pensai 盆栽

Anyone that knows me is aware of my unhealthy obsession with bonsai - the art of training a tree in a pot over many, many moons. It all started in the late summer when I stumbled across a bonsai ad on Kijiji. Someone was selling trees and that got me excited. I have always had a green thumb and enjoyed playing with dirt; I even owned a bonsai once many years ago.

I spent my summer hanging out with the Bonsai Guy (Christo) and learning everything I could; trimming, wiring, rules, watering, species, sales, road trips; we did it all. Now, months later, summer is gone and I have a much larger collection that I can't seem to keep track of. To make room for my new friends I broke up with my household plants (with the exception of some) and started living in a forest of bonsai trees; I haven't regretted it. There have been evenings where I've stayed up so late working on a tree that I thought my eyes would bleed, resulting in my love being angry at me for being such a grump in the morning. :x
I must admit that if I end up in China, it would be surreal to be in the birthplace my hobby. I would compare the joy of adding a new tree to my collection to buying a new purse or pair of shoes that you've longed for and that finally went on sale.

The pics in this post aren't from my collection, just amazing trees that make me drool. Now that I have a better camera, I will take some pictures of my trees and post them soon before I leave. x0)

postscript: If you're looking for a new best friend or something to grow old with, contact Christo. His collection stretches over 500 trees and over 50 different species (and growing)!

many thanks for reading,
shelly ♥

China vs. Spain

testing, testing...

This is my first entry, so forgive me if it seems amateur.

I decided to start a blog to capture my experiences teaching and traveling overseas which will start sometime in March of this year. We've received contracts for Changchun, China and Tarragona, Spain. Just so happens to be that both the offers and locations are polar opposites.

Changchun:
Pros 
- yummy Asian cuisine (no, I'm not referring to felines)
- private tutoring language school (a.k.a. less work)
- something totally different
- close enough to the Great Wall

Cons 
-cold! very cold.
- not the most exciting city in China
- very small living conditions
- wayyyyy too many people

Tarragona
Pros 
- beautiful city
- beach
- better salary & contract
- next door to Barcelona, close enough to Madrid
- hot! very, hot weather

Cons
- more teaching hours
- scam, scam, scam!
- I hear the Spaniards can be less accommodating

Wherever the plane lands, I have no doubt that it will be full of surprises, shocks and cuisine even I can't imagine consuming.

Time to start packing.

many thanks for reading,
shelly ♥