Bye Bye Berlin, I will surely miss you!

During our last days in Berlin, the sun came out and showed us one last time how wonderful Berlin truly can be! I kept getting waves of butterflies in my belly every time I realised that this new adventure was actually going to happen and it wasn't just a dream...

My love and I decided to list the top five things we will miss about Berlin. 
My number one was: My daily bike ride through the Tiergarten. Isn't it magnificent?

One of our last celebratory dinners was one of our favorite tapas style dinners! You should try it one night! It is truly satisfying!

Then the day came, where we had to bid Berlin farewell... 

As my good friend said 'With one crying eye and one laughing eye'. 

Maybe also one terrifying eye driving a moving truck :D

I haven't yet truly realised that there is no apartment waiting for us back in Berlin to return to... I still get butterflies in mah belly thinking This is real. This is happening. Waking up in the morning and not having to think about anything but what area shall I scope out today? It's pretty freaking crazy I tell ya! 

 I have reaaaally been enjoying our bike rides and our nature walks here so far, no people and no traffic sounds!

I have decided to take as many pictures as I can over the next few months to share our shananaaaananaaaanagans. Pictures can say so much more than my little words... here are the first few!

Greifswald

Peenemünde

We set sail anytime after next wednesday when the stormy weather is supposed to have passed. Fingers Crossed! Right now it feels a bit too much like winter.

Until then my friends!

In motion

Our apartment is almost completely empty by now. What a feeling to own so little again. I recommend it to all of you out there. I felt overwhelmed this past week with how much useless stuff we had!  

I have thought and still often think about how much waste us humans produce but this past week, packing up my apartment... I realised that I have been naughty. Too much plastic, too much schtuffs. Tz tz tz. 

My new challenge is to live minimalistic for the REST OF MY LIFE. My husband came up with the best idea ever and that is to go through our apartment once a year, preferably on our one-year-moving-anniversary, and really de-clutter. Giving so many of our belongings to charity, to neighbours, friends and selling some stuff has been so liberating! The true challenge I suppose is not even acquiring all that useless stuff!

It is quite a fascinating process getting rid of things I own. 
Firstly, feeling overwhelmed with letting stuff go and not being able to even think clearly about what I do need and what I don't need. 
Secondly, realising life as I know it won't be anymore and coming to terms with that thought. 
Thirdly, thinking about every story behind every item that I own and holding on to it. 
But then... I love the thought of a new and exciting adventure, new stories, new memories, a new life and I can let go of unnecessary materialistic weight! They are just things, the memories that are important to me will stay in my heart.

These are our last days in Berlin and then it's off to live on a Boat for three and a half months! I suppose this blog will turn into a bit of an adventure blog while I scope out harbours, nature and random yummy foods! So stay tuned for some wild pictures and some wild stories :D

Until then this is the wildest pic I can come up with these days...

It's done.

I did it. I am a physiotherapist. 

ppppffffffhhhhhhhh WHAT! A! RIDE! 

I am so thrilled and so happy! For the first time in my life, I feel true accomplishment. This whole experience, especially the last 6 weeks were like a huge mountain that I had to climb. Normally in the past, I wouldn't really give it my all. For fear of not making it to the top....
But this time, I went for it.
It totally paid off! No disappointments here today!

Great news for you? Now you can actually believe me when I say things like 'EXERCISE' because I have the papers to prove that I did learn this stuff after all! (get out there peeples, move that bootaaay)





I must confess, I underestimated the stress factor in all of this though. In between exams I felt like I had no time to come up for air too often. I felt rushed and wired a lot of the time. 
However, I did learn something really interesting about myself, when I am in a stressful situation I react physically and mentally post situation. Some of my classmates couldn't sleep before an exam and were completely strung out while all of that hit me after my exam. The following day I would have stomach aches and complete insomnia thinking about what had happened. I also realised that in moments of sheer adrenaline high I completely forgot to breathe. I was breathing above my shoulders (no, not possible but it sure felt like it) and I had to almost 're-teach' myself how to breathe again.

Another thing I learned, was to love meditation. I've had a very hard time with meditating in the past, 'just' sitting in my room in silence. In moments of high stress there is no way I can find peace on my own. So, I youtube'd 'guided meditation' and found a few that were able to bring me back to where I was and who I was and what I was (human after all, surprise!). 
Meditation totally saved me.  It really grounded me when I was in desperate need to come back down.
If you are open to trying it, I really recommend it!







It was a tough time but it was also really fun. I enjoyed studying for the finals with my best study buddy (Terry the skeleton gets some props as well) and even though I am so (SO) relieved it's done and over with I will also cherish this time.











What better way to celebrate than with healthy delicious cookies? No better way!

I made these and they rock. Try them? Do iiiiiiit! 

Cookies! Oatmeal cookies!
(recipe from greenkitchenstories.com)

4 tbsp coconut oil, room temperature 
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp buckwheat flour (I used brown rice flour)
2 tbsp milk (any kind)
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 tsp ground ginger
a pinch ground clove 
a pinch vanilla extract (I used a tsp of cacao)
a pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Stir together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Spoon up 12 pieces of dough onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Use the backside of a spoon (or your thumb) to flatten it out as thin as you can. They should be slightly larger than 2 inch / 5 cm wide. Bake for about 15-18 minutes. Until they get a  bit dark around the edges. When warm they will still be soft, but they become crispier as they cool down. Let cool on the sheet for about a minute. After a day they will loose a little of their crisp, but they still taste awesome.

Guten Appetit!

Happy baking! Happy weekend! Happy life!