Something New Week #1

As promised I have tried something new this week.  On Wednesday night I made me first homemade moussaka!  I'm not going to say it tasted amazing - I am not the spice woman and had to rely on Nico to add those for me later - but it tasted much better than I had expected.  I think it's the cheese...mmm.  The best discovery was that it is a gluten free dish which I didn't know!  So I didn't have to adapt it and it was really quite straight forward!

Ingredients

	1 tablespoon Olive Oil
	1 medium Onion, finely chopped
	1 clove Garlic, crushed
	1 medium Courgette, chopped
	175 g Mushrooms, sliced
	1 can chopped Tomatoes
	1 teaspoon Mixed Herbs, dried
	1 Vegetable Stock Cube, dissolved in 125ml hot water
	1 tablespoon Cornflour, blended with 2 tbsp cold water
	1 medium Aubergine, sliced
	600 g Potatoes, par-boiled and sliced
	250 g soft Cheese
	50 g Cheddar Cheese, grated
	1 medium Egg
	1 pinch Salt, and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5.
  
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and courgette for 3 - 4 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs and stock. Bring up to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer without a lid for 10 minutes. Add the blended cornflour and cook, stirring, until thickened. Remove from the heat and season.
  
• Spoon half the tomato mixture into a large baking dish. Layer the aubergine slices over the top, then spread the remaining tomato mixture over them. Arrange the potatoes over the surface in an overlapping layer.
  
• Beat together the soft cheese with the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Spread over the potatoes, then sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 45 - 50 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. 

This is a Weightwatchers recipe that comes in at just 9 Propoints per serving.  (The recipe is designed to make four servings)

My favourite class of the week

One day, when my job becomes really boring, even to me, I'll stop giving you crazy updates that probably don't convince you how much I love teaching.  That day is not today though.  I had another great evening yesterday with my adult classes.  The advanced class are both really good and a little bit scary in that I'm not sure what I can teach them, they are so advanced.  Last night they debated for one hour the pros and cons of facebook.  I have never felt so lazy in my work.  I didn't make a peep.  At the end of the day though, it is a speaking class and they all put themselves out there and made points and argued their case - it was brilliant.  It was a different mix of students from last week with four new faces but it worked really well.

My only concern was one new lady who hardly spoke.  I thought she might ask for her money back or something but at the end of the lesson, she hung back and told me (in English of course) that she had really enjoyed the lesson and even thanked me!  That kind of feedback is amazing as a teacher.

Something New

I recently read an article that said in order to stay young, we should try to do something new once a week.  I'm already trying 27 this year but I've decided to try to put this into practice too.  Hey, it can't hurt can it?  

(Okay so yoga did hurt a little the day after but not enough to put me off!)

Parents' Evening

I'm half way through parents' evening/day and it's one aspect of my job that can be quite depressing.  In England, I always found that the parents who make appointments to see you and turn up are rarely those that you really need to speak to.  They're normally the responsible ones whose children are equally responsible and are doing fine in school.  In a way, it's nice to be able to feedback the positive and to guess whose parents you are speaking to if the pupils don't come with but I have too much of a glass half full attitude to ignore the fact that those who don't turn up to appointments or don't even bother to make them are the reason that their children behave the way they do in class and it's a really negative reflection of society.  

Having had a brilliant up bringing, I was shielded from the kind of thing I see in my job now.  I'll never forget my first parents' evening where I had one hyperactive pupil and I told his mother and step-father that his German was good but would be improved by better concentration and the step-father told me to call home straight away next time and he would beat it out of the pupil.  It really opened my eyes and the kid in question could have run riot the rest of the year and have behaved much worse and there's no way I would have called home.

I guess I just have to take from it that the kids need all the help they can get and that that makes my job worthwhile.

Morning Routine

This has been my morning for the past week or so now.

27 things...try a yoga class.

On Friday I took the latest step in my transformation into a hippy and went to my first yoga class!  A friend of mine has been going for a while and as I have Friday afternoons free, we decided to go together this week.  

I have to admit it wasn't exactly as I expected.  I went to pilates last year and really enjoyed it and thought it would be a little more like that.  It's not completely different but it is more relaxing.  The centre itself is really nice.  I think it's a fairly new company.  You can see for yourself here.  The floors are all wooden, there are some lovely changing rooms and shower areas.  There's a reception with sofas where you can drink tea before the class (included in the price).  The yoga studio itself is a reasonable size, the lights were dimmed and there are candles and scented oils everywhere.  

The class started with a few words from the teacher on the theme of the week - love and a reading from Buddha.  Then there was a little bit of quiet time or meditation.  The exercises themselves are strength building and stretches that relax and strengthen the body.  The best way I can think to describe the difference between yoga and pilates in my experience is that yoga is somehow more relaxing, although not by any means easy.  The teacher makes it look easy but there were a few positions that it will take me some time to learn.  We also had the advantage that she translates the instructions into English when she can see that we haven't understood something.

I've signed up to go once a week and next week we're going to meet before hand for a drink.  I find it a great way to end the week and get into a relaxed mood for the weekend.  I also think that once I get back to cycling and have my fitness training that way, yoga will compliment it nicely and hopefully help to build my strength.

The Saturday Update

This week I have stayed the same.  I'm a little disappointed as I have been totally on the plan and counting points since Monday and I have been racking up the points through walking even though I haven't gotten back on my bike yet.  I am going to stay motivated and on track though.  I plan to make some more 0 points soup and cut some points that way.  I am still off alcohol, so that should be helping too.  Fingers crossed for next week!  We also tried a new, delicious tofu and spinach salad recipe for lunch one day and I am going to make that again next week too.  Lookout for it this week.

Aside from that it's been a busy old week.  I went back to work on Monday despite not being 100%.  I lost my voice on Tuesday which led to losing my rag a little bit with my afternoon classes but apart from that, work has been good and I've been giving a lot of lessons on Guy Fawkes!  I also used those resources for my adult classes which got a little more interesting this week as I started delivering the advanced course too.  I'm really enjoying Thursday evenings at the moment.  

This week I also caught up with the other Native Speakers and the new ones who I hadn't yet met when we had the official get to know you drink at Cafe Classico in the centre on Thursday.  I discovered that two of the ladies who are new here are feeling quite homesick and finding it hard to meet people.  To be honest if it hadn't been for Linda when I first got here and Nico ever since, I would probably be feeling the same so I am going to try to arrange more get togethers and social things to make them feel more welcome and settled.  It's always great to meet new people and having discovered that only three of us have stayed from last year's group, I want to try and change that this year.

So next week is going to be busy too.  I have a full work week including parents' days which are always fun and a few social items on my calendar too.  Have a good one!