Category: weeknotes

weeknotes, 9/25

spent the week tottering on the edge of overwhelm, but also kind of letting it propel me forward. we gave a long webinar presentation and answered questions from the audience for a couple of hours, and i had 2 chinese classes, one art class, and one general assembly of the local eco-association (which did not go well…).

the boy had to go to faro for a doctor appointment and i tagged along to get some new running shoes, some books for the kid and food stuff that is harder to find here. we got some russian sushkies, some pickled herring, jalapeños, and indomie goreng (which i had heard some weeks ago from the little mail carriers stay in bali). we topped the noodles with fried eggs, and… wow! the flavor was so familiar, like old school instant noodles from a decade ago. i bought a package of 5 and i’m already regretting not bringing more.

i took the new shoes for a couple of runs and broke the 5km barrier for the first time in a long time. running is starting to slowly change for me, from being something that drains me completely into something i can keep doing for a longer period of time at a low pace and not die. :) not fun, but not unpleasant either.

i’m sure the new treadmill is helping too, as walking while working has sort of become a background thing — i walk for hours and don’t even notice it anymore. it’s kind of amazing, what a human body can do when it is healthy and strong.

finished reading a court of wings and ruin, which took much longer than expected but was ok in the end. i’m reading “funny story”, and listening to “our malady” (one light, one heavy) but after this i think i’ll take a break and read the books i’ve brought home from the local library, which have been gathering dust in side tables. i wanted to read more in portuguese — it’s time to do that.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 8/25

this week, we changed our work schedule to be a single block in the mornings, starting quite early. getting up early is not a problem, but the single block does push lunch to later in the day… which in turns pushes sports towards the late afternoon, which makes me more likely to skip them. ? i’m not 100% sure i like this better than our previous afternoon blocks, but we’re giving it a go!

it’s been a good week for movies. we watched the six triple eight, a movie about the true story of the black woman army corps batallion that sorted mail in WW2. i knew the story already (we wrote about it on the postcrossing blog some time ago), so it was nice to see the movie. and we also watched don’t die (which was half-interesting but mostly weird…), trevor noah’s afraid of the dark, and flow (the cutest!). speaking of entertainment, i’m stuck reading a court of wings and ruin, and enjoying it less than the previous 2 books in the series… but now i feel like i’m too into the thing to quit halfway through. *sigh*.

apart from the occasional shower, the weather has been amazing lately — it really feels like spring. today we went out for a run (4kms!) and felt grateful for the blue skies and sea of yellow bermuda buttercup flowers.

currently knitting the popular sophie scarf, which is starting to look like a cute little croissant. got a super nice deal on the yarn, some alpaca mohair that a lady in town was selling in bulk. it’s extra fuzzy, which makes it a little tricky to knit with, but i’m muddling through.

had a nice time at art class this week, painting with white crayons and acrylic on dark paper. i copied some old photos of sophia de mello breyner, focusing on the light. i think they turned out nice! :)

weeknotes, 7/25

this week, i finished the 2 long reads i had started at the end of january, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo and midnight in chernobyl. the former was just so-so but the latter was amazing — an astonishingly thorough, in-depth breakdown of the disaster and its many ramifications. i feel like going back and watching hbo’s chernobyl series again, to put a face to these characters i’ve become so familiar with.

and speaking of books, i signed up for portugal’s own new digital lending program biblioled and got my first audiobook! for now, the selection is not extensive (and the books can’t be sent to kindles) but the regional library has quite a few audiobooks from the fundação francisco manuel dos santos, which are usually good. i’ve picked one about palliative care to give it a try.

this week included art class, the return of chinese classes, swimming, running… it’s like everyday had a bit of something different in it. spring is in the air all around us, with the countryside exploding in bermuda buttercups and the almond trees hanging on to their last blooms…

we went to noélia on valentine’s day, and also enjoyed a nice lunch out on this week’s mini winter festival, in town.

it’s 10 weeks until the “maratona da europa” in aveiro. the boy and my brother registered for the half-marathon, and me and my sister-in-law signed up for the 10k. right now, i can run around 3.5kms… will i be able to make it to 10? ? i’m not too confident, but i think so. i’m currently running while following along to the abel town saga on the zombies, run! app, which is a kind of audio story in which you’re a runner, running errands in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. the story unfolds as you go, with different characters, audio effects and things that you pick up along the way. it’s kind of cute, and the zombies are not that scary!

and last but not least, good news!

the level at our local dam is at the highest it’s been in a long time — higher than i remember ever seeing it! it’s kind of magic seeing the local stream with water again, after so long. let’s see if the kingfishers will return too!

weeknotes

weeknotes, 6/25

went back to the swimming pool after a long absence and it felt great! despite the long break, i didn’t feel a big difference… some of the early morning swimmers are even the same! :)

also went to a new art class in town, and spent 2 hours drawing a gargoyle. i did it upside down, with my left hand, with different kinds of materials… it was fun, and the teacher seems open to just letting me explore things. honestly, i think i just wanted space and time to create.

on the weekend, we laced up our hiking boots and walked the stretch of coast between quarteira and albufeira. we’re almost done with the big walk, all the way from vila real de santo antónio to porto covo, just 20kms left or so. this wasn’t my favorite stretch of the walk (too many detours inland), but we still found some nice cliffs.

how to live on 24 hours a day is probably the book i’ve read the most times in my life. every time i start feeling overwhelmed by everything, or feeling like time is escaping through my fingers like sand, the boy will say “is it time to read mr. bennett’s book again…?” and it usually is. it’s amazing how something written 100 years ago can still feel so poignant today. it’s short and sweet, and delivers the kick in the butt i need to deliver me from my own periodical fits of nonsense.

anyway, besides writing books, mr. bennett was a fan of a particular omelet that was created for him by a chef at the savoy, in 1929… so we decided to replicate it, and it was delicious. naturally. :)

speaking of books, i somehow dipped my toes into both midnight in chernobyl and the seven husbands of evelyn hugo at the same time. both are relatively chunky books, so progress has been slow.

and last (but not least), can you believe conversion therapy hasn’t been banned in all EU countries yet? it’s past time we did something about it.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 5/25

chinese new year! i always feel excited for CNY — it feels like we’re being given a second chance to start the year again, after the dreadfulness of january. and this year we even did a special lunar new year theme for postcrossing, illustrated by our friend shao-hua! :) at home, we had 2 chinese dinners with some of our favourite staples.

after some frustration with my old treadmill, i upgraded it to a more expensive lifespan model. it comes with a fan to cool down the motor, and it’s built to walk for several hours in a row. the walking goes smoothly and the treadmill has a couple of nice features, like stopping automatically when you step off it, and resuming the last speed you were on. i’m pretty happy with the upgrade!

the week was rather fragmented otherwise. i took off the stitches from the surgery‘s suture (which looks fine) and got some new drops for my right eye, which is still giving me a bit of trouble. there’s a new art hub in town, and i signed up for their art classes once a week. and we tried out an advance review copy of the postcards board game with friends, which was pretty cool!

the game is beautiful, with many small pieces (which i like). it’s not that straightforward to figure out the best strategy to win, which makes it more interesting. and it has postcards, stamps, bicycles and trinket souvenirs! i think this is going to become a favorite in our future game nights. :)