Category: General Advice

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Cooking With Nothing General Advice

No Microwave

This is my 12 foot square kitchen in my apartment in Moscow on Thanksgiving 2020

Somehow everywhere I live, I end up renting an apartment that doesn’t have room for a microwave (or I’m just too cheap to buy one).

I learned how to cook in the US and tons of American recipes tell you to just “pop [something] in the microwave.” At first I really missed it, but after a while without it, it’s not so hard to live without.

Here are my tips and tricks to get by without a microwave:

  1. You should buy a tiny pot and a tiny frying pan specifically for reheating.
    • When I set up a new kitchen I always buy a HUGE pot for soups and a HUGE frying pan thinking that’s all I need, but eventually I get annoyed having to wash them by hand every single time I warm anything up.
  2. An electric kettle will make you hate your life a lot less, especially as an American who grew up without one.
  3. Store your leftovers in oven safe dishes instead of plastic if you can. Or even a tin baking dish with plastic wrap if you are too cheap for glass leftover dishes.
  4. When you need to melt butter for a baking project, stick it in a bowl and put it in the oven while it warms up. You’ll be way less likely to burn it than if you do it on the stove, you will only have to wash a bowl instead of a pot, and you will have free hands to prep other stuff rather than watching the butter.

Obviously none of this is rocket science, but you never know what might be helpful to someone else.

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Packing Uncategorized

Long Term Packing

This is one of my favorite things to give advice about, it might seem like such an easy concept, but a surprising number of people don’t think it through. Almost every time I’ve given my spiel about what to pack for a long term trip, I get the response “oh, wow, that’s actually really helpful, thanks!” They don’t think it’s going to be helpful- BUT IT IS.

My first strategy is to keep your big suitcase open in the middle of your floor for a week. Just throw stuff into it as you see something you want to take with you. Looking at that huge pile of stuff you want to bring is a great wake-up call. When you’re ready to really pack, you need to pull everything out and have a good talk with yourself to see if you really need it. Does this bring me joy? It really is quality over quantity- bring your favorite and the cutest outfits, they’ll be in all your pictures!

When it’s time to really pack- you have a choice to make: to roll, or to fold? I’m not that into rolling when you roll EVERYTHING, but it does have its benefits. Fold the big stuff- jeans sweaters, etc, but roll the small stuff, and tuck it into the spaces. When you roll big stuff it leaves big canyons between the rolls and you lose all that space.

One thing you might not think about when packing for a long period of time is the changing of the seasons. Its hard to think about what you’ll be wearing in spring in the middle of winter. My favorite advice is pack more warm weather clothes than cold weather clothes. You’re going to be wearing a coat in all of your winter pictures anyway, so it’s not like you need the variety. Another plus side is that shorts and shirts are smaller, so you can fit way more of them!

My last bit of advice is a trick to give yourself more room to bring home souvenirs- pack BIG bottles of your favorite bath products. Not only will you have a nice luxury from home for a while, but you’ll be able to fill that space with trinkets later!

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ESL Teaching Tips General Advice Personal Philosophies Study Abroads

How You Change After Living Abroad

From my times working and studying abroad, I’ve noticed that I’ve changed quite a bit. Of course I’ve changed in the expected ways- more independent, more adventurous, and more sure of myself, but I’ve also changed in some unexpected ways.

I’ve started to speak completely differently. I might even go as far as to say that I lost fluency in my OWN language. You interact with so many people who speak such different levels of English that you tend to simplify as much as possible so you can make sure you’re understood. I’m actually quite proud of the fact that I can have a full conversation with a Russian five-year-old who barely speaks English, but I do miss using long words and having complex conversations. It might just be me, but I can’t do both.

I’ve also become a little bit more closed off. The problem with traveling to countries where they don’t speak your native language, is that you slowly start getting quieter and quieter. My real problem is that I haven’t felt ~comfortable for over a year now because I haven’t been able to grasp enough of the language to be able to talk anyone. Every time I leave the house I worry about having to talk to someone. You really take it for granted in your own country that you can just talk to people; you can ask someone in the store to help you find something, you can respond to someone talking to you on the street, you can be polite to waiters… I miss it.

I have a harder time making close friends. When you jump from place to place you make more friends, but you don’t make close friends. It’s sad to get close to people and then leave. It’s sad to know that it’s likely you’ll never see your friends again after you leave the country. Its also hard to hold on to old friendships. People have lives and no matter how much effort you put into your friendships, it’s different when you’re not there. You have to be there, physically hang out, and see them regularly to keep your friends close.

Everything is give and take, and it’s hard for me to know for sure that I made the right decision with where I am. Every decision you make will change the path your life takes and I wonder if I’m making the right choices. Or even if there are such things as right choices. Who would I be if I had never left home? Would that person be better or worse than who I am now?

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ESL Teaching Tips

How to Make Your Kindergartners Your Friends

My personal philosophy with kids is to try to be their friend. Whether they’re your kids, or your students, your friend’s kids, or some neighbor kid that you have to interact with on any sort of regular basis- it’ll make your life so much easier if they like you.

Becoming friends- Kids just want to be treated fairly- they don’t want to be treated like babies. Like any friendship, you should make jokes, be goofy, tell them stories, get excited to show them things- it’ll make them more invested in the things you have to say, and it’ll make it easier to get them interested when you need them to sit down and listen to the lesson. If they’re up for it, you can even tease them, or make up stupid nicknames for them. Something that shows you’re invested in them.

As an English teacher for kindergartners your job is to speak as much English as you can; to them, at them, around them… Just talk and talk and talk. Talking to them about stuff you care about not only fulfills a job requirement, but it makes them see you as a person and an equal not just an adult who has to watch them. Have a unit on animals? Ask them about their favorites, and tell them how much you love baby hippos, show them pictures, and be excited. I bet next time you ask them about animals they’ll tell you they love baby hippos too because your excitement rubbed off on them! They want to be just like you.

Play- REALLY play with them. Don’t just watch them play. Show them you like the same things as them. You’re around kids. There’s no room for embarrassment. Roll around on the floor, pick them up, toss them around, run around, make silly faces. The extra energy is worth it when they start begging you to play with them.

Rules- If you have administration that is okay with it, try setting your own rules too. You should have the same rules as the school sets, but if something is reasonable, or not that big of a deal, then let it go. Make sure your kid knows they did something wrong, but that you understand the circumstances and that you are going to let it go because you respect them as a person more than you respect the idea of blindly enforcing arbitrary rules. They’ll come to you when something goes wrong and they won’t be afraid of you. (This clearly only works with kids that are already pretty good though. If you have a group of crazy kids, you can’t come in and just be a no rules kind of teacher.)

Crying- If one of your kids is upset, talk it through. Your schedule is less important than their emotional health. Little kids have little problems and it will make them feel like they can rely on you if you take their problems seriously instead of just trying to get them to stop crying as fast as you can.

Honestly just get to know your kids. Different ages, different cultures, different people, you’ll get to know what each individual needs and wants from you. You’ll always have some that don’t like you, but I think it’s worth the effort to try to be their friends. It’s a lot of work at first, but it pays you back tenfold.

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General Advice

Kitchen Tools You DON’T Need

What should I buy to fill my kitchen? What do I need? What kitchen stuff should I NOT buy?

I have to ask myself what’s a worthwhile investment every time I settle into a new country and a new kitchen. And my major decision maker is how long I’m going to stay. If it’s for 6 months I limit my purchases a lot more than I do if I’m staying for a year or more.

The other quandary that really weighs on me is the amount of waste. I like to use things until they are absolutely destroyed. I’ll keep using things until I know for certain that there is no possible way I can MacGyver it back to life. I feel terrible buying a bunch of brand new stuff that I know I can’t take back home with me because I know it’s just going to be thrown away after only being used for a few months. And then when I settle back down I’ll have to buy another one! It the worst part about moving countries a lot. If I was moving within the states and I could just drive it to the new destination I absolutely would. But stuffing pots and pans into my single suitcase just isn’t feasible.

So without further ado- here is my shortlist of the things you can get by without:

  • Strainer/Colander
    • It’s a really easy skill with some practice to strain pasta using the lid of the pot
  • Toaster
    • Listen. I love toast. It’s one of the things I always want the second I get home, but buying a toaster is silly. It’s expensive and it only does one job! Plus there are so many other ways to toast bread. You can pan toast it, you can toss it in the oven. You don’t really need a toaster, even though I will admit, its so much better in a toaster than it is in a pan or an oven.
  • Pizza Cutter
    • Unless you are literally eating home cooked, uncut pizza more than once a week, you don’t need a pizza cutter. Use a knife and push down to cut, don’t slice.
  • Citrus Juicer
    • Okay, make your own choice on this one, but either way, do not get an electric juicer. It’s not worth it unless you have an orange or a lemon tree with tons of fruit. You aren’t going to be buying enough fresh citrus to warrant one because it’s pretty expensive all over the world.
    • Personally if there was a very cheap, and small hand juicer, I might be tempted though, because I do make a fair bit of lemonade and lemon squares, but it only takes a little bit longer to juice them with a spoon and then scoop out the seeds.
  • Crock-pot
    • If you are making soup once or twice a week and gas is expensive, then go for it. But otherwise, crock-pots are expensive, they’re bulky, and they’re awful to clean. They take up a ton of room and they are only helpful if you make a lot of soups.
  • Rolling pin
    • There have been a lot of times where I needed a rolling pin and I had to get by without. But it wasn’t that hard. Any cylinder shaped object will do the trick. I’ve used cups, water bottles, I even used a bottle of toner wrapped in plastic wrap to roll out pie dough once when I had weird shaped cups. Plus rolling pins that are any better than a water bottle or cup are usually made of wood and pretty pricey.
  • Mortar and pestle
    • Straight up you just aren’t going to be using it that much. I needed to grind some mustard seeds because I couldn’t find them pre-ground, a mortar and pestle would have been great, but I ended up grinding them with a glass bottle and a cutting board. Most things you can just make sure to find the ground version though.
  • Garlic Press
    • If you love garlic and use enough to warrant buying a garlic press, why not just eat bigger pieces, either eat the cloves whole, or do a rough chop with a knife? You can also just toss a whole bunch of cloves into a food processor, its even less hassle than a garlic press if you want an absolute mountain of garlic.

And the things you absolutely DO need in your kitchen that you might not have considered normal necessities-

  • Rubber Spatula
    • So many uses. So cheap. So helpful. So small. Saves food, saves sauces, saves a ton of hassle.
  • Food processor
    • I thought for sure that a stick blender would be the best option. You can blend things in a bowl you already own, you can blends soups in their pot. But actually I have really been turned towards a food processor. You can mix stuff, you can cut butter into flour quickly before it sweats, you can shred chicken, you can mince garlic without getting your hands stinky, you can whip eggs, make sauces, its amazing.

After running this twitter poll I ended up buying this bad boy- a three way stick blender, hand mixer, AND tiny food processor! It’s by far the best option because it saves money vs. buying all three, and it saves space! I love it so much.

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Categories
Study Abroads Uncategorized

Summer Study Abroad Programs

So you want to do a study abroad. But should you do a summer study abroad, or a full semester?

I unequivocally vote for a semester study abroad. Here are my reasons:

The biggest reason is that summer is when all the tourists are there. There are so many people, lines are longer, and ticket prices are higher, no matter where you go. It’s so much better to go during the school year.

You simply don’t have enough time.

  • You can’t become a local. It takes 2 full months to really feel at home and start to know where everything is. if you only stay for the summer, then by the time you figure things out, its time for you to leave!
  • I know most people don’t think “studying” is the most important part of a study abroad, but you are there to learn, and you really do get so much more academically from a full semester than you do from summer school. With a full semester, you have time to actually learn rather than squeezing it all into a month.
  • You will be SO rushed on a summer abroad. To get the most out of it you have to be on 100% of the time, every weekend after school you HAVE to go and do something. You don’t have any extra weekends to laze around the park, you don’t have time to plan or to waste in case of strikes, closures, or bad weather. If you miss something, that was your only chance. That would be so exhausting.

Price- it’s actually more cost effective to stay for a full semester

  • A huge chunk of cost is your flight, so why not make it worth it.
  • Most colleges don’t offer exchanges over the summer (the cheaper and better option) they only offer the crazy expensive programs like IES, CIEE, and USAC.
  • Its a huge hassle to get an apartment for such a short time and you’re going to end up either paying more for it to be such a short lease or having no option but to stay somewhere terrible AND expensive like the dorms of your foreign university.

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