MonnaMcDiarmid.com: The UnLaunch

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First, my deep apologies if you are one of the small handful of people who has faithfully followed my adventures over the years: from Barcelona Moments to Teacher Meets World to Monna McD. I am moving blog-homes again and, hopefully, I'll be staying put for a while!

You will now find me at MonnaMcDiarmid.com

Since late 2006, when I began blogging in Barcelona, Blogger has been my platform of choice and Blogger has always been good to me. I know my way around Blogger and we've always been a good fit... so much so that the move to Wordpress feels a bit like cheating. The bottom line is if Blogger had made it this easy as for me to register my own domain name, I'd never have left.

Life (and blogs) moves on.

I'm calling this an "un-launch" because, frankly, I am a bit weary of big announcements about blog changes.  My blog is basically the same: a white background and a minimalist appearance. I have imported all of the posts from my past blogs... the whole damned collection. There is a lovely new header, designed by DP, which reflects our recent move to Japan. There are also some little glitches that I am fixing as I find them. (Yup... I am trying to let "perfect" go!)

In the days and weeks to come, I'll be posting more about Japan... which, thus far, has felt quite a lot like living on the moon.

I'd love it if you'd follow me over at MonnaMcDiarmid.com - either through a reader like Google Reader or via e-mail.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you subscribe!

Happy Sunday!

The Charms of Barcelona Guest Post

DP and I were in Barcelona for a glorious week this summer and all I wrote for you was one (just one!) post about our photo session with Kyle and Seba.

Until now, that is.

I've written a guest post on Dry as Toast and you can read it here.

Dorkys, the blogger, is in Barcelona right now so I am, of course, a bit envious.

The Sunday List (15) The Yokohama Edition

{This girl has a face like a poem.}

1. Listening
Melody Gardot.
Listen, I know I've said it before but her voice is extraordinary. She kills me.

2. Watching
We don't have cable television yet. I mean we do... but we don't... don't get me started! So DP and I have been watching movies and a bit of television purchased from i-tunes.

Last Night is a beautifully written film about love, longing and fidelity. The art direction is gorgeous and the interiors are sumptuous. (Warning: We really liked the film but it made us feel sad.) Here's the trailer.

3. Reading
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Shimamura, a wealthy Japanese man goes to a mountain resort and meets a geisha named Komako.
Nothing happens.
Everything happens.

We have lived in Japan for just a month now but I am already starting to see how the art of subtle communication works in real life. Traditionally, a Japanese person would never turn down a social invitation but would say yes in such a way that the person offering the invitation would hear a gentle no. I find this both lovely and infuriating.

4. Quoting
“The fact is that very few things have so much effect on the feeling inside a room as the sun shining into it.” ~ Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language


What's got your attention right now?

Blue sky-views from the 69th floor

From the 69th floor of the Landmark Tower in Yokohama, you can see forever.

It was an Africa-hot Tuesday afternoon and two of my colleagues and I had taken the group of new new high school students to the Minator Mirai 21 district of Yokohama for lunch and a cool scavenger hunt followed by a trip to the top of Landmark Tower which is the tallest building and third tallest structure in Japan. (A quick aside for teachers: If you want kids to bond quickly, take them to the exact place that they would choose on their own... a mall!)

My group piled into the elevator and a young female guide began to speak in Japanese. I gathered that she was talking about the speed of the elevator as twenty heads leaned back to get a better view of red numbers on a screen just above the elevator doors. The elevator reached a speed of 12.5 metres per second which meant that the elevator came to a gentle landing on the 69th floor in just forty seconds. My ears popped twice!

About halfway to the top, one of our students whispered, "Can you imagine being in here during an earthquake?" Twenty people inhaled in perfect unison and were then completely silent for the next twenty seconds.

Even on a hot, August day the views were astonishing. When the weather cools off a bit, and the Yokohama-skies are at their bluest, I'll take DP so that he can see forever too.

What have you been looking at lately? What are your new views?

Jellyfish on the walk home

I bought a new i-phone. I know that's not really big news compared with moving to Japan but it is news, nonetheless, and said i-phone is allowing me to capture all manner of Yokohama moments via Hipstamatic and Instagram. (If you don't have an i-phone, it doesn't matter what those are. If you are an i-phone person, perhaps you have experienced this particular app-addiction or are, at least, slightly sympathetic to my plight.)

The good news is that I have taken some photos of my walk from school. Pretty, no?

Walk with me... down the street, around the corner, past the Foreigners' Cemetery, through the park, down the elevator (yes... an elevator), through the metro station, out onto the shopping street and, finally, across the canal where the jellyfish live.

I swear that the jellyfish bow to us as we walk by.

We bow back. It's what you do in Japan.

Did you spot the jellyfish? (Look closely!)

Dreaming of (another) home

This is Yokohama, Japan.

We live here now. (This is a relatively new thing; we've been Yokohama-people for just over 14 hours... 8 of which were spent sleeping.)

This morning we start work at our new international school. It's a gentle beginning in which we'll get a tour of the school and city and receive our new laptops. Then, this afternoon, DP and I will meet an agent who will show us some rental properties so that we can choose a home.

I love new beginnings!

{Note: I wrote this post on August 2nd but didn't post it. Perhaps I was waiting until I had more news.}

Strawberry Jam Days

This is my mom. She worries that people of my generation (and younger) have forgotten or simply did not learn how to make jams and preserves. (She's right.) About a week ago, on a gorgeous mid-July day, she gave my niece and me a refresher course.

So, in the spirit of keeping jam-making alive, here is my mother's tried-and-true recipe.

strawberry jam
Ingredients:
- Approximately 5-6 cups of strawberries (The amount needed will depend on the size of the berries. Your goal is to have 3 3/4 cups of mashed berries when they are hulled and mashed.)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 7 cups white sugar
- One packet of liquid Certo or Pectin (Please check the best before date on the box.)

Directions:
1. Hull (take out the stems) and mash strawberries until you have 3 3/4 cups.
2. Mix strawberries, lemon juice and white sugar. Put ingredients in a large pot on your stove top.
3. Bring to a boil while stirring frequently so that substance doesn't stick to bottom of pot.
4. Add one packet of liquid Certo. Bring this to a full rolling boil for a minute to 90 seconds. (A full rolling boil occurs when nothing disrupts the boil including your stirring motions with a wooden spoon.)
5. Take pot off stove and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
6. Remove top layer with a spoon and place it in a bowl. This layer will be lighter in colour. (My mom calls this the scum and we always eat it on our toast the week that she makes strawberry jam.)
7. Make sure that your bottles are sterilized with boiling water. Then fill the bottles with your jam.
8. Melt parafin wax in a tin can in a double boiler.
9. Pour enough wax on top of jam to seal it from the air. This layer is quite thin - perhaps half a centimetre.

Notes:
Makes 5 small bottles of jam.
To make jam with other berries, use 4 cups of mashed berries and leave out the lemon juice.
My grandmother said that you should never make jam when it is raining. (I'm just saying...)

 

What is the most useful thing that you learned from your mother?

Halfway around the world

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When planning our trip home this summer (Ottawa for me and Calgary for DP), the cheapest plane tickets we could find got us from Bangkok to New York City via London. So, I was thinking... if we were going to be in London, why not spend a few days there? And if we were going to be in Europe, why not fly to Spain and see our friends in Barcelona? Why not see some shows in London and New York City? After four nights in Manhattan, we'd take Amtrak's Adirondack route from Manhattan to Montreal and then, the following day, we'd take Via Rail home to Ottawa. We'd rent a car and drive to Toronto and Kingston. What could be easier?

So that's what we did. We traveled halfway around the world.  (The other half - the half that leads to our new life in Yokohama, Japan - begins in just two weeks!)

We visited ten cities and many small towns in five countries and slept in 11 different beds. In Barcelona, we had our photos taken. We've seen many dear friends with whom we shared stories and some extraordinary meals. (Unfortunately, there are some friends we won't have a chance to see this year. This always makes us feel a whole host of emotions situated along the sadness/guilt spectrum but not seeing everyone is one of the few drawbacks of our mostly-lovely nomadic life. Knowing and loving many people is not always compatible with our strong need for rest, recovery and some time for ourselves at the end of each school year.)

The journey has been:
a) heart-warming
b) exhilarating
c) delicious
d) exhausting
e) all of the above (and still a very good idea!)

Today, exactly one month after our Bangkok departure, I had my first full day in my jammies. In short, I had a vacation from my vacation. To say that I have enjoyed this day without commitments would be an understatement of criminal proportions. I even loved the scary wind storm and ensuing power outage that gave us a reason to light our seldom-used, big red Christmas candles. I felt a bit disappointed when the power came back on and the bright lights ruined the lovely mood. That's exactly how I used to feel as a kid... like "Why is everyone so excited about the power? It was more romantic with the lights out."

I have so much to share but after a month on the road, I got stuck and wasn't sure where to start. So I'm just starting.

Hello! How have you been and what have you been up to?

Un-wedding Photos, Barcelona

I confess.

I totally talked him into it.

This is actually the second time that I have coerced DP into playing along with this particular scheme; the first time was a few years ago in the Tuileries in Paris.

I am speaking, here, of having our photographs taken by a professional photographer.

As non-conventional souls, we have opted out of many things including marriage. That's not a big political statement on our part; we have just never felt the need to have our relationship recognized by church or state. (In our case, how would we begin to figure out which nation state's blessing is required?) I do, however, love wedding photos especially when they are taken by photographers as talented as Kyle Hepp and her husband Seba.

When I saw that Kyle and Seba would be in Barcelona at the same time that we were visiting in June of 2011, I contacted Kyle about the details for an un-wedding shoot. When I knew that it was possible, I asked DP if he was interested. He said he'd think about it. He thought about it... I encouraged him... he caved. This is no small thing as DP would always prefer to be on the other side of the lens.

This is what love looks like, folks.

On June 16th, we met up with Kyle and Seba at the train station in Gracia and retraced our walk home through the neighbourhood of Gracia to our former piso (apartment) on Carrer Seneca (Seneca Street).

I felt nervous. Nervous and overheated. And then my head started to sweat. (If you know me, then you know that I'm a famous head sweater from way back!)

Then Kyle and Seba arrived at our meeting point and they were so friendly and accommodating that I soon forgot about my nervousness (my head, however, continued to sweat) and we walked through the favourite parts of our old neighbourhood having our photographs taken. This is a seriously surreal endeavour which I highly recommend to single people and married people and happily unmarried couples.

Yes, if you have been wondering, people do stare. They are trying to figure out who you are and why you are having our photographs taken. Mostly, they are just curious.

The surprising thing about having our photographs taken in Barcelona, where we lived for three years, was that people on the streets were much friendlier and accommodating than we had imagined. I have a saying about Barcelona which tickles me to no end... "You don't go to Barcelona for the hugs." (Catalans are notoriously suspicious of outsiders which is completely reasonable given how they were treated by Franco!) When we were having our photos taken, however, people stopped and waited patiently for Kyle and Seba to do their thing. A couple of people on a moto actually apologized which made us all laugh.

With some guidance from Kyle, we had chosen 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. and we were well rewarded with the most delicious light. As Mara says about Florence, "You could eat the light with a spoon."

We totally recommend Kyle and Seba who have created an amazing photography business by being intentional and professional about every aspect of their business. They are warm souls with whom we felt immediately at ease and they made it a priority to understand who we are and what we wanted as clients. They are both amazing photographers and DP and I love their aesthetic. Amazingly, less than a week after our shoot, Kyle had already posted the preview of our photographs. Oh, the photos!

You can check out our un-wedding photographs here on Kyle's site.

What's the lesson here?
1. Do what you want.
Do it even if it feels goofy or you think other people might not approve. Live all over the world. Move to Japan. Have your photos taken on the light-filled streets of Barcelona by two strangers who are no longer strangers. Do it! What do you have to lose?
2. DPs love for me is an awesome thing. I totally owe him one.

Very Thai Moment 2

{Photo Credit: Edith McDiarmid}

Click on photograph to see a larger view

My mother took this photograph when she and my cousin visited us in February. The shot was taken downtown and it captures, perfectly, the chaotic vibe that characterizes the streets of Bangkok. Thanks, mom!

The Best of Bangkok

{Photo Credit: Sippanont Samchai}

We were having dinner with friends last night when the conversation came around to our favourite local framing stores, Bangkok blogs and etsy vendors.

This reminded me of a trip to Phuket with this same group of lovely friends shortly after we arrived in Bangkok two years ago. We were sitting on wooden lounge chairs on a white-sand beach, staring out at the Andaman Sea, when that conversation led to favourite Bangkok restaurants. "Wait!" I said, grabbing my moleskin and a pen. I made a list of 18 restaurants - almost all of which DP and I have tried over the past two years.

Each time I move to a new city (and Bangkok has been my sixth city-home), I feel like I've bought a ticket to an enormous museum.  A museum so large and complex that it will take me years to explore and, eventually, become comfortable in.  Different people take very different approaches to this experience of being new to a city.  Some leap with wild abandon, content to explore the city on their own while others (myself included) need more information and less ambiguity. I would happily line up for hours in order to get a detailed map of this metaphorical museum. In real life terms, that means that I seek out and am deeply grateful for my friends' recommendations and strategies; in that spirit, I offer my own list of Bangkok favourites below.

Best Bangkok Blogs:
Newley.com (News and other cool stuff)
Austin Bush (Photography and food)

Best Lower Sukhumvit Restaurants:
Kuppa (International and Thai + great desserts + beautiful interior)
Crepes and Company (French crepes + great ambiance)
La Monita (Best tacos we've had outside Mexico/Texas)
Greyhound Cafe at Emporium and Central Chidlom (We LOVE their bruschetta with tomatoes, the spinach and cheese dip and the pad thai)
Duke's Express on Fifth Floor of the Emporium (Extremely yummy comfort food from "home")

Best Bread:
Urban Pantry (This small company is producing the yummiest bread we have eaten in Asia)

Best Bagels:
BKK Bagel Bakery (Real New York bagel shop located in Maneya Center, next to the Chdlom BTS statation on Sukhumvit Road)

Absolute Best Meals in Bangkok:
Please note that the first meal is incredibly cheap while the rest will cost you some $$$
Pad Thai, spring rolls, mango sticky rice and lime soda at the shaded cafe in the art section of JJs
Sunday Jazzy Brunch at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit
The Cheese Room inside Flow at the Millennium Hilton. See a video of the buffet at Flow here.
Le Normandie at the Mandarin Oriental (Phone for reservations and ask about their special set menu for lunch on weekdays and Saturdays during the off-season)

Best Thai Guesthouse:
Pak Chiang Mai (Khun O and Khun Noon will make you feel like a member of the family at this lovely little guest house in the old city)

Shopping:
Jim Thompson - Retail stores at Emporium and Central World and the twice-annual Jim Thompson sale
Paul's Antiques (Thai and Burmese wooden furniture)
Chatuchak Weekend Market (also known as JJs)
Zsiska (Funky designer jewellery shop in Central World)

Best of Etsy.com:
The art in our Bangkok apartment has come primarily from JJs Weekend Market here in Bangkok and from Etsy.com, an online marketplace where artists can sell their own homemade goods. Here are four of my favourite Etsy shops:
Irene Suchoki
Alicia Bock
Tush Tush
Keep Calm and Carry On - poster from sf girl by bay

Best Framing: 
UThai Framing, Sukhumvit Soi 21 (Excellent and affordable framing shop recommended by an Art teacher)

Best map to the Museum known as Bangkok:
Nancy Chandler's Map of Bangkok


What are your favourite spots in Bangkok? Please share them in the comments below.

Very Thai Moment

{Click on the photo to see a larger image.}

For me, the photo of this beautiful food vendor symbolizes Thailand.  This is as Thai as downtown Bangkok gets.

Today, walking home from school, I stopped and smiled at the woman who runs this food stall. Not so unusual, right?

I then proceeded to do something I have never before done in Thailand.  I asked her if I could take her photograph. Before you begin formulating the thought, "Wow, Monna's Thai must be so good!" I must come clean that I had my camera in my hands and I raised it and then raised my shoulders.  International sign language for, "May I take your photograph." The woman smiled back at me which is international sign language for "Go ahead, you crazy foreigner. I'm just cooking lunch here."

So I took her photograph.

I love her entire outfit including the white rubber boots, jaunty white hat and blue floral apron. I love the guy sitting behind her at a table covered in a pink plastic tablecloth that reminds me of Mexico. This moment was what both Thais and foreigners would call, "Very Thai."

With just a week left in Bangkok, I find myself more patient with this city I have not loved.

Yesterday, DP and I watched as five tiny Thai men in canary yellow shirts packed up our entire life. "57 boxes!" the supervisor told us proudly. 57 boxes. Our apartment is now empty and we are sleeping in a mattress on the floor; it's like being in university again.

The good news is that we have lots of space to dream about Japan and to reflect on two years spent in Thailand.

I'll try to bring you several more Very Thai Moments before we go!

Mondays are for Dreaming: Chiang Mai Market

These pics are from Nonghoi Market in Chiang Mai.

DP and I went to Chiang Mai for the weekend. We worked at our school in Bangkok all day Friday, hopped on an Air Asia flight at 6:15 p.m. and were in our hotel - the lovely Pak Chiang Mai - by 8:00 p.m. We spent the evening at the Night Market and ate dinner at The Duke's which serves what might be the best burgers and ribs in Thailand. We really wondered why we didn't take this little trip more often over the last two years.

One of my agenda items for Chiang Mai was to buy a mortar and pestle. We e-mailed Yui and Kwan who are the owners of A Lot of Thai cooking school; they recommended Nonghoi Market on Chiangmai-Lampoon Road. While we were at the market (actually buying my mortar and pestle), we ran into Chef Yui with a group from her cooking class. When she saw us, she embraced us and gave us each a big kiss. (She is the coolest Thai person we have ever met!)

With just four weeks left before we leave Thailand, I'm so happy we made it back to Chiang Mai for one last visit.

Mara at The Mother of All Trips is dreaming of a spring Saturday in Washington D.C.

What travels are you dreaming of today?

Postcards from Japan (2)

{Square postcard. Extra postage required.}

Dear mom,

Everyone has their own idea of being pampered. In Thailand, many expats love getting a massage, manicure or pedicure. Partly that's because these services are inexpensive and they are everywhere. You'll probably recognize these massage mats from Pak Chiang Mai in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

These particular luxuries are not important to me.

Perhaps it's because we're Canadian (and that I was raised right!) but the way that I want to be pampered is to be treated with courtesy and care.

During our week in Japan every desk clerk, waiter and store clerk did their best to help us in a polite and efficient manner.

I get that this might not be everyone's idea of sexy but, for me, Japanese courtesy is heavenly. (I think you'll like it too when you come to visit us next year!)

Love,

Monna

P.S. For Postcard 1, click here.

Postcards from Japan (1)

 

Dear mom,

Given the three weeks that it normally takes for mail to travel from South East Asia to Canada, this seems like the best possible way to share my postcards with you. (Having said that, the Japanese are so amazingly efficient that they may have invented postal time travel that allows post cards to arrive at their destination before you have actually sent them!)

We arrived in Yokohama on the afternoon of Monday 11 April to visit the city and school that we'll start calling home in August. This is the lovely view of the harbour and downtown Yokohama from our hotel room. About an hour after we arrived, we experiences our first earthquake - a 7.4 in the North. This was my fourth earthquake; the others were in Cali in Colombia, Ottawa and Bangkok just a few weeks ago. Do you remember how you and I both felt shaky after the earthquake in Ottawa last summer? Weirdly, I didn't experience the same fear/relief in Yokohama. DP and I opened the door to the hotel room and stood in the hallway outside our bathroom where there was nothing that could fall off the walls or tip over. The shaking lasted for about 30 seconds.

A few minutes later, the front desk called us to check that we were okay.  DP said, "Yes, we're fine. Should we come down?" (We were on the 9th floor.) The front desk clerk assured us that it was perfectly safe to stay in our room.

Shortly afterward, we met a friend and went out to dinner and to an IB art exhibit for our new school.

In spite of experiencing one of the strongest earthquakes felt in Yokohama since 11 March 2011, we have both begun to fall in love with Yokohama and with the Japanese people who treated us with great respect and care.

Love,
Monna