I often wonder how other people live abroad. Maybe that's ironic, but I am fascinated by it. I understand study abroad and now I understand teaching abroad but if you're not doing one of those two things, I don't get it. It got me thinking about if people wonder about how we live abroad. I just want to clarify to anyone that is thinking, 'oh I wish I could do that' that you can! We quit our jobs and came here with about 2 paychecks worth of money. We had arranged jobs ahead of time, which I would recommend. We didn't have a place to live. We didn't have a ton of money. Less than $5,000 for sure, significantly less. And we just committed to living within our means, for the most part. Our parents and grandparents have been very generous whenever we've been in a bind here and for that we'll forever be grateful. But we're not here living off of an inheritance or a free ride or a huge savings. We're just making it work. And if you want to, you can too. You should.
MULUB,
Taylor
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Project Number 2 - Day 18 (Saturday)
Yesterday somehow flew by without a trace. I remember being up, being crabby, leaving the house for a bit and then somehow it was dinner time. Who knows?! What I do know is that I ate A LOT of coffee cake yesterday. Like 1/2 the tray, save the 3 pieces that Ryan ate.
Saturdays are days that I like to bake in the morning. Eat something yummy and sugary. Yesterday was no exception. So I made coffee cake. Toby's 2nd Best Coffee Cake. It's good. Really good. Hence why I ate so much of it. Plus I had coffee.
Then we went for a run and took Chuki to the park. It was around 1:30 when we got home. We cleaned and googled things. Isn't it funny how that's become a hobby. We just checked things out online. Like how much a Land Rover costs; are there plans for a hybrid Rover; what model we would want in our dreams! We talked about living in California and buying a vacation home first, because we don't know where we want to settle. Anyways... There wasn't really lunch to be eaten. We split the left over soup from Gus and the left over chicken breast, back and wing. That was lunch, I suppose, plus coffee cake.
Then we watched The Kids Are All Right. Have you seen it? You should! It was good, really really good. Like maybe moved into my top 10. There are some graphic scenes, so consider this the disclaimer if you can't look past that. For dinner I was inspired by a dish I had seen on KERF for clams and linguine. I cooked some fettucine (apparently they don't sell linguine at Supermaxi). I boiled some green beans for 10 minutes, leaving them crunchy. I cut up two tomatoes, one for Ryan and one for me. Then I heated up the extra tomato sauce I had made for the lasagna. I added a big handful of spinach and a big handful of swiss chard to the sauce. Let them wilt and then added onion chopped onion at the very end after I had turned off the heat. When the pasta was done I added the tinned mussels to the sauce. Into each bowl went noodles, a tomato, green beans and the sauce (with spinach, swiss chard, onion and mussels). It was DELICIOUS! Seriously so good. We both loved it! The perfect pasta dish for spring and summer, not too heavy but still very filling.
Then I got into bed and read some more of The Penguin History of Latin America.
It's actually really interesting now that we've moved out of the colonial days and into nation building.
Today is a beautiful day in Quito. I want to make the most of it. The only thing that we have to do is go to Mascotas and buy the water bottle, pee pads and dog tags for Chuki's American Adventure. Then... who knows!?!
Saturdays are days that I like to bake in the morning. Eat something yummy and sugary. Yesterday was no exception. So I made coffee cake. Toby's 2nd Best Coffee Cake. It's good. Really good. Hence why I ate so much of it. Plus I had coffee.
Then we went for a run and took Chuki to the park. It was around 1:30 when we got home. We cleaned and googled things. Isn't it funny how that's become a hobby. We just checked things out online. Like how much a Land Rover costs; are there plans for a hybrid Rover; what model we would want in our dreams! We talked about living in California and buying a vacation home first, because we don't know where we want to settle. Anyways... There wasn't really lunch to be eaten. We split the left over soup from Gus and the left over chicken breast, back and wing. That was lunch, I suppose, plus coffee cake.
Then we watched The Kids Are All Right. Have you seen it? You should! It was good, really really good. Like maybe moved into my top 10. There are some graphic scenes, so consider this the disclaimer if you can't look past that. For dinner I was inspired by a dish I had seen on KERF for clams and linguine. I cooked some fettucine (apparently they don't sell linguine at Supermaxi). I boiled some green beans for 10 minutes, leaving them crunchy. I cut up two tomatoes, one for Ryan and one for me. Then I heated up the extra tomato sauce I had made for the lasagna. I added a big handful of spinach and a big handful of swiss chard to the sauce. Let them wilt and then added onion chopped onion at the very end after I had turned off the heat. When the pasta was done I added the tinned mussels to the sauce. Into each bowl went noodles, a tomato, green beans and the sauce (with spinach, swiss chard, onion and mussels). It was DELICIOUS! Seriously so good. We both loved it! The perfect pasta dish for spring and summer, not too heavy but still very filling.
Then I got into bed and read some more of The Penguin History of Latin America.
It's actually really interesting now that we've moved out of the colonial days and into nation building.Today is a beautiful day in Quito. I want to make the most of it. The only thing that we have to do is go to Mascotas and buy the water bottle, pee pads and dog tags for Chuki's American Adventure. Then... who knows!?!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
To the park
We went to the park today for the first time since Chuki's accident. Needless to say, he didn't come off of the leash except for a couple of minutes. Because of his lack of exercise lately this hour at the park really wore him out.
He's been here most of the day... Fine by us!
Also, a big congrats to Elliott, my brother, for a great hockey season this year! His first with The Rockford Icemen. Everyone is at my parents' house right now celebrating the season and we wish we were there too! To celebrate of course, well and to eat and drink for free like kings!
MULUB,
Taylor
MULUB,
Taylor
He's been here most of the day... Fine by us!
Also, a big congrats to Elliott, my brother, for a great hockey season this year! His first with The Rockford Icemen. Everyone is at my parents' house right now celebrating the season and we wish we were there too! To celebrate of course, well and to eat and drink for free like kings!
MULUB,
Taylor
MULUB,
Taylor
Project Number 2 - Day 17 (Friday)
Thank God For Fridays is seriously something I do. I, in a very healthy, very adult, way look forward to the weekend SO MUCH! Anyways here's what I ate yesterday, the beginning of the weekend...
Breakfast - I got up before class and made coffee. Then I had a banana on the way to class.
Lunch - I remembered to pack left over lasagna (if you've been counting - that's my 5th meal that's been comprised of lasagna). I heated it up at inlingua, which was way better than eating it cold.
Snack - I tried really hard, and succeeded, in not buying any bread or any snacks on the way to my afternoon class. It was hard, but I felt much better for it!
Dinner - I was starving, because I hadn't eaten since noon and so when Ryan, Sebas and I went to Megamaxi we bought a small bag of chifles to share. They held us over until dinner, dinner. We ended up getting GUS chicken. Ryan and I LOVE Gus but haven't had it much since we moved out of our 1st apartment (it was right down the street then). We got the SUPER FAMILY combo which for under $15 you get a whole roasted chicken, a big salad, rice, a 2 liter pop, french fries, and 4 soups. I ended up eating a chicken breast, most of the salad and my soup. Plus a handful of french fries. With dinner I enjoyed a rum and coke!
We then went to Theatre Sucre to celebrate Grant's acceptance to the LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS! Ryan, Sebas and I continued the rum and coke action throughout the concert, almost getting kicked out at one point (not really, but there were mean looks). And after that we went to La Ronda for dinner. Since we had already eaten dinner, Ryan and I got a beer to split. But Ryan of course, decided he needed more food and so ordered choclo con queso (corn on the cob and cheese) and an empanada de morocho (a fried dough thing with some sort of corn in it). I had a few bites of each. Then we came home!
That was that! It was super fun and we're super proud of Grant. Seriously, I just can't get over it. The London School of Economics, seriously?!
Breakfast - I got up before class and made coffee. Then I had a banana on the way to class.
Lunch - I remembered to pack left over lasagna (if you've been counting - that's my 5th meal that's been comprised of lasagna). I heated it up at inlingua, which was way better than eating it cold.
Snack - I tried really hard, and succeeded, in not buying any bread or any snacks on the way to my afternoon class. It was hard, but I felt much better for it!
Dinner - I was starving, because I hadn't eaten since noon and so when Ryan, Sebas and I went to Megamaxi we bought a small bag of chifles to share. They held us over until dinner, dinner. We ended up getting GUS chicken. Ryan and I LOVE Gus but haven't had it much since we moved out of our 1st apartment (it was right down the street then). We got the SUPER FAMILY combo which for under $15 you get a whole roasted chicken, a big salad, rice, a 2 liter pop, french fries, and 4 soups. I ended up eating a chicken breast, most of the salad and my soup. Plus a handful of french fries. With dinner I enjoyed a rum and coke!
 |
| Salud a Grant!!!! |
That was that! It was super fun and we're super proud of Grant. Seriously, I just can't get over it. The London School of Economics, seriously?!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Project Number 2 - Day 16 (Thursday)
So yesterday I was in a weird mood. I didn't sleep well the night before, I ran in the morning and my body was really sore, and I didn't feel satisfied from breakfast, lunch or dinner. It got me all to thinking... I think it's safe to say that I eat for comfort. I didn't feel hungry yesterday and I didn't feel full but I kept thinking to myself 'I should probably eat something, that would make me feel better.' Which is oh so wrong on oh so many levels. Why does my brain equate the two things? I feel sad, well eat something. I feel stressed, well eat something. I feel nervous, anxious, or scared, well eat something. I feel like celebrating, well eat something! Now, don't get me wrong... I love food. It was a big part of my childhood and it's a big part of my adulthood but when does a love of cooking, sharing, and eating together turn into something dangerous. I'm pretty sure that comfort eating is the disease that people that are 1000 lbs have. They eat to make themselves feel better. With all of that said, I don't really have any more. I'm not sure what the next step is. Does one replace eating with something else, like, say, running? Or does one deal with the emotions in a different way? More on that when I come to it...
Yesterday I did my best to not buy something from every food vendor on the street in hopes of getting out of my funk. I finally just accepted that I was in a funk and that a good nights sleep was probably all I needed.
So for breakfast... I had gone on another run before work and was expecting to be famished by the time I started class at 9:30. I wasn't, so I had some coffee while I blogged and then grabbed a banana to eat after class. I was fine. Not full, but my stomach wasn't sending hungry signals.
For lunch I didn't think I was going to be able to go home, but I also didn't remember to pack a lunch. I decided I should sit down and eat something hardy instead of snacking all afternoon. I got a medium sized salad with chicken from Fruteria Montserrat. But then my class was canceled and so I was able to go home. Once home, I had a small piece of cold lasagna (not very good cold) and a banana with peanut butter.
For dinner, we had left over lasagna. I fell asleep reading SUPER early and slept until about 5:30. This morning I feel rested and refreshed. Not at all in the mood I was in yesterday.
Yesterday I did my best to not buy something from every food vendor on the street in hopes of getting out of my funk. I finally just accepted that I was in a funk and that a good nights sleep was probably all I needed.
So for breakfast... I had gone on another run before work and was expecting to be famished by the time I started class at 9:30. I wasn't, so I had some coffee while I blogged and then grabbed a banana to eat after class. I was fine. Not full, but my stomach wasn't sending hungry signals.
For lunch I didn't think I was going to be able to go home, but I also didn't remember to pack a lunch. I decided I should sit down and eat something hardy instead of snacking all afternoon. I got a medium sized salad with chicken from Fruteria Montserrat. But then my class was canceled and so I was able to go home. Once home, I had a small piece of cold lasagna (not very good cold) and a banana with peanut butter.
For dinner, we had left over lasagna. I fell asleep reading SUPER early and slept until about 5:30. This morning I feel rested and refreshed. Not at all in the mood I was in yesterday.
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