This week in teaching

High lights

• I'm on vacation!
• Visited my cousin in Beijing and at this really interesting hot pot place. It's got such a huge lineup they've built a specific gaming waiting room. There are robot servers delivering your food and the service is just top notch.
• This week I've been to the Harbin Snow & Ice festival which is the largest in the world and am now in Ho Chi Minh eating my body weight in food every day.
• The first leg of this 3.5 weeks trip was pure shenanigans, from almost missing the train, to snapping my glasses, to forgetting visa photos at home and more! But we're here and everything is going well!
• Got the inevitable illness but it's the "best" of the worst. I prefer to get colds because I don't like headaches and nausea even less so that's a high light ha!

Low lights

• I wish my family and friends in Canada are here with me, or I'm with them. But, I'll be home in the summer soon so it'll make our reunion all that much sweeter.
• Messed up planning and wasted some money on a flight I can't refund. Not a huge deal, a relatively cheap lesson to learn now instead of later.

Overall
Is it healthy for a person to be this content with their life?

What I ate for a year

I once read that to avoid overeating and wasting food one should shop with a grocery list. I'm not sure how true it is but I did use a list every week when I did my grocery run. I've downloaded it and tabulated all the items to see just what I ate for a year*

Overall here are the items I bought, according to my list. I do still impulse purchase random items but I'm pretty good at recording it down.

Not bad, but not quite an accurate view of what I ended up eating. Most snacks I bought were for students and random challenge problem prizes so I didn't end up eating it. I don't trust myself to ration sweets so I just don't buy them. I've never bought milk, cheese a few times and no juices or other soft drinks. My drink of choice tends to be soy or almond milk. It says I only bought 8% carbs but 1 bag of rice counts as one item on a list but comprises a large portion of my diet. 8% fruit sounds about right, I'm just not a big fruit eater, but when I do eat fruit, it tends to be a lot of citrus and apples.

Pro tip: eat before you shop so your stomach doesn't make decisions for you.

I eat way more rice than anything else. 

More than 50% from plant sources yay!

I'm quite proud of how many different types of veggies I regularly eat.

Overall I'm actually quite proud of myself for my diet. It could definitely go worse and it's surprising to see that I eat quite a variety of veggies. Ideally, I'd like to go up to 100% plant-based proteins and avoid eco-destructive meats like beef and pork all together.

For my process, I just sent the list on my phone to my email and copy pasted everything into excel and sorted each item. Boring but effective.

You can spy on my diet for fun.

*Technically I kept the list for 2 years but I didn't use it as religiously until my second year.

This week in teaching

High lights

• I continue to have better lesson plans
• Last week before the month-long holiday AND Friday is a half day!
• Started meal prepping again. The cost of eating takeout here is comparable to the cost of buying and cooking the food myself but I like the motions of cooking, and it's probably healthier if not necessarily better tasting.
• Had staff dinner for my principal's birthday, was amazing, I love my colleagues.
• Have news of a potential pay raise for next year, yay!*
• Tax forms came in so I can send money back to Canada.*
• Student council made dumplings and invited us to make/eat some with them! What a time to be alive. Here's a couple of anonymous ultra high-quality photos :)
• Colleague's class made pancakes on the last day and I got to steal some.

Low lights

• None! I actually struggled to think of bad things that went wrong, but to be honest, I was stretching. Not having the perfect shade of coloured chalk available is super inconsequential.
• The holiday isn't here sooner? That's pretty whiney of me considering I get a month off.
• I guess the hot water in my apartment building was shut off but I just went over to a friend's place.

Overall
Fantastic week. Any pains were minor and I don't even remember them in reflection.

This week in strange translations.

*I have this wild plan to retire in my 30s so this might shave a year off of my working career. I'm putting all disposable income into index funds and maybe I'll eventually write something about what I'm doing.

My job doesn't make me happy.

I've noticed something since I came to teach in China. My work hours were long, the location a step down from London, and the internet was often one step above dial-up. But, I have not been this happy in a while.

I was puzzling a little over this because my work days are 12 hours at the minimum, from my first official class to the time I stop preparing for the next day's lessons, it often approaches 14 hours. The city I'm in is a small one outside Beijing, the most exciting thing being a mall made to look like Italy. My internet won't load the usual websites I would get back in Canada due to either the VPN or the speed, and downloading a youtube video is questionable at times. From the outside looking in, I should be pretty unhappy here.

On one hand: this fog is likely 50% pollution, on the other hand: the school sign is now disco lights!

Yet, I haven't been this content with where I am and what I'm doing since I started working.

From talking to friends and acquaintances similar to me in age, there's a big focus on doing what you love as a job/career. If you do what you love, then your job comes to define you. I've personally struggled with even defining what it is that I like never mind what I love. There's also the persistent anxiety that if I'm supposed to do what I love, and my job defines me, if I do anything that's deemed less* then I am less. It was starting to increase my negative thoughts about what I'm doing with my life, my measure of success, and if I'm failing at adulthood.

I'm writing this post to remind myself, and perhaps you, that there are a lot of ways to feel happy and successful with your job, not all of which are directly related to what you do for work. Take stock of the parts of it that does give you joy and maybe you'll realize you love your life even if you don't love your job.

Working with people you like
My colleagues are great human beings. I laugh and laugh and laugh when we're together and the kids get such a kick out of their teachers playing pranks on each other. All the staff regularly go out for dinner together and plan trips to Beijing. It's rare that work friends can be friends after hours and I'm lucky to have it.

The National Chinese Theatre can only be entered through an underwater entrance.

Mulan Ballet with my colleagues during the last break.

Do work that makes others happy
I have fun in class every day and I see that students are enjoying their time in lessons. Waking up at 6 every day feels pretty crap but it's hard to be in a bad mood once I start saying hi to kids in the hallways. Their mood is infectious and I do my best to remember that more than anything else, everyone wants to have a good class.

Prioritize what is important
My hours are long but there is enough time to do the things I care about if I prioritize them and use my work hours well. My weekends are free, and I make time for hobbies even if it's only an hour every day. It's not without sacrifice but when I do the things I feel are important, the sacrifices seem less meaningful. Two circumstances to note: I'm in another new curriculum so it will always be difficult initially but it's temporary pain.

Recognize how damn lucky I am
Hedonistic adaptation says that your happiness level quickly adapts to any major moves up or down. Meaning, even if you objectively have a great life you might not feel that way subjectively. I counter this by having a weekly wrap-up post listing all the good things I experienced that week so my brain doesn't forget. Every once in a while I also step back and think about the things that I take for granted (then slap myself for being whiney). My health, my finances, my ability to speak English and holding Canadian citizenship are all huge privileges.

Waking up earlier than my circadian rhythm wants to do doesn't feel great, but seeing the sunrise every morning does feel pretty awesome.

Are the things I'm unsatisfied with all that bad or just mild inconveniences? I've written weekly "This week in teaching" posts and in hindsight, the bad things just seem so inconsequential. Today, the worst thing that happened was the popups on my virus-infected classroom computer were back. That barely registers on the scale of truly bad things that could have potentially happened. The sacrifices I'm making right now won't be forever, and they are so I can gain experience/money** for my future self.

Add fun to your work
A job does take up 1/2 of my waking hours so I do try to add some silliness into my day. In London, I once photocopied my face, put it in an official-looking envelope and had it delivered to my colleague and told them it was important news. Another time, I went to the science office and gift wrapped all the water bottles I could find. Find something fun and not harmful to do at work, and even better if you find a person who shares a similar sense of humour and would enjoy harmless pranks.

Strengthen existing relationships
I would be nowhere near as happy if I haven't kept in touch with friends back in Canada and the UK. Talking to them and being updated on their lives keeps me grounded and reminds me that no matter how my week went they are still there. When I feel particularly crap I remember that my friends still love me, my family care about me, and I matter to people who don't give a shit what my job is.

I guess the cheesy thing I'm saying is, my job doesn't make me happy, I make myself happy :)

*Whatever society has come up at that point to mean less.
**I also have this wild plan to retire in my 30s. More on that later.

How to meal prep 101

Here are some tried and true tips if you're also a beginner adult like me. I had to get good at meal-prepping in London out of necessity, partly for savings, partly for health, and partly because I can't stand the 10min it takes to buy lunch from the school canteen. I only had an hour for lunch, so 10min reduces my break by 17%, not including the time I use to eat*. During school hours I want to pack in as much work as I can to free up my evenings, so spare time at lunch is used to prep for the next day's lessons.

My priorities are not nice blog photos and I don't care to make my cooking life seem better than yours so these photos are the real deal. This is how to meal prep if you're interested in literally anything else other than cooking.

When do I meal prep?
I suggest Sunday dinner time because:

1. The food will sit in your fridge for the shortest amount of time before being eaten.
2. You can cook dinner while you're at it.
3. You can build grocery shopping into your other Sunday activities, e.g. between errands or as part of your Sunday stroll.
4. Less rush on Sundays so you can try out new recipes.

Every Sunday morning I would take 2 hours to have a nice walk to the grocery store and be back before 12, put things away, have lunch and spend a few hours getting lesson plans ready. I meal prep just in time for dinner and make enough for 5 lunches + dinner.

This was part of my weekly walk.

What do I cook?
I legitimately keep a list on my phone of the meals I can cook and pick one or two every week to make. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like. The crossed-out list was from before I became more serious about vegetarianism. You can think of all the meals you can cook right now and brainstorm a list + the ingredients you need for each dish.

It's really hard to mess up stirfry or pasta. Youtube how to avoid mushy pasta or overcooked veggies.

My process
It is honestly the most unglamorous thing ever to meal prep.
My formula is 1/2 rice + 1/2 vegetable stew/curry/stirfry with whichever sauce I felt like that week.

1. Start rice cooker, it will automatically shut off so I don't need to keep an eye on it.
2. Cook the side dish while the rice is cooking
3. When the food is done, I'll wash dishes while it cools down a bit and lay out 5 containers
4. Portion the rice and side into each container and you're done!

Look at these amazingly staged photos.

Default #1: pasta + pesto + whatever vegetables I feel like

Default #2: rice + pre-made sauce + whatever vegetables I feel like

Miscellaneous tips

• Eat something before you shop! I overbuy when I'm hungry shop and have had to throw out vegetables I couldn't finish in time. Bad and sad :(
• SHOP WITH A LIST to avoid impulse buys. I bought turnips once because they were on sale. I don't eat turnips.
• If you have a food vice you can't give up, like rice for me, you can definitely find a healthier alternative. I switched to brown rice every once in a while.
• You can make 2 different meals and alternate.
• In university one of my housemates and I would try one new recipe a week, so I slowly built up my cooking skills. I also like to watch cooking videos while I work out to remind me of the real reason I'm exercising :)
• Slow-cookers are amazing and make a huge batch with very little effort.
• Put the lid on top but don't close it until the food cools to room temp. This is to avoid the cooling air in your container from vacuum sealing the container shut.

Next up: just what did I eat for a year in London? I kept an electronic grocery list every time I went out so let's see what types of food I liked.

*And pee. Any teacher will tell you we have bladders of iron and it's a balance between going to the toilet vs. have more time to prep for the next lesson.

This Week in Teaching

High lights:

• First cooking club meeting
• Met new students for semester 2! I think this is what other people feel when they receive presents.
• Re-worked semester 1 lesson plans to be better and the kids got it faster!
• Cooked dinner and lunch at home more! I cook so rarely now due to various factors so it's nice to be back in the cooking routine.
• Climbed stairs to my 11th-floor apartment every time.
• Had every new student do a locker cleanout and cleaned the classroom as well.

Low lights:

• Hot water was shut off in the apartment so I had a very very icy shower. It's done wonders for my hair though.
• Ongoing photocopier issues has forced me to be very creative with my teaching.

Overall

I'm hoping to do one of these reflections once a week as a way to remind myself of all the great things I love about teaching. After doing this one, I realised that the low lights are really not that big of a deal in hindsight. I'm going to take that with me when I experience challenges again in the future.

Living on $52k in London

Right out of teacher's college I decided I wanted to teach in London. I was attracted by the culture, the proximity to the rest of Europe, and the chance to really challenge myself. Before I moved, I asked around online about the cost of living but no one really gave me concrete answers, but now that I'm in China, I dug back through all my UK receipts and figure out exactly how I spent my money there. 

Main takeaways:
1. Living in London is expensive but not difficult, I did it on a new teacher's salary and had a great time with savings leftover.
2. I eat out way too much. My eating out cost was greater than my groceries cost.
3. 10/10 would still recommend (you do in your early 20s)*

Here's a breakdown for each year. 2016 only had 4/12 months, 2017 is the full year, and 2018 only had 7/12 months.
Annual income: gross is just under $52,000, net is roughly $36,000. Yeah, those taxes are rough.

Pats on the back:
1. Still saved 20% of my monthly pay! I set up auto-deductions into my savings account and had my employer also automatically hold back 12% of my gross pay.
2. Managed to meal prep lunch for an average of 5/7 days, and dinners for 4/7 days. Never bought breakfast. 
3. Lived the life my younger self dreamed of.

Lessons for myself:
1. Beware of impulse buys and be proactive about spending.

• On average, I made about 3 transactions per day. I'm guessing it's more like an average of 1 on workdays and 8 on the weekends. I made all the typical mistakes: buying takeout when I have food at home, engaging in retail therapy and taking Uber rides instead of public transit. Generally being a young, semi-financially-illiterate adult who's experiencing having a lot** of disposable income for the first time in her life in an exciting city.
• Thank god I don't have any expensive vices. Just by not drinking I cut my eating out costs in half, and I'm not a coffee drinker

2. I don't need a lot to be happy.

• I lived in a very small room in a shared flat, I biked to work, and most of my meals are simple. My entire wardrobe can fit in one (large) suitcase. And yet, I had never once felt deprived.
• I can easily cut back in areas like takeout and Uber rides.
• If I move or switch jobs to a location with lower costs of living I can save SO MUCH (and in fact, I have saved over 80%+ since coming to China)
• The things that brought me the most joy was just hanging out with friends. I get the same amount of joy whether I see them on a picnic or if I see them over an $80 dinner.

3. Being financially aware is not exciting but really really important!

• Only this year have I seriously started looking at my own finances and I'm coming to terms with how much better I wished I was. But, without going through this experience would I have understood these things about myself? Likely not.
• If you feel you're lacking knowledge about something, go out and look for it! I was not taught a lot of what I know now, but instead of blaming my parents or the education system*** I'm fixing these gaps myself through the magic of Google and Youtube.
• I had a couple of big financial hits (had my luggage stolen, foreign taxes I wasn't aware of, missed flights) but because I had savings it worked out to be only minor inconveniences. Replacing the lost luggage alone cost me $3000. I know people in the same field of work who cannot take that financial hit because they were living paycheque to paycheque.
• Self-reflection is the most valuable learning tool.

How I calculated my spending:

I mainly used my debit card for everything so I downloaded my entire transaction history from Lloyds' website as an excel sheet. I created new columns for each category I'm interested in and just cut and paste the amount into the appropriate one and use the =SUM function. It ain't elegant but it got the job done.

Here's a screenshot of 2017


*At least, if you were going to live like I did. If I had stayed I wouldn't have been happy about my savings rate at all.
**Relative to what I've had before.
***There is definitely a lot of room for improvement in all school curriculums with regards to financial literacy though.