Those last few weeks...

...have been quite busy and a little exhausting. Mind you, I'm far from complaining, but there have been so many firsts that I don't even know where my head's at right now. I haven't yet had the time to mentally or emotionally catch up to where we're going right now.  

Firstly, I moved to Berlin. And signed my work contract on the same day just to start working almost right away for four days straight. In a new job, new field. I'm now a proud member of the IKEA clan. But. I'm also working in gastronomy. How that's possible? Well, I'm working for IKEA Food, which entails everything from selling to cooking to actually serving the customers and working the cash register. The good thing is: it never gets boring. There's always new things to learn. But well, that means a whole lot of mental input. But it's fun. My work mates are great. And payment as well as the way IKEA takes care of its employees could not be better seeing that, on average, I work only three days a week.

Secondly, I've travelled to Amsterdam for the first time. Because I only work three shifts a week, I can travel quite freely without even being on vacation. My brother had his summer vacation and thus we decided to make the six hour train/nine hour bus trip to the capitol of the Netherlands. And it's been great. I fell in love with the relaxed atmosphere in the city and its Grachten and the red light district where everyone's just allowed to be themselves and do whatever they enjoy without judgement. Also, my brother was a great companion, keeping me from shopping too extensively, but making me see things I didn't necessarily know I wanted to see. I've rarely walked this much in spite of having a tram ticket. Emotionally, the Anne Frank Huis really got to me. It's strange what human beings do to others, sometimes. I can't understand it. And I don't want to. One of the things that stuck with me was the sentence: "Her would haves are our possibilities" and in keeping with that, I now try to help people whereever and whenever I can. Also, I feel like I ate myself through most of Amsterdam's food offerings. Macaroons? I tried everything that sounded good to my ears and taste buds. Pancakes? Tried them filled with egg and salmon, decked out with bacon, cheese and syrup, and with Nutella. Belgian waffles? Yes, with Nutella, with ice cream, and with ice cream and Nutella. I also tasted myself through a whole cheese shop, had some chocolate-hemp ice cream and strop waffles. Had some espresso though I ordered coffee. Ate some great Zwieback-biscuits. And I peed at a public toilet that had a great view over the whole city centre (sorry, if that's tmi, but it really impressed me). 

Back from Amsterdam, I had a day to prepare for the visit of my mother. Three days with her and my brother planning our US-trip for 2016. 

And this last week went into getting back into some kind of everyday life like I'm used to. I dragged my old gym buddy to my new gym to attend XpressDay and do the new Les Mills choreos with me. And now I got an old new gym buddy :) Then I tried CrossFit. And fell in love-hate with it. I was so sore for three days, it wasn't even funny. So yes, first CrossFit workout? Done and done. Afterwards I ran into my German MMA partner in crime from January, who convinced me to join her in Jiu Jitsu practice. I was totally done after CrossFit, but I said yes anyways. The DOMS was strong that week. And then I finally got back to BJJ practice and made a contract with Randori Pro. Oh, and at the same time I was asked if I wanted to compete at White Belt Challenge next Saturday. I said yes. So, first competition in Germany coming up, too. So much about my pondering of maybe really just doing this for my fitness and fun. 

Oh, and before I forget; before moving to Berlin I considered applying for a certain job at a certain firm. I thought, I'd know when the time is right, when it feels right. Yeah, turns out, life is what happens while you are busy making other plans: said firm asked for applications for said job on their facebook-page. No need to say, I've already sent in my application. 

So, does anyone understand why I could maybe need a moment to get to the surface and get a good glimpse at the situation that is my life? I feel like everything is just happening all the time and I'm playing it by ear, and mostly that's okay with me, I'm good at just winging it, but I might just need a moment to get my bearings right. Though I have to admit, if everything continues like that, I might just be okay with continuing like this. 

Never judge a book by its cover. Or: a week back in Germany

"I've got fire for a heart, I'm not scared of the dark, never made it look so easy [...] Nobody's gonna drag me down" 

(One Direction - Drag Me Down)

This has been the soundtrack to my first week back in Germany. How has life in Germany treated me so far? The answer is, I'm not sure. It still feels like I'm only on vacation. I mean, yeah, I've been working five days within the last seven days, but work doesn't feel like work. It's strange to think that I get money for giving people food and taking their money. It's pretty physical, yes, but fun, too. And our team is just great. I love the fact that people are talking Russian and Turkish left and right, even though I understand neither. But yeah, it's kind of surreal that I get paid for this.

Then I started following the youtube-account "Yoga with Adriene" and the accounts "30 Days of Yoga"-videos, meaning I've been doing yoga every day for at least 20min, which is astonishingly addictive. Or rather: I notice how I feel worse when I don't down-dog and plank and stretch it out. 

On the gym side of things, I've been a little lazy, only going to the gym every other day. Went to Grit Plyo on Thursday and boy, the instructor was...for lack of a more sophiaticated word...hot. And he knew what he did. which made him even hotter. But yeah, was a great Grit.

Saturday I went to a Combat class. The fourth Combat class I've attended in Germany at Superfit this far and for the first time I had an instructor who knew what she was doing. For the first time an instructor that could be compared to the ones in Finland. I'm a spoiled brat, when it comes to this because I'm used to instructors on a really high level. Good-looking, fun, nice instructors that are really good at what they're doing. Which brings me to the topic at hand: yesterday I went to BodyStep and BodyPump at Superfit Mitte and there was this dude on stage that looked a little like a charicature or Goofy as an instructor: he wore one of those 80's sweatbands on his forehead and short shorts and his hair looked funny and I was just like: "You kidding me?!?" But I thought that it'd be better to do some uninspired training with him than just leave and go later in the day. 

And right I was. Partly. It was a good decision to stay. And I was wrong; the classes were far from uninspired. Actually, they were two of the most fun and rad classes I've been to in Germany. One of the greatest BodyStep-classes overall. And not in spite of but because of his quirky personality that was paired with a great deal of knowledge about technique and anatomy. He gave great pointers and made me laugh more than once during the two hours that just flew by. He still reminded me of Goofy, but by the end of Pump-class it didn't matter any more, because he won me over. In spite of my previously made decision that no one is ever gonna be as great as the instructors at my Finnish gym. 

Another one that really got to me was the BodyAttack instructor whose class I already went to in August. She's not funny like Goofy, but she gets me to do stuff. She's efficient. And nice to look at. I'm not into girls, but if I were, I'd definitely crush on her. 

When it comes to MMA/BJJ, it's still rather boring, because I did not have the peace of mind to go and set up the contract with the gym. Also, there's a shitload of stuff ahead right now. The next two days, I'll be out of town and then it's the weekend and they're closed and then my mom's here and then it's almost October again. Ugh. And there's my five day work week next week, because I only have one day this week. But after me mom's gone, I'll be putting some effort in there, too. But right now, I got drive and I'm unsettled and I got itchy feet and wanderlust and yeah. I'll keep you posted about my ex tempore stunt that's gonna happen this night.