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| Typical Brazilian Food - Rice & Beans |
From March 29th until April 12th I was on holiday in the absolutely amazing Rio de Janeiro! Oh my I love this city! I needed to go their for my work as I had to present some of the results of my research on the 'International Conference on Physical Activity and Prevention' so I figured I really need to book a holiday in advance! As I surfed twice before, once in the Netherlands and once in Bali and absolutely loved it, I decided to go to a Surf Hostel 40 km outside of the busy city centre of Rio. I stayed at the Surf 'n Stay hostel which is a super chill and relaxing hostel in Recreio. De people working there are all very nice and I've met some great people from all over the world in the hostel. Every day from 8 till 10 A.M. we had a surf lesson and optional one in the afternoon from 4 to 6 P.M.. The surf instructors were great and really took the time to get you up on your board and catch some great waves. They are all professional surfers so they know what to do ;). So how are my surfing skills? Well, to be honest, I'm not a natural, and after 2 days we figured out that I was standing normal when I'm actually Goofy (right feet in front). But at one point it started to go great! I even got some waves by myself, can stand up every time and even steer a bit. It was awesome, and actually there are no words to describe the feeling you get when you catch a good wave. We've also done some excursions and went walking in a sort of rainforest nearby, jumping from rocks and drinking beer and playing pool in a small sort of bar in a very tiny community build on the mountain. The food in Brazil is delicious! Lots of fresh fruits! As I was staying in Recreio which is not a very tourist like place we had lunch every day at someone's house in the neighborhood. They cook from their own kitchen and for not more than 3 euro's you get a really big plate of rice, black beans, salad, carrots, beets and fish/chicken/beef to choice. It was perfect, super fresh and just fun to figure out who was cooking that day. Made some great walks alongside the beach and also walked to Prainha Beach which is a true surfers paradise! Great big waves and only local people who are really good surfers in the water! Amazing nature surrounding it and just my absolutely favorite spot in the whole wide world right know. Oeps, the story of Brazil is getting long, but when I'm thinking back all the memories come back and I just felt so relaxed of there, nothing to worry about, just chill and enjoy! Hakuna Matata as a friend of my always says. So after 9 days of surfing, having fun, eating burgers at night, drinking beers every day with Richard and Stacey from New Zealand, going partying, surfing, relaxing and what else, I was sad because I had to leave the hostel to go to the conference. I met up with a colleague of mine who also needed to give a presentation and was on holiday with her husband and together we of course did some sightseeing in the city centre! We visited the christ statue, sugar loaf mountain, escadaria selaron, the favela's, copacabana beach and many many more stuff! It was great to see it up close, but if I'm honest I preferred my stay in the hostel and surf every day.. Can't wait for the next surf vacation!
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| My favorite spot! |
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| The favela's |
And then Sunday 13th of April came and I was back home, had only Monday off and on Tuesday I started my new job as a Research Consultant for ArboNed in Utrecht! Got a beautifull bouquet of flowers so felt really welcome. But this new job is one and a half hours by train from my home in the morning and in the afternoon. And it's 40 hours a week at the office. So I needed to take food prepping to a new level and make sure that every night I prep my breakfast and lunch for the day after. And also a pasta salad for Thursdays so I can get to the gym straight from work to save some time.I actually really like the pasta salad and it will be up on the blog soon!
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| My favorite recipe this month: Fish Quesadilla's |
The first weekend I was back in Holland it was Easter, I celebrated the birthday of Lieneke on Saturday and on Sunday it was the birthday of one of my best friends. The wheater was great so we decided to go to DGTL festival in Amsterdam. It's a festival with techno, deephouse, electro music and so on and we love it! So we had a super fun day! Luckely on Monday we were free from work. Had a relaxing day reading one of my favorite magazines: Womens Health Magazine so on Tuesday I was ready to go to work again. More food prepping, and on Friday I always plan my meals for the next week. So I was getting some food ideas from Delicious magazine.
On saturday it was Kingsday which is a national holiday in the Netherlands. There are flee markets and party's all over the country and everybody dresses up in orange. I decided to stay in my hometown and get a drink with Charlotte. We had a super fun and absolutely hysteric day. Celebrating sunday pancake day with my delicious banana-egg pancakes and the weekend was already over.
So this month was about holiday, having fun, eating healthy during the week and cheating a bit in the weekends. I'm so busy, so I think it's important to relax and have a good time when you can so yes, some drinks this months, but I had fun, remained eating clean and healthy and I feel great! Hope you liked reading this post and get to know me a little bit better!
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| Party in Recreio |
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