June-September Update

It has been a REALLY long time since I last wrote...

In the meantime, I took a Sustainability Management course at INCAE (June), my brother sent my mom to visit me in July (lots of fun...more on that later), August and September were spent in a trance, frantically looking for the perfect model for my thesis, and planning the table of contents.

At some point in August I started 1. spinning sessions (for those of you who don't know what spinning is, it's really fast stationary cycling and most of the time without sitting down) 2. a slim fast/pop corn diet. This means I have a slim-fast shake (thanks to Cardy) as soon as I'm dressed, a cup of coffee and some whole wheat soda crackers around 9 at the office, 63 calories worth of dehydrated pineapple around 10, then eat all the salads and vegetables at the cafeteria plus whatever lean protein they have, and a bowl of fruit. When I come home I eat a whole bag of popcorn, drink lots of water, and if I'm hungry before bed, I like to eat a bowl of oatmeal with a little bit of milk. People have started noticing a change :) I have also started taking vitamins (One a Day, Women's) and I feel a change!

September was very sad because a family member passed away, so some of that time I just spent mourning...no energy for anything...so sad...

October started with a loud bang...the most unbelievable lightning hit my little house (and about 6 other houses near it). It fried my TV, cable modem, wireless router, study light...I hope that was all, haven't had time to check everything...my neighbors lost TVs and cable modems as well...one even lost a laptop in the storm...unbelievable! I really don't like this kind of weather, although thanks to the rain everything looks so bright and green...

As a consequence, I'm now glued to my desk...no more researching on the hammock, or chatting with the family while still in bed (God, I'm spoiled!). I have learned to not use the TV as an alarm clock, I am now able to fall asleep without watching TV (amazing how adaptable we are!), and I've discovered that I like it. All I do in order to relax before bed is watch a movie (I have many that I've collected but never watched) and I enjoy the luxury of being able to stop the movie whenever I feel like I'm too sleepy to go on, turn off the laptop and go to sleep. Amazing! :) One of the problems with this is that
1. I will go to sleep pretty early, which makes me wake up REALLY early (like 4:30 or 5 am, depending on what time I went to sleep, because my body can't handle more than 6 hours of sleep even on weekends, and it wakes up on its own).
2. Since I'm known for being a night owl, I WILL get phone calls in the "middle of the night" (which might be only 11 pm) and get scared to death thinking someone is calling me with more bad news.

So, now when the TV comes back (some genius technician will fix it for $30), it will be placed in the living room, where it should stay. I will go to bed at a decent time and not re-press the sleep button because the program I'm watching is too interesting. This almost sounds like New Year's resolutions towards the end of the year! :)

I'm also glad to report that I managed to buy (with the help of my nice new neighbor) three pairs of shoes size 10 (I swear I was convinced I'd never find shoes for me, ladies here wear dolls' shoes!): the pair for everyday office stuff, the weekend clogs and the nice shoes at Best Brands (SO thrilled they exist!) and contacts to replace my very worn old ones. I feel like a queen!

The above mentioned neighbor also has permission to drag me to spinning class (the bad thing is I don't go when she doesn't feel like going, she's the one with the car) and we also shop for groceries together. I also get to treat them to chupe and other gourmet Peruvian dishes when I've cooked too much. Glad they're here.

I'm glad we talked. I will try to be good and post more frequently. Please don't complain and threaten to quit reading my blog if I don't post regularly. I couldn't help it! I know it's not so much fun this way, lots of things get forgotten...I will do my best :)