Monday 20 October 2008

Ch-ch-ch-changes

bedside table reading

The pile of library books on my bedside table show what I've been occupied with lately.

First of all, I've made a decision to go back to university next January and study for a Post Graduate Diploma in Primary Teaching (one year full-time). Teaching has always been something that I've thought about doing "at some stage". My mother is a primary school teacher, so I've been around teachers a lot and I have always enjoyed working with children. I've been wanting a change from my current job for a wee while now, and this is the ideal time to go back to full-time study, before we have children of our own. I'm going into it with my eyes open hopefully - I spent some time in my mother's classroom a few months ago and I've also been training as a Brownie (young girl guides) leader since August, so I know I'm comfortable with larger groups of children. It's a big change for me, but it's exciting too and I'm really looking forward to it.

The other big change in our lives in the last few weeks is that Alex and I have decided to make the shift from being vegetarian to going fully vegan. It's not something I ever thought I would do - it always seemed too hard to give up dairy, but I've discovered it's a lot easier than you'd think. In the past few months we've been listening to a wonderful podcast called Vegetarian Food for Thought (which I found out about through a Ravelry group forum - everything leads back to craft I tell you), which played a big role in our decision to change. Each episode of the podcast addresses different topics related to being vegetarian/vegan, including favourite foods, nutrition, cooking and animal rights. I'd highly recommend the podcast to anyone who is curious about these issues. The woman who presents it, Colleen Patrick-Godreau, is very articulate and passionate about her cause without being preachy and makes you feel like you can make a difference. Having said that, it still took us a few months of listening to the podcast, reading books about nutrition and food ethics, and some serious thought before we made the change a few weeks ago. So far it is going great. We're trying lots of new foods and I'm currently relearning how to bake without eggs or dairy (again, much easier than you'd think). I'll keep you posted on progress and post some photos in the coming weeks.

12 comments:

sweetp said...

Wow changes indeed! I have found baking without dairy (and gluten) not too bad, but I'd be a bit lost without eggs I admit. Will be interested to see your recipe recommendations xx

Sharonnz said...

Exciting future!! I can highly recommend "Feeding the Whole Family" by Cynthia Lair for some nice vegan options (it's veggie, not vegan). We got our copy a few years ago at Commonsense.

Little Miss Flossy said...

Wtg with the teaching decision... good people always needed in that profession ;-)

Kielz said...

Have fun! I did the grad diploma in 2003 and i all I can say is that it is FULL ON!!! Best of luck and remember to have fun along the way :)

Ahipara Girl said...

Hi Louise
Enjoyed perusing your backlog of posts and catching up on who you are and what you have been up to. Expecting a baby soon myself and enjoying crafting in these last few weeks. I love your baby products. Might see you at Pataka if Margarita has a pre-Xmas craft fair, and if our baby doesn't come early.
Rachelle
www.ahiparagirl.blogspot.com

Lies said...

Wow. Congrats on the big commitments!!! Yup I think your right, good time to do this - with kiddies it's so much easier to 'give in/up...'.
Good luck!

Nova said...

good on you! we're about to go vegan for the 2nd time, for our 2nd's eczema.. theppk.com has some yummy stuff, i wish our library had some more vegan recipe books!

and i'll need to check out the 1st two books for my dp too..

so, snap! lol

Soja said...

Funny to find someone the other side of the world is making similar decisions. :-) Though I became vegan over 10 years ago, it really is much easier than it might appear to be. Especially now, I'm sure I eat a much more varied diet than I did, and a great side effect was that my eczema completely disappeared - hope it works out for nova_j's family. I'm also considering going back to university to retrain as a science teacher in the next year or two....Hope it all goes really well for you!

Anonymous said...

Here is a blog I thought may interest you. Cristy and Paul are vegan parents and blog about it with plenty of food ideas.
http://www.nopod.blogspot.com/

Rhonda Kauffman said...

I think most of my cooking is primarily vegan, and then I add in non-vegan elements, like dairy or meat. I've cut down on dairy to get my allergies in order. After a year of it, I don't have to take any allergy medicine at all -- and I was almost off the charts! I've found a friend with macrobiotics, which is not as scary as it sounds, either! I'd love to exchange some yummy recipes sometime!

Mindy said...

Vegan food rocks! Here is my blog if you would like to check it out.

veganeat.blogspot.com

Mindy said...

Vegan food rocks!

Here is my blog if you would like to check it out.

Veganeat.blogspot.com