny morning, pottering around doing the washing and having some idle thoughts about what I need to pack this week for our holiday.

Life is good.
:)

One Year of Blogging

It is my one year blogging anniversary - and 195 posts... I nearly missed it as it was really yesterday! I just reread the very first post.... the ice breaker. The scary thing is that all the sentiments expressed could have been written again today! My first comment was from my friend.. who I have just got off the phone to, although this year she is up in hospital and I have had her daughter here for the night.

Has life changed? Yes in many ways it has, inevitably, as the world would be pretty dull if it was constantly the same. However, I am still in the same job, living with the same man, in the same house, with the same pets, the same children are at home and my parents are near.

Since a year ago, my son and DIL have gone to live overseas for a year, where they are well and happy. You can find them and their pictures on their site - Life in Bangladesh 

This photo was at the airport as they left this year - but he now sports a red bushy beard...
Sorry no photos of that - we just see it on skype!

We also gained Phoebe, an adorable new and third grand daughter in our lives.

Sadly, they have now moved to Auckland, but Phoebe will be one year old in October  and in just five sleeps from now we will fly up to visit them all for a week :) Their blog and latest pictures can be found here: Treacy Travels.

or find her on youtube  - here she is getting jiggy with the push chair we got her...

I guess the other thing I am reflecting on is have I changed? I would like to say yes; certainly I have grown. Until very recently I would have said I felt more serene, happy in my relationship, not anxious. But, as happens, we hit some speed bumps this week which slowed us down for a while and I had to face some anxieties. Challenges often do that.. hit you from multiple directions at once. Guess that juggling it all will mean you drop the ball occasionally. On reflection, I did cope pretty well - I didn't cry, or curl up in a ball, or over react so this means I was able to keep it in perspective and focus on managing it!! Today I feel like I am back to that serene part - growth indeed.

I am still relieved the holidays are almost here as the time with no classes gives us all a moment to breathe, reconsider, prepare and recover. Like anyone involved in education, the frantic pace we have been working at, the high enrolment numbers, the expectation and demands from industry, procedures, technology, staff changes, audits, moderation, assessment and the relentless worry associated with ensuring the needs of the students are being met has left us all feeling battered. We badly need to recharge ourselves. I guess one high point I, and I hope my work colleagues, did get this month was the team spirit we gained from uniting to support each other against a raft of difficult situations. You know, the ones that knock you sideways when you least expect it. It always makes me think of The Suncreen Song:

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

We also know the words of Abraham Lincoln:

"you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time".

I think this should be engraved on our office doors... the need to discuss the issues and recognising that it is a problem we really are all facing together made such a difference to how it made me feel. I know we will continue to do our best to meet the needs of as many as we can, and try not to hurl ourselves under a bus over the ones that we can never please. To each their own jouney. People are defined by their experiences and their actions will determine their path in life. What goes around, comes around. I have been lucky that nearly all my work brings me in contact with awesome people that I enjoy being with and teaching. Many others are not so lucky. Here are two pix ttaken in our class yesterday... one scenario from the groups, involving many hours work sorting out the right and  wrong ways to handle issues they will face in practice.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying a peaceful and sunny morning, pottering around doing the washing and having some idle thoughts about what I need to pack this week for our holiday.

Life is good.
:)

Winter has gone!!! Spring has arrived in Christchurch, finally!

To quote Joni Mitchell, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". I have felt this recurring as a theme lately in a few different ways, which I will come back to later.... but I didn't realise how much the absence of something has affected me for the last few weeks. Somehow, It has felt like being trapped....

Saffy's "take me with you Mum" look.....

It is only this week, as it has returned, that I can measure the impact to my life - I have felt better, more energetic, and I have to say, hopeful. Yes, winter has let go for a while and spring has arrived.... early, but so welcome. I am sure it takes advancing age to truly appreciate spring; the awareness you only get to see it a finite number of times and to get out and breathe it in, wondering at the beauty! To me the harbingers of spring in Christchurch are the smells; I can start to fill the house with Jasmine and Daphne and Jonquils.

When I wake up, the window onto our driveway is filled with magnolia and pink blossom.

There are birds singing and the mornings feel light, easy to wake up to. As I leave for work, there are daffodils lining the driveway, and I get to return home from work in daylight...we turn off the heating and leave the doors and windows open. Yesterday, a friend and I sat under the sun umbrella outside, where she gave me a professional manicure ( total bliss folks as my nails are not my best feature) and I got my first real taste of the power of the sun. Soon the scent of sun screen will become a normal part of life again, as it should have been yesterday judging by the red tinge to my neck.


Meanwhile, we still have a lot happening in our lives. With my parents and three children still here in Christchurch, we get to see them all regularly. In fact, hoping to catch up with my parents today - on the 1st September it is their 58th wedding anniversary... Certainly deserves some celebration these days !

The Bangladesh crew have returned to Dhaka, although their blog entries have been sparse... they have three more months to go before becoming tourists and visiting London, New York (where they have booked their tour of the Statue of Liberty... never realised you had to book so far ahead! )... and somewhere in the travels, they will stay with my brother in Vancouver for Xmas. I think they will have learned a lot this year, not just Bengali. Sounds like friends, family and home comforts will be appreciated when they return :)
Check out their blog Life in Bangladesh

Other news.. well, Phoebe is walking!!! Check her out on video pushing the little push chair we bought for her when they stayed with us recently! Awwwww....

We are booked to fly up to Auckland for a week long visit, 3 weeks and 4 days from today. Will be so nice to catch up with them all. They have been busy with school, kindy, gym and visits from their extended family...and adapting to their new lives. You can follow their journey at Treacy Travels. Here are a few pix from their blog.

View of Auckland from Devenport

It is such a pain that I do not have Skype on my laptop... well, to be accurate, I can add Skype, just need some way of getting a camera and mike set up! We need to make a greater effort to work out when they will be on as we do have an Imac we can use... just have to push my youngest son off it for a while.

Finally, last night, I cooked Mushroom and Vegetable Rice Pilau, a simple dish I like to make occasionally. I always fill it with garlic... what fills me with nostalgia is that it was a dish my Polish mother in law made for us all the time. The garlic fumes would greet me when I stepped out of the car, and she would freeze me pottles to take home for the children. It was just one of many of her delicious repertoire.. but I stood quietly and thought of her and my father in law as I made it. We lost them both within a year of each other. You truly don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
I am sure my ex husband would have said "it's not as good as Mum used to make".. and you know he would have been absolutely right.


Well, thats enough from me - hope you are all well out there.
fi

Winter has gone!!! Spring has arrived in Christchurch, finally!

To quote Joni Mitchell, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". I have felt this recurring as a theme lately in a few different ways, which I will come back to later.... but I didn't realise how much the absence of something has affected me for the last few weeks. Somehow, It has felt like being trapped....

Saffy's "take me with you Mum" look.....

It is only this week, as it has returned, that I can measure the impact to my life - I have felt better, more energetic, and I have to say, hopeful. Yes, winter has let go for a while and spring has arrived.... early, but so welcome. I am sure it takes advancing age to truly appreciate spring; the awareness you only get to see it a finite number of times and to get out and breathe it in, wondering at the beauty! To me the harbingers of spring in Christchurch are the smells; I can start to fill the house with Jasmine and Daphne and Jonquils.

When I wake up, the window onto our driveway is filled with magnolia and pink blossom.

There are birds singing and the mornings feel light, easy to wake up to. As I leave for work, there are daffodils lining the driveway, and I get to return home from work in daylight...we turn off the heating and leave the doors and windows open. Yesterday, a friend and I sat under the sun umbrella outside, where she gave me a professional manicure ( total bliss folks as my nails are not my best feature) and I got my first real taste of the power of the sun. Soon the scent of sun screen will become a normal part of life again, as it should have been yesterday judging by the red tinge to my neck.


Meanwhile, we still have a lot happening in our lives. With my parents and three children still here in Christchurch, we get to see them all regularly. In fact, hoping to catch up with my parents today - on the 1st September it is their 58th wedding anniversary... Certainly deserves some celebration these days !

The Bangladesh crew have returned to Dhaka, although their blog entries have been sparse... they have three more months to go before becoming tourists and visiting London, New York (where they have booked their tour of the Statue of Liberty... never realised you had to book so far ahead! )... and somewhere in the travels, they will stay with my brother in Vancouver for Xmas. I think they will have learned a lot this year, not just Bengali. Sounds like friends, family and home comforts will be appreciated when they return :)
Check out their blog Life in Bangladesh

Other news.. well, Phoebe is walking!!! Check her out on video pushing the little push chair we bought for her when they stayed with us recently! Awwwww....

We are booked to fly up to Auckland for a week long visit, 3 weeks and 4 days from today. Will be so nice to catch up with them all. They have been busy with school, kindy, gym and visits from their extended family...and adapting to their new lives. You can follow their journey at Treacy Travels. Here are a few pix from their blog.

View of Auckland from Devenport

It is such a pain that I do not have Skype on my laptop... well, to be accurate, I can add Skype, just need some way of getting a camera and mike set up! We need to make a greater effort to work out when they will be on as we do have an Imac we can use... just have to push my youngest son off it for a while.

Finally, last night, I cooked Mushroom and Vegetable Rice Pilau, a simple dish I like to make occasionally. I always fill it with garlic... what fills me with nostalgia is that it was a dish my Polish mother in law made for us all the time. The garlic fumes would greet me when I stepped out of the car, and she would freeze me pottles to take home for the children. It was just one of many of her delicious repertoire.. but I stood quietly and thought of her and my father in law as I made it. We lost them both within a year of each other. You truly don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
I am sure my ex husband would have said "it's not as good as Mum used to make".. and you know he would have been absolutely right.


Well, thats enough from me - hope you are all well out there.
fi

Bangladesh capital sees biggest rain in 53 years

Yes, the monsoon has arrived in Bangladesh....with a vengeance.

The heaviest rain in 53 years battered Bangladesh’s capital Tuesday, leaving at least six people dead and stranding thousands in their swamped homes.

Streets waist-deep in water caused huge traffic snarls in the city of 10 million people.

Heavy monsoon rains have battered Bangladesh's capital, flooding streets and homes, stranding thousands and forcing businesses and schools to close.
The national weather office said more than 333mm of rain had been recorded in Dhaka on Tuesday in the past 12 hours.

Luckily, James and Jess are not currently in Dhaka, but further out in Joypara. and thankfully, got a message to me on Facebook today that they are fine there. The Dhaka residents are not so lucky, and the suburb where James and Jess are due to move to soon is waist deep in water. with all power shut off to reduce the electrocutions from the low slung power lines!

This has happened before in Bangladesh, regularly.

But I do worry about the people,

 

 

the children

the animals

and the lack of shelter and risk of disease due to lack of clean drinking water.

Christchurch suddenly feels a pretty good place to live :)

You can also read more about life in Bangladesh with James and Jess 

Bangladesh capital sees biggest rain in 53 years

Yes, the monsoon has arrived in Bangladesh....with a vengeance.

The heaviest rain in 53 years battered Bangladesh’s capital Tuesday, leaving at least six people dead and stranding thousands in their swamped homes.

Streets waist-deep in water caused huge traffic snarls in the city of 10 million people.

Heavy monsoon rains have battered Bangladesh's capital, flooding streets and homes, stranding thousands and forcing businesses and schools to close.
The national weather office said more than 333mm of rain had been recorded in Dhaka on Tuesday in the past 12 hours.

Luckily, James and Jess are not currently in Dhaka, but further out in Joypara. and thankfully, got a message to me on Facebook today that they are fine there. The Dhaka residents are not so lucky, and the suburb where James and Jess are due to move to soon is waist deep in water. with all power shut off to reduce the electrocutions from the low slung power lines!

This has happened before in Bangladesh, regularly.

But I do worry about the people,

 

 

the children

the animals

and the lack of shelter and risk of disease due to lack of clean drinking water.

Christchurch suddenly feels a pretty good place to live :)

You can also read more about life in Bangladesh with James and Jess