Weight Loss!!!

Over the last few months I've written various posts about losing weight and my battle to get the kilos off. Its something that I still don't like talking about, or even writing about, because of the taboos surrounding this topic. Yet, this is a topic that can have dire consequences if we aren't careful. So often we have our heads in the clouds, thinking that we're alright... we continue to eat whatever we want and we don't exercise enough. Weight has a very bad habit of creeping on quite quickly, and subtly. We don't really notice, until our jeans get tight, but we just buy the next size up. Then suddenly we're too heavy, our Body Mass Index (BMI) is reading as obese and the medical world is warning of Diabetes type II and other weight related health problems. Then we realize that how stubborn fat can be... our bodies lay it down so easily but burning it can be an absolute nightmare. Well, this was me. Six months ago, I started having problems with my feet when I'd go running, I felt uncomfortable in my skin and weighed myself, my BMI was in the Obese Class I category. My mum had been praying for me during this time. Up until that point, I'd been stubbornly thinking I was fine and that everything was going splendidly. My mum was able to advise me and help me start the long journey back to a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle. In the beginning I was really pesamistic about it because I thought I wouldn't possibly be able to loose almost 30 kilos (27 kg to be exact). I started making some drastic changes to my diet back at the end of May... though I really struggled because I wasn't always bothered to go running through the forest near where I lived and I didn't always have the energy to prepare food that was healthy, even after my time in South Africa.

During the weeks leading up to my move to The Hague, I knew that if I really wanted to loose this weight, I needed to join a gym. I'm one of those people who'll actually use a gym if I'm paying for it. I found a gym near where the Redeemer church office and I try to go at least five or six times a week, as well as eating healthily (I've almost completely stopped eating carbs; though occasionally I'll eat carbs if I'm eating with a larger group of people and someone else has prepared). Since moving to The Hague and since joining the gym, my weight loss has started coming off slightly faster than I'd dared hope, which is why I'm thrilled to say that when I weighed myself this morning, my BMI is no longer in the Obese Class I category! I'm now in the Overweight category! I've still got a long way to go. I'm not going to quit until my BMI is in a normal, healthy range. I won't let myself put this weight back on again! For those of you who have known me for years know that I've said this before, and each time I've meant it. However, this time I've realized just how dangerous it was for me to be the weight I was. I was scared that something would happen, like being diagnosed with diabetes type II or that the pins and needles in my feet would continue. I'm determined to keep loosing weight and to be a healthy weight.

Now, I know that there are some of you who think that I look fine the size I am now, and that I don't need to keep loosing weight. I'll be honest, I'm loosing weight for myself. I don't feel totally comfortable in my skin anymore and that's one of the things that I really am looking forwards to.

It's time for lunch so gonna sign off now.

I've Finally Got A Bike!

My New Bike

I really been settling into life in the city, my new church and with my new family (the two kids are accepting me more and more, though I'm still a novelty to both of them).

One of the things that have helped me get settled is the fact that I finally got a good quality, trustworthy bike. A friend of mine helped me find it online. There's a website here in the Netherlands, where you can buy and sell everything and anything; its called marktplaats.nl. So my friend went and looked on marktplaats.nl to see if she could find a bike for me, however it was more challenging than it normally should be, because I'm really short by Dutch standards and this means that the bike's frame needs to be smaller than the average bike standard that's on this website. You can find smaller bike frames in the bike shops but they´re several hundred euros more expensive. It took a good several hours of looking and Whatsaping back and forth to keep checking. We finally found this bike (pictured), we then went to have look at it and from there, we decided it was a perfect fit for me... well, the rest is history. I've been biking into the office almost every day since I got it. I´m so happy about having a way of a way of getting around again, without having to pay for the bus every time I want to go to the gym or to the office.

After my 5km Peace Run

On Saturday 24 September, The Hague held a Peace Run near the Peace Palace. I'd been registered to run in the 5k, and I´m thrilled to say that I was able to complete the run without any problems. I ran the entire route and crossed the finish line. This feat is something I wasn't able to do the last 4k run I did, a few months ago. I guess its down to being lighter (by a few kilos) and a little bit fitter than I was the last time I ran a official race like this. I know I can do better so I´m still going to the gym on an almost daily basis. I´ll be honest, the high you get from going to the gym is awesome, and rather addictive. Every day, when I wake up and I know I´m going to the gym to work out I'm happy. This happiness continues through the workout (and the pain). The high that I get from the workout continues through out the day, and just adds to my feelings of expectation for the next work out when I go to bed. I'm really glad to have found the gym I'm currently going to. I must admit that going to the gym far out rates running outdoors. I have access to good quality equipment that I have't had since I left Uganda four years ago.

The Medals That Everyone Got If They Finished

I've been working on researching travel prices for different trips to England over the next few months. You'd be surprised how many different ways there are to get there and how much the price can change depending on the type of transport you're going to be taking. Its a lot of fun but also challenging finding the cheapest way to get to England that doesn't involve super weird travel hours. Trust me the cheapest tickets usually have departure and arrival times really late at night or really early in the morning because most people don't want to travel at that time and are willing to pay more to travel at a different time.

I'm also doing some work for the youth group. I'm really looking forwards to the meeting we've got this weekend. The group (and the leaders) are a very international group. I already feel like I'm a part of the team.

I'm currently having computer problems so my posts aren't going to be as regular as they have been over the last few weeks. My computer charger started giving me issues charging months ago but the battery started playing up last week; well, I think its the battery that's playing up. As my computer started shutting down on me (even using the charger of a friend). Anyway, everything's going to be okay. I'm going to aim to post whenever I can, until I get my computer sorted out... thankfully I have my iPad and my iPhone.

The Tests Are Clear!! My News Today!

Some of the Mounted Guards

As many of you know I was in the doctor's office last week to get the all clear as I've had some really weird symptoms over the last few months (like tingling in my foot and ). The strong bruise like mark on my left ankle has almost completely cleared up and all I needed to do was get the blood results from the samples that were taken on Friday. I phoned the clinic this morning to find out what the blood results were and the good news is that all my counts are normal!! Its a great relief to hear that.

Since I last posted things have been settling down quite a bit. I'm getting into the hang of working in the office and going to the gym each day. This week I've been going in before I head to the office. I'm feeling sore but it's good. Yesterday was rather exciting as the Dutch parliament was opened by the king, who then goes by carriage to the parliament buildings to give a speech outlining the plans for the coming year, I think. I do know that the speech was written by the Dutch Prime Minister. So two of my colleagues and I went to see the procession. We didn't get a great view, though where we were standing was good enough to glimpse the king's coach as it passed by. We also got the opportunity to see the entire procession of the king's mounted guards and foot soldiers. I didn't a photo of the king's carriage as it passed but I got loads of photos of the pomp and ceremony of the procession.

There Was A Band Waiting For the King

Since I've been going to the gym on an almost daily basis, I've been leaving home really early to do some exercise before I go to work, which means that the only time I see the kids is over dinner time. They're typically normal Dutch kids and are still adjusting to having someone new living in their house, just like how us adults are adjusting to the change. I'm not sure if I ever wrote about the British laws about photographing children, which you're not allowed to photograph them without parental consent or post them online. So when we'd take photos of our ministries that involved working with kids we'd usually need to ask the parents for their permission to take the photos, when we were on outreach in particular, we'd have to blur the children's faces before we did anything with them. Here in the Netherlands the laws are the same. So that's why I've not mentioned the kids names or have posted any photos of them.

A Restaurant In A Tram

One of my responsibilities here in the office is helping organise the Connect Conference in Sidcup in November. It's a lot of organising of transport (which we aren't booking for the people who are coming) and sorting out the accommodation (we've booked but we're not paying for). There's a few people who might visas to visit the UK... and just making sure that those who want to have a bed under the booking that we've made in Sidcup. Its quite a busy job, but I'm enjoying it. It has its moments of crazy organising but at the moment I'm just waiting to hear from people about what their plans are.

An interesting thing that's happening this weekend, that a few of us from Redeemer are going to do, is take part of a Peace Run. There's a five kilometre run and a ten kilometre run. I'm running the five because I know that I'll be able to do it without risking any damage to my joints. I'm really looking forwards to running and I'm really hoping that I'll be able to finish it running. The last time I tried to complete a run like this it didn't end very well as my left foot went totally numb and I had to walk three out of the five kilometres. I'm dearly hoping that I'll be able to run this case to completion. Since I've been running over the last two or three months, I haven't had any problems and I'm hoping that my foot won't be effecting my running on Saturday. I'm really looking forwards to it!

Until next time!

Go Carting And The Weekend

The Youth Group

On Saturday afternoon I came into The Hague Den Haag city centre to go to the gym... and to meet Rhode, the youth group's leader. We met an hour before the youth group arrived to prepare for diner. Once that was done, the teens began to arrive at the church office. We had dinner together and then headed to a nearby go carting location. It was my first time go carting and I know I wasn't the only one to have a lot of fun. The group is great. They're a mix of international teens most of who's families have moved here for various reasons. It was the first gathering of the youth group since they went to NewDay (I was still working at Youth With A Mission YWAM Heidebeek when they went). For those of you who don't know about NewDay, its a youth conference (for 12-19 year olds) in Norwich, Norfolk, England for the youth groups from the NewFrontiers family of churches. Normally there's about 6,500 participants attending each year for six days of camping on the Norfolk Showgrounds.

Yesterday, we had seven baptisms at church. Three of those getting baptised where from the youth group. Its amazing that these teenagers are willing to make a step to follow Jesus and they took a public step to confirm their faith and beliefs.

I've Moved In!

I moved in to my new home on Friday evening. I can't tell you how nice it is to have somewhere to settle down for the next for nine and a half months. All the moving around of the last nine months has gotten to me a bit. It was really satisfying to be able to unpack all my stuff and find places for everything.

I don't know how much I mentioned in previous blog posts but I'm now living with Rebecca and Martijn and their two young children. I'm now staying in a room on the second floor of their house in one of the outer suburbs of The Hague Den Haag. The kids have so much energy and are still trying to figure out what to make of having me in the house all the time. Its a new experience for us all. I've shared a house before, in London, and one of the couples had her baby whilst I was there, but that's different to having two kids about. When I posted my last blog  on Saturday I was on my way home from the Go Carting and the family weren't home. They'd gone to see family. I got home late to an empty house, so I ended up showering and going to bed.

Impact Internship

Today, I ended up working on some stuff for the Connect Conference in Sidcup, London. We've got quite a large group going so I've been organising accommodation and documenting how people are getting to the conference. Its something I really enjoy doing.

Trust

The Waiting Room

Yesterday morning found me sitting in a doctor's waiting room for the second time in as many days. It was hard because I don't like doctors, due to a rather bad experience when I was a child. The reason you might wonder I was back at the doctor's clinic was to get checked. I've not been doing great over the few months (headaches, nosebleeds, tingling and a weird bruise/rash on my leg). I wanted to get checked out by a doctor, which is why I went and got an appointment on Thursday. I had to have some blood taken from my right arm on Friday morning to check my blood counts, amongst other things. I don't know what the results are yet, and I won't know until next week. I'm trying not to think about what could be wrong with my body because I've got a wild imagination that will automatically think the worst. I also don't what what to expect but I know that God has it in his hands.

In other news, I've moved... again. I'm now at my host family's house in Rijswijk, South Holland. Rijswijk is one of the suburbs of The Hague Den Haag and is roughly a forty minute bus journey from the centre of Den Haag, where the church office is. I'm planning on getting a bike soon so I can bike to and from work, so I don't have to take the bus. I don't have my driver's licence yet, so owning a car or even borrowing one is out of the question. I'm trusting God to provide.

I'm on the bus home now; it's almost my stop and want to finish this before I'm at my new place.

The First Week

I thought a quick update would be in order. I'm really enjoying myself over here in this big vibrant city. There are so many similarities with London but also so many differences. Both cities have a vibrant international community. The history of both cities play a big part in the different feeling that both cities have.

This week has been intense and busy but good and rewarding at the same time. I've been doing some office work, which has been researching the cheapest ways to get to England for a connect conference in Sidcup, London as well as the cheapest hotels in the area. Research is something I really enjoy doing. We're not booking the tickets or the rooms for people but we've given them the cheapest options to get to England for the weekend conference in November. Its interesting. One of the cheapest (and fastest) options is to fly to England, but a lot of the cheap airlines charge as much as €35 (roughly £30) per suitcase that you check in. So if you're flying with hold luggage you can easily end up paying well over €100 (which is roughly £85), however, traveling by bus (an eight and a half hour journey) is cheaper... as you don't need to worry about checking any luggage in as you can take once piece of luggage as well as hand luggage. I love traveling and love looking at ways I can travel cheaply... though normally I don't get the chance. The love for travel is something that I've had for as long as I can remember. As a child I used always want to go to the airport with my dad, not matter what time he had to go and collect people.

On Monday I took out a gym membership at a ladies only gym in the centre of The Hague Den Haag. Over the last few years I've been running outdoors on a regular basis, but since I left Uganda I've sorely missed the weight room. I used to go to the gym almost daily to run and use the different weights. Due to traveling so much, I've never invested in buying a set of dumbbells. So when I knew I was moving to Den Haag, I knew I had to invest in gym membership, as the only way that I can get my money's worth is by going regularly. Thankfully my family have been very encouraging of my joining a gym and have helped me in my journey towards a fitter life. My brother gave me some tips when I was in South Africa the last time. I've been very reluctant to do too much because someone I know pulled something in her neck a few years ago because she tried to do too much too fast. It was either by using too heavy weights or doing too many reps, I don't remember which one it was, but she was on her back for months afterwards, in pain. She had to have a special type of traction to pull the disk in her back into place. It was months before she could return to the gym. I don't want to have the same happen to me. So I've been taking it super easy and really holding myself back. I can feel some of my muscles aching quite a bit, which is a good sign, I think. The nice thing about a "ladies only" gym is that its exactly what this statement says, the only members allowed in this gym are ladies... it makes exercising easier, and not so uncomfortable as there aren't any men using the machines. There are occasionally a few trainers who pass through from time to time to give private training sessions. I really enjoy not having the discomfort of not being in a shared gym. There aren't any mirrors on every wall either so its great being able to run in a safe environment.

Well, until next time!

Intern Checking In!!!

A Cannel in The Hague

This is Redeemer's Intern checking in after a crazy few weeks. I've been to England and back for the first Impact training block... and I moved down here about ten days ago from Epe.

I guess I should start when I moved here... I came down on Friday 2 September and arrived at the office at around lunch time. It was great meeting the team and getting to know everyone. Fridays are generally the busiest day in the office so I got to meet everyone who works here.

I spent the weekend with one of the girls who works at the Redeemer Office once a week. And then on Monday morning I flew to London to join the first Impact Training block. It was a crazy week. There's about twenty six of us from five different nations, all doing the same internship but with different churches, so I'm the only intern traveling from the Netherlands for the training blocks. Due to problems with one of the train companies I was late to the training by about an hour but I didn't really miss anything because the first day was team building day and I'd let the staff know I was going to be late. Then on Tuesday we had lessons on who God is. We spent the entire day looking at who God is. Then on Wednesday we looked at the Old Testament. We kinda spent the entire day working our way through the Old Testament. It was pretty intense but eye opening.

Lessons on the New Testament

Then on Thursday, we went through the New Testament. It was great seeing how God brought into fulfilment the promise of Jesus. The speaker ended up getting us to dramatise various scenes, which was a lot of fun. He also made sure to cover the time between the end of the prophets and Jesus' birth and what was happening in the Middle East at that time. Friday was the last day of the training block, when we looked at hermeneutics and things along those lines...

On Friday, one of the guys, who had lived in Uganda for a number of years (2001-2005) came up to me just at the end of the last morning break and asked what church I'd gone to when I lived in Uganda, because he kinda recognised my surname. The lecture started then and we had to sit down. On and off through that lecture I sent messages to my mum and dad asking if they recognised his surname. It happens that we did know each other and our sisters had been friends, they've come round for meals and stuff. So when lunch started, we pointed at each other and said "I need to talk to you." We then double checked what our parents had said. So yes, we did know each other back when his family lived in Uganda. It took some processing of memories on my part but I do remember his family and the last time we saw each other. He's doing the internship too, but with a church in South London.

I returned to the Netherlands on Saturday evening... and spent the weekend with the same girl I stayed with before I left for England (I'm planning to move in with my host family either this weekend or the beginning of next week, still need to arrange that). And I started in the church office today.