New Month, New Post, Who dis?

I’ve written, and rewritten the beginning of this blog post several times over the past few months. Not wanting to wait until the new year to make a resolution, I’ve tried several times to make each new month a chance to get back on the blogging wagon. Online teaching made doing anything on my laptop after school almost impossible - after a day of staring at a screen for Zoom classes, emails and marking, I just wanted to lie down in a darkened room and heal my poor retinas.

This month feels different though. I’ve been following NaNaWriMo (National November Writing Month) for a while now, and whilst I’m not going to write out a full novel of my life, it’s been motivating to receive their emails, and a new job means I'm not quite as burnt out after school. (Shout out to Jess and Sarah for their encouragement too)!

It's unlikely that many people will read this, but I find journaling therapeutic, and I imagine it’ll be something interesting to look back on in a few years as often I can't even remember what I did yesterday (hello, 30). Plus, as a teacher I'm constantly reminding students of the importance of writing to become a better writer, so I guess it's time to start practicing what I teach. Maybe I'll start remembering to bring a pen to class meetings too, but I'm not promising anything (isn't that what Evernote was designed for anyway?).

It is, however, hard to write when you're in an exhausted food coma.

I mean, just look at this absolute monstrosity of a meal.

After Church today we went to a Japanese restaurant in Wudaokou for what my friend described as "the best katsu curry in Beijing." It did not disappoint, and the veggie option for once seemed to be the unhealthiest option on the menu. Big win. Deep fried mashed potato with yellow rice and delicious, thick curry, without a hint of anything green in sight. I'm not sure the picture does it justice in showing how big the fried potato balls actually were and the rice that went on for days.

And it was good.

So, so good.

And true, I didn't have to finish it, but we're also teaching students about food waste at the moment. Seems this modelling what I teach is going to have serious consequences for my waist. At least as a millennial I could have the stereotypical, mini avocado toast for dinner as there was certainly no room for anything else.

More carbs was just what I needed anyway.

Until next time,

EJ x