PettyMort

You could get one of those alarm clocks that runs away from you. Way to get in some morning cardio.

Dear me, Ok. That's enough chocolate for one day. I don't care if it is Easter. Just because the chocolate is there doesn't mean you need to eat it all at once. You can have a couple of pieces tomorrow. It won't kill you to wait. Love, Me

Workout: jumping jacks 40 Wall push ups 7 Mountain climbers 20 Side lunges 20 Butt bridges 20 Reverse crunches 20 Push ups 7 Plank 45 seconds Squats 50 Cleaning: tidied lounge and vacuumed, tidied bathroom counter top, did laundry Food: tracked

Yes! But of course, teachers have a separate coffee bladder.

As someone who has lived in several different countries, sometimes people may find that the new country is not what they expected. Things that were "easy" back home become difficult just because the processes are slightly different or because of cultural differences. It can be exhausting to try and perform things that you do without a second thought at home, like buying groceries (bags? Self checkout? Unfamiliar products?), using public transportation when you're used to driving yourself and so on. Depending on where in the US they lived before, it might be that they're relying more on public transport and the effort of doing that (even if it's not actually all that hard) is enough to discourage them from leaving their comfort zone of couch and familiar entertainment. It's a normal part of culture shock that tends to set in at the 3 month mark. It's up to them to get back out there and figure stuff out. Any pushing will only make it seem harder and cause frustration on both sides. It is frustrating to see people "wasting" an awesome opportunity. But living abroad is challenging in unexpected ways and requires a lot of courage and willpower. I've been in China for two years and this past Chinese new year my fiancé and I went 10 days without setting foot outside the apartment. And we loved it. We needed to be hermits for a while. Ultimately you can't really force someone to do something they don't want to do, but you can keep inviting them to join you, even if they always say no. One day they'll say yes.

Skipped tracking yesterday but here's today's: Workout: 5k run Cleaning: took out the trash and scrubbed down my shower Food: tracked all of it Squats: skipped because of the run And now I'm about to read in bed. Felt the urge to Facebook my running but didn't. Finished off season 4 of Babylon 5 and the Beginnings movie and... Sob. Fiancé and I have been toying with the idea of eloping in Vegas this summer, which was a great idea last night after he had had a few beers but becomes daunting when we talk about the logistics of it. He says he's going to look into it though. Things are pretty good all round.

Yay! Congrats on the offer. Visa stuff can be a pain in the ass. Just get things done one at a time.

I did it! Since this was my first 5k, my goals were: 1. Don't flake out. Do the thing. 2. Run at least half the time. 3. Have fun. 4. Finish it. 100% successful.

That's a good idea. Tracking for yesterday: I had a really busy and exhausting day at work so I didn't track my food although I didn't make any unhealthy decisions. Did 30 squats in the morning to catch up on missed squats the day before and another 50 while waiting for dinner to be ready. Then I dozed off while reading so I decided to listen to my body and went to bed at 8:30 instead of my workout. I'll double up on the workout today to make up for it. 30 minutes of cleaning in my class after we recycled paper and crayons. Tomorrow is race day and I got my team shirt so no backing out now.

Some tracking: Yesterday was a rest day so I did some sun salutations to work out a bit of the DOMS. Everything else was ticked. Today's workout: Wall Push-ups 6 Reverse crunches 20 Step up onto chair 20 Mountain climber 20 (curse my dodgy clicking hip; these suck) Abdominal crunches 20 Side lunges 20 Modified Push-ups 6 Plank 45 seconds Did 26 squats with the kiddoes this morning and I'm about to do the remaining 24 (the workout was a bit hectic after my dinner, so in future I'll work out while I wait for my food to arrive). Cleaned up the sofa aka take-out dumping ground. Still no facebook but I installed messenger to keep in touch with friends and family. I think today I slipped a bit into facebooky habits by posting stuff here instead, which is just substituting one for the other and not really the aim. I need to try to limit that, I think. Tracked meals, including pizza and ice cream. Still within my calorie allowance thanks to my healthy lunch subscription, but keeping the goal simple means I track the bad stuff and not just when I feel like I'm successfully choosing healthy meals. I am still trying to eat healthy. Hit my protein goal by eating biltong which is A-OK by me.

I love every single part of this challenge. Following for victory.

Just did round 2 of mixing and tearing paper to make pulp for recycling tomorrow with my class. The kids poured pulp water all over me so now I look like I lost a fight with a tissue monster. My test piece came out pretty well and I want to show it off, but...no facebook. So... HERE! Behold the papier du puke!

Just caught myself about to log into facebook from habit. Phew! Weird how it's like muscle memory. Sit down, open laptop, instantly type in the url... Today we took my class for a walk through the blooming canola fields. They're just as beautiful as last year and it was really amazing. I took some photos:

Urgh. Apparently today's Fun includes waves of nausea. Definitely not pregnant. It turns out that I can use FB messenger without reactivating my account. My parents are in Amsterdam so that means I am missing out on the red light district photos but I asked my dad to share the external link. I'm starting to feel the DOMS from the daily squat challenge. Probably compounded by six year olds challenging me to do wall sits and then deciding I was a comfy chair for as many small children as could fit before I fell down (4). I'm getting a little bit nervous about the 5k on Saturday but the good news is we've got a week long holiday for me to recover. Sterkte!

I think this is my new favourite.

I think living in China has been good for getting past the Facebook-for-events aspect. Because they block it here, most events are organised through the Chinese app "Wechat" (like whatsapp). So I'm really not missing out on anything. Not that I went out much to begin with... This afternoon, when I was waiting for my shift to be over so I could go home, the hours seemed to go on forever without the time sink of facebook. I didn't actually have anything more I needed to do, since reports went out yesterday and it's a while before the next stuff is due. I need to start reading at times like that, I guess. Or working on my Spanish. Foodwise I'm glad I decided to just track rather than try to stay within my macros. My favourite salad delivery place has reopened but they're using a different app, and... I accidentally ordered double for dinner. I put some of it (but definitely less than half) in the fridge for tomorrow. On top of that, my biltong delivery arrived at the same time, and who can say no to biltong? So, I'm pretty much waaaaaay over macros for the day. Luckily lunch was quite light so it's not a complete disaster. Tomorrow will be better.

Well, we'll have a spare room open to couch surfers for sure, so maybe you will get there eventually.

Hey there. I'm respawning in the middle of the challenge but figured I'd come hang out here until the next challenge anyway, while I get myself ready over in my battle log. My current adventure is teaching kindergarten in China but I'll be moving to Ecuador in August and I am SUPER excited. I've never been to South America before. I've never been at that altitude before. I've never taught 2nd/3rd grade before! So many firsts! And I get to add "climb a volcano" or even "mountain bike down a volcano" to my epic quest list. But yeah, for now I'm twiddling my chopsticks waiting for August. Did someone say squats? I'm doing a 50 bodyweight squats per day challenge right now and this morning I got my students to do it with me. I haven't been in a gym in months (they closed it to remodel and I guess they just never reopened). But I'll get there. Part of me wants to cheat a little and say that I squat 99kg (since that's my body weight) but that doesn't really work that way, does it? Hmm, if you squat 200kg but then lose 20kg of body mass, and your muscles aren't getting any weaker, how do you count that?

I think the hardest part right now is the food. Since I've been off the wagon for so long, I think I'm going to ease up on this goal and just try to keep a tracking streak without worrying too much about hitting the macros. Little steps. Just finished episode 4x08 of Babylon 5 (if you haven't guessed by now, I'm watching it for the first time and loving it) which means that after I complete all my daily stuff tonight I get to watch one of the movies! Hooray!

I really appreciate that too. It's something that is spreading to other countries as well. I always find it easier to track when I'm in the US because MFP has so many brands on it. On the academy FB page, someone shared this link that might be helpful for you: IIFYM Fast Food Master List. I don't think fast food is the ideal way to go, but when you are struggling with all the time commitments you have, it can be helpful to have this information.

Hi! I just came across your thread while browsing around. I've been living in Jiaxing, outside Shanghai since August 2016, but I'm gearing up to move to Ecuador in August. I think you're definitely on the right track with your goals but what impressed me most was your revelation about the romanticised China versus the realities of modern China. I kinda felt the same when I moved to South Korea (before China); I watched endless youtube videos and movies/TV shows to "prepare" but the realities were still so very different. Then, coming to China, and specifically this city, I was completely in the dark about the realities of life here, mostly because 99% of Chinese media content is not translated over the Great Firewall. China can be amazing (as can other places) depending on what you put into it. If you put yourself out there and go on adventures, discovering new places, riding your bike around, walking, discovering, immersing yourself in the culture, then you can maintain the wonder of travel and discovery. Unfortunately the pollution got a bit much for my Fiance and myself and we became quite housebound and lazy, and that was a major factor in wanting to leave. But a friend of ours used to go on hiking trips to the Yellow Mountains almost every weekend. It really comes down to the effort and reward. I do highly recommend the TEFL; it makes a big difference in earnings and the caliber of ESL jobs you can apply for. Mamahuhu is a Shanghai-based youtube channel that makes pretty realistic and funny videos about life in China. This one has happened to me so many times:

I've lived in Mauritius, South Africa, South Korea and now China, and I'm moving to Ecuador in July. For me, the biggest issue is maintaining my quality of life with the bare minimum of stuff. It's always hard at the end of a 2-year contract to get rid of all the bits and pieces that have accumulated. This time (moving to Ecuador) it's going to be the hardest since we won't really be able to ship anything other than what we can carry in suitcases on the plane. So, we need to get rid of our board games, our duelling lightsabers, my paintings, and a whole lot of other stuff that we thought we were going to keep forever. We manage to keep the paperwork stress down by not owning cars, having housing provided by work, and not having pets. One day we'll find our forever home and settle down and then we can get those things, but until then, we're nomads who make do with what we've got wherever we end up.