Hi there, great that you’re here again! My last weekly diary was mostly about personal stuff. But this week it’s full with especially zero waste experiences. The past week I harvested for the first time from my vegetable garden, bought a lot of zero waste bread and was honest about the plastic that I do use voluntarily! Want to read along? Here’s weekly diary #46.
Thursday
Today I only had one class at school but I didn’t go. It was only for questions and I didn’t have any. I did go to school to work on the deadline for tomorrow. For lunch I had some vegan leftovers, pasta. I would not only recommend taking leftover with you to school. My tip is: cook some more for dinner on purpose so that you make dinner/lunch in one! Today these leftover were not enough for me and so my boyfriend and I went to lunch at a Taste of Honey. I had never lunched there buy they offer a lot of vegetarian options. I thought that they therefore also had a lot of vegan options but that wasn’t the case. But I was lucky today, the bagel of the month was vegan. They do serve tap water and I was very happy with that! And our lunch was served zero waste, no disposables, nothing. Next time I would sit at the Brink in Deventer since they have more sunlight there, this place was little bit hidden. Once back home I made some zero waste popcorn with my popcorn machine and watched the game of the Dutch handball team for European Championship qualifications. Afterwards I had handball practice myself.
Friday
There are so many new things to discover on my new phone. Today I started listening to my first podcast ever! I listed to the minimalists podcast. This is great for when I’m in the train but don’t have the energy to read a book. Today I also posted a very important post on Instagram. I talked about the exceptions I make on plastic, you can read more about that here. It’s good to share that I’m not perfect or anything, I just try my best. I posted this because I had bought some new vegan meat-replacements. Vegan chicken-curry salad! I had been looking for it for a while but I finally found it. I also bought zero waste sandwiches with it and tried it. It was soooo good! I really don’t get why people would still eat meat. The replacements are so good. Today I also had my second appointment in the hospital to get my armpit hair removed by laser. It felt painful but good! After I went to the gym I worked a bit in my vegetable garden. The tomato plants are growing very big! I like this, the whole garden looks so alive. I have to make a planning soon and write down everything I learn.
Saturday
Most Saturdays I work from 7AM till 5PM. And so did I today. There’s a good paycheck waiting for at the end of the months this way. After work I watched another handball game from the Dutch national team. They won by far but it was still fun to watch (especially with new player getting more time in the field). Around 9PM I had a party, the father of a good friend of mine turned 60. It was the best party. Great music, good drinks and a lot of fun! And then he proposed to his girlfriend! I felt honored that I got to be there, I had goosebumps everywhere. I also managed to refuse the wine at the party. That makes me sound like an alcoholic. I am not, wine is just not vegan most of the time and so I try to avoid it if I can. The party was fun and we also went into the city center afterwards. I ran into an old friend I met 5 years ago in Turkey! Crazy. It was fun and made me realize how time flies.
Sunday
I slept till 13:30PM because I had gone out last night. Dad woke me up because he was looking for something haha. It made me realize that I should maybe get up too. I was quite tired still all day. But I did manage to work in my vegetable garden again. I harvested two radishes, yes! One looks kind of ruined and I think I should have taken it out earlier. I learn every day. It also makes me realize how much it takes to grow food. It makes me respect food more. At night I saw another episode of the Dutch show Tegenlicht. It is about Kuwaiti youth.
Monday
I am getting better at leaving my phone downstairs in the living room when I go to bed. And so now looking at my phone is not the first thing I do in the morning. I am making progress. I also went to the gym and jee, it was busy this time. 9 people! Usually I am alone. It was fun! Maybe it’s just busy on Mondays, I don’t know since I’m usually not here. After that I worked on my to-do list. One thing I did was mailing GreenLeft and Triodos because they still send me physical mail. The intention is friendly but I don’t want it. GreenLeft responded immediately that I wasn’t going to get any more physical mail from them. Great! School starts at 15:00PM today till 18:00PM. After school I dug in my bed and watched The Handmaid’s Tale with zero waste popcorn.
Tuesday
School was rough yesterday (I had a huge headache) and today wasn’t much better. We did discuss the idea of circular economy, one of my favorite subjects. After class I had a conversation with my teacher and some classmates about my own lifestyle. It’s fun when people are interested. Some things which are very normal for me really makes them think (bringing my own produce bag and cutlery with me all the time for example). I also used the produce bag today when I bought some sandwiches for lunch. I put the vegan chicken-curry onto the sandwiches again. Fun fact: I’ve been getting a lot of messages this week about vegan sandwich fillings. That made me very happy! After dinner I went to the gym again for a class of abs and core attack. The next few months I want to focus more on my arms. I want to make them stronger.
Wednesday
Today I went to school for one oral exam. I was a bit nervous but I try to focus on the learning experience. Even if I fail, I probably will learn a lot from today. After the exam I was free but I had some things I wanted to do today. This might sound a little strange. But, I scanned one of my personal photo-books. For the sake of minimalism I want to get rid of the book, but I do want to keep the pictures. And so I decided to digitalize it. I also scanned some polaroid photos. Years ago, I decided to buy a polaroid camera but I shouldn’t have. I scanned the photos I have and will get rid of the camera. Now I own less items, great! I going to sell the polaroid camera, I am sure someone else will find value to it. Tonight my boyfriend is coming home with me, we’re going to barbecue and then I have a handball match to play! See you!
My favorite song of this week:
Flames
David Guetta featuring Sia
Liefs,
Romee