Keeping Busy

This past month I dove head first into the proverbial "biting off more than you can chew." I was just so happy to be working and have so many other offers for things that I gave a very excited YES to everything and everyone, without realizing that I'd somehow have to do all these things at the same time. These things included my regular job, of course, with a perfectionist's level of extra hours on weekends planning/preparing. Then I started a second job in a neighboring city teaching English through a company. Then I signed on to a modeling agency in St. Denis, got a car and tried to drive without just constantly screaming at it out of pure fear, dealt with French bureaucratic laws about my permit (aka looong lines at the DMV and never any good news..) helped a friend plan a Halloween party, planned a birthday photoshoot for my sister-in-law and her family, conducted private lessons at my home, and took on another Halloween project for a few days at an elementary school. I kept up (mostly) on my workouts, and the wifely duties of ironing and house cleaning, while cooking somehow got pushed out of the way. (Although I did bake a borderline weird amount of banana bread this month, does that count?)

Here are some photos:

I made hot dog mummies, thanks pinterest!

And I carved a jack-o-lantern...pumpkins or no pumpkins, the show must go on! 

Aurelie's 30th birthday photoshoot with Elena Iv-Skaya photography went amazingly well....

My new car...

Complete with the Santa Cruz mermaid from our awesome trip at my cousin's house in August <3

But then I immediately drove it into a ditch:

Ok but I never claimed to be a good driver...even in the US where we have lots of space and we are not forced to park in odd ways, I hated driving. But driving in Reunion is a whole different world. It is sadly/hilariously identical to driving in a video game. There are always people trying to bump you off the road. The only rule that everyone follows seems to be "try not to die." And lurking around each steep corner are random obstacles like banana peels, falling rocks, giant ocean waves, chickens, and dogs that appear to be dead but are really just sleeping. It's just all so horrifying.

Moving on...we had a language assistant mandatory fun day where we drove around in the rain on a bus, ate creole food, then went on a "discovery" treasure hunt in St. Paul. 

Ok I admit I was not looking forward to it but everything turned out okay. I especially liked our stop at the little mountain house that extracts the essential oil from geranium plants:

And finally, since Richard and I don't see each other much these days, we have resolved to have one date weekend a month where we go somewhere cool, and every other weekend we try to get out in nature somehow.

Here's date weekend in St. Rose, at the gite La Roseraye:

Here's Le Tour des Roches hike in St. Paul with Elena and James:

And this weekend was date weekend in the Grand Basin, which was breathtaking and awesome and our gite didn't have electricity so everything at night was by candlelight <3

Here's the Basin on the way down the mountain...

and here it is a little closer

Richard's friend owns the gite and apparently they spent a lot of time down there while they were growing up. So Richard knew a lot of places to take me that "no one else knows about" (read: where no one will hear you scream if you fall off the cliff because there is no trail for people to walk.)

Haha! oh funny, this bridge is collapsing! 

I know this looks like there's stuff to catch you if you fall, but there's not. It's just some wet slantly rocks that lead to your death. Richard just walked across this tube like it was some sort of normal person sidewalk. I chose the safer/dorkier option and scooted my way across it...

Also not a trail. Just another slippery tube used to bring water into the city.

At least this one had some ropes for the water workers. 

ok but he's right...it was pretty amazing...

We are not people who love hiking as a sport...but we are passionate about nature and we concede that the most amazing places are only accessible by foot. Each nature adventure is a little bit about pushing yourself, a little bit about overcoming fears, a little bit about trusting and helping each other, and a little bit about living in the moment. I like to pretend I'm in some kind of action movie so I feel brave. 

If only I could do the same in that damn car.