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SPANA – Ethiopia & Morocco

12.07.18

SPANA – Ethiopia & Morocco

    A b o u t

    I’m Laura, a professional photographer currently based in Kigali, Rwanda, working with NGOs and philanthropic organisations.

    I spent over 9 years in Digital marketing roles for charities, and I know how vital great images are to the work charities do – so my blog is dedicated to helping charities with their common photography-related sticking points.

    Every month I’ll send out an email leading to an in-depth blog post about one or more of these issues to help you get your photography stores looking better than ever. Sign up below to get the email and never miss a post!

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    I’m sorry but, where are the weeks going? 🧐 I’m sorry but, where are the weeks going? 🧐 Am I the only one who feels like time is flying this year?! This week I’ve mainly been recovering from the most rubbish reminder that we live in a flat again and not a house: low grade glutening from my husband baking his beloved sourdough bread in the open-plan kitchen on an evening 😫 Wednesday was a complete write-off. Thursday was better. Today I’ve been fighting to keep my eyes open. Energy comes in waves. And in great news: our new sofa and shelves arrived! 🥳🥳 and i got some new prints up in the shop for you to peruse (link in the usual bio-related place! 😄) If you have a gander, and you like what you see, will you do me a good turn this Friday and share with your friends? 🥰 Right. I’m off to get a hot chocolate and do my weekly wrap-up. Happy weekend!! 🙌🏼
    In Jan: 9 books read. In feb... 0. A big, juicy.. In Jan: 9 books read. In feb... 0. A big, juicy...none. In Jan I’d decided to do the @happierpodcast’s read 21 in 21 challenge (21 mins of reading every day for the year) and decided to focus it on non-fiction, given that I love novels and I’ve always had trouble settling down to anything else. But it worked *too* well! Yep, I read half as many NF books in Jan as I’d read in all of 2020 (😬) but to the detriment of fiction because I kind of felt like I should *only* be reading non-fiction now, and I felt ‘guilty’ picking up anything else. How do I always manage to turn things into strict rules for myself?! 😬🧐 Anywho, then February came and along with it Wandavision and Queens Gambit and a zillion YouTube cooking videos. And my Ho Chi Minh biography was long...and I just...didn’t. Want. To. Read. So I’ve decided to alternate instead: instead of 21 mins every day, I’ll go 1 NF, 1 fiction, starting with finishing the HCM biog, and The Shadow King (which I’m about halfway through). How were your bookish Februaries?!
    Settling into a new country is something I've done Settling into a new country is something I've done only twice before now. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The first time I was 19, at an American university, with a ready-made group of people to hang out with, in a country where we (ostensibly) all spoke the same language, *and* I was assigned a flat with the three nicest Seniors I could have hoped to room with. I mean, they didn't share my predilection for Marmite, and I still don't like Tootsie Rolls, but y'know...surmountable challenges. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Then Kigali's landing was so gentle that walking into the balmy January air felt like a soft exhalation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I keep telling myself that in reality months passed before we really felt 'settled'. That it was the first time I had been face to face with roaches in my house, that even finding out basic information (like how to keep the electricity paid and on) felt like a mini mountain in the moment. But we left with such great memories, having made such great friends, that it was easy to forget we hadn't known it all along. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ So in Hanoi, we hang our art on the walls. And we collect the furniture that will make our lives softer, easier. (We know now that you do that as soon as possible, or you'll simply edge along without it until it's too late to bother). We wonder where you meet your clan, in a new country, at the tail-end of a global Pandemic, and we Zoom with our favourites who are all scattered at far reaches of the globe. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Today it's been grizzling and mizzling outside, and I'm turning my thoughts to warmer days, like an open flower looking for the sun. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And reminding myself: everything in its time.
    And just like that (👌🏼) it’s the weekend a And just like that (👌🏼) it’s the weekend again... i have no real plans, other than try to finish The Shadow King and catch up on Wandavision and my weekly taco intake. Hbu?
    I was today-minus-two weeks old when I learned how I was today-minus-two weeks old when I learned how rice is grown (thank you, Tesco for Schools YouTube channel!) @tj_travels thought the rice might be grown and yellow, and took a weekend trip to Pu Luong during tet...and after deciding not to fly to Phu Quoc, we tagged along. Turns out February is *not* the month, but I love those sinuous terraces anyway 😍 A guy at our hotel in Mai Chau said October and March but the March seems too early?! (Anyone got any good intel on this?!)
    🐉🐉🐉🐉 ~ Bai Dinh Pagoda, Vietnam 🐉🐉🐉🐉 ~ Bai Dinh Pagoda, Vietnam
    A successful Saturday is: picking up my swapped ou A successful Saturday is: picking up my swapped out driver’s license, lazy pancakes with strawberry coulis, a meander around the Old quarter with no set objective, stumbling on our favourite fried spring roll place, beers & cider at Pasteur Street Brewery and then wandering into a shop that has the cutest tile coasters and “1900s Hanoi” version of monopoly deal...which was actually today. So that’s lucky.
    It’s Friday! Some restaurants are back open! Ama It’s Friday! Some restaurants are back open! Amaretto Sours to be had! Bonne weekend all x
    Last month I read an actual 8 books (whaaat? This Last month I read an actual 8 books (whaaat? This is unheard of for me), but this month it’s going to be far fewer, and mainly ‘cause of this guy ☝🏼 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Or rather, it’s because I picked up a biog about Ho Chi Minh and didn’t realise it’s a solid 750 pages long (does that bug anyone else about Kindles? I literally never look at the page count when I pick a book, and I miss being able to pick up physical books, judge myself, and then think “perhaps no beefy boi today” 🤔). Anyway, it’s excellent, but I’ve been reading it preeetty slowly, so my entire book count for this month is probably going to be around ~1 😂 (Ps: I’m looking forward to going back to the mausoleum and actually going in, once I’ve finished the bio!)
    Laura Mulkerne Photography theme by blogzilla studio
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