Swimming!

This isn't really going to be a post about swimming goals, but it IS an attempt to record a delicious swim I experienced this afternoon.

So swimming at my university gym is scheduled and they have the STUPIDEST times. Noon-2pm on some days, with lane swimming on 3 days in the evening 7:30-8pm and 'normal' swimming most afternoons 8-9:30pm. A swim last week proved that the evening sessions were getting too intense and violent for me, when I left after 8 minutes in the pool and being kicked, unintentionally groped and scratched on the face. NOT HAVING IT! I was tempted to angrily scream at some kids at the front desk and demand my money back, but we pay through tuition and having worked there, I'm pretty sure we don't give money back. The whole system is geared to steal money from students - most don't even know that some of their tuition money goes to paying for a 12-month membership EVERY single year they attend school, even if they're part-time.

Anyway. I decided to try out the after-noon swim, as I was free and what the hell.
It was awesome! I mean, it started out uncertain - I jumped into a seemingly free lane, only to have a kid stare at me and his dad rudely say that his kid was swimming there. Umm... nope. That lane was completely free until I stepped in and they decided to take it over. I even waited a couple minutes and they weren't SWIMMING, they were talking about swimming. So I looked around for another free lane, but it looked like most people were actually swimming laps, and I didn't want to take that away.

Until this elderly gentleman (anyone that is polite and helpful earns that title) yelled at me that the person in his lane would be leaving soon, and I should join their lane. Fantastic! The pool is split into 3 big sections, with 3 swimming lanes each. In real life, each of the sections can have 4 people swimming nicely next to each other. Apparently this guy goes swimming so often that he knows everyone's schedule. Sure enough, that person left and I took over his lane!!

I did a couple laps in great time (around 50 seconds per 50m) and noticed a (somewhat) fatty looking for a space. I offered to share my lane with him, and everything worked out beautifully. He was a FAST swimmer, and was really mindful of keeping in a straight line. Let's just say that everything worked out, my face isn't scratched, I had the best swim I've had in a while and all is right with the world. My love for swimming hasn't been smooshed, and I will go back.

1600m (1mile); 34mins.

Might as well try to screw back the gym and go everyday... twice a day? Get my money's worth?

My visit to Kuwait

Meet my sister, Luiza. She goes to U of A, in Edmonton, and she's studying psychology to become a speech therapist. She likes to sleep a lot, she's recently started running, and she is a mean swimmer!

Since arriving in Kuwait, I have been a little jet-lagged. I would wake up early (6/7) and crash at around 9pm at night. To make this work, I developed a morning routine that consisted of reading the paper in the morning, cutting out interesting articles, high-lighting cool TV shows to watch, and checking my email. I have loved being awake in the early morning – makes me feel like there's more time in the day :) I recently tried this organic apple and raspberry drink and it was interesting.

 

 

Just before I left Canada, while I was at an AIESEC conference in Ottawa, my phone drowned and hasn't worked since. Everyone keeps telling me that I need a phone (I don't 100% agree) but I decided to look around at the prices around here. I fell in love with a phone, that wasn't too expensive, and we were on a mission to find out which store sells it for the cheapest price. One day we went to the biggest mall in Kuwait, The Avenues. This place is so big, they have 2x Columbus cafe's, at least 7x Starbucks, 3x H&M's and more stores than you can imagine. They also have a huge IKEA.

We also did some shopping, in order to get things to make a yummy lunch! We made soy beans with peanut sauce, and asparagus with butery-garlic sauce.

 

As well as eating well in Kuwait, I have been exercising quite a lot. I've been alternating between running, stair-climbing and swimming. I've slowly increased my workouts to be able to do 40 minutes of running, 3000m of swimming in 1.5 hours, and I can now climb 60 floors of stairs in a row, in 25 minutes. It's great to be able to see improvements in such a short time (I'm only here for 2 weeks), and I am certain that the hot weather allows my muscles to heal faster! I'm thankful for that, because running outside in a sauna is HARD!

My sister and I go for walks around the campus when we're bored.

Yesterday, I went swimming, and did 120 laps = 3000m. This is the furthest I've ever swam! I decided to do 50 laps at a time, with tanning breaks in between. This way I wasn't getting bored, and I could cool-off with a swim. Some people may not like swimming caps, but I can't swim without one. I always feel like my hair would suffocate me.

After swimming, we cooled off at home watching Grey's Anatomy and eating a delicious salad. I then checked my email to see if I had some work to do, and watched the women's tennis finals. It was a great match, and it got intense at the end of the second set! As soon as the tennis ended, my mum drove us to my friend Fadey's house.

 

        
It was a great night! After pool, we went back to Fadey's and got some Fatayer, which is sort of  wrapped-up pancakes with savoury stuff inside. I love cheese and tomato ones. I went to bed soon after I got home, it was a long day :)