Wow, it takes a lot of determination to still update this blog! My life just got too busy lately, with the start of my macrobiotic studies at the Institute. I already have two shorter workshops behind me – the weekend workshop called”The Way to Health, Vitality and Strength”, and the 4-day Art of Cooking school ” Cooking for Vitality and Stronger Immunity”. While the first workshop had more theoretical lectures on health and disease and a bit less cooking (and we also did a basic shiatsu massage introduction), the second one was really hands-on with looots of practical cooking classes and only one theoretical lecture. During both of the workshops we started every day early in the morning with do-in exercises, which are exercises that promote the activation of ki (or in Chinese “chi”), the life force channeling throughout our body. It´s a bit tough to bike 30-45 minutes to the Institute (usually around 7 a.m.) and then exercise for an hour before having any breakfast, but I actually feel amazingly well after doing the exercises, so I got quite hooked! I definitely enjoy my studies, but they are also demanding as they take a lot of time and focus. And I enjoy meeting new macrobiotic friends at the workshops! This Saturday I start my 12-day intense Art of Life Level 1 program, so I will sure not have any time to blog during that time period…but you can be assured that I will be having a good though very busy time! 
I did have some time for meetings with old friends in between my workshops – with Nardo we met up with Lisa and her bf Sytse (Lisa used to be our flatmate back in Uilenstede 2 years ago), we had a light snack at Spui (while I ate my homemade sushi ) and then went to Tara, the stylish Irish pub. I even had two beers – Hertog Jan and Black Velvet (which I discovered is Guinness mixed with either champagne or cider in order to create two distinct colour levels). So nice to meet these guys after a long time of no see! We also had a visit from Denise and Diego, who came to cook with us at our place and to inspect our new room It´s really great that in this room we have enough space to put the table in the middle of the room and actually seat 4 people there!
That´s actually one of the biggest recent events – we left our cute but a bit less practical attic room and moved one floor down to the room of one of our (now former) housemates, which is a bit bigger (or at least has bigger storage facilities), has straight walls, and a big window with a nice view (the biggest advantage I think – I really missed looking out of a window!). We just need to decorate this room still, as there are too many plain white walls with some holes left from drilling…I asked my friends to send me postcards, and so did Nardo, so we are hoping for some to arrive
In the attic room we now have Tina, our new 17-year-old housemate, who is luckily a very quiet person, to my big surprise And downstairs there is still Alessio, the Italian housemate, who unfortunately is hard to get along with, but that´s a whole long story I´m not going to get into here 
I am very happy to have my bike back after its repair!! It cost a lot of money and I was without a bike for a couple of days, but now I have a pretty new wheel. Biking in Amsterdam is the best thing about the whole city, I think…yes, I am addicted…but it gives a distinct feeling of freedom and self-sufficiency which I really love.
I also started my “career” as a babysitter – unfortunately I cannot babysit too often due to my study schedule, but I already did go once, and tomorrow will be my second time. Dafni, an 11 year old Dutch-Greek girl is extremely sweet and easygoing, so it´s not at all hard to watch over her. Especially since she often goes out to play with her friends, so then I just wait for her at her home and check on her by phone And she also gives me some Dutch language practice, as I try to speak only Dutch with her (she understands English, but she doesn´t like to talk in English ). It´s not always easy but I´m pleased that I´m able to have a simple communication with an 11 year old!
Otherwise, I am now really enjoying the few peaceful days without school, before my long programme starts :-p The weather is awful lately, very cold, windy and lots of rain, so it´s nice to be inside…I spend a lot of time cooking (=practicing what I learn at school, haha). I even ordered a pressure cooker through amazon, because that´s one essential macrobiotic tool that I was really missing!! Can´t wait to have it here! It would just be soooo nice to have my own kitchen ( Well, hopefully in Slovenia we will have that – we´re already planning our spring journey there a bit… need to find a job still, and learn the language, but otherwise we´re almost ready!
