Friday, February 23, 2007

sometimes a girl needs tea

it is day 3 of lent and i do not miss chocolate too much. this could be the result of the dismal selection of chocolate in this country, the substandard quality of cadbury's, and the sheer lack of mini eggs. i am not going to lie, giving up something you rarely have is not too difficult. but i have only had 2 coffees this week, which is truly astounding considering the amount of coffee i have been consuming the past month. i have substituted my morning coffee with an evening tea, but it is earl grey and so delicious. and sometimes a girl just needs tea.

lately i have been in need of tea. i am in the middle of conducting some cleansing. no crazy diet or supplements just a cleanse of my life that includes refocusing and rejuvenating. and if that doesn't sound new age-y and flighty, i don't know what does. but i need it and i can credit 25 for teaching me to know myself better and before i left for zanzibar i could sense that i needed a life cleanse and since i have been back i have done well to stay off the booze, the caffeine, the chocolate, and spend time alone doing things that repair.

last night is a perfect example, i went for a run (yay for a whole hour of running), had cereal and taost for dinner, read one of my 3 books on the go by flashlight due to the absence of electricity, practiced my french (or more like stared at my cahier d'exercices blankly and then furled my brow for about a half hour before retiring), listened to ray lamontagne, and went to bed by 10:00pm.

which brings me to another thought i have been thinking lately. often people will say things to me like, 'what an adventure it is to live in africa' or 'what a great experience you are having' and i know what they mean and that their intentions are good, but the reality is that this is just my life and it just happens to be lived in kenya at the moment. i am grateful that i have been given this opportunity (thank you canadian international development agency) and that i have met people who have made it more fun along the way, but this whole 'experience' is my life. tonight i plan on going to french class, getting some groceries, and going to a movie and it doesn't get much more mundane than that.

4 comments:

Leigh Anne said...

I think we all need some sort of cleanse at some point. Good for you with the chocolate and the coffee...that would for sure be my weakness. We move-in, in 2 weeks...Yay for us! Hope the french class is going well...talk soon

Anonymous said...

ok you know Ray...?! I love Ray...I went to Vancouver to see him live this past November and let me tell you...the best show, that man has one amazing set of pipes!!!If you ever get the chance do not pass it up to see him. Sorry this was a very impromptue rant, but when people acually know about Ray...well than of course they know great music.Sorry I will leave now. Kurtis

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the no chocolate -- I am trying myself to give up chocolate almond croissants, which is so hard because there is a great French bakery a stone's throw from our apartment...! Good luck, and thanks for posting the wonderful pictures - the blue in the Zanzibar pictures is just lovely and such a welcome sight when we are still in steel grey winter days here in Montreal. Take care of you!

lu said...

so much for the lack of caffeine - yesterday i had too much coffee and had to have a chapati just to sop up some of the caffeine in my system. the scary thing is that the grease from the chapo seemed to have counteracted the jitters and shakes that were setting in from the coffee. but still no chocolate, so doing well.

ray's voice is amazing. i am going to have to stop listening to him soon or i will either suffer great depression or wear out the cd!