Semester 17 Chapter VII: Headstands

What’s good y’all, another week has passed and that means one thing and one thing only. Another chapter of this never-ending story. Sitting in the room with some GloRilla in the headphones, just had my lunch, it’s a bit cloudy outside but I still gotta show some real love to the weather. It’s been warm, it’s been fun spending time outside and honestly, given the fact it’s the end of October, it’s pretty unbelievable. Probably not great in the long-term but works for now. Shit, I even went out for a swim in the sea Friday afternoon.

So last week it was more yoga. I’m really getting into it. For several reasons. Being in a new city can be a bit challenging and my everyday routine doesn’t get me out there to mingle with people too much. I work remotely and all of my hobbies are kinda solitary (workouts, running…), so it’s cool to have a reason to go out there into the real world. So after this trial week, I decided to sign up for a membership which allows me to join for whichever classes I choose for the next month. My yoga center (Balanzs) has three branches around the town (plus they got some more in Amsterdam and Rotterdam), they provide a variety of sessions ranging from hot and physically extremely challenging ones to very chilled and meditative. And I genuinely enjoy all. Initially, I had been thinking about getting a gym membership instead but the thing is, it feels like yoga complements everything I do much better. On top of all that, it’s cool to work on some balancing and flexibility. And it has the right amount of breath work, mediation and spirituality. Works like a charm. Most days last week, I went to two sessions a day and I don’t really plan on slowing down much. Happy I gave this a shot.

 

So yeah, there’s been a lot of that. Last week, we also tried out this Hummus en Falafel spot which offers some of the best falafel I’ve ever had for incredibly low prices on local standards. Then we took it to this Café de Luc spot which is a jazz bar with this vintage vibe and live music. Probably the best bar I’ve seen around here. It’s cool figuring shit out and unlocking new spots. And it feels good having a spot to go to in the evenings here and there. Had a chance to talk to a sax player who was performing that night for a bit. Turned out the guy’s from Antalya where I used to study ages ago. World is small. Thursday, our neighbor had a bday party so I dropped by. Lovely evening.

Over the weekend, we did some brunches, we relaxed a bit but we stayed active. Saturday, we went to a handstand workshop. 2 hours of simple exercises and theory building up to and actual handstand. Now, 2 hours are not remotely enough to learn how to handstand confidently but the instructor was great, I connected some dots in my brain and by the end of it, everybody was able to perform some baby stands. I’ve been also working on my headstand which is going much better. At this point, I can do one in a controlled manner. Not for too long, sometimes I gotta give it more attempts but I’m getting there. And again, it’s really fun. I’ve been in a good shape since forever but this is a completely new dimension. You work with fear, you work with balance, you work with core, you just do something completely new. And honestly, the fact I really suck at most of it makes it even more entertaining. Lot of other shit I can do, this – not so much. Not sure how long I’ll stay at it but I can see this becoming a thing for real.

 

Sunday, we visited a friend for an afternoon session and we did our first beach sauna this autumn. Fucking great. Sauna, sea, shower, repeat. This is going to happen many more times. So yeah, things are moving, it’s all good over here. Hope you guys are doing well, too! Shout out to all my readers and to all my vegans out there. One!

Highlights:

• Yoga.
• Headstands.
• Sauna.
  

Semester 17 Chapter VI: Yoga

Hello world, here we go again. Monday evening, sun is setting, I’m fresh off a run with a little bit of work ahead, all is good. Last week, I was processing the fact The Hague might be my home for some time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad place and there’s quite some good things about it, but it’s also has some downsides which I’ve been aware of and I’ll just have to see how I can handle them in the future. At the end of the day, it is a pretty polished city with may polished expats and not that many low-life punk places. And it’s not the cheapest. Social life over here could be a bit of a struggle, too. But then again, I haven’t been here for too long and I’m gonna do exactly what I always do. Taking it step by step and see where it goes.

 

Over the workweek, I didn’t feel 100% so I didn’t do much outside of work. I stuck to my home workout routine but until Thursday, both running and my outdoor workouts were on pause. Once I felt better, I was back on the regular, though, and on Saturday, I signed up for a week of yoga. See, there’s this studio just around the corner from where I stay, which offer 7 day of free classes as a trial. So why the fuck not. They have different venues around the town and they offer all kinds of that shit. Now, besides being reminded of how not flexible my hamstrings are, I’ve been enjoying it quite a lot. To the point where I actually consider keeping at it once the trial is over. Not sure about that yet but it is a cool thing to do and I can feel it benefits me. Complements all the other shit I do.

So yeah, weekend was partly about yoga and partly about weed. Because you can buy it here. In a store. With a credit card. You can even get vegan space muffins. And to tell the truth, it’s a lot more fun then getting drunk. I really wish at least portion of our country’s alcoholics could be redirected to weed. World would be a better place. Anyways, very entertaining. We also did a lovely brunch at this vegan café called Plenty, we spent some time outside, it was all enjoyable.

 

I’m also slowly planning my Christmas in the Czech Republic and it’s all taking shape. And that’s about it. Hope y’all good and shit is going just the way you want it to. Sending some love to everybody out there and some extra love to all my vegans. Because some shit matter. One!

Highlights:

• Yoga.
• Muffins.
• The Remains Of The Day. A Kazuo Ishiguro boom I’m now finishing. The guy is so good.

Semester 17 Chapter V: Back to Hague

Okay, back in The Netherlands. And from now on, hopefully back to weekly basis with this thing. It’s a cloudy morning over here, I’ve just finished my workout and I’m getting ready to dive into the working week. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind couple of extra weekend days but that’s not how shit goes. So let’s get to this.

 

After returning from Japan, I spent couple of days in the Czech Republic. I met some of my favorite people for a drink on Friday and Saturday morning, I took it to Prague to catch up with another of my close friends. After a really long time, I used Blablacar and it was actually pretty fun. Fast, enjoyable and some of the conversations there inspired me to finally set up a Revolut account couple days later. In Prague, it was lotta talks, chilling in a tattoo shop, good food and some drinks. Later in the evening, I was on a bus to The Hague. Don’t even recall how many times I’ve taken this connection over the past year.

 

Arrived here on Sunday around 1pm with the aim to spend at least about 2 months over here. And so far so good. Over the past week, it’s been mostly work but we did have a chance to do some cool shit, too. Some hangouts at the local Quench café, some bike rides around the city… And even though weather is far from warm over here, it’ still pretty okay and if the wind isn’t too strong, you can easily do a picnic at the beach. Which we absolutely did. At one point, I did some further exploration of the city. Checked some second hand stores, found an Asian grocery shop (that’ actually very useful) and went up this observation tower they temporarily erected in the city center.

 

It’s cool being back here and there’s stuff to do. In couple of days they gonna reopen the beach sauna and I’m really looking forward to that. Hope everybody out there is well! Be safe, stay positive and don’t entertain bullshit. Shout out to all the readers. One!

 

Highlights:

• Bike rides.
• Sea.
• City parks. Seriously, some of them are gorgeous.

Semester 17 Chapter IV: Japan Czech-in

Okay, here we fucking go. Back from my little vacation, back from the other side of the world. My trip to Japan marks the first time me visiting Asia (not counting Turkey) since covid. It also marks the first time I took some real time off since I started freelancing as a teacher. It was a really cool experience and I got to do it with some of my favorite people. So without further ado, let’s dive into it…

 

After two long-ass flights, I arrived at Narita Airport early afternoon September 19^th. Quickly learning that Japan is still heavily cash-based, I had to withdraw some money to get a subway ticket downtown to our accommodation. Now, let me point out, that the subway system is ran by different companies and their tickets are not compatible. Which is super weird and sometimes causes real headache. Anyway, made it to my station and walked to our building to find out nobody is in. Which was fine; I was really enjoying strolling around, watching the high-rise buildings, feeling the vibe. It was making me sentimental as it was by far the closest I had got to Shanghai in ages. At that point, I had no internet access so I was trying to find some wi-fi and in the process accidentally ran into my friends who came from Canada. So the whole adventure could start.

 

We spent the first four days in Tokyo. Now, Japan has a reputation of this super fascinating place with a unique culture, rich history and tons of things to do. Which is all true but there are also things that don’t really work very well. For me at least. It kinda feels everything is bound by some protocols and rules. It’s not really okay to drink water in public. It’s not really okay to sit down outside and have a snack. It’s not really okay to do pretty much anything as it’s considered an “annoying act”. Even though, it was very hot the whole time, there are pretty much no establishments with outside seating. Oh, and there are virtually no trash bins. Which would be okay, if they didn’t sell everything in layers of plastic. Beverages, snacks, even fucking veggies and fruits. It’s like everywhere you go, you end up with tons of rubbish but then you have nowhere to put it. Bins are such a rare occurrence that I ended up taking pictures every time I saw some. And the fucking food. Japan might be the least vegan friendly place in Asia I’ve experienced so far. Sure, there are vegan spots and you can usually get a little something in a regular restaurant as well. But listen… These tiny Japanese portions of food don’t really cut it. Shit isn’t really cheap and when you get like two pieces of mushrooms, little tiny green leaf and about 30 grams of rice… It’s all cute in the beginning but after a day or two you are really fucking hungry. You can get a ramen here and there but I found it extremely difficult to get a decent portion of food. Ended up eating lots of peanuts and relying mostly on Indian or Nepalese places. Plus honestly, there wasn’t a single dish that blew my mind. It’s all kinda mid. But I understand this might be me. I don’t eat most things and I’m not the biggest fan of sushi. Ramen is good but I also don’t need one every day so there you have it.

 

When it comes to bars, they often have these tiny little spots (couple of square meters at most) with capacity of about 5-6 people which creates a pretty intimate environment. Which would be great if Japanese were communicative. Which they’re not. So again, a pretty pricey experience where you basically stare into the staff’s faces but it really isn’t much fun. Overall, it really feels like a whole bunch of rules, lotta distance and very little spontaneity. Which kinda goes in line with things you often read about the country. The population is aging like crazy, many young people find the idea of sex disgusting, people are lonely (they actually manufacture robots so older people have something to hug; which is like the saddest thing I’ve ever heard), they are not very welcoming to other cultures so they can’t really solve this by immigration… It’s very difficult to understand and it seems very complicated.

 

I don’t wanna make it sound like I had a bad time tho. It was a great experience and I’m super happy we got to it. Downtown Tokyo at night looks like something from a comic book and it is an experience. There are many really cool things. It just feels that the hype around Japan doesn’t really reflect the full reality. And my friends who live there (part of my old Shanghai gang) confirm all of that. Based on the first impression, if I had to choose between Tokyo and Shanghai, I’m picking Shanghai any day of the week. Shit feels much more free over there. How ironic is that.

 

We kept ourselves busy tho. We went to karaoke, we explored some bars and cafés, we went to the legendary Shibuya crossroads… One day, I visited the Tokyo National Museum (epic) and I also reunited with my Lithuanians which brought back some memories. It’s apparently one of those friendships where it doesn’t really matter how much time you spend apart. Whenever you see each other again, it all falls back in place. So yeah, that felt great. Made me feel old but also grateful. All the shit we’ve been through, all the memories we created… I’m not really in touch with most people from back in the day but shit… We used be amazing together. And it’s cool revisiting that once in a while. Life’s good. Shout out to the Shanghainese gang! Much love...

 

The one negative thing was illness. Two of our group started feeling unwell on the second day and they ended up splitting for two nights. And unfortunately, the rest of us took some damage, too. We never really had to spend a whole day in bed but for good 3 days, we weren’t really sure what’s happening and in what condition we would wake up the following day. But again, nothing serious.

From Tokyo, we took it to Hakone for a night. It’s a rural area and our hotel had an onsen in it. It’s this traditional Japanese bath and even thought they restrict tatted people, I managed to get in. There weren’t too many guests, there was no staff present in the evening… So it worked out. Exploring Hakone was fun. Many cable cars over the mountains and lakes. On the top of of one of the mountains, there is a sulfur mine. I’ve seen similar places in Indonesia (and even on Teide in Tenerife) but this one was probably the largest. And it all smelled of spoiled eggs as expected.

 

From Hakone, we went to Kyoto. See, we got this one-week train ticket which entitles you to use most Japanese trains without limits. And those Shinkansens are both super reliable and fast. Kyoto was mostly about temples. We visited Nara where there’s deer casually walking around everywhere. Apparently, that’s been happening for ages but it’s a trip seeing animals who are naturally extremely shy being fed and petted by tourists, chilling in parks and generally not giving a fuck. My vegan heart wasn’t particularly happy about that. But yeah, lotta temples and castles, some cool bars (if you ever get there, check the In The Moon bar – some epic views), really nice accommodation. We also did an afternoon trip to Osaka. The castle over there is really nice and so is the surrounding park. 

 

Our last stop was Hiroshima. I had never thought about what Hiroshima actually looks like prior to coming there. In my head I had always associated it with a-bomb, pain, suffering, radiation and apocalypse. So it was pretty surprising seeing how green the city is. The first day, we did a trip to one of the surrounding islands, walked around, took a cable car to the top and then spent the evening downtown in a park drinking and hanging out. It was our first time doing shit like that in Japan and it felt refreshing. You see, that park is located exactly where the bomb was dropped. Now there’s a lot of greenery, museum and a memorial with a burning flame. And they say they gonna keep it burning until there are no more nuclear weapons left in the world. Good luck with that. There’s also a building which is the only one in the whole area that survived the blast. Only because the bomb exploded about 500 meters high, almost exactly above it so the blast went all around but kept this one intact. And it was designed by a Czech architect. Crazy, right?

 

We also visited the museum. And that was heavy. It’s impossible to fully appreciate the scope of damage brought by the attack. Temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, radiation, death, illnesses, suffering. In the museum they keep it personal, telling stories of different individuals, giving examples, painting the whole picture. There’s a lot in it and it’s not an easy content to digest but it is totally worth it and it really puts some things in perspective. And it’s crazy we live in the world where thousands of these weapons have been assembled. It’s enough to destroy the whole planet countless times over. With people like Trump, Putin or Kim having access to the red button. Happy days.

 

We spent the last two night back in Tokyo. We found this neat capsule hotel (we stayed in one in Hiroshima, too) with onsen. These capsules work. I cannot imagine staying in these youth hostels with 30 bunk beds in one room anymore but the capsules give you enough space and privacy to have some quality sleep. This hostel also had a nice bar and it was right by the river… No complaints. The last evening, we took it to one of the neighborhoods where they sell sex toys, porn and panties with menstrual blood off vending machines. Because yes… You can’t really drink water outside without people looking at you weird but you can apparently buy DVDs of dogs fucking people (no exaggeration there) in a store with a credit card. The whole experience was surreal. We also hit some arcades, did some fucked up pictures in one of these photo booths and went to karaoke once more to sing some Backstreet Boys, Justin and My Heart Will Go On. Shit like that is important.

 

And that was that. The day after, I was on my way to the Czech Republic. Arrived two days ago, spent some time with the fam, worked a lot… Back to reality. I’m super happy I did the trip. Felt good spending this much time with friends, felt great exploring new country, felt good taking some time off. Japan is a weird and messed up but it has a lot to offer. Now I’m back on my workouts, I’m eating a lot (compensating for the whole trip), I’m decompressing. Hope y’all good, too. Sending love to everybody out there and shout out to all my vegans. One!

 

Highlights:

• Hiroshima.
• Karaoke.
• My people!