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A South African Teacher's Adventures In & Out of the Global Classroom

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About me
Travel Destinations
- The Middle East
  - Oman
  - Qatar
  - Bahrain
  - Jordan
  - United Arab Emirates
  - Iran
- Asia
  - Sri Lanka
  - India
  - Laos
  - Myanmar (Burma)
  - Nepal
  - Maldives
  - Turkey
- Europe
  - Austria
  - Czech Republic
  - Serbia
  - Slovenia
  - Croatia
  - France
  - Ireland
- Africa
  - Tanzania
  - Swaziland
  - Kenya
  - Egypt
  - Tunisia
  - Seychelles
- Caucasus
  - Azerbaijan
  - Armenia
  - Georgia
  - Russia
- South America
  - Brazil
  - Argentina
  - Paraguay
  - Uruguay
  - Chile
  - Peru
Teaching Abroad
Life in the UAE
Life in Qatar
- Getting a drivers license in Qatar (if you already have a license)
- The prettiest free photo spots in Doha, Qatar
Life in Kuwait

About me
Travel Destinations
- The Middle East
  - Oman
  - Qatar
  - Bahrain
  - Jordan
  - United Arab Emirates
  - Iran
- Asia
  - Sri Lanka
  - India
  - Laos
  - Myanmar (Burma)
  - Nepal
  - Maldives
  - Turkey
- Europe
  - Austria
  - Czech Republic
  - Serbia
  - Slovenia
  - Croatia
  - France
  - Ireland
- Africa
  - Tanzania
  - Swaziland
  - Kenya
  - Egypt
  - Tunisia
  - Seychelles
- Caucasus
  - Azerbaijan
  - Armenia
  - Georgia
  - Russia
- South America
  - Brazil
  - Argentina
  - Paraguay
  - Uruguay
  - Chile
  - Peru
Teaching Abroad
Life in the UAE
Life in Qatar
- Getting a drivers license in Qatar (if you already have a license)
- The prettiest free photo spots in Doha, Qatar
Life in Kuwait

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It’s time to pick your post pandemic trip (all

It’s time to pick your post pandemic trip (all expenses are paid in this hypothetical situation):

Option 1: Mountain Retreat | Spa Treatment | Nepal 🇳🇵🏔 🧖🏾‍♀️

Option 2: Forest cabin | Wine Tasting | Chile 🇨🇱 🌳 🍷

Option 3: Penthouse Suite | Yacht Parties | Croatia 🇭🇷 🏙 🛥

Option 4: Glamping | Hiking & White Water Rafting | Uganda 🇺🇬 🏕 🥾 🛶

Option 5: Homestay | History & Architecture | Morocco 🇲🇦 🏡 🕌 🐪

Leave your number of choice below 👇🏾

🌀New Blog Post: Visiting Zanzibar- More than ju

🌀New Blog Post: Visiting Zanzibar- More than just Beautiful Beaches🌀

You should visit Zanzibar if you want to:

- Experience the gorgeous panoramas of places like Seychelles or Maldives, but on a budget. Unlike those 2 countries, Zanzibar is much more budget friendly 🌊
- Acquaint yourself with the rich culture and complex history of a new country but also want scenic vistas and gorgeous beaches 🏝
- Have a luxurious yet unique solo vacation or an exciting group trip for friends or family. Zanzibar can be romantic but isn’t just for couples! You can have access to the best of beaches while exploring the little villages, spice plantations, and remote beaches of Zanzibar 🏖

If this applies to you then read on because Zanzibar is open to travellers from ALL countries! 🎊

In my latest blog post I outline how Zanzibar can be about more than just relaxing on those stunning beaches. Zanzibar has a lot more to offer than people realize and there’s so many options to suit all budgets! I share more prices and details of where we ate, how we got around and what we did (which did NOT include lazing on the beach) ℹ️

As usual my post is very comprehensive and I have included links so you can check if you need the entry requirements (including the link to the eVisa website) and Covid procedures. Find it by clicking on the Latest Post tab from the link in my bio on 🔝

Leave a 🌴 emoji in the comments if Zanzibar is somewhere you’ve enjoyed visiting or would love to visit!

👀 I stood in the queue for passport control at

👀 I stood in the queue for passport control at Zanzibar’s tiny airport and watched the scene unfold in front of me 👀

There was an immigration officer going to each person in the queue ahead of me. He asked them, “Can I see proof of payment for the visa please?”. He wasn’t rude but he was stern. As the people before me scrambled through their papers, I realised that I was the only non white person in the queue. I wondered how this was going to go 🤔

The officer looked straight at me. “Jambo! Karibu Zanzibar!”, he called out greeting me in Swahili. “Jambo! Asante sana!” I replied, thanking him for welcoming me. He moved on to the person behind me 😶

No questions, no suspicious looks.

Wow. This is what privilege feels like. This is how white people and people with privileged passports feel when they land in a place. Relaxed. Happy. Excited. Not stressed. Uneasy. Fearful.

Privilege is a heady feeling.

I closed my eyes with relief. It was good to be back in Africa again 🌎

Many South Africans seem shocked when I say that traveling to African countries are my favourite trips. They give me the side eye thinking that I’m not well travelled. These same people happily fork out wads of cash, folders of documents and hours of their lives for Schengen & US visas. They think that being interrogated when entering a country is normal. Being pulled out of queues to be searched and singled out for random drug testing is just part of the travel experience for them 😵‍💫

But actually it shouldn’t be a norm. And it doesn’t have to be. When I travel within Africa with my brown face and South African passport, I am reminded of that 😈

While I always advocate for people of colour traveling to all corners of the world to normalise the idea of us travelling, sometimes we need a break. We need to let our guard down.

That is why I always return to my African neighbours. And if you’re an African looking down on other African countries, please fix your mindset and most importantly, keep your opinion to yourself! ✌🏽

🌜“I can’t believe you share the prices of t

🌜“I can’t believe you share the prices of things on your trips” 🌛

That was a message I got yesterday after sharing about what I paid for 5 nights in Zanzibar 🦀

I don’t understand.

If I identify as a travel blogger, then one of my purposes should be to help people travel.

Since expenses are the biggest cause for concern when deciding to travel, doesn’t it make sense to share them… That way people can make informed decisions?

If a travel blogger is not sharing any helpful information about their trips or being forthcoming about what they paid, do you still find that helpful? I don’t 🙅🏾‍♀️

I would love to see more transparency in the travel blogger community. Tell us about the entry requirements, what things cost and how you were treated. Sunset photos are nice but they aren’t particularly helpful 🌅

I would love travel bloggers to be upfront. Clearly state when something is sponsored or an ad right at the outset. Hiding the word sponsored in a jumble of hashtags or putting a tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the blog post feels dishonest to me. What’s stopping you from just being clear?

Travel blogging- to me- is supposed to be helpful. Recommendations & advice based on personal experiences. Tell us about your mishaps and struggles 🧏🏾

Travel blogging- to me- is not creating perfectly curated photos only to inspire envy and portray an unrealistic lifestyle 📷

Tagging some authentic & honest travel bloggers that I’ve been following for a few years. People with legitimately helpful advice for planning trips:

@victoria.alao
@wayfarer_anki
@thezedtravelfoodie
@dineo_zonke
@hijabiglobetrotter
@nafisaexplores
@ndi_xoxo
@_theblackgirlabroad
@igoby_dakalo
@waleochronicles
@thesojournies
@achangeofplace

What would you like to see more of from travel bloggers? And can you please tag some honest ones so we can all find fresh faces. Let me know in the comments below 👇🏾

🐻‍❄️🖤 New Vlog: Our relationship journ

🐻‍❄️🖤 New Vlog: Our relationship journey- from then to now 🤍🐼

In March 2007, Polar walked into my life, into the job I was working at and tried to flirt with me. It didn’t go the way he envisioned. A few months later, he fired me from that job and we walked out of each other’s lives for good ✌🏽

Or so I thought.

Not even in my wildest dreams did I envision that he was going to be the person who- 12 years later- would propose to me in Dubai, accompany me across South America, ride a hot air ballon with me in Turkey and ask me to move to Qatar with him 💖

Most of us assume that when the right partner finds us, we will be available, healed from past trauma and awaiting them with open arms. However when you find love as an adult, that’s very rarely the case 😐

In our new video, Polar & I open up about what it was like to meet as clueless young people, and reconnect as adults while I was actively going through one of the traumatic experiences of my life. I discuss how when we met, the idea of being in a romantic relationship with him would’ve been a complete anomaly and he discusses how he had to navigate wanting to marry someone who seemed to have given up on the idea of marriage 😶

Its very raw & very personal. I’ve wanted to do this video for a while but who likes to rehash past traumas? Find the video under the ‘Latest Video’ tab from the link in my bio 🎥

We shot this video separately without knowing what the other was saying; thanks to Expat Lion who came up with the questions, did the filming & editing so the end product was a surprise to us too 🤩 Let me know your thoughts below!

🥥 Travelling to Zanzibar as a tourist in 2021 🌴 Save & share ✨

Zanzibar is part of Tanzania and thus, follows the immigration & covid policies of Tanzania 🇹🇿

As of June 2021:

ANY and ALL nationalities can enter Tanzania. There are no restrictions on where you are flying from with the exception of India- flights from India have been suspended ✈️

In order to enter Tanzania and avoid a 14 day quarantine, you will need a negative PCR test result printed.The test must have been administered 72 hours before arrival 😷

No covid vaccination is necessary at this time 💉

All businesses are operating and there is no curfew. Most people DO NOT wear face masks in Zanzibar 🥲

Yellow fever vaccination is only mandatory if you have travelled through certain countries with a presence of yellow fever 🤒

Visa:

Many countries in the African Union & West Indies are visa exempt for Tanzania including South Africa 🇿🇦

Most other nationalities are able to obtain a 50USD visa on arrival. Please note that the East African Visa is only valid for Rwanda, Kenya & Uganda. Tanzania is not a part of this agreement 😶

A PCR test is not required to exit Tanzania however, it is required by many other destinations. The cost of a PCR test in Tanzania is 80USD payable online. There are around 3 establishments which conduct the test in Zanzibar and you need to go 2 days before you fly. The results are emailed to you and you print them and take them to the airport for validation. More details are coming on my blog post 🙇🏽‍♀️

I’m being inundated in my inbox so I thought I’d answer all the questions in this post! Any other questions about the entry requirements for Zanzibar?

💌 What is yours will eventually find you 💌

💌 What is yours will eventually find you 💌

Being in an interracial and intercultural couple (and yes those are two separate concepts with their own specific challenges) can be formidable. Throw in conflicting schedules as well as a pandemic and things can get very messy, very quickly. They have and they do. More than I would like 🤦🏾‍♀️

Most couples online will not reveal how stressful this past year has been but truthfully, for us it’s been a challenge. Polar & I have struggled a lot to make our relationship functional amidst a pandemic and will probably continue to struggle; but I am grateful to have someone to who wants to struggle together ❣️

We escaped to Zanzibar, Tanzania for a few days to celebrate us and how far we have come together. I will be sharing our trip with you over the next few days 💟

Celebrating 14 years since we met, 4 years since he showed up at my door in Abu Dhabi, 3 years since our first date in Oman, 2 years since we got engaged in Dubai and 1 year since we moved to Qatar together. Looking forward to our wedding in South Africa soon! 🐼🐻‍❄️

⌛️Ever had a holiday when everything just kept

⌛️Ever had a holiday when everything just kept going wrong?⏳

Georgia was not my first choice to spend a week at in May. My friends- Expat Lion & Tiger- had initially planned an entire trip to Pakistan but a week before we were scheduled to depart, Qatar changed the requirements for people traveling from Pakistan so we had to postpone our trip😭

Georgia appeared on our radar at the last minute and to say we were unprepared was an understatement. Still we went and had a fabulous time. BUT we just kept running into challenges:

- The rental car company forgot to meet us at the airport 🚗
- It rained heavily on the days we planned to hike 🚶🏾‍♀️
- We couldn’t make the journey to some of the sites due to unexpected snowfall ❄️
- Many things were closed or not operational due to Covid and there was no clear information online ⛔️
- I got a negative covid result on my PCR test but the lab got my passport number wrong 🤯
- We kept finding ourselves rushing to get to our accommodation before the 9pm curfew set in ⏰
- We couldn’t find a taxi for our 1am flight because we stupidly didn’t think the curfew would affect taxi services 🚕

While this wasn’t as traumatic as time time I was in Sri Lanka and people were not only outwardly hostile to me but I also had a large amount of money stolen, it was stressful to keep up with all the challenges. Even though I loved our road trip around Georgia, it was a reminder to me to be constantly be flexible and adaptable as a traveller especially in the middle of a pandemic 😷

Ever had a trip where things just kept going wrong? Please share to make me feel better 🥸

👩🏽‍🏫 My school has some teacher vacanci

👩🏽‍🏫 My school has some teacher vacancies that need filling. Please read all slides carefully 🍎

The English teachers would report to me in my capacity as the Head of the English Department. Hence my vested interest ✏️

Please do not apply if you don’t meet the basic requirements as the school (and Qatar) is exceptionally fussy about having PROPERLY QUALIFIED & EXPERIENCED teachers. Masters degrees are preferred 🎓

For the English positions, please note that I am unable to train inexperienced/new graduates so only apply if you have a few years of experience 🏫

For all positions, you need to be competent and comfortable with technology (preferably a Google Level 1 Certified Educator) 👩🏾‍💻

⭐️ Please share & save with someone who you think might be a good fit! ⭐️

🛁 Going for a sulfur bath in Tblisi, Georgia: A

🛁 Going for a sulfur bath in Tblisi, Georgia: A must do experience 💦

✴️ Why should you go?

-Its perfect for solo travellers, couples of all orientations as well as groups of friends!
-Unlike in Turkey or Morocco- where you can find similar experiences- mixed gendered groups and heterosexual couples can opt for to share the experience together without blowing their budget 💰
-You feel like a new person afterwards- relaxed, smooth and radiant 🤩

✴️ What to expect?

You hire a room for however many people you need it for. The room usually contains one hot sulfur pool, a toilet, a dressing room and an area to be scrubbed. For this we paid 70GEL/74QAR/R288. There are fancier and more basic options. You pay extra for slippers and scrubbing mitts. For 3 people the extras added up to an extra 30GEL/32QAR/R124 🚿

You should take/wear your swimsuit or underwear you don’t mind getting wet. If you’re a woman, a 2 piece is better than a 1 piece. You soak in the pool for a while and after 10-15 minutes, your therapist arrives to scrub you 👙

You’ll be asked to remove your bra/bikini top for the scrubbing. If you’re in a group with men, they will be scrubbed first and then asked to leave the room while the ladies are scrubbed. The therapist is paid in cash- its 20GEL/ 21QAR/R82 per person. The scrubbing optional so if you don’t want it, its ok 👍🏾

✴️ Where to go?

We used Orbelani Bathhouse. It was beautiful both inside & outside as you can see from my photo 📷

A serious highlight of my trip to Georgia and something I highly recommend doing! Have you tried it, would you try it or have you done something similar? 🤔

😬 “She think she’s white!” 😒 Whitenes

😬 “She think she’s white!” 😒

Whiteness has been used as an insult to demean me so many times. Any time I wasn’t meek or accepting, I heard the whispers, “She think she’s white”. Like when I moved abroad, travelled alone, did public speaking or did outdoor activities, there was this idea that I was trying to be ‘white’. As if only white people should do those things. Replicating any “white” behaviour was a sin tantamount to witchcraft 🧙‍♀️

Being ‘white’ might manifest itself as ANYTHING; from speaking a certain way; to pursuing a career or relationship that’s not deemed appropriate- particularly for a woman 👩🏾‍🦱

So growing up in a colorist society meant that whiteness was both the standard of beauty but also an insult to your culture🤨

What about being called a “coconut” which is something else I sometimes heard. It’s an insult to refer to someone who is brown on the outside and “white on the inside”. This is aimed at people of colour who don’t act, speak or dress in a way that’s considered “authentic” to their race 🥥

Being called ‘white’ or a ‘coconut’ is reductive, demeaning and it propagates the idea that there’s only one correct way to be a person of colour 🤯

Being desi in a South Africa that just crawled out of Apartheid was already a cultural crossfire; I was always toeing a fine line between integration and absorption. As a young person I struggled to reconcile a desire to fit in against a charge of selling out; and while being viewed as an outsider isn’t nice, arguably worse is having backs turned on you by the same community that you come from😕

We are already battling to collectively break the shackles of white supremacy. People in our very own communities shaming each other for “acting white” only makes it harder. There’s no such thing as ‘acting white’. Please be however you want to or need to without feeling that you’ve betrayed your race & culture🖤

Has this ever happened to you? 🙇🏽‍♀️ #pandaquestionsculture

🤔How long does it take in your country to get a

🤔How long does it take in your country to get a quote from a business?🧐

Here’s the scene:

You want to have a photoshoot done for you/your family/your friends/your partner. You reach out to some local photographers and email to ask what they’re charging for their services, based on what you require 👩🏾‍💻

How long does it take to get a response?

I’ll share my experiences first 🤪

Qatar: Usually a few hours during the working week but can be between 24-48 hours. If you provide your phone number, they’ll call you, sometimes they add you on WhatsApp and chat with you there. It was weird to me at first but its become a norm now 🤷🏾‍♀️

South Africa: 2-3 weeks if you ever hear back at all. You usually have to phone them to cajole them into reading their emails, weeks after you’ve sent it☎️

I approached 14 different South African companies last week about something I need for my wedding in August. So far I have only heard back from 2. I am not even surprised 🤦🏾‍♀️

My favorite experience was when a company took 6 weeks to send me a quote and then kept sending follow up emails every week asking why I wasn’t choosing to utilize their business 🙍🏽‍♀️

So I am curious: how long does it take- on average- to get a quote from a business in your country? Leave the number of days, your country name and the flag next to your answer in the comments 😁

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