Still a Canadian girl
at heart
after many years of living abroad…
Cali Colombia
then Monterrey Mexico,
Barcelona Spain,
Bangkok Thailand,
and now
Yokohama Japan.
Five countries
four continents.
(My Spanish
should be much better
than it is.)

My lovely man and I teach
at international schools.
I help kids with their big life stuff
and their apps to university.
Yup, that’s a real job.

I love to travel and read and write
(I am haunted by stories).
I like to go to the movies (especially in Paris
where theatres are like churches).
I dig photography
and gorgeous interiors

Not so wild about the ironing.

I appreciate chocolate
(in all its forms),
poetry by Mary Oliver
and Galway Kinnell,
exquisite silver jewelry,
cookbooks (although I don’t really cook),
polaroids (the real ones and the fakes),
good service
and my mac book pro.

This is my blog-house
where I write about
life
and our travels,
the yummy homes
of international teachers
and what I’m grateful for.

Welcome.

To contact me or follow me on the web:
Email: monnamcd (at) gmail (dot) com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MonnaMcDiarmid
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/MonnaMcD
I am also a member of a group photo blog called 14 Lenses.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere:
Featured on Apartment Therapy
Featured on The Lost Girls
Good-bye in the City – Guest Post @ Almost Fearless
Teacher Meets Europe – Guest Post @ Heather on her travels
Why travel is still worth the money – Guest Post @ Secret Agent Josephine
Pret a Voyager: Boarding Pass

SPEAKING
My dad says that I am a big talker. He is not wrong about this. Fortunately, my work as a counselor allows me to put my “big talking” to good use by presenting sessions about social-emotional issues to groups of students, parents and counselors.

My dad says that I am a big talker. He is not wrong about this. Fortunately, my work as a counselor allows me to put my “big talking” to good use by presenting sessions about social-emotional issues to groups of students, parents and counselors.

Here’s what I have been up to lately:

European Council of International Schools (ECIS) Annual November Conference
16-20 November 2011
Lisbon, Portugal
Presentation: Not on The Curriculum: Programming to Meet the Social/Emotional Needs of Teenagers

Pecha Kucha Night
Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat,” Pecha Kucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
Saturday 26 November 2011
Yokohama International School
Presentation: Interiors
Watch the video here.

4th Annual Rome Conference on Emotional Well-Being: The Family in Focus: Building & Maintaining Health Bonds
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Rome, Italy
Presentation: Buffy versus Bella: How to Raise Girls to Thrive in a Vampire World

The East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) Teachers’ Conference 2012
28-31 March 2012
Bangkok, Thailand
Co-presenting with Michelle Vogel from The New International School of Thailand
Presentation: What is Beautiful? Talking with Teenagers about Body Image

Please contact me at monnamcd (at) gmail (dot) com if you’d like me to talk with your group.