oops.

well the diet's done, because:
1. i'm a quitter to the core
2. it was stupid of me in the first place.

but on with the show!

here's what's been going on...

jenny works with orphans sometimes on the weekends. i got to go with her to an event for them about a week ago. one of the little girls seemed a bit scared about being there, so i pulled my camera out and let her snap away. she took this picture out the window.

this past weekend i went to a big christian festival in havlickuv brod. there were a bunch of youth groups from all over the country that came, so it was awesome to be in a big group of believers. not so awesome was sleeping on the floor for 3 nights, but that was all worked out today when i got a massage :)

sports! unfortunately we lost volleyball

there was a relay race, and pardubice won!

 as soon as i got home from brodfest, i turned around and went to english club at church. we had a costume party, where we talked about the traditions and history of halloween and carved pumpkins.

jenny's working on getting her visa, so we spent the day wandering around hradec with our friend/translator, Katka. it was rainy and nasty, but i found a place that has chai lattes and bagels! a huge surprise.

and then this morning i got to hang out with my long time friend, lucie. we got massages and went out for coffee.

day 5: dance lessons

taking it day by day now. i don't like thinking that i have 25 days left (or maybe only 9...maybe we'll do  2 weeks). have to just say, today is one day on this diet...and i can't think about the long-term future with it or it's discouraging.

breakfast: smoothie and coffee
tragedy: tummy grumbles while teaching. i resorted to eating nuts in front of my students.
lunch: salad and ratatouille
dinner: fajita

ugh how terribly boring.

one of my girls, terka, is taking dance classes. the tradition is that anyone can go along and watch, which we did tonight. i didn't get to show off any of my amazing dance moves, but i did get to dress up :)

unfortunately i'm too tired for captions, but you get the idea!

day 4 - the good, the bad, and the hungry

if you're reading this, you either really love me, or you have no life. because i'm gonna go on a rant again about this diet. but first: breakfast.

look familiar? it's because I EAT THIS EVERY MORNING. "omelette" with spinach, garlic, broccoli, and tomatoes, and a fruit salad. and of course a good cup of joe (with 2 additional cups).

i put off eating breakfast because i didn't feel like prepping for everything and was tired of eggs (dare i say it?), so i let my tummy growl until 11:30 when i decided enough was enough. i also finally changed out of my pajamas in the early afternoon (let it be known that i was doing work all morning :))

then i met up with this chick for lunch at mcdonalds:

checking out eli's food

she hates this shot

eli ordered a burger, fries, and a salad. i ordered a salad with casesar dressing and then realized that the dressing had added sugar, so used a few squeezes for flavor before giving the rest to eli.

jenny's sad because she can't eat anything

then after teaching, i went home and started on the fajitas, sans tortillas. i neglected to read what was in the fajita seasoning, so it's possible that it's full of gluten and added sugar. honestly, i don't really care :)

fajitas!

so here's the good, the bad, and the hungry.

the good: i'm eating lots of healthy veggies and fruit!
the bad: as one who tends to try to not eat too much meat, i feel like i've been going overboard with it. i mean, don't get me wrong, i love bacon as much as guys do, but i feel like i'm eating too much of it! and i don't think too much meat is healthy.
the hungry: ok, think about how many carbs (bread, pasta, rice) you ate today. i ate none. carbs fill your belly up, and my belly hasn't felt full in days!

the good: i'm ridding my body of extra sugars
the bad: prep work for eating so specifically takes a long time.
the hungry: you can hardly snack on anything. after only a salad for lunch and almonds for a snack, i was pretty hungry.

the good: i focus a lot on food. i consider food one of my love languages. that's why i'm complaining so much. it's good to remove myself from food a bit i guess
the bad: i'm tired. i complain all the time about how i hate this diet. i'm drinking TONS of coffee! i feel like my feet are hurting more easily
the hungry: oh man. it's weird going to bed hungry.

food food food.

day 3....it's only day 3?

so i know that it may seem kind of dramatic to be complaining about how hungry i am when i'm still eating (a lot), but truth be told, my belly feels absolutely empty without any carbs helping it out. i've heard it'll take 2 weeks before i'll transition completely.

other side effects apart from a constant feeling of hunger:
-we are literally losing our minds. jenny just took 15 minutes deciding what to wear. i've been staring off into space.
-we could both fall asleep at about 8pm
-we basically come home and complain to each other about this stupid diet.

so what's on the menu for today?
this was breakfast...bacon and eggs. actually, i had bacon and eggs for my second dinner as well.

i don't actually think i ate the banana.

i had dinner with my friend monika. i had told her about the diet, and told her that i could bring my own lunch which she could eat too. she said she'd try whatever i brought, and then secretly eat her own food. it's true, she hid chocolate under the table and shoved it in her mouth when i wasn't looking.

so, i chose to make ratatouille. completely vegetarian and yummy...completely not filling when you just want something of substance.

nonetheless, it was delicious (yes i'm tooting my horn)...here's how it went.

ratatouille is also supposed to have eggplant and yellow squash, but i didn't feel like buying any. the first step is to chop the onion and sautee it in olive oil, but i forgot to get a picture of that step.

then add some thyme, zucchini, and red peppers

chop those tomatoes! i think that chopping them yourself gets it more juicy.

then add basil, parsley, salt and pepper, and the tomatoes, and let it simmer for a few minutes. surprisingly easy and delicious! 

after my ratatouille lunch and monika's chocolate lunch, we went for a walk with her daughter vanesa. monika is my "tragedy partner in crime." our tragedy from today happened right after this picture was taken...monika and i went on a see-saw (a kind that you have to stand on), and Vanesa tried to start climbing a rope ladder unsuccessfully. a lady went over to her to help her while Moni and i were see-sawing away, and she told us it was ok, she could help Vanesa - that we didn't have time to. we felt like a bad mom and aunt :)

then i met up with anca and ate my apple snack.

here was the meal plan today:
breakfast: eggs and bacon
lunch: ratatouille
dinner: salad & ratatouille. oh my gosh with the ratatouille.
second dinner (which was literally right after first dinner): eggs and bacon again.
snack: banana, apple, almonds and raisins, carrot sticks. monika literally laughed at my vegetables.

Lord help us.

day 2: i'm so hungry, english club review, flat stanley adventures

jenny and i are only on day 2 of the paleo diet, and we're already hungry ALL the time. in my case, i think it's a lack of carbs which i tend to eat a lot of. here's a picture of us when we used to be happy and could eat whatever we wanted...

cheese and bread, chocolate milk....yummy!

on the bright side, we got to enjoy this tonight!

salmon, steamed butternut squash, red beets, and rosemary greenbeans.

and yet 2 hours later i'm still hungry. UGH.


on to brighter topics.

last night was the FIRST EVER ENGLISH CLUB!

about 15 students showed up. they literally sat in a row against the wall, and so i decided that since i was the teacher, i could make them do whatever they wanted. so i made them act like animals. not kidding.

the troublemakers. but they helped to clean up and i didn't.

don't mess with these redheads. gosh i love that girl.

see? they're sitting in a line! "be a monkey!"

my helpers for the night 

i'm such a happy teacher!

 they had to find a person who knew or had different things... who could name 10 states, whose eyes were green, who knew the four countries in the UK, etc.

find a person who...

attentive students

 and then they had a discussion question hunt

one group, enjoying their tea and brownies

my group

the last discussion group

and some of the girls

i also just received a flat stanley in the mail from a friend who teaches in Lebanon city. i took stanley out for a tour of pardubice.

the pardubice square

i wrote down the year this church was built, and then it rubbed off from my hand.  14th century though.

one of the rivers, i think it's the chrudimka

stanley on governmental land...the town office.