Thoughts on contentment

Hanoi is hot. And getting hotter. The dog days are here! It tops 37 degrees most days, the little rain that falls barely touches the steaming streets. I am rethinking my choice to live life without air conditioning.. I miss sleep.

Summer school has begun. My lesson.. is patience and how love works. I'm a foundation builder, a bringer of knowledge, a sign holder, door opener.. Working with small children requires an extremely open heart. (And ample sleep is actually the most important resource a teacher can possess.)

My kids have got me thinking about happiness.

I wonder at adults, and how people get trapped within in cycles of negativity, unhappiness and anger. It's a short life and as we get older, we seem to absorb and collect our negative beliefs. Why is change and disappointment so difficult to take in stride? And why does past negativity so affect future thoughts and actions?

The difference between little kids and adults is they live in the moment. Negative or positive is simply judged as it is, felt, then let go. Life is happiness until it is sadness, and it is only sad for as long as the cause remains. So.. life is mostly happiness.

My kindergarten lesson this month is letting go of past and viewing my current thoughts, anger, worry, sadness etc with no judgement, asking... how do I feel in this moment? In this exact moment, how do I actually feel? Now... right now.

..perfectly fine.

Maybe there is nothing that can be negative if you throw away your preconceptions, prior judgments, expectations of others, labels and past.. it's a very Eckhardt Tolle thing to say I know. But being fully present in the moment without thoughts from the past, or worry about the potential future, is the only real life we have.

Many hats...many jobs!

Today, I was a Business Development Manager...once again. It's funny because in Australia.. it wasn't really my job either...

My work is so varied. Last month, marketing. I wrote a website, brochures, mail outs... and yes, as someone pointed out.. I've become a spammer.
www.kidsfun.vn

My business development hat today.. involved meeting the director of one of the largest and fastest growing real estate firms in Hanoi.. Ciputra. Mega bucks, multi multi mega bucks. One of the 'nicer' apartments costs around 180 thousand billion dong!!

Ciputra is a bizarre gated community between the airport and the city. Eight ghoulish black horses stand atop the imposing gates, its huge walls protect large wallets from the outside world. Imagine Vienna mixed with Singapore...with fountains with horses and naked children in strange postures.

Walking into a cathedral-sized foyer and was nearly bowled over by the receptionist who ran out to shake my hand. The owner of all the opulence that surrounded me was man who oozed money, from the top of his shiny head to the soles of his well-heeled feet. He dripped with the calm, secure knowledge (belief) that he was completely in control of his world. The experience was surreal, I pondering the lives of the rich for a good while after my meeting..

...Sunday was our Open Day...

Back to normal like, and up at 1am drinking wine, cooking psychedelic playdough and painting macaroni in my underwear (it's ridiculously hot here.) The day was busy..traditional artisans, music, games and lots of happy, fat babies meeting their teachers.

Now I'm co-writing a the summer school program at the kindergarten.

A very new hat.

Nursery rhymes is our theme for the next 7 weeks of summer school...it was mildly tempting to make it Dr Seuss ...

.. haha, 7 weeks of stripey cats in hats, and frogs in socks might be a little intense for small, developing brains!!

:)

I've just had internet connected again, so I'm free for more skypee chats!

Less stress, more cake!

Ok, so being a vegan is a ridiculous amount of fun!

Never mind about people's shocked looks when you tell them you've cut eggs, dairy and cheese from your diet...

I didn't think I would cook or eat so much aaamazing food. (Which maybe it's not so good, the speed at which my waistline is expanding is a little frightening.)

Actually being so conscious of the food I cook and eat is very nice. I find myself looking at each ingredient, studying menus and the backs of packets, adding nuts and seeds, extra colourful veges and experimenting a lot!

And making friends, I recently hosted a few vegan dinner parties with not a single stirfry or carrot stick in sight :) lovely people with the desire to live a more environmental, kinder and pure gastronomic lifestyle.

Ok, so I like cake. My first chocolate cake bombed! The second wasn't much better and the third, well, more like chocolate putty. Finally, when I thought of giving up ever eating a moist, rich chocolate cake, my angel couch surfer, Lisa, introduced me to...wait for it...

..chocolate zucchini vegan cake!

I will graciously post a recipe here, because the love must be spread.

Mix in a big bowl all the dry ingredients

2C plain fl
2C brown sugar
3/4C unsweetened cocoa
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Then add the wet ones and mix it all around

2 x smooshed banana
3/4C vege oil
3/4C apple sauce

THEN... add 3 cups of magical grated zucchini and mix it in!

Bake on 'very hot' for 1 hour or just test it every now and then... cover in icing or real chocolate (if you're not vegan-ly inclined), add nuts and stuff...

Cook it! Cook it! It's incredible, and I dare you to find a single zucchini piece, they magically disapear!

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