I have spent a fair few hours over the past two days reflecting on the year that has just passed and the year that has just started. I’ve been thinking about all of the experiences I have had that have led me to where I am in this moment and all of the people who have shared in those experiences. Having the time to pause and reflect has helped me see some things more clearly and I’d like to share a few of these reflections here.
I don’t think I can remember a busier December. There were of course the Decembers when I was thirteen or fourteen and was dancing in the Nutcracker. It seemed like endless afternoons and evenings of rehearsals and weekends full of performances all balanced with school. Then there were the Decembers when I was a full-time music teacher. Preparing the children for their holiday concerts were always stressful. It seemed that I spent every waking moment thinking about the music, rehearsing with the students, designing programmes, and planning the logistics. When I went back to being a full-time student, suddenly, my Decembers – while busy – were just a bit more leisurely. Sure I had deadlines but there wasn’t that stress of everything riding on my shoulders. This December though has been another thing entirely.
It's our twelfth episode of You Say Toma(h)to! We're very sorry about the delay in releasing this episode, between travel commitments, working, and the holiday rush, we needed a bit of extra time to produce this month's tomato. This month Jeremy and I discuss our Christmas traditions and how they reflect or diverge from our wider … Continue reading Episode 01.12 – Winter Wonderland – 12 December 2017
Today is my thirty-fourth birthday – the fourth birthday I have spent in the UK. I sometimes think back to my thirtieth birthday. I spent it thousands of miles away from home surrounded by people I had only known for a month. It's funny because one of those people was Jeremy and that occasion was probably the first time we ever actually spoke more than a few words to one another.
Welcome to the eleventh episode of You Say Toma(h)to. This one is a little spooky as Jeremy and I discuss two autumn festivals with macabre histories – Halloween and Bonfire Night. Be sure to listen with the lights on!
Sometimes you can't tell how hard you've been going at life until you're forced to stop and live in the moment. Those of you who follow my podcast, You Say Toma(h)to may have listened to the most recent episode detailing my recent holiday in Dubrovnik with Jeremy and two of our friends. When we got back, it became very clear that the way I was living just wasn't working for me. Oddly enough Jeremy was having similar feelings. Almost as soon as we got back from one of the best holidays we've had, we were stressed and very unhappy. How do you go about trying to capture and maintain those feelings of well-being that often arise from travelling?
Welcome to October's episode of You Say Toma(h)to! This month we have something special for you all - a narrated retelling of our recent holiday to Dubrovnik on the southern coast of Croatia. We do hope you enjoy listening to our adventures as much as we enjoyed having them.
The past two months have been busy. People tend to say that quite often. It's a great sort-of apology when you've been neglecting aspects of your life. "Oh, I'm sorry I haven't answered that email you sent me three months ago. It's been so busy." But in all honesty, I feel like I've not even had a chance to enjoy the few short holidays I've had recently, because I was either working during them or as soon as I came back I hit the ground running.
Wow! We've done nine episodes of You Say Toma(h)to! Thank you so much for joining us. This month Jeremy and I discuss languages and more specifically what our experiences have been learning languages and travelling to countries where we don't really speak the lingo. This episode features a very inspiring interview with my friend Annabell. She … Continue reading Episode 01.09 – Dices Tomate – 5 September 2017
I can't believe how behind I am with this podcast episode recap! It has been nearly four weeks since our eighth episode went out and in that time I don't think I've had a spare moment to really reflect on our August podcast. Luckily, I managed to find some spare moments today to put into writing some things that have come to mind.
an american in durham 