Week 6! I struggled a bit more this week, and have started longing for holidays. I usually plan ahead A LOT so I always have little trips to look forward to and now… not really. I’ve had to cancel a trip to London, my marathon attempt in Rotterdam and a girls trip to Berlin in May – and it’s not looking good for our trip to Oslo in June. So I spent another week with an activity a day to keep myself preoccupied.
Monday: donate your old clothes
When winter turns into spring (and what a lovely spring it’s been so far) I will discover items of clothing that aren’t feeling as comfortable or fitting as well as they did last autumn. So gradually a pile of clothes grows in the corner of our room, ready to find a new owner. On Monday I took this pile for a walk, over to the Red Cross’ clothing donation box and we said our goodbyes. It’s a bit sad sometimes to part with clothes you’ve loved wearing, but at least this way they are being put to good use.
Tuesday: improve your writing
On Tuesday I was supposed to head to Bruges for a one-day training course to improve my writing skills in Dutch. Due to the lockdown being extended here in Belgium that training got cancelled. However, I’ve also acquired a book through work that runs through lots of practical tips & tricks to write clearer and in a more engaging way. I’ve finished reading the book, but have been compiling summaries of each chapter. So on Tuesday I got my Bamboo Slate out (a birthday present from my better half) and summarized another chapter minimise the missed learning opportunity.
Wednesday: listen to podcasts during chores
I’ve considered checking out some new podcasts during walks, but I enjoy listening to the birds and the sounds around me too much when I’m outside. So this week I tried a new approach. I had two baskets full of washing that needed folding up. Not really an annoying job (channeling my inner Marie Kondo) but just time-consuming. Before getting started however I turned my laptop on and settled for Episode 1 of How to fail with Elizabeth Day. It was interesting, but not as captivating as some other podcasts I’ve listened to. I personally prefer the book.
Thursday: cut your own fringe
Like most people I have seen the value of having a good hairdresser increase as our time in isolation gets longer. Luckily I went a week or so before the restriction measures were put into place. Now, while my hair is fine, my fringe is slowly but surely reaching its limits. I usually find cutting my fringe quite stressful. However, last week we cut my boyfriends’s hair. After that experience, and some advice from Instagram, I took the leap and am quite happy with the result! Nothing too shocking, but still!
Friday: paint your nails
I go through phases of wearing lots of nail polish and then weeks or months of wearing none at all. With being at home all the time and the weather getting warmer, I’ve been strolling around barefoot and have noticed my milky-white lower limbs more often. As my tan is mostly made up out of freckles, I use nail polish to add some colour. To ensure I would sit still long enough for the nail polish to dry, I set up my nail painting station and watched the last episode of Tiger King on Netflix.
Saturday: bake sourdough bread (attempt #2)
Six weeks after my first attempt at making a sourdough starter (spoiler: it failed. But the second attempt did work!) and one week after my first bread-baking attempt I gave baking a sourdough bread another go. I followed another recipe (in Dutch) this time, tried and tested by one of my friends, and victory was mine! I’m sure my bread skills can be improved upon, but for now I’m very happy. When these quarantine posts are over I think I’ll do a post on my sourdough attempts.
Sunday: online pub quiz
A Dutch friend of mine organised an online pub quiz. It’s the first quiz I did since we’re all at home, but my boyfriend has been participating in a few and they looked a lot of fun. In terms of preparation she told us we needed 4 sheets of paper with A,B,C and D on them and a red and a green object. We also all needed to wear something on our head, and bring something nice to eat or drink. The themes of the rounds were: ‘a mix of good things’, ‘penguins and goats’, a picture and a music round, one on ‘corona skills’ and a hats on/off round. And I came second!
Right, that was week 6. If you ignore my hormonal week last week, this was the first week I struggled a bit. On Friday our government did announce the first plans to gradually relax the current measures, and I guess that gives us a little perspective. So there will be at least one more of these blog posts though, maybe more. But in the meantime: stay home and stay safe!
Find out what I did in the previous weeks here:
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Annelies Explores 
jaaaa zo leuk dat je meedeed – en mooie letters ook 🙂
Ik neig steeds meer naar toch ook maar eens een zuurdesemstarter maken, ook al zijn m’n eerdere pogingen tot brood maken nooit heel goed verlopen. Alhoewel, dat komt vast door de gist 😉
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Roggebloem maakte echt het verschil voor mij in een starter! Oh ja, en je recept niet kwijtraken haha.
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I was smiling while reading . I can relate to time to do nails, listen to webinars, cook great food and experiment too .
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