Nudgin' Nika

This topic contains 166 replies, has 26 voices, and was last updated by audrich 10 years, 8 months ago.

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Cathyork

11:38 am
3 Jan 14
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Hey Nika,

Just catching up on posts and really sorry to see you didn’t have a great Xmas or New Year. As others have said there is always so much expectation about the festive season that it feels doubly bad if it doesn’t turn out too well – but you got through it and it is lovely that the countdown to NZ has started!

I suspect that the positive feelings about your experiences in China may take a while to come to you. When I did my long project in Asia 2 years ago (which involved 18 weeks away from home) everyone kept saying “oh wow you must have learned so much” – and to be honest I did – but I was so cripplingly lonely and stressed with work most of the time that it was literally about a year before I could see any positives. At my first appraisal with my boss afterwards I just kept saying “never again”, which makes me chuckle now! I am glad I did it for the experience – and my CV is all-important now I am being made redundant – but boy it was hard at the time and I spent many nights crying into my pillow too – and I was 49 at the time! I once even started weeping in a coffee shop when the guy serving started talking to me about living in the UK!

I’ve also seen from another thread that you are easing off a bit on so much fasting and exercise. I think you’ve been amazing achieving what you have so far in the circumstances and more than that you have given so much support to so many people on this forum – and made many people smile. I hope you work out an approach that you feel comfortable with.

Cath x

dumpling

4:38 pm
3 Jan 14
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Hi Nika

Happy new year!
Thinking of you….

I wrote this on the Southern Hemisphere thread, but incase you don’t see it, I’m still alive and having a fab time.
Have copied it below.

I will be in Auckland on that Wednesday for lunch, so depending on your uni times, let’s meet up.
We will celebrate with some Terry’s choc orange!!

Have a Good Friday, take care.
Love me

Oh my!!! We have been travelling since 28 th nov, now we are in Los Angeles, heading to salt lake this afternoon, we get back 15 th jan after Disneyland and Fiji, . We have been everywhere,..and that 7 kilos I lost before taking the family ( 5 kids) away, I think has found it’s way back..or at least some of those kilos are now found!

But it is all good, we have had a fantastic time, and still got 2 weeks to go, so not stressing cos now I KNoW how to lose weight.
I haven’t been on scales…but I can feel rolls.
We were in Kent, uk, for Christmas…where the storms were, the flooding was terrible. Of course I had to eat quality street…
Re the scales…lighter 2 days after a fast

YES me too…I found another half kilo usually off 2 days later, not the next day as much…maybe only 200 grams, so if that is happening, weigh 2 days after a fast each week.
I am quietly looking forward to having veg again and being ‘ in control’ 2 days a week
The French are not big veg/ salad eaters. They like their meat and their patisseries!

But no one is fat, ( they all smoke though) so maybe the 10 choc au pain I was having was a good thing….
Happy new year everyone !! May 2014 be the year we all get to a weight our bodies need and require and we feed them the things they want. Roll on a healthier dec 2014

dumpling

4:41 pm
3 Jan 14
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Ps Robbie Williams was on our flight from London to lax, on air nz!! He and his little girl and wife. My youngest was playing with the little girl in the back galley, as the mum walked her around the plane ( they were in first..we obviously were not!)

We took snaps of him lining up as we all had to do in lax. ( for like 2 hours, it’s ridiculous! Soooo slow)
How much of a groupie am I, and I am not that into him, although I saw him in concert in Auckland with Duran Duran.

audrich

9:10 pm
4 Jan 14
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Hi, Nika,

Just dropping by to give you a New Year {{Hug}} and wish you well on the NZ countdown. You are such an inspiration, I love reading your updates (and send you well wishes when things haven’t gone to plan, of course x)

Aud x

Nika

5:18 am
6 Jan 14
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Thanks for all the nice words everyone! ^^ And you’re right Cathy, I’m lucky some of the good feelings are already here (writing a reflection report on yourself and your time here, and discussing it with your boss really helps to see the good things!) I’m very lucky to have been able to do this, I’ve learned a lot and it looks great on my CV. Too bad I had to build up quite some student loans to finance it though 🙁 But I guess it’s a better investment than the party-drinking fund most students loan for.

Heeeeeey dumpy! I was thinking about you too, was kind of missing you! Good to hear you had such a good time ^^ And Robbie Williams… I just remember being scared of him when I was a lot younger xD He made some fun music though, and the recent clip with him as a guardian angel is hilarious.
Oh gosh and do you still have a date with that? That Wednesday? Kinda forgot which week we were discussing… *whistles innocently*

Lately I’ve been trying to find a new balance. It’s not going well. At least I’m still fasting at work, which is from 09:00 to 18:00. Outside of those hours it’s really hard to eat healthy though. My most recent problem is that I’m craving food, like I really, really want to eat – but there’s no food that I want!! It’s like my body is screaming for food but whatever type of food I think of, I don’t want to eat it. It’s really weird and quite annoying.
Anyway, at least everything hasn’t completely gone out the window. I’m still trying to get back to healthy eating, I’m not just letting myself go completely. I think I’m going to use the next month just for damage control, so I’m going to try to at least not gain any weight again. Then when I get to New Zealand I’ll try to get a new rhythm going.

Anyway, that’s it for an update!

PreciousBooBoo

7:45 pm
6 Jan 14
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Hey Monkey

Have you looked at the flower remedies yet? I’m suprised a clued up girl like you would be sceptical about such things; I thought you would be more like a new age hippie!

If you google Bach and especially the Rescue Remedy you should see loads of stuff to encourage you to give them a try; they are ‘only’ essence of flowers after all, so they cannot harm anyone/animals taking them. They can only do you good if they are going to do anything at all.

Have a read through the descriptions for each remedy and see which ones jump out at you; though having said that, you may not be able to get them easily in China. But NZ should stock stuff like that.

How many days is it now?

Nika

12:58 am
7 Jan 14
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Hey Booboo! Yes I’ve had a look at the remedies. But uhm, a clued up girl like me? A new age hippie?! Haha no I have to have proof for things. Like I can accept the fact that some herbal remedies work because there is an explanation for it (stimulating the secretion of hormones for example). Either that, or I have to experience it myself.

So yeah, I found a few sites, but I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see an explanation or theory anywhere. Like, anywhere. There’s only talk about “restoring the connection between mind and body” but it says nothing about why it does that. So to me, it doesn’t make sense. The closest to an explanation I can get is “placebo-effect”, seeing how it’s all basically just a mixture of water and alcohol. And stuff like “during the potentisation the makes needs to be careful not to cast a shadow over the flowers in the bowl”… Sorry, but everything just sounds really silly to me.

Heck, I’d be willing to give it a try just because you recommended them to me… I’m just extremely, extremely sceptical that this is just another placebo that’s being praised into heavens like it has magical properties.

It’s 11 days until my parents get here.

PreciousBooBoo

8:22 pm
21 Jan 14
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Hey Monkey!

I haven’t got time to post my usual response to you but where are you ?

Are you awol because you’ve hooked up with your parents? I hope so; that is the best reason for being too busy to come on this forum.

Hope you are having a lovely time together.

BooBoo xx

Stef.

8:56 am
22 Jan 14
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Same here, miss your posts. All O.K.? Hope you are having a great time with you parents!
Stef.

Iwant2Bincontrol

11:52 am
22 Jan 14
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Hi Nika!
Hadn’t seen any of your posts recently! But popping in and reading through the thread I see you have been here, and are hopefully now hanging out with your folks. How easy will it be to talk to them!!

I was also sorry to read of your Christmas and new years 🙁 hopefully you got such a great hug from you parents when they arrived though!! I managed to Skype my family on Christmas, but i was with some of my extended family and we skyped the othe r part of the extended familiy. We had a food-off holding up various items up to the skype camera, then my uncle in NZ started getting silly and holding up just random household items, to which his son in law then responded in kind. Family is fun 🙂 it made me realize how isolated I feel in Spain though! Not as much as you, but I am so looking forward to living with my boyfriend again and getting a hug from my family!

All the best 🙂 🙂
Char

Nika

5:44 am
3 Feb 14
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Hey guys!
Yeah I’ve been awol for a while, almost a month now. Not just because of my parents, I’ve been a bit of a mess lately. Just wanted to let you guys know I’m still alive and that I’ll be moving on to NZ the day after tomorrow. Looking forward to that, but being the nervous freak I am I mostly worry about things that can go wrong. But I guess I’ll be fine. 🙂

Anyway, hope everyone is doing great.

Nika

dumpling

5:50 am
3 Feb 14
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Have a safe flight, there is a cyclone coming Thursday from qld, so just giving you a heads up. The last week it has been 28 deg everyday up my way. Glorious!!
But that won’t be continuing so if you land and it is raining…this too will come to pass!!!

double happy

6:51 am
3 Feb 14
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have a great flight and welcome to down under, were you coming to Hamilton?
Wendy

barbarita

7:40 am
3 Feb 14
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Phew, thank goodness you’ve OK. We’ve been worried. Please stay in touch.

Cathyork

12:00 pm
3 Feb 14
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Hi Nika, great to see your post – wishing you all the best in the new chapter of your adventures down under.

Take care

Cath xx

Nika

1:19 pm
3 Feb 14
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Hey Dumpy! Good to hear from you, it’s been a while (though that was of course my fault). Thanks for the warning, I don’t think it’ll interfere with my flight… At least I hope not. Anyway Thursday is actually my brother’s birthday, so I’ll tell him that. 5 days later it’s mine (11th), no idea what I’m going to be doing by then…
Did you still want to meet up somewhere? Of course I forgot the dates you were in Auckland, but still…

@ Wendy, hey! New face! Or maybe not so new, and this is just the first time I’ve seen you around. I wasn’t really planning on coming to Hamilton yet, but I haven’t really planned much yet. I’ll be studying at Unitec in Auckland, so I’ll wait until I know what my days will be like and then I’ll start planning things. Is Hamilton a nice town to visit?

Hey Barba, I appreciate it 🙂 However I enjoy people thinking about me, not worrying. Worrying is no fun. I can know, been doing too much of that lately 😉

And Cath, a big thanks to you to! Here’s to hoping it’ll be better than China has been. Although looking back it hasn’t been a waste of time or anything. I think I’ll miss it, at least a little bit. But it’s not like I want to stay much longer or anything 😉

See you guys around,
Nika

piper

3:22 pm
3 Feb 14
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Glad you’re back!

Stef.

5:06 pm
3 Feb 14
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Good to hear from you! Best of luck with your move!
Stef.

PreciousBooBoo

7:12 pm
3 Feb 14
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I’m relieved to find that you are alright.

dumpling

8:01 pm
3 Feb 14
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Yes lunch Wednesday 12.30 ish 26 th feb, ( I get in about 12.15pm from Whangarei then I have to go to the airport about 2)
Let’s open it up to others?!!
Will be fun to welcome you to nz.
When you know your timetable and when your lunch is we’ll do a meet up plan.
Prob somewhere near uni, so you don’t have to walk far.

No excuses….you are going.
( even if you have classes from 12-3 we will come find you and bring you a sandwich!)

Safe flight.

double happy

4:58 am
4 Feb 14
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Nika we are looking forward to giving you a great warm kiwi welcome and to make your time here so memorable. i can’t come to the lunch, have to work but we can make other plans. How long are you here for ?

Nika

10:35 am
4 Feb 14
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I can see why your name is double happy 😉 I’ll be here a little over six months, so plenty of time! I’ll leave the 14th of August. I’m done with schoolwork somewhere in June, so I’ll have July and the first bit of August to travel. I’m going to be staying at dumpy’s mansion for a bit, punching her children in the face, but besides that I have time. Of course also before that, but I don’t know my timetable yet.

Thanks for the warm welcome back everyone, really appreciate it. I’m planning on being online more from now on, wanna get started with IF again as soon as I hit NZ.

Talk to you on the other side!

And p.s. dumpy, my e-mail address is a.j.houkes @ st.hanze.nl , send me a mail and we can swap phone numbers and stuff.

double happy

5:36 pm
4 Feb 14
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Hi Nika I got the name double happy from my time spent in Hong Kong–quite a few friends got the character tattooed onto themselves–ahhh not me. When I lost abit of weight somehow that image sprang to mind. It’s a great idea to live up too !!
ok If I email you too ?

Nika

12:20 am
5 Feb 14
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Sure, you can shoot me an e-mail. Hong Kong is cool, been there myself a few months ago ^^

audrich

7:31 pm
5 Feb 14
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Hi Nika,
Very glad to see you pop up *hugs*

*tries to work out what the ‘day after tomorrow’ will be in UK time*
*checks watch*
OMG – that is about now – safe trip and see you on the other side

Aud xxx

Nika

4:22 am
6 Feb 14
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Hahaha! Well, I’m here! Good afternoon, Kiwi-land 🙂 Just checked into my hostel for three nights, problem is that I can’t get in contact with Uni atm so I’m not sure whether I’ll have a place to stay after that x) But we’ll see.

Gonna unpack the essentials and look for a supermarket! 🙂

piper

5:46 am
6 Feb 14
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Missie- eat

Nika

10:11 pm
6 Feb 14
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Uhm just had 3 sandwiches, that enough? 😛

hermajtomomi

10:30 pm
6 Feb 14
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Depends how big they were, Nika. What did you have in them? The happy smiley suggests it was something seriously good.

Nika

7:58 am
7 Feb 14
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Hahaha no not really, but since I didn’t have “normal” bread for 5,5 months just 2 white slices of bread per sandwich. Two sandwiches with ham (also not had in China) and jam. And yes, it was simply amazing.

Anyway, I’m in Auckland now. Feb 11 is my birthday. Anyone wanna go out for a drink?..

Nika

8:04 am
7 Feb 14
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Oh and the coming days I’m not going to worry too much about fasting yet, I realised that being in a hostel isn’t the best place for that. So just going to go out for dinner for now. It’s only until sunday, Imma start again Monday when I checked in on campus.

hermajtomomi

10:16 am
7 Feb 14
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Hope everything goes well for you in NZ. First, have a great b’day. Can’t make it to Auckland, but do have one for me

dumpling

10:19 am
7 Feb 14
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I just drove through Auckland cos we went to Hamilton for 2 nights, I waved to ya!
Enjoying the rain?

Have a great weekend, and hope you sort out your classes and accom ok,

Nika

12:43 pm
10 Feb 14
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Yeah, sorted out accomodation ok. Had to kick the previous inhabitant out though, but that wasn’t that big of a problem (I kick slightly hard). So today is my birthday here in NZ, feels weird not doing anything… Did start up the whole fasting thing again today though, so may not have one on you H 😉 If I don’t find anything to do I’ll probably not do anything at all, seeing how drinking alone tends to make me sadder, not happier 😛

But otherwise I guess I’m good! Settling in usually isn’t fun (or at least I think so), so I’m just looking forward to things looking up again. I am dreading having to buy a bathing suit though…

And aaaah yeah that’s what I felt on Friday dumpy! I get it now! 😉

double happy

1:27 pm
10 Feb 14
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happy birthday Nika, sorry we cant gather round to celebrate with you. Good time of year for buying a swim suit with the sales on–a piece of advice: I never look in the mirror when I try them on–It can be so demoralizing unless one is size skinny milinky. I go for comfort and colour. anyways good luck with that. You might want to check out the Warehouse–good prices and heh it might only be a temporary suit only for this season and next year you could be looking at the next size down.
And have fun sorting out the fasting foods you can get here. My latest find is the healthy rice and quinoa pouches, and for beautiful lamb the silver Fern farms pouches $9 or $11 but lasts 3 meals and the meat is so tender.
and why am I awake at this hour of 2:26!!! some dickheads are driving up and down my very quiet street with a dodgy engine putt putt putt.
anyways hope your birthday goes ok.

sylvestra

2:01 pm
10 Feb 14
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Happy birthday @nika We’ll have a huge chocolatey, creamy, fudgey, fruity, nutty, alcoholic VIRTUAL cake here – absolutely ZERO calories – with very large helpings for everyone, to celebrate with you.

Have a lovely day

xx

dumpling

7:47 pm
10 Feb 14
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Happy birthday!!!!!!!

Re togs, get one, then get some board shorts over the top and a t shirt!
Try millers as well, and farmers have a sale.
Go out to Sylvia park, great shopping there.

Have a fun day, I once sat on a mall bench waiting for a bus for 5 hrs and chatted with all sorts of people, it was so fun. Met a guy who went there each day cos he was lonely at home.and it was warmer.
It’s the Westfield by the ferry terminal!!

audrich

7:53 pm
10 Feb 14
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKA!!

*lines up for a piece of sylvestra’s cake*
Mmmmmmm…

And as for swimming cosies, heck, yes, that’s what T-shirts are for (and prevents the shoulders from getting burned – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)

Nika

12:18 am
11 Feb 14
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Thanks everyone! Yeah I’ll head out into town in a bit, grab the Outer Link (should ride around somewhere nearby) and head to those department stores near the harbour. Sylvia park is sooooo far away!! Don’t have a car, just my legs and busses remember? 😛
Also I’m poor, so can’t afford to go out of my way too much.

Anyway, Imma watch a movie or something and then head out to the mall and grab a bite to eat or something. Talk to you guys later!

Sassy

2:26 am
11 Feb 14
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Happy Birthday Nika! 🙂

Hope NZ goes really well for you – I am sure you will make good use of your time there. Sounds like lots of NZers to make you welcome too. 🙂

All the very best.
Sassy 😀

Stef.

4:15 pm
11 Feb 14
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Happy birthday! Must be exciting to have left China for NZ? I wish you a great experience over there!
Stef.

Nika

2:08 am
12 Feb 14
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Thanks Stef! And yeah it’s a new big step in my journey of course, so it’s exciting in some way. It’s a bit boring here though, and bloody expensive… spending way too much money 🙁 And I haven’t even gone shopping yet (which I really, really need to do but hate)!!

piper

2:20 am
12 Feb 14
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Happy birthday?.. Am I too late? Nah, happy year! Might be a slow start. but it’ll snowball… go to to second hand stores and decide to enjoy yourself! Every year, I incubate a birthday dream and that’s my gift to you. We all have goals, but might as well be happy while working toward them.

PreciousBooBoo

2:01 pm
13 Feb 14
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A Belated Happy Birthday to you Nika

It sounds as if you are in a much better place; on all kinds of different levels.

I’m pleased for you.
Enjoy New Zealand.

Nika

7:36 am
14 Feb 14
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Thanks you guys ^^ I don’t know any second hand stores around.. I’ll google, thanks Piper!

double happy

5:57 am
16 Feb 14
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Hi Nika there are heaps of 2nd hand stores–salvation army, hospice, red cross, and lots of quaint little shops–have fun delving. If you go to Karangahake rd (known as K Rd) there are some places I think paper bag princess is still going and down a cute arcade on the same Road there are 2 shops and a fab coffee shop at the end–very 40’s and interesting people hang out there. t The Warehouse (they are the big red sheds)has good new clothing bargains too also Farmers.

piper

3:56 am
18 Feb 14
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We want to hear from you, at least once a week…get worried, you know?

symba7

10:07 am
23 Feb 14
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Hi Nika,

I have had a couple of months off the forum due to Christmas, illness and holidays.

Hope you had a good time with your parents before you departed China. I was wondering if you had got yourself to N Z. I remembered it was about February. My good wishes to you on your next leg of your journey. Be brave go and buy your bathing suit, you will be fine.

A belated Birthday wishes, if it was the 10th the same as my Hubby we were away in Morocco, hiding from secret parties, it was his 65th!

Settle in on campus and enjoy,
Jean x

Stef.

4:19 pm
23 Feb 14
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Hi Nika, how are you doing? Hope all is well and you are settling in? Give us a life sign from time to time.
Stef.

Nika

9:39 pm
2 Mar 14
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*Life Sign*

There you go! C’mon peeps, I’m not in China anymore, stop guilting me for not being online for a while 😛 I actually have a life now, with friends who I see everyday, classes, roommates and even a girl I’m interested in… So don’t you guys worry, I’m all good. In China I spent 5 hours a day on the forum because I had all that time at work, but here I simply don’t have that luxury anymore. So yeah I’m going to look up a few good topics and just post in those, can’t keep reading every single one 🙁

The thing about all that fun though, is that my weight is not going great, but I’m doing my best to say no to all the free food (I’ve yet to succeed for the first time) and go to the gym more often (got a free membership here on campus, I guess that kills all the excuses I might have). I’ll probably no longer do the daily fasts as rigorously as I used to (also because I now have a busier lifestyle and never know when I’ll go to the gym and whatever), but I will try to incorporate 2 days of fasting a week. 3 if I feel motivated enough (and there’s not an apartment dinner somewhere that I’m invited to)… The meals I do alone will be carb free, but of course the ones I eat with others will not be. So we’ll just see what my body things of that for a while.

Anyway, you’re probably not as interested in me ranting about my body and weight right now, sounds like you’re all on a “save Nika” crusade! But I don’t need saving right now, I’m doing just fine. The only real stress points I still have are the fact I still don’t have a student visa (which is a small stress point) and the fact my dad had to take a second trip to the ER with heart issues… A slightly larger stress point. He’s on the other side of the bloody world and I’m sitting here… feels very helpless.

Anyway that’s the update from me for now, I’ll try to get back online tonight (if I’m not playing cards at some apartment)!

Peace and love y’all.