Wicked Games

Almost every time I attempted to get in shape I got injured within the first few weeks leading to months of doing nothing while recovering. I tend to get really excited and overly motivated to the point where I far overestimate the things my joints can handle. My family has some genetic problems which leads to joint and pain problems and although I don't have this too much it is present and one of these symptoms for me is that I get injured relatively easy.

Last year, around the same time of the year, I got a hip injury after I started running again after a long summer holiday post-high school, pre-university. Within two weeks I went from running 3km to running 5km to 8km and at least 3 times a week. I got way too excited and didn't listen to people telling me to be careful.

 I love running, I love the feeling of strength it gives me, the sense that I can clear my mind and can feel myself moving forward, being outside in the fresh air, rain or shine. Of course I don't love the times when it doesn't go well and when I can't keep my breath under control. Those are the times I get super frustrated, running gives me a strange sense of control while letting go. It's quite strange to put my thoughts about running in writing but it is also letting me reflect on the past few weeks of getting in shape again.

When this semester started I was not in the mindset of exercising and eating healthy, I was just eating what I wanted, studying, hanging out with friends but I had lost the excitement of feeling fit. During the summer I biked 20 km a day when I went to work and then walked around all day at work so I got fitter and more toned without consciously trying. Then the cartilage below my kneecap got inflamed and I could barely walk for weeks (overenthusiastic moving once again...). So when the semester started and I didn't move anymore I gained 10 kg (not even joking). After losing 5 kilo's without wanting to last semester due to insane amounts of personal and academic stress it isn't crazy that when this stress stopped bothering me I gained the lost weight.

A month and half ago I started running again. I was terrified that it wouldn't go well so decided to not even bring my phone with running app just in case my hips would hurt again. I did a slow program with a friend, running for a few minutes then walking etc. And my hips didn't hurt. So slowly I began running more frequently in combination with the yoga class I have been following for most of this semester and it went well. A friend of mine then told me about Kayla Itsines 12 week Bikini Body Guide which she had started, so after getting the guide I began also! I am now at the end of week 2 and I feel great! In the past 8 days I had 8 workouts. This might sound excessive but all the workouts are building muscles and the workouts are created so that you can actually do them without getting injured. With running I am not going crazy and running short distances. After one month of running I was able to get from barely being able to run for 3 minutes straight to running 3,5 km straight and no hip pain. I therefore am being careful about going longer distances and for now will keep running this distance, 3-3,5 km (sometimes a little shorter distance if I am running faster).

The BBG program is running 3 times a week and 3 workouts from the guide and it's been amazing! I have gotten rid of my weighing scale (dropped it off at a friend's place for safe keeping) and am only thinking about how my body feels and what the progress pictures show me rather than what the scale tells me. I took before pictures at the beginning of week 1 and today at the end of week 2. I can really already see that I am getting slightly more toned around my legs and stomach!  I am a bit nervous to show these pictures but I am thinking about making an instagram account dedicated to my fitness and progress to help motivate myself and follow other people who are also working out and can help motivate me. For now though, here is a picture of me during week 2's ab and arm workout this past Wednesday while I felt like I was slowly dying...

Lips Are Movin

Every time I start writing on this blog again I promise myself that I will keep it up. But then the semester starts again or I get busy with other things and I forget about it completely for a while, then feel guilty towards myself for not continuing the blog and then postpone it because I think it has been way too long since I posted anything anyway.

It is now almost the end of my third semester of university and so much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. So rather than complete throwbacks I will simply start with something recent and throughout new blogposts I will tell things that happened previously related to more "current events".

Speaking of how fast time flies, my 20th birthday was last week Sunday! Instead of a birthday the celebration turned into a birthweek practically, starting Friday evening until Thursday's lunchbreak. Friday I had a party with friends from university. Saturday I celebrated with my dad who was in Holland for two weeks. We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant called Spicebrush de Proeferij in Apeldoorn after which we went to see Mockingjay part 1. Sunday I was woken up by my dad accompanied by my mom and sister on skype who sang happy birthday to me to wake me up. It was really wonderful and made me feel as if I was home with all of them. We had breakfast in bed and went for a run together which we hadn't done in about 5 years. In the evening he had to go back to Singapore and I went back to Middelburg where I spent the evening with three wonderful friends. Monday morning, while I was at work, there was a flower delivery service and my dad had arranged for 20 red roses to be delivered. This is a tradition that my dad always gives us the number of red roses equal to our new age. I had forgotten about it during the weekend but it was the best surprise while at work! In the evening two other friends made me sushi and a chocolate cheesecake and we had a lovely evening. And then this past Thursday I had a birthday lunch with my sorority (yep I joint a sorority and I don't think I posted about that yet so more about that soon) and they gave me absolutely deliciously smelling (is that proper English?) perfume!

It was an absolutely wonderful birthday and I am very grateful and happy that I got spend the time with family and friends. So to everyone that made this birthday celebration happen, you know who you are, thank you!

Birthday girls!

Running with papa!

Lovely birthday evening with these girls <3

Surprise roses!

Moved to my new room!

Together with my friend Savannah, I painted my (new) bookcase! It was a light brown color before we began and after two layers I had a white bookcase which I am so so happy with, it fits perfectly in my new room!

My mom and sister were here in Zeeland for a week which was really nice as we can hang out a lot now before they leave for Singapore. After they left I decided to travel to Apeldoorn next week so I can see them a bit more as the next time I see them after they leave on Thursday is Christmas. Unexpectedly I went today already so I am now back with my family!

And I officially moved into my new room!! Within the same building... BUT in the past few days, my uncle and cousins husband came to help me move the furniture and together with my mom and sister I spent some time putting the smaller things in place. I spent my first two nights here and I slept so wonderfully probably because I was exhausted but it was also just quieter here than it was on the ground floor and it was wonderful.

Summer

This summer holiday is pretty good so far! I was working a lot and spent a few more days at the beach and am getting a bit more tan so that was all really nice.

Unfortunately I started getting a bit of pain in my knee at the beginning of this week and Wednesday evening it started to hurt a lot. I recognised the pain from a few years ago but was hoping it would go away. It did not however go away and when I tried to get out of bed I could barely stand on my left leg. I called my work to let them know I was going to a physical therapist ASAP to find out what was wrong and an hour and a half later I had an appointment with my physical therapist. Turns out the cartilage under my kneecap is inflamed. I now need to rest and go back to the physical therapist next week but of course this also means that I cannot work so I am now with my mom and sister and am waiting to see if the pain will get less. The beautiful tape on my knee is to give my kneecap some support and has a gorgeous color and I am looking forward to seeing the beautiful tan lines these will cause haha!

I still have an ice cream addiction...

Who's Gonna Save Us

I had my first driving lesson!! It was so exciting and nerve wracking but I am so happy that it finally happened! The goal behind me getting a job this summer, beside just having something to do with 3 months off from school, is to pay for my driver's license. So the first step for that was getting a job, then actually working there, and now I am beginning my lessons! I had so much fun and am really looking forward to the next lessons and also already looking forward to actually getting my driver's license! 

These past few months there were just too many occasions when it would have been really convenient if I had been able to drive, driving to hospitals or picking people up from airports, so I really look forward to having my driver's license! But first I am off to work now to earn more money so I can actually pay for my lessons! ;)

Won't be on this side of the car for much longer!!

Oh yeah this is happening now! :)

Hideaway

One of the best parts of studying in Zeeland is that the beach is less than a 30 minute bike ride away. And so if we want we can be at the beach and back within an hour. Most of my days off from work are unfortunately rainy but I have had three beautiful days at the beach so far this summer which makes me remember just how wonderful it is to live here for a while!

The first time I had a day off that was also a sunny day was almost two weeks ago now. While still in bed I sent a text to a friend, who then replied that she would be picking me up in 5 minutes... And yes exactly 5 minutes later there she was and together with two more of our friends we went to the beach! 

Then yesterday and the day before that, both myself and Tisha had two days off and the weather was absolutely beautiful so we spent two days tanning, reading and swimming at the beach in Vlissingen, soaking up some vitamin D and mentally preparing to go back to work again today!  

Home

Home is a concept that can have different meanings to everyone. To me, my "home", is in multiple locations. At the moment that includes Beijing, Apeldoorn and Middelburg. Middelburg is my current home where I live most of the time and have most of my friends. Apeldoorn is an old home but also present as my mom and sister live there and China is my home because I spent the best three years of my high school life there and because my dad still lives there. I'm writing about this topic because my family is now moving to Singapore together starting a new home. And for the first time I am not moving with them, of course I moved out last year but when you go on an adventure yourself it is a lot easier than when your family or those close to you are the ones to begin the adventure.

So many things are changing next semester, friends are joining sororities and fraternities, my relationship ended, my family is moving far away, I am moving to a new room and 200 new students are joining our school. This is all a mix of excitement and nerves and of positive and less positive events. Nonetheless it is going to happen so I just have to let it all take place and see where the future takes us. Things always change but this is the first time I am experiencing so much change at the same time, I guess this is what they call growing up.

In the book I am currently reading there is a quote that fits my situation that I would like to share:

"Growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change."

And yes I am quoting a young adult book... deal with it.

The Air That I Breathe

Wow, these past two weeks have been insanely busy with work but I am glad to say that I am enjoying it! I like that although I am on holiday I have somewhere to be (on most days) and that the work is nice and my body is already adapting to the biking and changing from carrying around heavy things and walking all the time. It is nice to notice that change and I am very happy that my work and my colleagues are all so nice! I have had 8 work days now and have had some awesome and some less awesome costumers haha. Some people are very grumpy and do not realize that yes you did take their coffee order but you also took 70 other people's coffee orders that are also being made at that same moment so yes your coffee is coming but please realize that if I am walking on the terras I am not actually making your coffee so have no way of speeding up that order.... Anyway haha my respect for this field has increased insanely! Some men think everything is hilarious, which is completely understandable because they are all on holiday mode and that is actually wonderful because the majority of the customers is happy. I am noticing that my language skills are sometimes a bit lacking, my Dutch is not always good enough or at least natural enough to understand many of the jokes that people make and often think they are serious but my bosses laugh about this and the situations it brings. Also it is almost impossible to find the right timing of walking up to a newly seated table. Some people want a drink before they even sit down and others want to look at the menu first and get annoyed if you come straight away. How am I supposed to know which category people fall into?

My greatest moment happened two days ago when I was taking the order of two guys/boys who wanted two beers. As I took the order and looked up I realized they were probably not 18... And just this week I had checked with my bosses if we need to ask for ID if we think that customers are younger than 18 and are ordering an alcoholic beverage. So I went to my boss who sent me back to the table myself to ask for ID. So I, 19 years old, ask these two males for their ID. "Sorry we forgot to bring it". Hmmmkay.... I will take that as a "Yes we are younger than 18, busted.". So they ended up ordering two cola haha! It was a strange situation but also kind of cool, I did feel a bit weird as I myself am only turning 20 this year and then to be asking others for ID is strange but part of the job.

Besides working I have been hanging out with the people that are still left in Middelburg. The other day I cooked dinner for my friend Tisha (who has been cooking for me mostly haha so I had to return the favor) and afterwards we just watched youtube videos for a few hours. This is so nice and relaxing as during our semesters it is harder to do this as there is always something you could be doing. Also despit living the appartment building that I live in with another 175 students I walk around in my pyjamas all the time if I am going to a friend or doing my laundry. However on this same evening that I was hanging out with Tisha I also went to pick up my laundry. But I had sort of forgotten there was a party going on (I was fully aware just hoping to not run into too many people). So I walked to the laundry room in my massive sweater and workout shorts and tired make up less face (not the first time I have looked like this haha) to straight away run into someone on the stairs and have a conversation for 30 minutes, and only meeting more people on my way back haha. Normally I would have actually joined the party for a little while but I wanted to sleep cause I had to work again the next day.

Right now I am on my way to Apeldoorn to see my family again! My dad came back from Beijing and my mom and sister came back from Singapore a few days ago so we will all be together again! Today we are going shopping, tomorrow we are going to see a musical and in between I will be sleeping... a lot...

Trying to keep track of the whole family's weather conditions!

Really Don't Care

Sitting in a cafe by myself was one of the strangest yet lovely experiences I had this week. As I was working for half the week I had the other half of the week to fill with whatever I wanted. Unfortunately I was once again ill for these days but I did try to do something every day. I attempted to watch a movie with some friends, celebrated another friend's birthday and made sushi together with another friend. However this last one lasted for both Saturday and Sunday as I had bought way to much and didn't want to let the ingredients go to waste. And as I was ill I spent a lot of time in my room and so I decided to go out and drink some hot chocolate in a cafe. But I did this by myself. At the restaurant that I work I have now seen an individual come by every now and then and just have a drink all by themselves. And I thought this was awesome but it never occured to me to actually do it myself. Now this Sunday pretty much everyone was not in Middelburg, I had been in my room for most of the day and so I decided to go out to a cafe and have some hot chocolate and read a book, by myself. Despite the two cafes that I actually thought to go to being closed, I had fun! It is definitely something worth repeating, I have gone shopping by myself before but never done this. I have also heard that going to the cinema alone can be fun, maybe that is something to try for later this summer. For now I am going to make some more plans with the friends that are returning to Middelburg, as later this summer there is more chance that most people will be gone.

End of Time

To properly finish the semester my university has an End of Term Party. For the fall semesters this is the winter gala but for the spring semesters this is a party at the beach. This year the theme was hippie party, peace and love, all of that haha. The sunset was beautiful that day and I had a really nice beach walk with Sophie. 

The day after the party we celebrate Sophie's birthday and it was wonderful to see her unwrapping all the presents!

What Time Is It

Summer time! Haha so although I already posted something about my job I also wanted to write about the actual last bit of school and parties, basically what happened in the month between my previous two posts.

A lot actually happened in those months but instead of describing all of them in detail I will show you the instagram pictures I took. I started the #100happydays challenge after some things happened in my life that had a really big negative impact on how happy I was feeling. In order to remind myself that life was/is also still good I decided to start the challenge. I try to post pictures from that day but sometimes I have used an older picture.

PS. There were some weird formatting issues with some of the pictures, I have no idea what happened and how to fix it.

Day 1 - bought new shoes

Day 2 - Spent Kingsday at the beach with Sophie

Day 3 - People serenading the apartment/dorm building for votes

Day 4 - Beautiful sunset a week earlier

Day 5 - Classy dinner with these lovely people

Day 6 - Classy selfie at the dinner with Julia

Day 7 - Bought a new dress

Day 8 - Hot chocolates in the common house 

Day 9 - Throwback to my birthday with Jeanne and Ivi

Day 10 - Dutch National Remembrance Day in the Abbey Square

Day 11 - End of Term Party Ticket

Day 12 - Onions meant to help a cold, woke up sicker than when I went to bed

Day 13 - Taco Dinners with Tisha

Day 14 - End of Term Party Shopping

Day 15 - Finally seeing my family again and admiring my mother's new clothes

Day 16 - Lush bath bomb that I got as a present from Sophie

Day 17 - Happy Mother's Day!

Day 18 - Yearbook time!

Day 19 - Last hallway dinner

Day 20 - Bartending in the common house

Day 21 - Rhetoric class outside

Day 22 - Gilles goodbye and pre-ETP BBQ

Day 23 - End of Term Party! End of the 1st year of university!

Day 24 - First day of work, restaurant on the right the rest is the view!

Day 25 - Presents for Sophie's birthday