30mins

On Monday I ran 2.3km and my calves hurt.
On Wednesday I ran 4km and nothing hurt.
The difference was my shoes.
While I still strongly believe that my Vibrams helped with my knee issues, I don't think my running form is perfect and I end up with a lot of calf tightness and pain. But for the present, I will try switch up between the shoes I have, and use Vibrams for shorter runs and the others for longer ones.

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I usually have high goals and great intentions. I always tell myself I'll run further/faster than I did last time, but sometimes I quit early because I get bored (usually) or something will start hurting and I should stop to prevent it from getting worse.


Today, my aim is to set out for a run and return one hour later. I want to keep moving for 60 minutes.
I would like to practise the 2-1 method, or another version where I'll alternate running with walking. This is to practise for a crazy race/event-thing that my room-mates and I are doing in 2 weeks.

We've mapped out a 2-mile route around out neighbourhood that starts and ends at our house.
We've also set a 5-hour limit.
We want to see if we can keep moving for that long.
And also, to see who can run the furthest.
I think  hope know I could win by chugging along and using a run-walk ratio. My roomies are VERY fast, but they can't keep up their silly pace for ever. So I intend to start slowly and keep it up. We've decided that walking will still count, because you can still cover a decent distance by walking. I guess the real winner is the one that will stay out there for a full 5 hours.

And if it's cold out, we'll just get our crew to make us hot chocolate, so we can have something to look forward to each lap :)

New Blog

Haha, just kidding! But with the new Blogger layout, I keep ending up hitting the 'New Blog' button and slowly realising it isn't the 'New Post' button I was looking for :(

My friend's been trying to lose weight back in Kuwait (I just rhymed) and he's decided to eat a vegetarian diet for three months to help him fulfil his mission. He's been a real hard worker this week too: he ran 4k twice already and did a really long bike. Wow! I was able to  keep up with him by doing a 5k run on his first day, but I haven't been able to keep up with him since then.

Since he let me know that MY competitive-ness is keeping HIM competitive, I decided to go for a run tonight, in order to keep the challenge going. I usually like night-time runs because there are less people that yell and joke at me, and there are usually less cars on the road.

Tonight felt a little like Halloween. There were few people around, but they were huddled in loud, obnoxious groups. The weather was cool. Since it's Welcome Week, they were wearing 'costumes': the shortest skirts/dresses/shorts and/or a white shirt for Graffiti night. The run was scary:

• I started my run down my street, where a few people out on their front porch started yelling encouraging phrases at me as I went by.
• A huge truck was driving down a street it wasn't supposed to be on, and I wasn't sure it was going to stop at the red light (massive momentum, and all) so I waited for it to take the right turn before I crossed.
• Once I passed Mcdonald's, feeling smug that I wasn't eating there OR sitting through the Drive-Through, the red car that was stopped at the window opened all their doors and started CHEERING for me, as if I was in a race. I kind of ran faster, because that was a little weird.
• Two seconds after this happened, I heard a rustling in the grass. Turning to my right, I see a cute skunk and fear pricks me as I realise that it IS a SKUNK. Cue sprinting because I am terrified of being sprayed by one.
• While running through my old neighbourhood, I hear a loud scream and see two college-aged girls running across the street in front of me, chasing each other. Okay. But then I see another 5-6 people chasing THEM (all in single-file), so I'm not too sure what was going on there.
• I saw a skateboarder pick up his board and look both ways before walking across the road. Ha, that never happens.
• I ran through a very dark street on my way back. I didn't realise that all the garbage was out because it's Sunday, but this was ideal skunk conditions, and I ran in the street as to stay furthest away from skunk-land. Hate skunks :(

Usually only one or two weird things happen during my night-time runs, but today there was A LOT going on. 

September

It's September! Which means that this time next week I will be freaking out over what to wear to my 4th year BSW orientation, and mentally reviewing everything I know about the Code of Ethics! School is almost starting, which also means that it's almost ending. I know that's strange... it's just that it's going to go by SO FAST, and as soon as I blink I'll have my BSW and I'll be a graduate :)

Since my room-mates are away (trip to Washington, some down-time in London, and last-minute moving-in errands) I've been a bit bored. And when I'm bored, I tend to park myself on the couch and entertain myself with the World Wide Web (who doesn't love stumbleupon??!). I've caught myself watching over 3 hours of TV without moving from the couch, and that HAD TO STOP!

While I can't think of too many things to do by myself in the city, I know I can work-out by myself. So I did that. This week, I've burnt 1570 calories through 4 workouts totalling almost 3 hours. Which I know isn't a lot, but it's just Thursday. I'm keeping myself healthy AND entertained! And I did a long-ish run of 6km. AND I have a bike-date for 50km next Wednesday! Seems like my last week of summer won't be too dull.

29.08/ bike/ 25min/ 5mi

30.08/ bike/ 40min

31.08/ bike/ 50min

01/09/ run/ 45min/ 6km 

10 days ago....

... I left India and came back to Canada. It's been fun, so far:

I went running - 3km barefoot

I like staring at my adorable kitty while he's sleeping.

I spent a week (and a weekend) in London and we talked while sitting on the hood of a car

Played pool at a friend's house. I'm still working on my Break

When I was in India, I especially missed the variety of foods and choices that I enjoyed in Canada. I missed the convenience of a supermarket that stocks EVERYTHING. I missed the freedom to cook  for myself and enjoy non-spicy food. So I was very excited to come back and COOK for myself! Even the grocery shopping trip was fun :)

I restocked my seaweed supply and made vegetarian sushi.

I eat A LOT of stirfrys because they are super easy and yummy

We don't eat the greatest in London... but it works occasionally! Fried mushrooms with peppers and onions, and garlic bread.

And that's a few pictures from my time back. I want to get a long(ish) barefoot run in this weekend and I'll come back with a recap (or excuses) for that. I've also been biking and have plans, hopes and aspirations, to do a 50k ride sometime in the near future. 

I can stand on each foot with my eyes closed for over 45 seconds! Can you? (This indicates balance and whether you should work on it.)

Return to Real Life

Okay, a quick recap of my 2 months in India, and I'll try and keep it brief and in order:
(I stole some of the pictures from two other interns, Analucia and Emily. They're very nice and I doubt they'll mind.)

We arrived and had to adjust to crazy traffic.

We ate a lot of food, with a lot of new friends.

We went to the AIESEC June National Conference (JNC) and made even more friends.

I even met someone I knew before! 

As it was an internship at a school, I spend a lot of time with kids.

Sometimes it was too much time, and sometimes there were too many kids.

I worked on learning the alphabet and I can now spell my name in Gujarati.

There were 5 of us working at the school from AIESEC, and I left India knowing that I had 4 amazing new friends that I could count on in the world.

We went travelling together.

We jumped together.

We sat on the road together (I'm not sure why).

And we experienced a new culture together.

I tried to fit in a bit of exercise when I wasn't busy travelling, playing with the girls or helping judge sports competitions. 

I went running along the riverside a few times.

I got blisters from rowing at Nakki Lake.

And we walked a few times... when our rickshaw's engines stopped working... in the middle of a rainstorm :)

And now I'm back in Canada after 4 very long flights. I've spent a lot of time thinking about all the things I've learnt this summer, and how I can incorporate these things into my life and my work placement, to be a better person and a better social worker.  I've got a couple of weeks before school starts and I plan on getting a head start on the new semester. I'd like to be a lot more organised this year, as well as be a lot stricter with my time.

I thought I would start running as soon as I got back - the weather is GORGEOUS! - but my bag with my running shoes got lost between Toronto and Windsor and I'll be separated from it until Friday. And for some reason, sitting in a seat for 18 hours on a plane isn't comfortable for my knees and I seem to have problems with them after a flight.

No worries - I plan to bike a lot and swim often and take an easy, but consistent, approach to running. No fixed races for the near future (because it's a lot of pressure) but I'd like to see some progress before it starts snowing :)

Lessons from India

Be Patient
The bus will probably not leave on time. Someone will probably push in front of you in line. As long as you realise you are HERE, you are ALIVE, and it's good to be these things, you won't worry too much. I've learnt to take things little steps at a time and to appreciate each moment before I stress about the next few.

Be Kind
First impressions are sometimes very, very wrong. Everyone has problems, issues and worries. It would be better for everyone to give people a break every now and again. Oh, that person just shoved you and didn't apologize? It's cool, they might be having a bad day. If you called them out on it, they may feel worse.

People are good
We got stranded because our taxi (rickshaw) stalled in the middle of our ride home. It was pouring and we didn't know which way or how far we had left to go. We asked for help, and without us knowing, the people we had asked had flagged down a rickshaw for us, and the driver didn't try to over charge us!
Passengers on the bus made sure we got off at our station by going out of their way to make sure we knew in advance. People have helped us rent mopeds, buy ice-creams, negociate rickshaw rides, buy phone numbers, etc etc. I think there's more people helping us than trying to rip us off.

People have amazing stories
Having been to an International conference in India with 450 delegates, I got to talk to quite a few people. I've talked to someone from Russia who has visited over 45 countries, someone who got into Columbia but wasn't allowed to leave due to family reasons; talked to a girl from Romania that has started her own company. Just talking to the two people in front of us on the bus, I learnt a lot about working in India and travelling. It's easy to generalise and ignore people, but it's so much more interesting to talk to them! :)

Don't be scared to take time for yourself.
This is especially important when you live in a place that seems to have no privacy, too many people that notice (and point at) you, and when you sleep in a room with 50 other girls. I try to take some alone time to just sit and read every morning, otherwise I feel trapped and stressed the rest of the day.


That's all I have time to write about for now. I'm also learning that it's nice to get on the internet frequently and talk to friends from back home, but it's more important to live in the moment and make new friends :)

Having been here 3 weeks, we have had time to settle into a routine. My day has some interesting consistencies, and some random events thrown in.


My day starts with annoying birds making ackward sounds, as I sleep outside on a rooftop. After the birds come the flies, so I pull my blanket over my head to stop them from waking me up. I can usually relax until 6:30, when one of the girls shakes me up. I pack up my mattress and blanket, and head inside for a half hour nap. We have tea (and biscuits) at 7am, everyday. It's a great start to the day, and I was especially sad to have slept through it this morning :(



After tea, I usually brush my teeth, change, grab my glasses and E-reader and head to the office in order to start my half hour allocation of internet. I catch up with my friends, my email and the outside world until 8am, when the next intern will take my place at the computer. We each take a half hour turn until lunch is served, at 10am.



After I get kicked off the computer, I go back to the dorms and journal, read, or take another nap. After lunch, we have about an hour to relax before school starts. We usually talk to the girls, who are frantically trying to finish their homework, or washing their clothes. If I haven't showered at night I will grab a 'shower' at this time.


Prayer for the whole school starts at around 11:20, and school starts after that at 11.30. We have each been assigned a classroom, and I sit in with a male teacher in grade (standard) 4. Their lessons are quite interesting - they are taught Gujarati writing through sign language, and each day is a different topic. I am slowly trying to hear the words and match them to the writing so that I can learn the alphabet, but it's proving to be an inefficient way of learning - I will ask a teach soon. I have learnt numbers, sign language, and how to write my name in Gujarati. I can adequately teach math to grade 4 :)


We have two ten minute breaks in the day, at 1pm, and at 4pm. A snack is served during the long (half hour) break of the day, which is from 2:30-3pm. After 3pm, I usually head to senior KG, which remains my favourite class. They slowly learn numbers, colours, animals and other random category things, which I find easy to learn and useful. This is where I learnt my colours the first few days we were here. And the adorable kids bring me back everytime :)


After school we have about an hour to relax (aka nap time) before dinner at 6pm. This is a great break because sometimes school can be overwhelming, or slow, and I need this time to regroup. After dinner we usually play sports with the hostel kids (the kids that sleep in the campus, like us!). The older girls are great at Badminton, and we sometimes manage a few volleyball passes before all the little kids come and steal our ball. We've also recently started spinning the children around so that they almost fly, which works well if they are little. I get very, very dizzy during this game, however, because they want to go one after another, and the little ones don't realise that I need a break.

Sometimes we go outside instead, after dinner and stay until 9:30 (our curfew). Yesterday we had a meeting with some staff at Wagh Backri, which is a big tea company here. They wanted to meet some AIESEC interns and we were lucky enough to be picked!


At either 7:30 or 8, we are usually ushered inside, where the girls either finish their homework or decide to talk to us. This is our biggest bonding time with the girls. In the past we have danced with them, talked to them, taken pictures with them...

I try to shower at this time, because it gets very hectic and crowded in the morning. We are usually in bed by 10, talk for a half hour and fall asleep, to start the next day again very soon.


In a next post I will try and put some pictures up of our weekend trip to Mount Abu. :)