Weekly diary #34: mailing contact with Apple

Hi there, welcome back into my personal diary. Here you can follow my personal journey to a more sustainable lifestyle. I hope you enjoy reading it and maybe learn something too. The past week I celebrated the birthday of a family member, I had vegan cake and mailing contact with Apple. Want to read along? Here’s weekly diary #34.

Thursday

The last day of the project in Zutphen (you can read more about that in weekly diary #33). Today we presented the concept we came up with to the municipality. It was fun. During the party afterwards I used my own reusable cup. In my last weekly diary you read that there was a concept which made everybody do that but I guess most people forgot about it now. Bummer. I helped cleaning afterwards and there were some things left. A hair donut, all-purpose cleaner and plastic foil. They wanted to throw it all away but I asked if I could have it. I could and so I prevented some waste! I was too late already for handball training and so I went to dinner in Zutphen with a small group from the project. We sat at De Gelaardse Kat. I was very happy about it because they only used reusables and they made special vegan dishes for me. It is a bummer that it isn’t on the menu standard but the service was very good still.

Friday

We got a day off from school since it was an intense week. I had a lot of things on my to-do list and so I decided to work on that. From doing taxes to making a dentist appointment, I did a lot. I also brought a big pile of clothing to the textile recycling. This was all clothing too bad for the clothing bank so I decided to recycle it. Sweaters with stains, socks with holes, etc. I contacted the municipality and they said it will be sorted and recycled by Het Goed (a thrift shop). Today I also had some contact with Apple. I bought an Apple laptop a while back and the packaging is vague. It has black plastic, cardboard and something else. The black plastic has to go to the landfill and according to Apple I can recycle the cardboard. They couldn’t tell me about me the other thing that was also in there. I think it’s important to ask question to companies to that they can take some sort of responsibility and know what consumers find important. But they didn’t have an answer and that sucks. I’m throwing this to landfill since they can’t tell me what it is. I also asked the cinema whether their tickets can be recycled and they said yes! Their tickets aren’t coated with plastic so that’s good. Just before dinner I had seaweed spring rolls for the first time and they were amazing! I love seaweed.

Saturday

This Saturday I am free from work. I had a birthday in Haarlem from my cousin. I like family days a lot, I always like seeing everybody again. My aunt had even ordered special vegan cake for me! They were very cute and delicious. She had even bought them zero waste. She went to the store with her own lunch box!! That’s amazing. For dinner she had also thought of me. There was one salad I especially liked, you can see it on the picture. A salad with pecan nuts and pomegranate. I was home at 11PM in Enschede again. There was still a staff party going on from work but I decided to pass. Last year I contributed in an NL-doet volunteering event on this day but this year I didn’t because I didn’t have time. Maybe next year!

Sunday

I again woke up at 9AM, just like yesterday. Maybe my body has found a good rhythm! I was a referee again in two youth games and then I played a handball game myself. I have nothing new to say, we lost again. First class is just too high for us. I had a heavy headache afterwards and I always have that when I spend a long time in a sports hall. I think it has to do with the bright lights in there. Once back home I watched the last Harry Potter movie! I have finally seen the entire story now and I loved it. Time to read all the books too!

Monday

Another day off from school. But there is a lot to do still for the Zutphen project from last week. But before I went to school I brought a package to the post office. I had sold another book on Marktplaats (an online platform for buying and selling secondhand stuff). One less thing I own! A few weeks ago I had ordered a laptop sleeve on Marktplaats myself and today I reused that packaging it came in to send the book. I also made some DIY deodorant again since I almost ran out. Can be done in 5 minutes. Then I worked at school and afterwards I went to my boyfriend. We watched Intouchables because he had never seen it. I love that movie. Another thing I wanted to share: I finished the vegan mayonnaise from Ekoplaza (an organic store) today but I can’t really recommend it. I personally really like the Mayolijn from Remia, that one is delicious!

Tuesday

Today my alarm rang at 5:45 AM for school. That was a little tough. I was surprised by how busy it was at the station 6:30 AM, jee. We work soooo much and early in our society. Today at school I didn’t bring enough food. But I did bring my reusable produce bag and so I went to the supermarket during lunchtime and I bought two zero waste sandwiches. Happy me. When I went back home by train it was again insanely busy. Once home I was jumped into bed and watched Grey’s Anatomy. I also had handball training which really cleared my mind. Ah, that feels good.

Wednesday

Today was quite a boring day. I went to school, vacuum cleaned and ate dinner. We ate some sort of burritos. It was easy to veganize. The base was vegan but my dad eats cow cheese and I don’t. On his part he puts cow cheese and I have vegan cheese. You can see it on the picture below. He put a little tomato on my part to know for sure which part is vegan haha. I really appreciate my dad cooking vegan for me! Right now I finished this weekly diary and in an hour I am going to Basic-Fit again.