VLOG | to gubin and back

Last week I took the week off from work for a nice 10 day holiday. While we re still in the middle of the pandemic that made choices for holiday destinations extremely limited. We were basically stuck in Germany and even then there were new lockdown measures added every day. In the end we decided not to leave Berlin and instead take a cycling day trip out to the edges of Brandenburg instead. We started at Frankfurt Oder and started cycling south towards Gubin, a city that sits right on the Polish and German border.

I tried my best to document as well as I could. This vlogging thing is pretty difficult and kind of intrusive to be honest, since I have to consider how to film and when it's the best time to whip out my phone for some footage. It definitely takes you out of the moment for a bit and can stress out the person being filmed, but I'm trying to get better at that. To be as low key as possible as well as making feel comfortable when the camera's on them are skills I still need to hone. But at the end of the day, the whole thing pays off because I have so many nice visuals to remind me of this special little trip. Hope to create a lot more when it's warm enough again to be outside.

As for the trip, in the end we managed to cycle close to 122km. The longest cycle trip I’ve ever done in one go (for Adam as well). Our legs felt like jelly towards on the train ride back but there was a definite air of accomplishment. Been talking to some friends about doing a cycling trip to Prague later this year. Hope it all works out!

 

VLOG | No. 1 Grunewald & Cooking

 

Here's the debut of my first little video project! The idea for this is to keep it as barebones as possible so that I wouldn't loose any motivation creating these. So far I'm enjoying it and will be posting more in the future.

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This test clips were taken last week on a short trip to Grunewald with Adam, Rikard and little Frankie. The weather has been pretty uninspiring as of the last month so it does take a little bit of push to get ourselves to do anything that requires the least bit of effort. But it’s hard to say no to a large dog park in the middle of the forest. We stopped at a part of Grunewald I've never been before called Hundestrand Grunewaldsee (Dog beach Grunewald Lake) where dogs can walk freely without leashes. The loop around the lake only took an hour but it was super nice to be out in nature, even for a little bit.

That evening Rikard whipped up a famous German dish - white asparagus with hollandaise sauce and boiled potatoes. For years I've been hearing about Spargel season in Germany and I've finally gotten to try it. The white asparagus is only available for a few weeks of the year and the Germans go absolutely Ga-ga over them. The dish was much easier than I expected to prepare it and Rikard made the excellent decision to mix some chipotle powder into the hollandaise to give it a smokey/spicy kick. Will definitely be doing that if I recreate this dinner in the future.

PERSONAL | brunch and a walk

I've taken a loooooooong break from blogging. It was always something I had planned to get back into but it's one of those things where, the longer you put it aside the more intimidating the task becomes. Until it becomes this behemoth of a thing (all in my head though) that you just sweep it under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist anymore. I've always missed my blog but at the same time I feel like I've also lost my passion for documenting and photographing. Until now that is. I think?

Maybe the pandemic and lockdown had something to do with it. But I'm not sure if I can blame it all on that. Sure, there wasn't as many trips last year but it's not like there were none. Anyways, I look back on my photo reel from 2020 and I've barely taken any photos. 

That being said, I've been watching a lot of youtube and vlog content lately and have been feeling super inspired to be more creative. Who cares if the photos are boring. At least I'm doing something! Here's to bringing blogging back - and to starting a new endeavour I've been meaning to since forever - videos!!!

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Lots of changes in the past year, I don't plan on diving into details, but recently I've started a new relationship (Hi Adam if you're reading this!) and while Germany is still cold af and in a semi-lockdown phase, this means no nights out, no parties, no bars or spritzes by the Spree, restaurants - you get the jist. But we've been making it up with nice evenings in, series binging and wholesome brunches. 

I mean look at that yogurt bowl. Granola was top notch from the new cafe in Wedding, { Julius }. 

Lazy weekends are also cut with long walks outside if the weather permits. We always walk towards coffee and then back home when it finally gets too cold. It's been a nice weekend routine that's currently bringing me a lot of joy.

TRAVEL | sächsische schweiz

This year I've found a lot of joy in doing sports. I've started exercising seriously last summer but sort of begrudgingly. Before that going to the gym was the bane of my existence, I never understood why people would choose to spend their precious after work time stuck in a sweaty gym. Turns out, I've just never found the right sports for me. This year I decided to branch out and try some new activities.

Earlier this year, I went through a painful breakup. As it turns out, I am one of those people who kind of get lost in their relationships. So when the inevitable finally happened, I felt as if I lost a part of my identity -- as most people who've experienced breakups know. Hardest thing in the world was to learn to pick myself up and stand on my own two feet again. I distracted myself by meeting new people, invest in strengthening my friendships, and finding things that I enjoy doing -- for me.

This past Easter a few friends and I planned a trip to Sächsische Schweiz for a 2-day hiking trip. I had been there two years ago, and it's always held a very dear place in my heart for many reasons. I wanted to share that experience with my friends and it really was one of the highlights of the year. We climbed some rocks, sunbathed at the mountain's peak, walked through some meadows, ate a bunch of snacks. It was wonderful and just the doctor ordered.

The beginnings of hike #1 on the German side. This one was managable since
the trail was clear. We weren't so lucky on the next day whilst in the Czech side.
We got ourselves extremely lost and had to race against the clock to get to our
town before sunset. Luckily we were able to catch the last bus back.



One of our many pit-stops. Lots of granola, avocados, peanut butter sandwiches,
and trail mix were consumed that day.





We're planning on going somewhere new next year. We're thinking about Croatia, hmm..

PERSONAL | protect hong kong

Last sunday Hong Kong made history by organising the largest protest the city has ever seen. Nearly 2 million people joined the peaceful demonstration that opposed the extradition bill that parliament is threatening to pass.

I'm extremely proud of the all the people, those I know and don't know, who participated in the fight for our rights. They demonstrated that our little island won't go down without a fight.

In Berlin we showed our solidarity by gathering in front of Brandenburger tor to write words of encouragement on a banner that the organiser had planned to take with her back to Hong Kong.