this moment

inspired by SouleMama
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words A few pictures, some words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

getting out as a family, being in nature and a moment later back to the buzzing city, made us realise - we made the right choice.

sure, not every day will be as perfect as this nice family outing last weekend. still, having all this right at our doorstep (whenever we'll have one) is definitely worth it.

my girls and I are off on a 3 week break to Austria and no blogging for me. have fun, creating moments for you and your loved ones - happy days!

moves

I have not been writing much about our move, but today I just feel it is about time to say a few words about...well, let's see where it goes...

9 years ago we made the decision to move out of our comfort zone, the country my man and I grew up in, to start life as an expat family with our first little girl.

from cosy, comfortable Vienna we moved to a place called Angola. I did not know much about Lunda, the capital city, we were going to live in. all I knew was, I want my man to have a job he likes and I want our little family to be together.

yes, I left everything behind, didn't even leave my options open...stupid? well, maybe, but hey, it all worked out. 

no worries, I am not going to write in details about our whole expat adventure since, but today I once again was blessed to have one of this expat days that made me realise why I am still doing this.

since we started our expat adventure in Luanda 9 years ago, we've moved from there to Pau/France, Libya/Benghazi, Egypt/Cairo and now Switzerland/Geneva.

Yes, every place has a story on it's own and no move was the same, but in every country I was fortunate enough to meet one or more people, who welcomed me like no other and opened their homes to me and my family, making me feel just a little comfortable in a place I don't know at all and have no clue where to go or what to do.

I arrived in Luanda with an 8month old baby. It was late when we arrived in our house that day. On the way we were to tired and exhausted to do any shopping, but my fridge was stocked with basics that got our little family through the first week. With my man off to work straight away, I was more than grateful for that as I had no clue where to get what, plus I just felt way too tired and exhausted to get myself out of the house anyway. All I did was nap through the day with my little girl.

But there was this knock on my door, just the day after I arrived. Outside - a "stranger", handing me a "welcome basket" and a contact list, with the names and phone numbers for all the other expats of the company, telling me where she lives and offering me to come for coffee anytime.

The exhausted me was so startled, I did not invite her in or anything, just thanked her, took the "gifts" and went back to nap with my little girl.

But I did go over to her house a few days later. The woman welcomed me in, introduced me to her friends, played with my little girl and well, a great friendship started.

What a relieve to move to France with a big baby-belly and a toddler. Pau welcomed us with good weather and the chance to be outdoors a lot! Again, with a man off to work straight away you need to keep yourself busy, somehow.

Out and about, just before the weather turned grey, my little girl, the belly and I discovered an indoor playground. On our second visit, there was this woman who noticed my leck of French and started talking to me. In this small world it didn't take us long to find out that our husbands even work at the same company and, et voila, I was at her house before I knew it, our kids got on really well and she was the one who took my little girl in when I went to give birth to another girl, she was the one who brought me fruit and vegetables when I was sick and home alone with a newborn and a little girl...

After spending more time in Pau by myself, our little family was finally all together in Benghazi again. We were excited to move and I found the blog of an expat family living there, being in email contact with them when before we finally arrived already.

Just two days after our arrival we were picked up by a man, we knew only from his blog, who brought us to his house to meet the family, who had dinner waiting. another great friendship was started. we were introduced to the their fine circle of friends and felt welcome and part of it from day one.

too soon we moved on to Cairo, but again, a decision for the family and hey, a new adventure. compared to all the other places Cairo was a bit like a walk in the park, but I am still grateful for that woman who showed me all the little shops, I might never or only have discovered way later without her help. The other woman who offered to take my big girl over to her place, without me asking, to get my hands free when our shipment arrived...

and here I am now, struggling through the "normal" world again. Enjoying to be able to just move around with the girls, but still with nobody to talk to...but no, the ones who know what it's like, they always appear.

at camp my big girl made friends with a girl who's moved to Geneva from Cairo last year and who's Dad works at the same company (again! small world). Of course we were invited for coffee and oh, delicious cake (!), hanging out at the lake together...

and just yesterday I get a call from a "stranger" (yes our man work together, but still she does NOT know me) coming to pick the girls and I up today to come round for company and allowing me to ask, well, anything...

And all this people became special in my life! I can not express how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to meet all this great people, call them friends and hopefully see them all sooner or later again. You know who you are and you know that you're in my heart.

In the same way I can't wait for the day I am going to be the one again, who'll open my door to the "newcomer", sharing what I know and experienced, hoping to make it just a little easier and maybe setting the start to a great friendship.

my day

this year I got the chance to really make my birthday MY day, and I am grateful and so happy I had my 3 favourite people on board.

here are a few moments from a wonderful day :-)

week-end

a Saturday morning market trip, followed by lazing around at home. after the sun found it's way through, the big girl and I decided on a quick trip to the park with our books. while doing a quick stop at the shop on our way home, the rain decided to take over again. but running through the rain was just what this day was still missing!

Sunday breakfast goodness. drawing, crafting, yoga at the park, while the girls enjoyed the sunshine and a little snack, the man gone for a run.

dinner on the balcony, a quiet night, the week-end just over too soon.

I start the week with a candle by my side...

the tear and the smile

so close together, so good

forms to release

but nothing to be forced

let it be true

and the heart can shine

it's all so close

on life's magical swing

week-end

this week-end was...

... discovering some of Geneva's wonderful markets!

... sunshine and rain, but I have to say the weather has been really good so far.

... this movie, on the sofa with my man.

... good food!

... a yoga class at this place.

... hanging out at the park.

... sad news ...

thinking of and sending love and energy to friends and family today - let it be a good week!

follow all the "weekends" here :-)

if only...

this morning I came across this - please read first and then continue here!

this is exactly what it is and means to draw within, to FEEL and not so much to see and look around.

as much as I love the yoga-circus - more and more challenging poses, your flexibility letting you go all crazy - it seems to have taken over in some yoga places around the world.

now, as I myself haven't started this career as the most flexible person and still have a long way to go, or not (there are limits we all need to accept!), I always had and still love to focus on simple postures and how and what we FEEL, how our body and mind changes with the repetition of the simple. I guess that's why I found my "home" in the Sivananda practice - 12 basic postures that keep you healthy and make you feel good :-)

but how to get people who are not so flexible, to start with, to come to class more than once? Yes, that's the challenge, and so far I can only remember one person who had his very first yoga class with me, was unbelievable inflexible, but kept coming and became one of the BR students who gained maximum strength and flexibility through a regular practice.

I've had way more people who came once, saw all the others and were never seen again...

most of the not so flexible ones also ask for private classes to start with. and as much as I love one-on-ones, I do prefer them in cases of yoga-therapie and not so much as personal fitness/flexibility training. although I do understand how hard it can be to step into a yoga class for your first time. the room full of people who seem to know what they're doing, maybe even extremely flexible and good looking - no fun for the one who is just starting this journey.

I was lucky enough to start my yoga journey not only with a wonderful teacher, but with just a few great friends in class. still very grateful for that wonderful group of women.

so, if you're one of the one who always wanted to get started, or even tried a class already, but went out with the feeling of not-fitting-in (for whatever reason). maybe you have a few more friends who'd like to give it a try? get together and maybe you can find a yoga teacher close to you who'd like to get you started! I certainly would :-)

on and off the mat

to some, yoga only happens on the mat (and that's totally FINE). for me, the "real" yoga starts off the mat - as the ability of drawing in, pausing, when life is fast and the mind is running wild.

well, my mind was/is running wild. so over the past weeks I practiced yoga in different ways, off my mat (as we all do every day anyway). I started by taking the violin into my hands again. focusing on the music - settling the mind, giving it a break.

lucky me had the chance to play at the girl's school, end of year production, again. I got hours to focus on the music, enjoying the break of thoughts, regarding our move. oh, my mind just went crazy, especially in those weeks where it would still have been time to do this and that. but I am glad I chose not to go for it and totally drain myself by trying to achieve things I am not even sure I really need/want. 

next was the big part of letting go. one of the biggest challenges of the practice. my focus finally got me to let go of some objects of the girls baby years. yes, I am one of the ones who has a story to every little piece of fabric they've touched ;-)

but especially over my last weeks in Cairo, doing so many "last ones" and not carrying the camera with me all the time and simply not wanting to interrupt special moments with taking any other advice to take a picture, I focused on taking this special moments in, more than I ever did before. soaking up the feelings, the faces, the words...and now it's all there. nothing and nobody can ever take it from me.

by being so successful, on that mind focus on the special moments, the letting go of the objects came easy and does feel good.

next, the breath. how am I going to keep that short? actually, JUST BREATH, would be enough to say.

when I tell people that their most important tool to feel better is right there with them, accessible at any time and any place, they worry a lot about a special way of breathing. forget about it! focus on your breath. your body is doing it. focus the mind to follow each and every breath, for as short or long as you want. the rest comes later...

so, for me the breath focus happened/happens a lot. if I have the chance I go into child's pose and add Ujjayi breath - my favourite to deal with overflow of emotions and to get a quick energy boost!

oh, and the goal of spending all this hours on the mat - to get up, walk out of the "yoga-space" and take the peace and calm with you. staying calm and patient with me and others, especially my kids!

still, a long way to go. as much as I now realise it, there is still outbursts happening for reasons, not even worth to be mentioned.

and that is why we find our way back onto the mat for whatever type of practice over and over again. getting our body and mind ready for whatever awaits us in life off the mat!

happy living :-)