The downside of moving to another country and giving up everything you once had means you get rid of a lot of stuff before you leave and I really did get rid of everything save a few boxes my mum is looking after for me, plus you no longer have the well paying job to be able to afford anything! I was fortunate to grow up in a family where we learnt the value of money and how to get by on very little. At a young age we learnt how to make money by doing odd jobs for people within the town and by age 11 I had a paper round. I digress! It also taught us to make the most of things and how to turn what may be seen as rubbish in to something and to enjoy second hand things. My brother and sister in the garden where we spent many hours pretending soil was ice cream and tried to make bow and arrows out of tree branches!
I am fortunate to have a beautiful terrace here, which I absolutely love and am sat outside here right now writing this. I spend most of my time out here as I love watching the birds, being in nature and listening to the bats as they flutter around at night. I also love gardening and as my terrace is my own little haven, my own place to escape when I face any difficulties out here, I wanted to put my own mark on it. However, that's a little difficult when you don't have any spending money and so I knew I had to employ some of those skills to turn my terrace around. I began to plan my ideas and here is an example of what I will do, once I have drank all my beer! Once I've cleaned up the bottles and removed the labels I'll put candles into the bottles to create lighting.
I do have lights on the terrace but would prefer this kind of lighting. I'll also get people to collect glass jars so I can put tea lights in to create further lighting! I already made my own plant pots out of an old plastic bottle! My lovely Hindi teacher kindly gave me an Aloe Vera plant so that I can try and grow one eventually as big as the one I used to have back in the UK.
I really wanted to decorate my terrace with some plants but when I heard the cost of plant pots, which are significantly more than in the UK, I was wondering what to do instead. Fortunately my lovely bhai had already offered to let me have some plants when the weather was cooler for planting out....but that left me still needing to get pots....until the universe answered my query for me! Thanks to the local expat group on Facebook and someone choosing to give away her unwanted pots due to a house move, I not only got some plant pots but five plants too! They look lovely on my terrace and it is so uplifting to see them and makes me feel even more at home. My bhai will bring me two curry plants tomorrow which will be great for cooking with and another wonderful addition to my garden.
Soon though the plants will have to go indoors as it is too hot here and they'll not be able to cope with the heat.....not really an issue I have had to deal with when it comes to plants in the UK. It was truly wonderful having my dilemma resolved and receiving this wonderful free gift of plants, I love it when the Universe answers!
Next freebie and thing to be grateful for, was receiving some books! When I came out here I was allowed to bring around 55kg of belongings and seeing as I wanted my shoes and clothes and hair dye there was no room for heavy books! Sadly a friend will be heading back to her own country after having lived here for the last nine months. No longer needing things like books, she thought I might like them. It's lovely to receive some books as although I am not a big reader it is nice to have the option there and some of the books are about India and so I'll enjoy reading them.
I'm especially grateful for the Hindi dictionary and book about learning Hindi. Both will be incredibly helpful resources for me and the dictionary will be a great too guide. Again it would have been nice to have one but I hadn't bought one as yet as it wasn't a necessity and I could make do without, but i'm really glad to have it....and will probably constantly have my nose in it finding out how to say the latest word that has popped in to my head!
It's lovely when you get rewarded one way or another and receiving the books was a nice bonus and helpful and receiving the plant pots and plants to go with it was a real blessing. I'm on my way to making my terrace look fantastic.....I soon won't need to live inside, just outside, or at least until the rains come!
I am fortunate to have a beautiful terrace here, which I absolutely love and am sat outside here right now writing this. I spend most of my time out here as I love watching the birds, being in nature and listening to the bats as they flutter around at night. I also love gardening and as my terrace is my own little haven, my own place to escape when I face any difficulties out here, I wanted to put my own mark on it. However, that's a little difficult when you don't have any spending money and so I knew I had to employ some of those skills to turn my terrace around. I began to plan my ideas and here is an example of what I will do, once I have drank all my beer! Once I've cleaned up the bottles and removed the labels I'll put candles into the bottles to create lighting.
I do have lights on the terrace but would prefer this kind of lighting. I'll also get people to collect glass jars so I can put tea lights in to create further lighting! I already made my own plant pots out of an old plastic bottle! My lovely Hindi teacher kindly gave me an Aloe Vera plant so that I can try and grow one eventually as big as the one I used to have back in the UK.
I really wanted to decorate my terrace with some plants but when I heard the cost of plant pots, which are significantly more than in the UK, I was wondering what to do instead. Fortunately my lovely bhai had already offered to let me have some plants when the weather was cooler for planting out....but that left me still needing to get pots....until the universe answered my query for me! Thanks to the local expat group on Facebook and someone choosing to give away her unwanted pots due to a house move, I not only got some plant pots but five plants too! They look lovely on my terrace and it is so uplifting to see them and makes me feel even more at home. My bhai will bring me two curry plants tomorrow which will be great for cooking with and another wonderful addition to my garden.
Soon though the plants will have to go indoors as it is too hot here and they'll not be able to cope with the heat.....not really an issue I have had to deal with when it comes to plants in the UK. It was truly wonderful having my dilemma resolved and receiving this wonderful free gift of plants, I love it when the Universe answers!
Next freebie and thing to be grateful for, was receiving some books! When I came out here I was allowed to bring around 55kg of belongings and seeing as I wanted my shoes and clothes and hair dye there was no room for heavy books! Sadly a friend will be heading back to her own country after having lived here for the last nine months. No longer needing things like books, she thought I might like them. It's lovely to receive some books as although I am not a big reader it is nice to have the option there and some of the books are about India and so I'll enjoy reading them.
I'm especially grateful for the Hindi dictionary and book about learning Hindi. Both will be incredibly helpful resources for me and the dictionary will be a great too guide. Again it would have been nice to have one but I hadn't bought one as yet as it wasn't a necessity and I could make do without, but i'm really glad to have it....and will probably constantly have my nose in it finding out how to say the latest word that has popped in to my head!
It's lovely when you get rewarded one way or another and receiving the books was a nice bonus and helpful and receiving the plant pots and plants to go with it was a real blessing. I'm on my way to making my terrace look fantastic.....I soon won't need to live inside, just outside, or at least until the rains come!
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