2011 was a big year for our family and for me in particular (you can read about it here). I learned many things last year, but three things really stand out and I wanted to share them with you.
Here they are in no particular order:
1) I can get by with a little help from my friends. I know it's a cliche, but sometimes you can really see the truth in those cliches. It was a busy and sometimes challenging year and there were a couple of key points when friends helped me through.
My friend Jennifer helped me with the flowers for the wedding and I really couldn't have done them without her. I not only needed the extra set of hands, but I needed her calmness and encouragement to not panic at crucial moments.
And, of course, I couldn't have gone to Bangladesh without my friend Kim. We were a good team and helped each other through the trials of the heat, teaching, a foreign culture, crazy rickshaw rides, and food challenges.
2) Sit-ups really do help. I had always read that you can't do spot exercises to trim the excess from specific areas of your body, so I had always used that as an excuse for not doing sit-ups or any abs exercises. However for lent of last year I decided that a certain someone's mid-sections needed a little trimming and so I decided to give it a shot. I began with ten sit-ups and then added one every other day until I was doing forty. The amazing thing is I have kept it up. I had to stop doing sit-ups around the time of the wedding because I literally didn't have enough time in the day and I didn't do them in Bangladesh because it was too darn hot. When I got home, though, I started up again and have added some other exercises to my routine like doing the plank. And you know what - they really do work! I don't mind the five minutes I spend doing them every morning and there is a noticeable difference to my abdominal muscles as a result. Who knew? Apparently not me. If you are going to try it, my advice it to start with just a few sit-ups so you can feel successful and gradually build up.
3) My face is messy/Messi! I wanted to share this story as it makes me laugh every time I think of it. One day when I was in the middle of teaching a class in Bangladesh, one of my students called me over and said "Grace, your face looks messy". Now it was 35C and a bazillion percent humidity and I was sweating like crazy - so I wasn't looking my best, but I didn't think I looked so bad that someone would tell me my face looks messy. I was taken aback and asked him if he knew what 'messy' meant. He said to me - no not messy - Messi - football. I don't know the first thing about soccer/football so the students had to tell me that Lionel Messi is a famous soccer player. I was laughing and blushing and dumbfounded that a student had just told me I look like a male football player. In fact I was laughing so hard it took a few minutes for me to regain my composure and continue the lecture.
Later that day I Googled Lionel Messi and you know what - he does kind of look like me. What do you think?
It's not exactly a compliment to be told I look like a male athlete, but there are worse people you could look like? And it does make a good story!
Here they are in no particular order:
1) I can get by with a little help from my friends. I know it's a cliche, but sometimes you can really see the truth in those cliches. It was a busy and sometimes challenging year and there were a couple of key points when friends helped me through.
My friend Jennifer helped me with the flowers for the wedding and I really couldn't have done them without her. I not only needed the extra set of hands, but I needed her calmness and encouragement to not panic at crucial moments.
And, of course, I couldn't have gone to Bangladesh without my friend Kim. We were a good team and helped each other through the trials of the heat, teaching, a foreign culture, crazy rickshaw rides, and food challenges.
2) Sit-ups really do help. I had always read that you can't do spot exercises to trim the excess from specific areas of your body, so I had always used that as an excuse for not doing sit-ups or any abs exercises. However for lent of last year I decided that a certain someone's mid-sections needed a little trimming and so I decided to give it a shot. I began with ten sit-ups and then added one every other day until I was doing forty. The amazing thing is I have kept it up. I had to stop doing sit-ups around the time of the wedding because I literally didn't have enough time in the day and I didn't do them in Bangladesh because it was too darn hot. When I got home, though, I started up again and have added some other exercises to my routine like doing the plank. And you know what - they really do work! I don't mind the five minutes I spend doing them every morning and there is a noticeable difference to my abdominal muscles as a result. Who knew? Apparently not me. If you are going to try it, my advice it to start with just a few sit-ups so you can feel successful and gradually build up.
3) My face is messy/Messi! I wanted to share this story as it makes me laugh every time I think of it. One day when I was in the middle of teaching a class in Bangladesh, one of my students called me over and said "Grace, your face looks messy". Now it was 35C and a bazillion percent humidity and I was sweating like crazy - so I wasn't looking my best, but I didn't think I looked so bad that someone would tell me my face looks messy. I was taken aback and asked him if he knew what 'messy' meant. He said to me - no not messy - Messi - football. I don't know the first thing about soccer/football so the students had to tell me that Lionel Messi is a famous soccer player. I was laughing and blushing and dumbfounded that a student had just told me I look like a male football player. In fact I was laughing so hard it took a few minutes for me to regain my composure and continue the lecture.
Later that day I Googled Lionel Messi and you know what - he does kind of look like me. What do you think?
It's not exactly a compliment to be told I look like a male athlete, but there are worse people you could look like? And it does make a good story!
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