Welcome friends!

Since it's party time over at MommyFest I want to give you a short (??!!??) presentation of myself since I guess a few newcomers will pass by my place this week. Ok, so where do I start?

Well, Mayogi is not my real name, as you might have guessed. It's short for Mama Yogi, which by the way isn't my real name either. *lol* It's just a short description of two of the most important aspects of my life.

My biggest achievement in life is becoming a mother. I'm very proud of my two sons, B who's 10 (and a former ECMO Baby) and G who's 8. I also love doing yoga which is more of a lifestyle to me than just a series of routines. Unfortunately I'm a very busy mom so I don't do yoga every day (not every week either, actually), but I try to meditate as often as I can. Living a "green" life is also very important to me so I don't own a car, I don't have a dryer and I avoid meat as much as I can. My kids actually love veggies. *lol*

We're quite a mixed family. I'm half Spanish and half Finish, born and bred in Sweden. I speak Spanish, Swedish and English fluently and I also speak some French, Moroccan Arabic and Catalan. Since I'm a total nerd when it comes to languages I've also studied German, Finish, Classic Greek, Latin, Russian and Classic Arabic. I moved to Spain in 1988, then back to Sweden in 1993 but hated every minute of it. In 2005, I took my kids and moved to Morocco, my husband's country, leaving him behind in Sweden. It's just one of those things that happen. We're still in Morocco the kids and I, although we kind of live with one foot here and one foot in Spain. The kids go to a Spanish school and we only speak Spanish at home and we belong to a Spanish Catholic church. Unfortunately we don't meet the kids' Moroccan relatives very often so sometimes I get the feeling we're not living in Morocco at all, which is probably the reason why I'm still not fluent in Arabic. Anyway, Morocco is a very interesting place to live in and I'm happy I decided to move here.

The kids and I love animals and would probably end up living in a zoo if our house was bigger. *lol* Right now we have 3 hamsters (Chiquita, Mochi and Speedy Gonsalez) and a guinea pig (Gabi), who joined the family just last week. I'm looking for another guinea pig, since they are happier when they have someone to share the cage with, so the family is probably getting bigger very soon.

I work part time as a volunteer Spanish teacher at a cultural center and I'm a full time student at a Spanish online university. Being a single mom on top of that, well, my life is never boring. I'm trying to live the Fly Lady way but every now and then I fall off the wagon and have to start all over again. I don't have much free time for myself but when I do I like to do yoga, watch movies (I love Spanish films and I hate scary movies), read something that's not school or work related, meet my friends, go to a café, go for long walks along the beach (we have the Mediterranean Sea just around the corner from our house), scrapbook or make cards, listen to music and just REEELAAAX...

Before I had the kids I worked for several years as a preschool teacher and a Spanish - Swedish - English interpreter and I also have a degree in Computer Science (I'm a webmaster actually but I've never ever worked in that field). I went back to university this year so I still have at least 4 years of studies left. When I finish I hope to either work as a Spanish teacher (I love teaching!) or become a writer.

Ok, I think it's enough for now, right? I don't want you to fall asleep. *lol* In case you're curious about something, just ask a question and I'll try to answer.

I've got the flu

I woke up this morning with the flu. My throat is so sore, I cough all the time and my head is spinning... And honestly, I don't have time to be sick right now! There are so many things to do. I have to study A LOT. Only a few more weeks to go before the exams and I haven't gotten beyond the first chapter in most of my classes.

So I'm off to the pharmacy to buy everything they have to take the flu away. I guess I'll come home with a bag full of pills and cough medicine. *lol*

My new ID card, at last

It took me one whole week to get a new ID card. Normally it takes about an hour or so... Spanish ID cards are really modern and the whole procedure of getting a new ID card is highly computerized. The card contains a micro chip which you can use as a digital signature on the internet. I'd say that's very, very modern. I wish the bureaucratic procedures in Spain could be as modern. *lol*

I ran into a LOT of problems! First of all, my old ID card expired about 15 years ago. Second, I did not appear in the register because when I did my old ID card the registers were not computerized. Third, someone somewhere made a big mistake when they registered me in the computerized register, because he/she changed my family name! Oh boy, getting a new ID card turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be.

Thank God I don't have to go through this until October 2017.

Keep in touch

I used to love writing letters. The real ones. Handwritten. I hardly ever do that anymore. To tell you the truth I hardly ever write in my own handwriting either. Using the computer is much quicker and easier to read. It's a pity really, because a handwritten letter is so much more personal and it means that you took the time to write to that special person. I really need to improve my handwriting because it's so ugly these days. I guess I've lost the habit of writing....

My kids prefer to use the webcam to keep in touch with their father and granny and grandpa. I don't use it much but I think it's a great way to keep in touch. Even small kids can use it because you don't even have to know how to type. Just talk and look into the camera. "Smile, you're on candid camera!" It's such a great invention. At least if you use it wisely and you keep an eye on your kids so you know who they are chatting with.

Taking a day off

I'm probably taking the day off the computer tomorrow. I feel like I've spent too much time on line today, due to the painter. He came 8.30 AM and left 5.30 PM. Since he wanted to finish B:s room today he came back at 8.30 PM and left about 10.30. So I've spent most of the day in the bedroom by the computer. At least I've studied a bit of Latin. Actually, I've done more than I had planned so I'm rather pleased with myself.

Tomorrow is going to be my cleaning day. Finally I'll be able to get B:s things back in his room. I guess that'll keep me busy most of the day. I want to do things right this time and organize his room. His room usually is a mess because he doesn't have a clue as how to keep his room tidy and nice. Fly Lady has a Student Control Journal I'll read again tomorrow and help my son make his own. Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie has some great ideas too. I'll have a closer look at them tomorrow. And of course, I'll purge as much as I can because he keeps so much useless stuff in his room. Over the coming weeks we'll look for storage solutions so he can have a room that fit a 10 year old boy instead of a room that looks like a pigsty.

If I don't get too sidetracked I might even be able to find some space for my yoga mat and do a short routine. I haven' done yoga for ages and I can feel that in both my body and soul. I need yoga so I can get my strength back.

I'll try not to log in until the kids are in bed tomorrow night, but I guess I'll log in for a short while in the morning. Internet is my best contact with the "outside world", so I like to log in at least twice a day to see how my family is doing. Thank God for internet!

Diamonds are a girl's best friends

Do you remember that song, sung by Marilyn Monroe in one of her movies? In "Some like it Hot", wasn't it? I don't think she was such a good actress but I still like some of her movies because they are fun. Marilyn Monroe was crazy about jewelry and she loved to show the world her gems.

I'm not a very fancy girl. But I do like jewelry. Well, actually I think I like shopping for jewelry more than actually wearing it afterwards. *lol* My passion is earrings! I got my ears pierced 3 times so I could actually wear 6 earrings at the same time if I wanted to. Well, I do, sometimes. I like all kinds of earrings - big, small, studs, huggie hoops, "normal" hoops... When I'm sad, nothing cheers me up as much as buying a pair of earrings. What do you do to cheer you up when you're sad?

Morocco, my home

Moroccan wrote in the comments to a previous post: "I'd love to hear how you find Morocco, culturally speaking. :)". Well, first of all I have to confess that I've only been to the north of Morocco. I have never been any further than Chefchauen and that's still very much the north. I want to go to the south, to the "genuine Morocco" and I will as soon as I get a chance. With this said I'll say that I feel very much at home here in the north and I don't find the culture to be so different from mine.

As you probably know I'm Spanish. I was born in Sweden and didn't move "back home" to Spain until I was 20 years old, but I'm very very Spanish. Unless I tell people they would never guess that I haven't spent my whole life in Spain. Anyway, the cultures in southern Spain and northern Morocco are very much alike and people think and react in very similar ways. It's only logical, because after all the people on both sides of the border was part of the same country for over 800 years. Our common history go way back, many many centuries, and those common roots are still very much alive in history, food, music, literature, buildings, way of life... The descendants of the refugees from AlAndalus are very proud of their cultural heritage.

The bonds between Spain and Morocco are very strong. In spite of several wars and times of not so friendly relationships both countries are tied together by centuries of common history. We share a border and both countries benefit from that. Most people here in the north watch Spanish TV, because you don't need any special equipment to watch it. Thanks to that Spanish is still the inofficial second language here in Tetuan. I'm able to communicate with people when my Moroccan isn't good enough and that's a great help. Being Spanish in the north of Morocco really is almost like living at home.

Morocco Spain living+in+Morocco Moroccan+culture Moroccan+life being+a+forreigner+in+Morocco AlAndalus alandalus Tetuán Tetouan

I'm still having problems

I don't know why my connection is so slow. I've tried every trick in the book - I've disconnected the modem, I've restarted it, I've rebooted the computer - several times.... And it's the same. I don't think it's my modem. I think it's something wrong with the line due to the bad weather we've had these past days and then there's nothing to do. The Kbps goes from 0 to 300 to 20 to 0 to 450 to 0 to 3 to 0.... More 0 than anything else.... So I get "connection timed out" all the time and have to refresh every page I try to visit. It's really, really annoying!

Yesterday I tried the whole day to post an entry about food during Ramadan but no way. So I'll post that and the other 10 entries I've written these past days as soon as my line is stable again. Until then, keep on commenting and check back every now and again, I might be back again.... Or subscribe to my feed and you'll see right away when I'm back.

Until next time... Which will be soon, I hope....

My internet is SO slow!

I just wanted you to know that my Internet connection is so terribly slow at the moment so i just want to cry. I don't know why because it has never been this slow before. The pages start to download but then they stop because the connection kind of dies, but I'm still online. So if you don't see me online much at least you know why. Not my fault! %¤#%(=(% connection!

Oh well, I guess I'll try to think of interesting posts while I'm off the net. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what kind of topics you want to read about here: yoga, Morocco, cooking, bilingual kids, flying elephants - you name it! Ok? I hope to see LOTS of feedback on this one. That would make my otherwise rather miserable day.

Another year...

So now I'm one year older. Yes, today is my birthday. I'm not going to tell you how old I am because, frankly, I definitely don't feel my age! Actually, 10 years ago I felt a lot older than I do right now. I think this is my best age so far - I feel young, healthy, full of energy, beautiful (well, at least some days), I take care of myself and I'm happy with my life. Isn't that more important than a number in your passport?

Today is also my youngest son's birthday, he turned 8. We've been celebrating all day and had a lot of fun. We had both lunch and dinner at restaurants and we had a lovely orange cake with coffee on the roof top this evening. We got lots of presents both of us. My parents gave me scrap things (I got the most beautiful card stock you can ever imagine!) and my husband gave me a pilates ball and a pilates/yoga DVD. I can't wait until I'll be able to try my new DVD, because I've heard so much about pilates and how great it is. I've always been a yoga kind of girl, but I'm willing to give pilates a try. *lol* Unfortunately I won't be able to try it until the end of September because of the kitchen make over, but I might be able to watch the DVD at least. I guess I'd better do a search on the net to see what information I can come up with about pilates. I'll let you know what I think about it once I try.

Happy Birthday Linda!

My friend Linda turns 20+ today. Happy Birthday my friend! I hope you're having a great day with lots of good coffee,cake, friends and family.

GRATTIS PÅ FÖDELSEDAGEN!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!

Another quiz

I´m a bit bored.... I have hundreds of things to do and somehow I just can´t make myself start doing them. It´s almost midnight and I have to get up around 6.30 tomorrow morning so I really should get going so I can go to bed at an almost decent hour. Well well, instead I took this quiz:

Your Power Color Is Orange

You live in the fast lane. You love action, risk, and competition. You're spontaneous, enthusiastic, and persuasive. But you're also easily bored - and love to rebel against structures. You resent rules ... as well as people's attempts to control you!

What's Your Power Color?

Tomorrow will be a stressfull day: first I´m off to my MIL to leave the kids there, then I´m off to class - as a student. After that, back to my MIL`s to get the kids and rush home for lunch. Hopefully my MIL will invite us to have lunch with them. In the evening I have to prepare my next class - as a teacher. I´m a volunteer teacher and as such I take a course every year to become a better and more experienced teacher. I only work a few hours a week so I really shouldn´t complain, I´m still att SAHM, so I really shouldn´t be stressed out. So why am I and why on Earth am I sitting here instead of folding laundry and doing a "5 minute room rescue" in the living room? Oh well, I´d better get my act together and start with Mount Washmore.....

See you tomorrow!

What season are YOU?

I found this cute test at Cafegirl and Mommy. Check it out and see what season you are.

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Are You?

I LOVE fall! It really is my favourite season so I´m glad to see that it´s my season.*lol*

My Visual DNI

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

This is me - WHO are you?

Which book are YOU????

I am:

You're Compassion Fatigue!

by Susan Moeller

You used to care, but now it's just getting too difficult. You cared about the plight of people in lands near and far, but now the media has bombarded you
with images of suffering to the point that you just don't have the energy to go on. You've become cold and heartless, as though you'd lived in New York City for a year or so. But you stand as a serious example to all others that they should turn off their TV sets and start caring again.

Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

I have never heard of this book, but I will try to find it. It seems interesting so hopefully it's translated to Spanish so I can find it at the Instituto Cervantes library. It's really dificult to find books in English where I live. :-(

Who's Mayogi?

After blogging for about 2 years now I thought it was about time I got myself a blog in English, so here it is! *lol* I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I'll enjoy writing it.So, I guess you wonder who's this Mayogi and why does she blog? Well, Mayogi is:

• a European woman
• mother of 2 boys
• living in Morocco
• Stay At Home Mom
• FLY Baby
• yogi
• scrapper
• volunteer teacher

Stay tuned and you will probably find out a lot more!