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Sustainable weekly diary #115: celebrating ‘Sinterklaas’ sustainably

Posted on December 12, 2019January 24, 2023

Hi there, welcome back into my personal weekly diary. Great that you’re here, and let me know what you think! In this diary I try to show what an eco-positive lifestyle looks like on a daily basis. I want to make the world a better place, by limiting my negative impact on this planet and maximizing the positive impact. The past week I celebrated a Dutch holiday called Sinterklaas, went out in Groningen and had a vegan fail after a long time. Want to read along? Here’s sustainable weekly diary #115.

Thursday

Today it is the 5th of December and that means that in the Netherlands we celebrate Sinterklaas. It’s mostly a children’s holidays, focussed on mass consumption. Kids are taught that if they have been naughty they won’t get any gifts and if they have been good they will get a lot of gifts. I don’t really like the capitalist mindset about this holiday, but it is a moment to really get together with family and that’s why I decided to join my family to celebrate it. Over the past year there has also been a massive debate about the holiday since it is the tradition that people dress up in Blackface. I don’t agree with this at all and I try to speak out on social media about it. I think it should be adjusted. The discussing is currently most about whether this is racism or not. Racism is not an opinion and people tend to forget that. I don’t understand why Dutch people don’t want to adjust their holiday if they know it seriously offends people. Since when is tradition a reason to not consider other people’s feelings? Anyhow, I chose to attend the holiday partly, since we got together as a family (nobody dresses up btw) and gift each other gifts with a poem with each gift. There were a few things on my list (I keep a list on my phone for things I need to postpone the purchase and so see if I really need it and for when I visit a thrift shop) which I figured I needed and so I did attend. I asked for a secondhand warm cap for in winter, a new pair of tights from Swedish Stockings (I have written a blogpost on why I purchase tights there every time I need one) and some vegan food. All things I wanted and so I consider this holiday sustainable. I tried to buy sustainable gifts for others (my uncle asked for socks and I bought a fair trade pair made out of recycled material for example) and wrapped the gifts in used wrapping paper which I saved over the years from the gifts I have received. it was a lovely night! Before we started I went to the Albert Heijn (grocery store) really quick to buy some vegan hot chocolate. The brand I usually go for was out of stock and so I tried something new. I also bought some vegan whipped cream, which unfortunately contains palm oil but this time I could not resist it.

Today my vlog from last week came online as well: you can see it here.

Friday

Once back home in Enschede today I came to realize that one of my plants is sort of dying. I adopted them years ago, so they are secondhand. Today I put it in a bigger pot and hope it will recover a bit. I also made some vegan sushi again. The more I make it the easier it gets it seems. It is not zero waste since I don’t know where to buy the nori blades zero waste, but still vegan and therefore a good choice.

Saturday

For dinner I had some oyster mushroom burgers. I got them for free from the Albert Heijn a few weeks ago. They unfortunately were not that good and I would not recommend them. After dinner a friend came to pick me up and we headed off to Groningen. A friend of us gave a housewarming since he just moved there. I brought my own reusable cup because you never know whether you need them at parties. After the party we went out and after that we had a midnight snack. I decided to get a sandwich with falafel, which would normally be vegan. But, before the falafel-man had asked me what sauce I wanted he had already put garlic-sauce on there, which is not vegan. I normally go for ketchup. He asked if he had to make a new sandwich since I said I wanted ketchup but I just took the sandwich because I thought it would have been a sin if he threw the sandwich away. A vegan fail, but there’s not much I could have done. The sandwich was wrapped in paper which was good though (no plastic).

Sunday

We were home at about 5 am but I woke up at 9:30 again. My phone was empty and I didn’t know how the tv worked. So, there I sat in the living room while everybody slept. I am not good at doing nothing I noticed. I tried but after a while I wanted to go and try to go back to sleep. It did not work because just when I fell asleep, everybody else woke up. Time to go home. On the way we stopped a supermarket to get some drinks for on the way. I bought a vegan kombucha in glass, yes! Zero waste and vegan. Once home I made some vegan sushi, again. I just love that so much, it’s my favorite food ever.

Sustainable weekly diary #115

Monday

At lunch time I made a really random meal with some tofu and burghul. Both sort of needed to be finished and so I made them with some soy sauce and tomatoes. Simple meals can be quite good actually, this was good. I went to my boyfriend in Harderwijk and we played some Rummikub. I really enjoy played board games together. I’ve learned about myself that I like offline life quite a lot more than randomly watching tv. Reading books, playing board games, working out, sitting by the fire. And whenever I do watch tv (which is still a lot) it is selective, I choose what I want to watch and don’t just stare at the tv mindlessly.

Sustainable weekly diary #115
Sustainable weekly diary #115

Tuesday

After the lecture at school, I came home and made myself some 2 Ingredient Vegan grilled ‘Cheese’ Sandwiches for myself. Such a good replacement for grilled cheese sandwiches. I used to love those, but I don’t eat cheese anymore now that I eat plant-based.

Sustainable weekly diary #115

Wednesday

As I was free today I set no alarm. I wanted to see how much sleep I needed. I slept till 13:10! Some days I try not to set an alarm to see how my body behaves without an alarm. I think it is good to listen to your body every once in a while. I studied for a major part of the day and watched some good informative tv-shows like Zembla, MediaLogica and Tycho in de Psychiatrie (might be interesting if you’re Dutch). Around dinner time I received a package. I had ordered a refurbished Iphone charger, since mine had unfortunately broken (and so I will bring it to the recycling point soon). I don’t buy new since that’s not sustainable, but I could not really find much secondhand and I needed it quick and so refurbished was a good solution in this case. It was packed in an extremely oversized box with a lot of plastic, but there is nothing I could do about that. I always mention: as little packaging/plastic as possible please, whenever I buy something, but it does not always work.

Sustainable weekly diary #115

Yours sincerely,
Romee 

2 thoughts on “Sustainable weekly diary #115: celebrating ‘Sinterklaas’ sustainably”

  1. Pingback: All my new purchases in 2019 – When A Teen Goes Green
  2. Pingback: All my new purchases in 2019 | When A Teen Goes Green

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

Here’s what I posted most recently

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Vandaag een artikel op mijn blog over Pieter Pot. Een webshop voor verpakkingsvrije boodschappen 🥜. Een geweldig concept die jou helpt je afval te verminderen én er ook nog eens heel goed uit ziet in je keuken #nospon. Je leest het nu via de link in mijn bio. Een greep uit de vegan maaltijden die ik at in mei 2023 🧆. Als ik zo terugkijk heb ik de italiaanse weer helemaal ontdekt, haha! Maar het hoogtepunt was wel echt de vegan, zero waste, kaassaus die ik maakte voor over de nachoschotel 🫘. Welke vegan ijs-, toetjes- of yoghurtproducten zijn het lekkerst? Ik zette het voor je op een rijtje in een artikel die vanaf vandaag te lezen is 🍧. Je vindt de link in mijn bio. Spoiler: deze van Hertog staat er zeker tussen! #plantaardig #vegan #blogger ✨ 4 tweedehands outfits die ik droeg in mei 2023 👗. Ik had op iets beter weer en iets koudere outfits gehoopt, maar goed, dat schuiven we dan maar naar juni! Ik ben poepdonor 💩. Ja, écht. Ik doe mee met een wetenschappelijk onderzoek waarbij mijn darmflora gebruikt wordt om mensen met een leveraandoening te genezen. Ik ben zo blij met de positieve impact die ik hiermee kan maken! En ik krijg er nog betaald voor ook. Meer weten? Lees het artikel dat ik erover schreef via de link in mijn bio. Binnenkort zal ik er ook een Youtube-video aan wijden. #donor #positieveimpact #nafldnashresearch Minimaliseren en ontspullen blijft een ongoing process 📦. Ik vind dat ik niet al te veel spullen heb, maar toch geef ik nog geregeld spullen weg aan de kringloopwinkel. In deze reel laat ik de laatste 5 items aan je zien. Plantaardiger eten hoeft niet moeilijk te zijn, je moet net even weten welke producten vegan zijn. Vandaag deel ik een makkelijke swap voor mayonaise 🍟. Het is weer mei! En dat betekent dat er weer een artikel met podcast-tips op mijn blog staat (de vijfde in de reeks inmiddels!). Vandaag lees je over 4 podcasts die ik aan bijna iedereen zou aanraden 🎧. 5 vegan maaltijden die ik at in april 2023 🥙. En ja, écht alles is vegan. Want elk gerecht is te veganizen.

Read my latest posts

  • Zero waste groceries at Pieter Pot
  • The best vegan ice-cream, desserts and yoghurt
  • I am a poop donor
  • Why I never light candles
  • 4 podcast tips from May 2023

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