Weekly diary #19; Visiting Mr. en Mrs. Watson

Hiiii, I’m back again with a new weekly diary! The past week I bought more products from the Vegetarian Butcher, did some crafting and visited Mr. en Mrs. Watson, a plant-based food bar! Here’s weekly diary #19.

Thursday

I didn’t have school for long today. So when work asked me if I could fill in today, I did after school. I like doing those extra hours, this way I can save more money. For lunch I finally tried the vegan ‘bamischijf’ (a Dutch snack I suppose) from The Vegetarian Butcher with veganaise. It was sooo good! There is enough junk food available for vegans haha, don’t worry. After work I had handball training and I also received a Phishing mail again. I hate when that happens. I know it’s fake but I also know a lot of people fall for it and that makes me angry.

Friday

Time to do some crafting. In The Netherlands there is feast called ‘Sinterklaas’ which we always celebrate with our family. We all put our names in a bowl and then you receive a name from someone else in return. For that person you have to craft something and buy them gifts. This way nobody knows who has who. It doesn’t really align with my zero waste or minimalism values, but I don’t want to ruin it for the family. I do enjoy the fact that we get together as a family each year. My strategy for avoiding stuff is to primarily ask for food and gifts that I really needed and were on my wishlist (everybody does make a wishlist, this way you buy something someone really needs). For this year I think that’ll work. If I don’t know any stuff next year I will ask for a donation to a charity. The crafting can be done zero waste very will, you just have to be creative. I use some old stuff I still have lying around and waste. You can make a lot from toilet rolls and cardboard. Later that day I went to Zwolle and my boyfriend came to. Zwolle is about midway from where we each live. I had vegan bruschetta and pasta (both the dishes in the back in the picture). It was a really spontaneous trip and I love that!

Saturday

I got out of bed for a morning-shift again. After work someone from Marktplaats (a platform where you can sell and buy secondhand stuff) came by to pick up my printer. I realized that I can print at school as well and I never use my own printer. For the sake of minimalism I sold it. It’s also zero waste, since it’s really a waste to have something in your house which nobody uses. That thing could be used by someone else. I hope the new owner is happy with it. At night I had another handball game and we lost again. I did like being back after my holiday, but it does suck to lose. After the game me and a few teammates went out to the city center to get some drinks. It was a fun night.

Sunday

With very little sleep I went to work at 11 AM. It was a disaster day, everything went wrong. When I finally got home afterwards I was happy to fall onto the couch. I gave myself some good comfort food. ‘Kroketten’ (another Dutch snack) from the Vegetarian Butcher. They taste soo good again, I love this brand. I forgot to take a picture, I was hungry haha. That night there also appeared a show about the donut economy (the circular economy) on tv as well. I can recommend it and it can be seen on Tegenlicht (it is in Dutch).

Monday

A new week, new opportunities! I had to go to school until 5 PM and then I had an appointment in Enschede. Eventually it took me 2 hours to get back to Enschede since someone had committed suicide. It’s always horrific news and causes a lot of chaos at the stations. Especially in the last train we were like sardines in a can. People can get really rude in those situations and I hate that. Pushing and screaming. Once back in Enschede I had a meeting with GreenLeft, a political party. I wanted to become more politicly active and so I decided to join them in a meeting. Currently, I might become an organizer for the local campaign in Enschede for the municipal elections in 2018. I think our government and society aren’t as sustainable enough and so I want to do something more. Even with the delay I was still on time for the meeting luckily.

Tuesday

‘The is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes’. This is what I posted on Snapchat with a picture of me today, completely soaked. I heard it in a TED talk once and I realized it is true. Ever since I’ve been trying not to get in a bad mood when it rains. After I got home I also did some homework and went to handball training in the evening. I went there one hour too early, woops. Eventually the training was good and I really hope we’ll win this upcoming match.

Wednesday

Today we had a guest speaker at school, Ronald van Marlen. He talked about what he considers to be Good Food and it was sooo interesting. Food can mean so much for a sustainable future. After school my boyfriend and I went to Amsterdam, we were celebrating ‘friendsgiving’, a lot of fun! Afterwards we went to eat at Mr. en Mrs. Watson, a vegan lunch cafe. I loved it! I ordered the sloppy BBQ sandwich, with pulled jackfruit, BBQ sauce, chili-mayonnaise, salad, tomato and coleslaw. It was delicious! Hmmmm.