May: I left my job at NP because I wanted to look for greener pastures. I felt that my daily time at work could be better used developing myself in the field that I am more passionate about. I'm not saying that I wasn't passionate about student development. I like my job, I enjoy working with students and helping them "develop" but I wanted to do more. I wanted to change lives. I mean I still could change lives as a student development officer but PLEASE CAN I GET ON WITH MY STORY ALREADY. Just assume that I've thought about it well and through that the current job that I was in was not helping me grow anymore. In fact, I sat on the dilemma for WEEKS. I even had to consult Google asking her: "how to make hard decisions" and rewatch Ruth Chang's Ted Talk on decision making over and over again to make sure that I'm making the right decision.
But as we all know very well from life experiences, there's never a right decision. Life-changing decisions are meant to be hard. That's what makes life exciting and worth living for, right?
Right.
But as we all know very well from life experiences, there's never a right decision. Life-changing decisions are meant to be hard. That's what makes life exciting and worth living for, right?
Right.
I remembered crying so much on my farewell party because it is hard to find colleagues who care about you so much that it hurts to leave.
So off I went, heading to UK to start my masters and live with my ex-bf in London. I've already applied in some schools and got accepted, so close to getting a scholarship to get my Masters funded and then, I broke up with my ex (thus, called an ex now) and didn't see a reason for me being in London because that would mean higher living costs and all that having to live alone, etc.
June: I continued my plan which was to volunteer at a summer rowing camp up in Craftsbury in Vermont, USA where I met the most amazing rowing people. Being there reminded me of why rowing is fun and how beautiful it can be if you remove the distractions caused by politics and power and even sometimes the idea of competition. Rowing is such beautiful sport, I've trained so hard and so many times that it started to lose its meaning and enjoyment.
Anyway, Vermont is beautiful and I met a couple there who said that I MUST ROW ON THE CHARLES and that I can stay with them if I do head to Boston. So I went to Boston, stayed with the beautiful couple in their beautiful house and rowed on the Charles. I absolutely fell in love with Boston.
How can you not love this view of Boston from the water?
And then I did a cat sit in Boston right in the middle of the city along one of the most expensive areas to live in. I feel so blessed. I was pretty apprehensive about this cat-sitting thing initially because you have to pay like a hundred dollars of registration fee but it turned out to be a pretty good deal.
And then I went to New York and again got free accommodation for like 10 days because I was cat-sitting, and right next to the WTC. An airbnb would have cost me a bomb in that area. And the cat was super adorable and easy to take care of anyway. I did another cat sitting in Washington Heights which is in the outer suburbs of Manhattan and faced a cat-sitting nightmare when the poor kitty had diarrhoea and was pooping all over the floor. Nice.
After NYC, I went to Montreal to volunteer with Marco Displatro, a Canadian Boccia player, multiple World Championship medallist, and Bronze medalist in the London 2010 Paralympic Games. I learnt not only on how to work with athletes with muscular distrophy, but also understand more about the sport and the Canadian sport scene as well. I also spent a bit of time with his helper, Joanna, who is a lovely lady from Poland, passionate about Boccia and lots to learn from her.
After NYC, I went to Montreal to volunteer with Marco Displatro, a Canadian Boccia player, multiple World Championship medallist, and Bronze medalist in the London 2010 Paralympic Games. I learnt not only on how to work with athletes with muscular distrophy, but also understand more about the sport and the Canadian sport scene as well. I also spent a bit of time with his helper, Joanna, who is a lovely lady from Poland, passionate about Boccia and lots to learn from her.
After Montreal, I flew over to Nice, where I met Ross and Brian and Nice is absolutely beautiful. My main reason to head there is to climb Mont Ventoux, which is one of the climbs the Tour de France cyclists do but not in this year's climb. So up we went, all 1912m of it. My bike's shifters refused to work so I had to rent a bike, which turned out to be a pretty okay bike (nothing like the Tarmac) but oh well.
I reached the summit around 20-30mins ahead of Ross (which I should not bring up again because he's more of the cyclist and not me). Brian was having some problems with his bike but he was brave enough to finish the ride. I'm proud of all of us. It was one hell of a ride, I must say.
Ross and I decided to meet in Paris after we soaked in the sun, sand and sea in Nice to catch the finals of the Tour de France, which was unexpectedly pretty intense and exciting. In a way, it made me want to compete again but...
..but I need to focus on other priorities in my life before I delve into training again.
So after Paris, I took a bus to Dusseldorf to meet Zakiah, because I owe here a visit since I pangseh-ed her last year during raya. Initially, I didn't like Dusseldorf cuz I was there on its hottest week and being a "green" city, they dont use AC and Zak's house didn't had a fan so it was HOT. There also seemed like there was nothing much to do but when I went for the walking tour with Zak (which was also quite boring and dry- haha), I realised that it was the little things about Dusseldorf that made it unique and interesting. I love the fact that it is such a runnable/cycable city.
I took a flight to London, met up with Yatay and actually spent a few days dreading London, although I've always thought I liked London. I think I'm starting to become more of a countryside lover as opposed to being a city-lover. I don't enjoy the high prices, the overwhelming bustle of activities and high traffic or both vehicles and human.I managed to squeeze in a few good runs around the city. One thing about my runs is that I've been telling myself that I should go for long, slow runs, but my long is not long enough! Ugh. Can I not be lazy already?
I need a proper training programme.
Or more like, I need a clear direction in where I want to be in life. UGH.
okay, moving on.
I had a cat sit duty in Bath, which I was dreading initially because Bath is 3hrs away and I'll be completely alone but it turned out to be a really nice house with a really nice cat. An outdoor cat (first of its kind for my house sitting experience) and scared me one day when I couldn't find it anywhere in the house, in the garden or around the area the whole morning! But it came back eventually after 4 hours of worrying me. Bath was beautiful. In fact, I have been there 3 x and this is the first time I've seen it in the sun. The house also had some berry bushes where I helped myself to fresh blackberries everyday and a trampoline! It was strange being alone in a big house but honestly, I kinda liked it.
Bath was the final destination before I headed back home.
It has been a week since I've been back and to be honest, other than a row with the ERC ladies last week, I haven't really been out in the sun! I've been either cooped at home, in the gym or in some cafe/library on the computer sorting out my life. I haven't missed a day of training since I've been back and that is why I think my body is telling me to rest now. It started with a sore throat yesterday and then a full blown flu last night which made my sleep fog uncomfortable that my head hurts. And now, swollen eyelids, stuffy nose and a head ready to fall asleep at any time.
I do get asked what I'm training for and honestly guys, I don't know. I wish I knew but I don't. So I'm just training to keep my fitness level up and to maintain my strength and I guess that is the way I should approach this and not only do it because I have an upcoming race. Focus on the process, not the results.
I hope to tell you more about each city that I visited and my future plans!
x
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