NewBlood's journal

[NewBlood]

I have been in a holding pattern for the last year. I will be moving back to home country in July, SO and I are trying to make the most of the time we have left, it’s a weird place to be but not bad. ERE has taken a back seat.

I have the goal of not flying again once I move back. Whenever I see some of my close US friends (who all live in different cities now), I wonder if this is the last time I’ll ever see them again in person. Too many mixed feelings.

Minor wins.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to keep my job after I leave the US. It’s looking complicated but maybe promising and everybody is supportive which is nice.

I’ve finally managed to hack my brain into reading more. It makes me a bit sad that I had to find tricks to achieve something that’s long been an important goal for me, but oh well. I read earlier this year one of those “new year goals” blog posts somewhere, about reading 1000 chapters in a year. Which is less than 3 chapters a day but amounts to about 50 books a year. I had often had a goal of about a book a week but kept stalling whenever I encountered a more difficult/less interesting book. I would just procrastinate and lose momentum instead of just moving on to another book or powering through. But 3 chapters a day on average is such a low barrier that I can convince myself to “just do it” even on days when I’m tired or not motivated. I don’t know why this works better for me than telling myself 1 hour a day.

I also decided to pair “serious” non-fiction books with guilty pleasure easy reads, so even when I feel brain dead, I can just read a handful of easy fiction chapters. Can’t make activation energy any lower than that. And of course once I’m past the activation energy, I usually end up reading many more than 3 chapters. Silly brain …

Anyway, I’ve read 8 books since Jan. 10 and am very happy with my recovered daily reading habit. Admittedly my ratio of non-fiction to fiction is only 1 to 3 and Antifragile is likely to skew the ratio even further down but whatever. I’m enjoying myself and learning things.

I found this Greek vegan recipes website. The lentil soup with vinegar was amazing, already posted it in the Lentil appreciation thread, but adding it here as well so I can easily find it again. I’m excited about these because they are real traditional dishes (as far as I can tell, I’m not Greek) that just happen to be vegan. Not weird adaptations of meat recipes with hyper processed meat substitutes or tofu. I have nothing against tofu but not something I could easily make or source locally in home country.

[Dakotan]

That Greek vegan recipes website is fantastic, thank you for sharing the link. Recipes that just happen to be vegan really are the best recipes. I'm going to make that olive bread tomorrow.

[NewBlood]

I'm going to make that olive bread tomorrow.

You're welcome! How did it turn out?

[NewBlood]

I finished reading Antifragile a few weeks ago. One part that was really interesting to me was his discussion of the “via negativa” and iatrogenesis (unintended bad effects of medical care). I’ve returned the book, so can’t quote exactly, but the gist was something around the lines of don’t take medication or accept any medical care (like surgery) unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll die or will be permanently damaged otherwise. If I remember correctly, he even advocates for avoiding doctors altogether if there’s nothing obviously wrong with you, because the unintended bad consequences of more medical care (often uncovered only decades later) tend to overweigh the benefits. His examples include tonsillectomy and the fact that while breast cancer deaths have decreased since routine mammograms have been implemented, women deaths have increased, which he attributes to ill effects of surgeries for tumors that may not have been deadly. Hard to tell how much cherry picking goes into this sort of analysis, but good food for thought.

In general, I’m all for prevention but I’ve always been weary of supplements and vitamins, taking drugs for a cold (SO constantly self-medicates with all sorts of drugs that happen to be illegal or highly controlled in my home country while I only take the occasional tylenol and usually end up getting better faster. Anecdotal, yes), etc…, assuming that a proper diet and life hygiene should generally be sufficient, so reading those chapters was self-affirming and confirming my anti-consumer tendencies.

But, interestingly, I was reading that part of the book the same week I had my annual physical. And my blood tests ended up showing I’m very vitamin-D deficient (12 ng/mL). GP prescribed high-dose vitamin-D2 once a week for 2 months and daily small dose after that. Now, I’ve never felt the usual symptoms people take Vit-D supplements for, no winter blues or particularly low energy in the winter. But I have had some weird (mostly under control now but not gone) hip pain for the last 3 years, and from what I’ve read, musculo-squeletal pain can be linked to Vit-D deficiency (although the medical advice on vit-D seems to be all over the place. In home country they actually discourage testing vit-D except for very specific cases). It would be ironic if after 3 years of PT, getting an Xray and MRI and seeing various specialists who all came up empty, the pain ends up being due to a lack of vit-D which nobody ever suggested testing until I told my GP I’ve been having palpitations post covid…

Anyways, I guess I’m gonna take the thing for 2 months, to see if I feel any difference. If it weren’t for the hip pain, I’d be very skeptical of taking a drug when I generally feel fine, but I guess I’m curious. And not looking forward to osteoporosis. I wonder how long my vit-D level has been this low.

TLDR: not that easy to figure out how to apply the barbell approach when it comes to your own body and health.

[mooretrees]

For what it’s worth, I had hip pain that didn’t go away with yoga, ice or ibuprofen. I finally started watching a lot of different YouTube physical therapy videos and found Jeff Cavaliere (might have his name spelled wrong?). He had a really useful video on hip pain that led me to do some self assessment exercises. I realized my external hip muscles were VERY weak. I did the exercises he suggested for a month, maybe more? Lo and behold the pain gone! And my ability to squat deeply was a million times better.

I seem to remember you saying you have tight hamstrings? He’s got a few videos on dealing with hamstrings that might be useful. I think I found this guy by watching his posture videos and eventually made it to tight hips. I don’t know your particular body situation but this fellow could be useful.
Hope you find some value and can get some relief.

[NewBlood]

I seem to remember you saying you have tight hamstrings? He’s got a few videos on dealing with hamstrings that might be useful. I think I found this guy by watching his posture videos and eventually made it to tight hips. I don’t know your particular body situation but this fellow could be useful.
Hope you find some value and can get some relief.

Thanks mooretrees! I will check his videos. No problem squatting here, but yes, very tight hamstrings and diffuse pain in the hips after I walk more than an hour. frustrating. I can definitely improve my posture as well.

[NewBlood]

I have been taking the high-dose vitamin D for about a month now. Can’t say that I can tell the difference… The hip has been pretty stable, although I have also been doing a bit of yoga and some bodyweight and band exercises including some from the guy mooretrees recommended, so lots of confounding factors.

I’ve been going through the 30 day series from Yoga with Adrienne that UrbanHomesteader mentioned a while ago. I like it but wouldn’t recommend it to someone who has never done yoga before. If you already know how to do the poses without hurting yourself, it’s a nice series with lots of variety, perfect to get back into yoga after a long hiatus. At 20 mins per session, the mental block is easy to overcome. I might start it all over again when I’m done.

I’m continuing my exploration of the greek vegan. I love those recipes, they’re my go-to now. I’ve made the lentil soup and green beans a bunch of times, the spanakorizo, potato stew, the baked giant beans (I used a dish that was too big for this one and the beans didn’t cook properly but it tasted really good, definitely will try again), the black eyed beans soup. Still so many I want to try, it’s a gold mine. All of these are perfect for batch cooking.

I have read 16 books since Jan. 10, and I have two more in progress.
Non-fiction books include: Permaculture (Holzer), The end of world is just the beginning (Zeihan), Antifragile (Taleb), Disunited nations (Zeihan), The year of less (Flanders), Paradise lot (Toensmeier) and A short history of Europe (Jenkins, in progress).

Big move preps are underway, but figuring out how to get rid of everything (I won’t take furniture back with me to Europe) is overwhelming.

[NewBlood]

Last week in the US. Things are busy and stressful but then I'll take all of July off to settle back into home country and take a breath.

[NewBlood]

I have been back in home country for about two weeks now. The actual move was very stressful and emotional and costly. Now I feel mostly relieved.

It’s been weird though. I am in an in-between type of situation where I’m renting a furnished studio close to where my family live for a couple of months. So much better than staying with them 24/7, but finding the right balance between spending time with family and living my life is not straightforward. In a couple of months, I’ll move about an hour by train away where I intend to settle long term because it’s much cheaper but still conveniently located and well connected to two bigger cities.

My work situation is also uncertain, I’m good with my current job through 2023, but no real solution yet for 2024.

Eventually I want to figure out exactly how little I need to live here comfortably, but at the moment I’m not optimizing anything. Between short-term furnished rentals, reconnecting with friends and family, train trips to go visit people, occasional restaurants, and indulging in all the different types of food that were not readily available in the US, I’m not saying no to anything. For now.

That said I’m still spending much less than I was in the US, and more importantly, after being in a relationship for years, I have reclaimed total agency on how I live and how I spend, which feels good.

I haven’t lived in home country in over 15 years, so I expect some friction along the way, and it’s going to take a while before it feels normal again. But so far, a lot of things make more sense and feel better aligned for me here than in the US. It makes me happy to see so many people, including young kids, walk and bike everywhere, next to cars that generally know how to drive around bikes. Thick old stone walls are so much better than central AC everywhere.
I love the lifestyle of buying food almost every day (outside of staples): go to the bakery, then the fruit and veggie shop, then the butcher, then the cheese shop, then the fish shop, based on the day’s menu. Trash sorting is a big thing here (not sure how much of it actually gets recycled, but at least it’s separated from what goes into the landfill), and there are community compost bins in all the small parks in town in each neighborhood.

I’m off through the end of July which feels great. I really needed the rest. Navigating work in a completely different time zone starting in August is going to be interesting.

[NewBlood]

Two months to the day since I’ve been back in home country. This is also post #100 on ERE.

Things have been good, I have dedicated the last two months to hanging out with family and friends, reconnecting, saying yes to every opportunity to hang out or visit. It’s been nice and weird at the same time.

I’ve realized that with one exception, all of my female friends here who have a job and kids are burnt out. Either literally on medical leave from work for burnout or struggling with mental health issues and taking medication for it. That was quite the reality check. And these are high-charging highly-educated people, highly-paid by local standards, with husbands who also work high-paying jobs (ie. they don’t have money problems as far as I know, and they’re not raging consumerists). They all have someone cleaning their house once a week and subsidized help with the kids, free education and very cheap after-school care. And loads of vacation time. But they’re struggling with anxiety and stress and feeling like they’re not good enough. Their executive function has been severely impaired by the burnout (memory issues and loss of organization skills). I’m not sure how to help out. I want to tell them there’s a better way, but ERE is so far from their daily lives… And I don’t have kids, so hard to give advice on that front.

I started working again remotely in August and it’s been good. I’ve never been a morning person, so being 6 hours ahead has not been an issue. Except on Fridays when I’m often riding a train to go visit someone, and the advertised WIFI isn’t actually working… I still haven’t solved my work situation for 2024 though, which is causing quite a bit of anxiety.

Outside of rent, I spent 1440 euros in August, which includes almost 500 euros of train tickets, 100 euros for rover and quite a bit of buying meals out for people. (but also about twice a week dinners at my parents’, which reduced my grocery bill). All in all though, even in this “say yes to everything” phase, I’m pretty confident that once I have a paid off house, I should be able to live very comfortably on minimum wage here and probably on way less.

Trains have become ridiculously expensive if you don’t book 3 months ahead, even with a discount card. Flying is so much cheaper for some of these trips, which is a travesty. I’m still planning to live my life here without a car or flying, relying only on walking, biking and trains. So I’ll have to get better organized and plan things ahead. Carpooling is also very well developed, so is bus travel, so these might be additional, sometimes cheaper, options.

[NewBlood]

I spent a month at my parent’ house to coincide with my sibling’s visit. Some of it was nice, some of it was hell-ish and gave me flashbacks of my childhood and teenage years, which were really bad. It’s made me realize my relationship with my parents really only works if we don’t see each other too much. One week is good, two weeks is pushing it. I get sucked into their negativity, victimhood and guilt trips, it’s a toxic environment.

That and mathiverse’s thread prompted me to start reading about NVC, which seems useful.

I moved to the town where I hope to settle and buy some land. It’s about an hour train ride from my family and is a much smaller rural town where land is much cheaper. About 30k people. I’ve never lived in such a small town, and it’s going to take time to figure out whether this is viable and I can meet enough people to have enough of a social network. I’ve been here a week, so we’ll see. So far I like it, but it does feel a bit empty.

I have had no motivation to continue looking into NVC though since I’ve left my parents’ house. I have found that reading about it and trying to practice dialogs makes me dwell on stuff I don’t want to be rehashing over and over in my head. Even though I realize it could be helpful in other areas of my life. I think I need a mental break after spending so much time at “home”.

The work situation is progressing, but I basically need to start my own consulting company, which is kind of daunting. I’m going to see if I can get help from a local incubator.

I started a Couch to 5k program, which has been great. I run 3 times a week along a canal, it’s been very nice. I started it with the Xero Prio (thanks Scott2 for the recommendation), which I have been using a lot to walk around everywhere, but running with them caused some knee pain. No pain with regular running shoes (Brooks Ghost). So much for “natural” running…. I am doing knee exercises to go along with the running, I’ll revisit running with the Prio later when my muscles and joints feel sturdier. There is a Christmas 5k run in town in mid-December, my goal is to participate. That should coincide with the end of the C25k program.

[theanimal]

Hey Newblood. Did you end up running the Christmas 5k? Have you been able to meet more people around town over the past couple of months?

[NewBlood]

Hi animal! Thanks for the prompt!

I spent Thanksgiving with some friends who have 2 toddlers and I caught their bad cough (not Covid according to rapid tests...). I don't have the daycare antibodies, which makes hanging out with all my friends who have young kids challenging...
So I was sick the first half of December, was coughing for 2 weeks and was still wheezing so I decided running 5k at night in the cold wasn't the smartest thing to do.... I was really bummed out.

I just started running again this week, went back to week 4 in the program and can really feel that I've stopped for a month... But I found and joined a running group that's right at my level. 30 min walk/run in different areas around town. The girl who's organizing it is also new to the area and she started the group to meet people and explore the surroundings. She also does a 45 min slow run session right after the 30min walk/run. I think I might be able to join that in a couple months. I did my first walk/run with them yesterday and felt very energized afterwards. Much more fun than running on my own.

Now I need to find another 5k to sign up for in the Spring...

[NewBlood]

2024 update 1/52.
Gonna try to stick to once a week from now on, but I’m really bad at following through, so, no promises.

2023 was a very stressful and exhausting year for me.
I left my relationship with ex-SO, left the US and moved back to home country with my cat. And I have had to deal with trying to keep my job, which is still not a done deal. This has all caused a lot of anxiety, winding down all possessions in the US, an international move with a pet, re-learning how to live alone, re-learning how to function in home country, reconnecting with my dysfunctional family, reconnecting with friends, almost all of whom have kids now.

Overall, 6 months in, I still think it was worth it. Reclaiming some agency, not having to answer to anybody in my day to day life, being able to refocus on lower expenses, and a healthier lifestyle have been great. The food is amazing and relatively cheap and the way of life here is more aligned with my values.

But it’s also felt lonely and unstable. I still don’t have any sort of permanent housing because I don’t have a local work contract and rentals are tricky to get into. I could and might have to ask my parents to vouch for me, but at my age it’s frustrating to have to go that route…

The fact that my work situation is still not sorted isn’t helping.

I was lucky to find a program from the local chamber of commerce that gives free advice to people who want to start their business and with their help, I’m almost done setting up my consulting business. I should receive the official document soon. I still need to figure out insurance and then all the steps and paperwork to get it approved for subcontracts by the university that was employing me in the US. I had to resign at the end of December since I’m now becoming a tax resident of home country, and I have no idea how long the whole process is gonna take. I had major stress and anxiety in December, trying to figure all that out and winding down my projects so there would be minimal disruption while I’m out of the system.

I’m now facing at least a couple of months where I can’t work. I don’t like the uncertainty of it all, it makes it hard to plan anything, but my anxiety has decreased, the holidays helped. And the not working is pretty sweet. I had plans to use this time to get into a better life routine (getting up earlier, reading more, cooking better, starting swimming, etc...), but so far I’ve spent most of the time watching netflix… I think I’m coming down from all that stress and I just need to chill for a bit. The only thing I’ve “achieved” this week is getting back into running.

My sleep schedule is still pretty messed up, I think I mostly sleep between 2am ish to 9-10am. Not great, but at least I’m falling asleep and not having anxiety attacks.

If the switch to a sub contract works out, I think I’ll be set up here pretty nicely (still able to work with my team, good salary, lots of freedom and flexibilty) and will be able to mostly focus on building a social life and finding some land to buy. If not, I’ll have to find a local job which might mean I’ll need to move to a bigger, not ERE-compatible for the long term city. We’ll see what 2024 has in store… But the uncertainty makes it hard to plan and put down roots, and get more involved with permaculture.

I have made a bit of progress re-social life. I joined a hiking/climbing club, but they are quite intense. I spent a weekend in the mountains with them in November, we slept in a shepherd’s cabin. 1500M up and down over the weekend. Again, I had major anxiety prior to going and almost backed out of it because this is quite a bit more than what I’ve done in the past, I was worried I couldn’t handle the pace or the weight of the backpack (we had to carry all our gear, food and water for 2 days), I didn’t know anybody, etc… But I’m really glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Everybody was cool, and it was a lot easier than I expected. The backpack wasn’t an issue at all, the pace was perfect for me on the way up. What was hard was the way down, 1500m in one go was brutal for my knees and I was the slowest. I need to do some leg exercises so my knee joints aren’t taking all the effort. I might do a one-week snow shoes trip with them in Feb (day hikes from some kind of lodging for the week, so should be less intense). And definitely more weekend hikes after the winter.

Climbing has proven more tricky. The climbing gym is tiny and a half-hour drive away and when I’m working, I often have meetings at the same time as the climbing sessions (it’s not an open-access gym). Since I don’t have a car, I need to find rides with people, so I’ve only gone once so far, but now that I’m not working, I’m going to make more of an effort there and see what happens. If it’s too much of a hassle, I might give up on climbing and focus on weekend hikes and running.

Not having a car in this rural town is challenging but it’s also forcing more contact with people to negotiate car-sharing. It helps with meeting people, I just don’t know how sustainable it’s going to be. I can do everything I need on foot or bike, but fun activities (climbing, hikes, running group) all require a car… I need to look more into biking groups, but from what I’ve seen, even bike rides tend to start quite far from town...


Overall, I’ve been in a bit of a funk since November. It might be because of winter, or because I’ve been burnt out… not sure.

Tentatively, my goals for 2024 are:

1. run at least 2x/week – stretch goal: 3x/week
2. swim at least 1x/week – stretch goal: 2x/week
3. climbing at least 1x/week?
4. 1 weekend hike per month after the winter
5. stick to better sleep routine (no more phone after 10:30pm, wake up same time each day)
6. no more than 2 hours of netflix per day (this will probably be the hardest)
7. ERE posts weekly
8. improve cooking, with more vegs.

Don’t completely depend on me:
9. resolve job situation
10. explore town surroundings within biking distance and if #9 is resolved, find land to buy

[mooretrees]

2023 does sound like it was really stressful, glad that seems to lessening. I know the stress of in-between spots is tough, but if you keep up the physical activity, that might go a long way to dealing with the anxiety. With all of your hoped for activity, one thought I had was to think about what might happen if you get injured? Planning ahead for that potential, switch to swimming primarily for example, can make navigating it much more seamless.

Also, it might be useful to really dive into what you get our of your Netflix habit? No judgement in the inquiry, but since you wrote that it would be the hardest, I’m really curious about it. Is it a tried and true relaxation habit? Since you’re coming out of burnout, maybe you’ll naturally wean yourself off of it?

I am so impressed you joined a hiking group! That sounds awesome and like a great group of people to be around. Maybe there are some low-key ERE types in that group?

[NewBlood]

Hi mooretrees, happy new year!
Good question, swimming would definitely be a good substitute if I get injured, but I’m trying hard not to get injured, which is why I’m taking it very slow. I went back to week 4 of the Couch to 5k program (from week 7 out of 9), I spend a lot of time stretching after each running session, and for hiking, I got some high-ankle sturdy shoes. I used to always hike with low-ankle shoes, but this group is a whole other level from what I used to do (2-5h hikes in running shoes or even slippers sometimes). It’s always possible I’ll hurt myself though, so good to think through alternatives, thanks!

My netflix habit is definitely an escape from all the work and logistics thoughts that give me anxiety, but I am hoping that as I recover from 2023 and as things progress and I cross more things off my task list for my business/work stuff, things will start to normalize and I’ll recover enough attention span to switch to more reading instead. I’m bad at dealing with uncertainty and not feeling settled. Netflix helps with not ruminating and switching my brains off. Not very healthy, but hopefully healthier than alcohol or pot, not sure.
I’m also noticing that as I have been spending a lot of time curled up in bed watching movies or reading, my old enemy my hip has been flaring up a bit, so this will also be a natural limit to how much of a sloth I can get away with being. Longer days and spring (can’t wait) should help also.

Funny you ask about ERE-types! During the hike, some of the people who have been in the club for years found an old shirt in the cabin and were talking about an old-timer who is so frugal, always reusing/salvaging old gear who would love to have it, even though he’s pretty well-off, he still has gear from the 80s and is always very careful with money (but also generous they insisted). The whole time they were talking about him, I was wondering to myself if maybe he is on this forum haha. I haven’t met him yet, but would love to have conversations with him.

[NewBlood]

2024 update 2/52

My business now exists! I still need to figure out a couple of things and pay the accountant, finish setting up the bank account and then I think I’m good to go to start the US-side process!

I didn’t have plans to do any train travel this month, I really wanted to just be in one place for a few weeks instead of going back and forth all the time, but a colleague of mine decided to extend his holiday Euro trip by a few days to come visit my home country and the city where my parents live. I couldn’t really tell him “no thanks”, so I made the trip and spent a couple days there to meet up with him and show him around. It was nice, but money I hadn’t planned to spend. Did some newish touristy things I had never done there (not super worth it, now I know what not to recommend), had some good food, and hung out a bit with my family before going home.

Despite the unplanned trip, I still managed to run 3 times this week! Done with my reboot of week 4 of the Couch to 5k program, and did my second run with the walk/run group this morning. Found someone to carpool with, and it was really nice, there were 10 of us this time, it’s getting quite popular. Met some new people, and followed the run with coffee and a visit of a nice medieval village. Back in time to hit the farmers market. Next weekend, they have scheduled a 3h hike instead of a slow run, should be fun too.

Not my style to be out of my house at 8am on a Sunday morning for a run in the cold with strangers. Don’t know if this is personal growth or desperation for meeting people. Either way, I feel good about it.

I haven’t gone swimming yet, there’s a ton of covid, flu and stomach flu here still after the holidays, gonna wait another week or two before putting myself indoors in that virus soup… I was sick for two weeks in December, I really don’t want to start the year being sick again.
I also haven’t gone back to climbing yet for the same reason. Not much ventilation in that tiny gym, and I’m tired of being the one weirdo wearing a mask.

[NewBlood]

2024 update 3/52

I successfully competed step 1 of the US process for my business, now waiting on former employer to tell me what’s next. So, some progress.

This week, I finished Week 5 of the Couch to 5k program, did some bodyweight exercises twice, some leg reinforcement exercises once, and a 3 hour hike yesterday with the running group. This group is already becoming a victim of its success, 40 people showed up for the hike, half of whom were grouchy older retirees who somehow found the announcement for the hike but hadn’t realized this is an informal group and proceeded to complain that it was not well organized. A bit frustrating, but I still met 4 new people I clicked with who are from around here and know lots of cool hikes in the surroundings, so this is pretty exciting.

I also signed up for the 1-week snow shoe trip in February. This will cost 350 euros for a full week of lodging, breakfasts and dinners, round-trip travel from here to the mountains, and gear rental! Plus the people organizing it are certified mountain guides. I paid 98 euros for the year to become a member of the club (that includes insurance), which gives me access to all those activities (including the climbing gym) and reduced rates for mountain lodgings. I’m looking forward to the trip!

Netflix usage has finally started to go down, and reading has gone up. I feel like I’ve recovered some brain power and motivation again. I might be getting out of my burn out phase, I hope that lasts.

I am enjoying this period of not working, getting better at dealing with the uncertainty and enjoying all the free time. Starting to get into some healthier routines.

I have been doing some Japanese exercise routine on and off for months now. Rajio Taiso: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwKMOWjrEEc
Not challenging, but the Japanese are the champions of healthy life expectancy (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/heal ... ?tab=table), so I figure it can’t hurt and it gets me moving first thing in the morning. If I keep this up for 30-40 years, I could see how this might help keep all the joints somewhat functional. Pretty sure my mom can’t do the whole thing, and I know for a fact my dad can’t. They’re both 69...
I’m never gonna be a badass like guitarplayer and start my day with 200 burpees, but I have started adding a few burpees at the end of rajio taiso.

Still haven’t gone swimming or climbing. Half of my family is sick again with respiratory illnesses… still avoiding packed indoor activities… Swimming might be fine though, I might try next week.

[delay]

Thanks for your journal!

I also signed up for the 1-week snow shoe trip in February. This will cost 350 euros for a full week of lodging, breakfasts and dinners, round-trip travel from here to the mountains, and gear rental! Plus the people organizing it are certified mountain guides. I paid 98 euros for the year to become a member of the club (that includes insurance), which gives me access to all those activities (including the climbing gym) and reduced rates for mountain lodgings. I’m looking forward to the trip!

That sounds like fun. 350 euro's is a good deal for a week, including travel too! Where do you live? Anyway, looking forward to reading how the trip went.

[loutfard]

Your comments on hip pain remind me that mine has mostly disappeared with my excess weight.

P.S. I'm rather curious about your native eurozone country with somewhat of a food and cycling culture, relatively modest wages, climbing opportunities and expensive-unless-prebooked train tickets. I didn't know such a country existed. Please do not spill the beans if you don't want to though!