Author: Trish

Workout Week #8

TrishLeave a comment

THIS WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

WorkoutWeek 1.23.16

GOAL MET

Workout Notes

This week was weird.  On the one hand, my Greek lessons and Greek homework took up an enormous amount of my time, making it harder to make room for working out.  On the other hand, I had a lot of stress manifesting itself physically, and I found that a good cardio workout went a long way toward making me feel better.

Exercise…making me feel…better?  Wow.

I’m continuing with my 30 Day challenges and Sworkit app.  In addition, I walked about four miles every weekday – mostly from Syntagma to Pangrati and back (the metro station to my Greek class).  So all in all, it was a very active week!

Food Notes

Another weird thing.  I…didn’t eat much this week?  Maybe due to stress, but usually when I’m stressed I OVEReat.  I don’t know.

My eating schedule most days was this:  eat cereal for breakfast at 9:00, eat a snack (strawberries/little pastry/etc) at 1:00, eat dinner at 7:00 when I got home.  I kept having 300 or 400 calories left over every day, but I never kept myself from eating when I was hungry.

Is this normal?  If you’re walking a lot, do you stop being hungry?  Maybe so, because today I stayed in my room most of the time, and I found myself snacking a lot.  Hmmmm.  Maybe it’s not so mysterious.

NEXT WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

(I have less and less time due to my Greek lessons 1.5 hours away,
so I don’t want to push my luck.)

A Week in Greece #2: First Week in a Daily Greek Class

Trish4 Comments

Υεια σασ!  Τι κανετε;

Δεν ζερω ελλινικα ακομα, αλλα καταλαβαινω λιγα.

This week has been all about GREEK.  I’ve gone to class for three hours a day (we’re supposed to get a half hour break, but some days we get only fifteen or twenty – one day we went over by half an hour).  It’s crazy intense.

Every day I leave feeling like my brain is about to explode.  This is compounded by the fact that my classmates have lived in Greece for several months.  When we practice speaking in class, they’ll throw in phrases they’ve heard or learned, and it’s all I can manage not to throw a fit and scream, “You can’t say things we haven’t learned in here!!”  I feel very dumb, especially since the girl who struggled the most dropped out.  I’m now definitely in the bottom three.

It’s easy to focus on that, because, well, perfectionism.  But on Wednesday I skyped with my mom and later with my grandparents, and I read them a paragraph from my textbook.  I mean, I read it in Greek.  “Do you know what you read!?” my mom asked.  “Yeah,” I said dully, because I’d mispronounced “δυο.”  “WOW,” she enthused.  “Three days ago you didn’t know any Greek.”   Continue reading →

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Trish1 Comment

 

Okay, this wins apenelopiad_coverll the retellings (of which I am, admittedly, just starting to read)!  I LOVED reading Penelope’s side of the story, seeing Odysseus’s cleverness from her perspective, gently allowing her unreliable narration.  Was she faithful?  Was she not?  She sure wants us to think she was, just like Odysseus wants us to think he’s a tragic hero.  They’re a perfect match for each other….which is only half the story!

Undoubtedly, the highlight of this book is the way it dissects the story of the twelve maids who were hung at Odysseus’s return.  The historical, cultural, and sexual discussions surrounding their role in the story are both fascinating and horrifying. And so clever (which is fitting, in a book about Penelope and Odysseus).  Every few chapters, the maids speak for themselves, sometimes in poetry, sometimes in song, sometimes in lecture, sometimes in a mock trial.  Their righteous indignation is so simple and powerful, right from the beginning, with their “The Chorus Line: A Rope-Jumping Rhyme”:  Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: NETFLIX ADDICTION

Trish1 Comment

Yet another reason why Lindsay and I are such good friends…I can 100% understand her obsessive personality.  Why only like something if you can LOVE IT TO PIECES?  

LettersBtwnFriends

Dear Tricia,

I’m riding the struggle bus this week…

The first step is admitting I have a problem…so Tricia…I HAVE A PROBLEM…

netflix1

How does NETFLIX do this??  I’m consumed…It’s out of control…I think I’m ADDICTED!  I am currently watching “Switched at Birth.”

switched-at-birth

It’s basically all the normal family problems put to the extreme.  AND it includes deaf characters so LOTS of sign language.  It feels so good to see it all again… *sigh*

Signs of Addiction:

Loss of control:  It’s like I don’t even feel my finger hit the play button.  Wait?!!?

Neglecting Other Activities:  Dishes, cleaning up toys, the house, laundry, sleep.

Secrecy:  I’ve started watching it on my phone if I can’t sleep after laying in bed for an hour…with headphones…under the blanket…THE LIGHT COULD WAKE NATHAN UP!

Withdrawal:  I’m anxious to get to someplace with wireless and free time so I can watch more.

Change in Appearance:  Besides the bags under my eyes from being tired from staying up too late from watching, last night, I signed my sentence at Nathan during band practice when he was across the room.

Maybe this is just a “Switched at Birth” addiction…I’ve already looked into what it would take to become an interpreter…and signing in the car to practice…and looking goofy by myself when no one’s looking.

Nope…I don’t think so…I was like this with Scandal…and Jane the Virgin…and…well…ANYWAY!

Well, praise the sweet Lord for technology.  I needed our chat this weekend, and it’s comforting that the person who knows most is only a wireless signal away.

I’m praying for your sanity and your excitement and relationships and your new place.  AND we also have to figure out this time change…I’m realizing right now that it’s 5:30pm on Thursday right now, and your THURSDAY is almost over!  AH!

31puWzrZqbL

 

INFJ Complexities

Trish12 Comments

Every time I meet new people, I have to have this conversation:

Person:  You’re so friendly!  You should come hang out with this group and then that group and then do five more social things!
Me:  Yikes, no.  I want to go hang out alone in my room for awhile.  I’m an introvert.
Person:  What?  You’re an introvert??
Me:  Yes, like, a SUPER introvert.
Person:  But you’re so outgoing?

When I took the Birkman Personality Inventory, the man analyzing me pointed out my high need to both BE friendly and have people be friendly BACK.  “You’re probably a pretty high extrovert, huh?” he said.  I laughed in his face.  “No, I’m definitely an introvert.”  I felt kind of bad as his face fell, my personality not fitting into his schematics.

Who knew the answer that would balance my dichotomies would come from Pinterest?  I was mindlessly scrolling one day when I found this pin:   Continue reading →

Waiting on God’s Timing

Trish1 Comment

Yesterday morning, before my first Greek class, I met the other HoD women at an undisclosed location to meet Eleni (named changed, just in case), who works for an organization that reaches out to trafficked women.  We are hoping to partner with her, so that she will send us women who are ready and able to leave their situation.  In turn, when women graduate from our program, we will send some of them back to Eleni to work with her.  That’s cool enough, but hearing Eleni’s story blew my mind and strengthened my heart.   Continue reading →

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

TrishLeave a comment

 

BLOOD_OF_O_final_cvrWhat a great finale for a wonderful series!  I liked the books quite a lot when I first read them as they were released, and I liked them even more reading the series straight through.  It became more obvious how the characters developed, how the team found strength in each other, and how the stakes were raised higher than ever in the battle between Greek and Roman demigods.

For the first time, we get chapters from Reyna and Nico’s perspectives.  My love for Nico has hopefully already been established, so it is no surprise that I love his chapters.  But Reyna is also amazing, and my love for her grew exponentially now that I read all the books in order and could remember her better.  She doesn’t take center stage until this last book, and boy, does she ever!  I was a little disappointed when seventh-wheel Leo found love, thus “proving” that heroes are only “worthy” if they also have a love story.  But Reyna gives us a hero who is explicitly told that romantic love will not save her…and she’s like, well, that’s disappointing, but I’m going to keep being awesome anyway.  Truly, she is the hero we do not deserve.   Continue reading →

First Day at Greek School

Trish1 Comment

I have started my month-long intensive Greek lessons!  It’s in downtown Athens, which means it takes about 1.5 hours to get there.  There’s a bus very near the school where I’m staying, which takes about 40 minutes to get to the metro station.  I get on the blue line, and ride that for another 30 minutes or so to Syntagma Square.  I exit aboveground at the place where, eight years ago, I rang handbells for a crowd in front of the Parliament building.  From there, I walked through the National Gardens, exit near the Olympic Stadium, and walk up a sweat-producing hill (altogether about 25 minutes) to the Athens Centre.

IMG_8807.JPG
The blue line is my walk from Syntagma to the Centre.  The red blobs are tourist destinations.

I arrived at the Centre with enough time to fill out a registration form and grab a cup of free coffee.  I wasn’t really nervous about the class, but I was…on edge? Ready to be nervous? But I think I’m finally experienced enough that I can walk into an unknown situation with new people and not immediately hyperventilate. Of course, it helped that the Centre is small, beautiful, and comfortable.  There’s a fun view of the Acropolis from the roof.   Continue reading →

Culture Shock

TrishLeave a comment

GEM, my sending organization, sent a great email about culture shock the other day.  I’d learned about the process while living it in Senegal six years ago, and knowing that what I was feeling was normal helped SO MUCH in not feeling awful or insane.  Before I moved to Greece, I told people that I anticipated the same sort of cycle to occur:

In January, I will be motivated, excited, and overwhelmed.  In February, I will become sullen and withdrawn as reality hits and I process the fact that this is not a vacation and I am not going “home” anytime soon.  In March, someone will visit me, and I will get to show off my new home to them while simultaneously rejoicing in my new role as Not the Dumbest One Around.  In April and May, I will settle into my new life and start to take ownership of my routine, friends, and living situation.  After that…I don’t know, because I left Senegal after five months.   Continue reading →

Sunday Summary #14: What’s on the Internet

TrishLeave a comment

Articles

1|  Alexander Hamilton was the nation’s first blogger, reconfirms my kinship with his oversharing inability to shut up.

2|  Alyssa Auriemma dissects Oprah’s comments and weight and does a great job dissecting the difference between weight concerns and health concerns.

Videos

1|  Saoirse teaching Stephen how to speak with an Irish accent is great, but the last minute or so when she reveals the pronunciation of crazy Irish names is THE BEST.

2|  WOW this cover of “Rey’s Theme” from The Force Awakens is stunning!  Halfway through I got chills, and they did not stop until it was over.  MUSIC, it’s so good.

3|  I found my favorite YouTube channel!  Sho Ko is all about two adorable cats, and I lost (gained?) precious hours of my life watching their cute little furry beings run around and beg for petting.  Also check out How Attached are Cats to their Owners?