ups and downs

Oh hello little blog, I have missed you. The Boy and I have been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster and feel a bit rutt-esque (you get the picture...). I'm going to share, so you know why Ive been quite absent from blogging of late, and also because I find my posts being all about 'Creative Tracey' .... but there's more to me than that :)

Fabulous blue and green paint treatments in Old Quarter in New Delhi, 2006

You see, we're at a stage in our lives where we're starting to think about having a family (cluck! My heart melted whilst typing that word!) but we also have a strong urge to travel and live overseas for up to 12 months. We'd love to wake up every morning for a year and be somewhere different, learn something new each day, immerse ourselves in an unfamiliar culture and maybe learn a new language. 

Tie Dye in Rajasthan, India, 2006

So yes, second or third world is what we're imagining. We both have a desire to feel like we're making a difference to a less fortunate community who can also teach us something. I'd like to learn to live more minimally. We're both fairly scrupulous and I'm very proud of the thriftiness mum seems to have instilled in me... but I think that growing up and living in a Western country has some of us feeling as though we want more and need more to be happier. Although we do this well, I think there's room for us to do it better.....perhaps those in less fortunate countries have some answers for us?? 

Halong Bay, northern Vietnam 2008

So The Boy applied for a job in Cambodia and got it a few weeks ago and were extraordinarily elated, scared and of course super excited. We sat beaming on Cloud 9 for almost a week, however moments from accepting the job and emails to-and-fro the office we found out that we wouldn't be able to live together. So we're no longer going on that adventure, he is gutted as it would have been his perfect job and it has left us feeling a bit flat and pretty disappointed. 

Laotian hilltribe folk near Luang Namtha, 2009

So where to now? We have started looking for teaching jobs and we'll just have to hope that something jumps out at us. The quantity (ridiculous numbers!) of ESL teaching jobs that require a simple 100 hours of study and tend to employ those willing to teach as an English tutor after school hours to 'well off' students is crazy. With every Google search tens of thousands of websites invade my screen and it's not fun rummaging through to find which might or might not scam us.

The search continues. Wish us luck x