I've been here now for eight weeks and seriously, time is flying!!!! Which is typically a good thing cuz it means I'm having fun :) But ever since I've started working, I've noticed that I've been doing less "fun" stuff and spending long hours of the day working. I suppose that's part of life. Or is it? Maybe, I don't know....I kind of want to spend less time working and more time "on life" but I don't know if that's a realistic reality. One day last week I worked late (again) and it was making me sad. I enjoy my work enough but I don't think that doing it for 10 hours a day adds much value to my life. This week I plan to be more conscientious of my activities in the office and make sure that it's used wisely and that I don't give up too much of my personal time to it. I worry that I'll get fired if I push back and I can't really afford that.
sigh. Yeah, last week wasn't the best week, but hopefully this one's better!
K, onto the fun stuff:
Mid/late March was the NSW States Dragonboat Championships at Penrith International Regatta Centre, which is the same place that the 2000 Summer Olympics were held. I was officially welcomed to the team with the presentation of my ACCA race jersey and that day we raced in 500 m races. Pretty cool!! We didn't do too well in the results but we Nationals are this coming weekend, so hopefully we do better then!
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| ACCA DACCA Mixed Team |
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| ACCA Women |
I spent my first holiday away from family: Easter. Usually we have a big dinner to celebrate, with turkey and all and this was the first year I was missing it. Anyway, I went to Easter service at Hillsong Church, and the lady (Susan) sitting beside me invited me to go to yum cha with her family and small group. I accepted with pretty much zero hesitation and soon found myself sitting in a busy Chinese restaurant with 18 other Asian people from church. They were all super friendly and very similar to Calgary Asian families I meet haha. Even though it wasn't turkey, it was nice to share a meal with nice company on a holiday.
The following Monday was my birthday, so Part I of celebration was Bondai to Coogee hike with Calgary friend Heather, followed by lunch (including gelato!) in the city.
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| Waves crashing up against the rocks on the shore. |
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| Interesting rocks along the shore. |
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| LUNCH! |
Part II of my birthday was Manly beach with Calgary friend Mike (yes, I enjoy my Calgary friends!), but unfortunately I don't have any good pics because it was pretty much dark by the time we got there so good photo opps were limited :( Got some tasty pulled pork sandwiches and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Yum!
I've been doing lots of cycling! Here's a snap from my Runkeeper app. Note how I do two trips a day, as I've been using the bicycle for transport. And today I made an epic trip to the beach! I had this idea that I'd cycle to the beach, hang out for the afternoon, and then cycle back. What I didn't realize was how tired I would be after 25 km. Also, I rode two long downhill stretches so spent the time on the beach worrying about how my fatigued body would make it back uphill! It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be though and I only *almost* fell once, as I was struggling up a hill and had to fight a bit to get my bike shoes out of the pedal clips.
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| This is Cedric, my CELL bike, at Mona Vale Beach |
Bedtime! Will hopefully write a more thoughtful post later this week!
