Intern Journal: My Introduction to Nablus

I have been teaching at TYO for two weeks now and I’ve been in Nablus for three. It already feels a bit like home.  Prior to classes, I had a weeklong orientation, which gave me a chance to meet local and international staff members and several translators and volunteers. I also tried to orient myself a bit to Nablus and to learn a few words in Arabic.  Not bad for one week!  This fall, I am teaching a fitness class for mothers and an art class for kids.  Ultimately, I am trying to create an environment where all my students can have fun, feel good, and express themselves.

Sports have always been a huge part of my life, and I am excited to share what I’ve learned with the moms of Nablus.

Originally, Bieta, my fellow intern, and I were scheduled to teach two different fitness classes at the same time.  Compelled by a number of factors, we decided to combine our classes. Now, the mothers have 45 minutes of cardio/aerobics with me followed by 45 minutes of dance with Bieta.  This not only allows all the mothers to benefit from both of our classes, but also lets us take each other’s classes as well.  It is really rewarding to teach the women a new move, and then watch them execute it successfully.  They are also slowly teaching me some Arabic, which is great for me and probably quite entertaining for them.

At times, my art class feels like a fitness class—these kids have a lot of energy!  With the help of my wonderful volunteers and translators, we have already done some excellent projects.  I find myself trying to channel every great teacher I can remember from my own school days.  With every project, my goal is to strike the perfect balance between structure and freedom. I want the kids to express themselves but not feel overwhelmed by the blank page in front of them.  Originally I had hoped to make Halloween masks in my Sunday class, but I wasn’t able to locate the supplies I needed in time.  At the last minute, I saw TripleX Coordinator Kelsey decorating her classroom door with paper flowers painted by her kids.  She suggested I try it with my kids as well.  I cut out a large circle and petals for each flower. During class, I let the kids paint the pieces one at a time.  Given their high energy, I figured they’d make a few flowers and be ready to do something else.  To my surprise, they loved the project so much that I had to ask the volunteers to cut out more flowers and other shapes so they could continue for the rest of class!  I was really happy with this project’s balance.  The kids were given a template, but they were able to paint any design they wanted on the petals.

When the kids return on Thursday, they will see how all their hard work came together. I hung their beautiful flowers and birds on the classroom’s walls.  Then, they will make the promised Halloween masks, and they might even get some Halloween candy.

-Nachel

balance balance balance balance

O.M.G.

I am so so very excited about all the new WW stuff happening. Yesterday I was offered YET ANOTHER meeting!! (so next week I will be leading THREE) I have so much to do!! I have to take the online training course for At-Work meetings, run to Office Depot and get some things in which to Haul Stuff Around, and answer a ton of emails and make a bunch of phone calls and PREPARE for yet another meeting topic (yeah, this happens every week!) and make flip charts and and and!!

PLUS I have to find time to eat, work out, be with my family, teach THREE online writing classes which are still ongoing (my other life), including teaching for THIS incredible project, edit and publish my section of a literary magazine, host a fundraiser this afternoon for a mayoral campaign in my city, get some writing of my own done (other than this blog) and tomorrow I am participating in the World’s Longest California Roll Sushi Challenge. Wheewwwwwwww!!!!!!!

I did go to a Nia class this morning. Which helped my sanity quite a bit. But as I was leaving the class I got a text from my spouse who reported he was in the E.R. after falling off his bike and injuring his shoulder and HIS HEAD. (I tried very hard not to flash on Natasha Richardson at this moment). LUCKILY he had a negative brain scan but he is now in a sling with a torn shoulder ligament and some dislocation. Owie.

It’s all good. It’s all wayyyyy good. But when it rains (even goodness) it pours, you know?? Zipping off now……….

 

Three Goals, Simple Steps to Attain Them

“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

1. Financial Fitness :  Maintain a monthly written budget,  Work towards   becoming debt free than start paying yourself.
2. Physical Fitness :  Eat real food,  Not too much,  Mostly Plants & Work out everyday.
3. Spiritual Path :   Study the Dharma,  Maintain a daily sitting practice, Strive to live an ethical life grounded in the five precepts.

Cycling Performance Tip #2: Follow the 10% Rule

Greetings, I have a very quick tip for you today.  It is short, sweet and simple, and can go a long way toward helping you improve your cycling performance while avoiding overtraining.  It’s called the 10% rule and it simply states that you should never increase training volume (either distance or time) by more than 10% on a weekly, monthly or annual basis.  For example, if you are currently riding 70 miles a week and want to work your way up to 100, you should ride 77 miles the first week, 85 the second week, 93 the third week and 102 miles the fourth week.  Keep in mind that these are maximum amounts.  It would behoove many cyclists to reduce those amounts slightly and take five or six weeks to work up to 100 miles.  Likewise, if you ride 3,000 miles in 2009 and want to increase your volume in 2010, you should ride a maximum of 3,300 miles.  By following the 10% rule, you can ensure you improve your performance while decreasing the risk of excessive fatigue or injury due to overtraining.

NEXT POST – November 9, 2009

Cycle Log: Endurance Phase - Week 4

Commuting

Transportation facts regarding my job:

1) my company does not provide on-site parking

2) available street parking is at least three blocks away from my building

Since I started over a year ago, transportation has been a struggle.  I do not live far from work, although we’ve moved within the year.  Even the new house is close enough.  According to the U.S. Census, the average daily commuter spends 24.3 minutes getting to work.  If I drive, park on the street, and walk to my building I can get there in 15 minutes.

I used to walk to work.  It took 20-25 minutes on average.  But I was sweaty, had to come home and let the dogs out, my bag was sometimes uncomfortable, etc… Strangely, there are equally annoying, different reasons not to drive to work.  I have to walk three blocks anyway, one-way streets are annoying, parking is never guaranteed, paying for mileage and gas, etc…

Unless I have an errand to run during work, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to drive.  One might argue with the cold, midwest winter it would be dangerous to walk (darkness, going through unsavory areas, etc).  My mother-in-law walks to work and church from her house throughout the week.  Both of these places are near my house.  She’s been walking the same route for at least a decade, and she’s got some great walking tips.  My favorites are to walk in well-lit, heavily trafficked areas (“it might not be scenic, but at least there are witnesses”) and a good umbrella can be a weapon if necessary.  I think I can handle that.

So let’s do some math:

Walking mileage: ~1.5 miles (there’s a railroad bridge you can walk over like my MIL does, but GMaps doesn’t recognize it, which means there’s extra mileage built into its estimate)

Driving mileage: 2 miles (includes the overshot past the building to park

Walking energy expense: $0 financially,about 135 calories burned

Driving energy expense: 27MPG/2.79Gallon=$.09 cents per mile, so $.19 per trip plus wear and tear, 0 calories burned

Let’s assume I walk to work three days a week.  Roundtrip, I spend no money and burn 810 extra calories.  That’s not a bad deal.  Sure it’s inconvenient because I’d have to leave early, but it’s so worth it.  I canceled my gym membership, so I’m saving money there, plus it takes way more than the 10 minutes I’d use leaving early just to get to the gym.  Extra bonus: I can use the walking time to catch up on my podcasts, which I haven’t listened to since I stopped walking to work last spring.

I have to get to work, so it’s not like I can get lazy and hit snooze.  I can choose to drive knowing I have to walk from my parking spot anyway.  Or I can choose differently, suck it up, and just walk.

Do not squander your life . . .

“Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken.  Take heed. Do not squander your life.”

—-

I have already spent twenty nine years of this life,  mostly time squandered.

The brutal truth is that life is short.       Time is a finite resource.

I am interested in using this space to explore how my own fullest potential can be fulfilled both in practical matters such as nutrition, fitness, and personal finance and in terms of my spiritual walk.     As a Buddhist that walk would be according the Noble Eightfold Path, the pursuit of awakening.

Admittedly,  claiming awakening as a goal does sound pretentious.   However, in reality it’s a simple goal.    It’s about living an examined life, one lived with eyes open to reality as opposed to a life driven by delusion.

No Staples Week begins, will we survive?

Throwing yourself on top of your futon mattress and passing out at 1 a.m. only for your body to yell “wake up” at 7:30 the next morning does not make a happy Maria. No indeed.

I think I have finally got myself used to waking up regularly at a decent hour. I don’t even want to sleep in on the weekends anymore. What’s wrong with me?

After losing the fight to go back to sleep, I padded barefoot downstairs to our tiny kitchen and whipped up a batch of pancakes using Blendy. (Just a note: making pancake batter in a blender is so much easier than using bowls.)

Breakfast:

Looks like someone was trying to flirt with my husband. I made him some special chocolate chocolate-chip “I love you” pancakes, after seeing Sheila do this for her husband. J loved the idea and was surprised.

Banana-cinnamon pancakes were created for myself. My pancakes never end up looking as good as J’s because I make mine first and they become the “testers” to see if my pan is warm enough and well-greased enough.

I topped the cakes with some extra bananas, cinnamon, honey, and plain yogurt. I would have never thought to use plain yogurt as a pancake topper, but I’m glad some of you fantastic bloggers have shown me the light. Dee-lish.  

The two, smaller whole wheat pancakes didn’t quite fill my tummy up. I had a small bowl of chocolate cereal and granola on the side.

Run, Run, Run

A few hours later, after hanging around the apartment way too long, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and lace up my running shoes for a 3-miler.

I had to plan a new route through town for today. I usually run from my apartment to the city park (it’s exactly one mile), then run however many other miles I want around the park before walking the mile back home as a good cool down. The road to the park has been closed all week due to road work, though, and I’m tired of running around  and trying to find my way there using roads with mountainous hills.

Using Mapmyrun.com, I planned out this 1.5 mile run that took me through the streets of our small town. There and back was exactly 3 miles.

I was astounded when I got to our local train station (the 1 mile marker) and hit the lap button on my iPhone. A 7:29 mile? There was no way.

My splits ended up looking like this:

• 7:29.9
• 8:47.5 (Whew! It was a lot of hills.)
• 7:38.6

It’s hard to believe it, but if this had been a 5k, I would have ended up with a sub-24:30 time. A year sure does change a lot. When I ran my 5K just last October my time was 32:03. I’m happy to see I’m improving.

Post-run, and super-duper sweaty, I realized this is why I’m hot:

No reason to be jealous ladies and gents. But, you can be jealous of me earning my first 3 miles for Pile On The Miles.

Snacked on a small plate of grapes while I waited on the husband to finish cleaning up the apartment so we could head out for lunch.

Lunch:

If you’ve been reading Chasing The Now for more than a week or two, it won’t come as any surprise to you where J chose to have lunch. He made it a point today to let me know that he loves Mos Burger and “really, Maria, we haven’t ate there in a while.” Okay, okay, you win with the sad face… you can stop that now.

So Mos Burger it was. I like this fast-food chain well enough, but at the end of the day it’s just a burger chain (nothing amazing) and not healthy enough that I feel happy and comfortable eating it on a weekly basis—its one of those foods that is okay in moderation. J, however, would probably eat it 2-3 times a week if the choice was completely in his hands.

 

 
I usually order a hamburger and fries, but in celebration of No Staples Week, decided to switch the usual out for some chicken nuggets.

What’s in the bags?

I was actually surprised by how good this chicken tasted. It was breaded, and probably deep-fried, unfortunately, but the meat was juicy and tender and the nugget itself wasn’t greasy at all. Who needs a hamburger when you’ve got such glorious nuggets and honey mustard?

 

J had his typical double cheeseburger x 2. Mos Burgers, and burgers in Japan in general, are just so tiny. I don’t feel totally satisfied.

A trip to the grocery store was necessary after lunch, and we lucked out and made it back home in time right before the rain started this evening. I was super glad for that. Biking in the rain with a ton of groceries=no fun at all.

I had two of my peanut butter cookies as a snack when all the groceries had been put away.

Dinner:

As per my November goals post this morning, today kicks off the beginning of No Staples Week, an entire week devoted to trying new dishes for dinner. The only rule for this special week is this: anything made for dinner must be a recipe we have either never tried or do not eat on a regular basis (tacos, spaghetti, quesadillas, vegetable soup, regular pizza… they’re all off limits this week).

J looked at me like I had four heads when I brought this idea up. He’s a big fan of the things he likes and not the most adventurous person I know in the food department. He agreed to give the week his best shot, though, so we’ll see how it goes.

This could be really bad guys, or it could be great and we I could learn to cook some new dishes. Please, please let it be the later.

So, first up to the plate (har-de-har-har) was a recipe I found on Whole Foods’ Web site for Pizza Wheels. While we do eat our fair share of pizza, as it stands, this is a new take on the classic that J was actually excited to give a shot. Anytime J is excited to give a new recipe a try, well… we’re gonna try it!

 
As you can see, they didn’t turn out nearly as well as I had hoped… and mine fared WAY better than the husband’s this time. I know where I went wrong with the recipe, though, and I’m hoping to give them another shot. Maybe next week?

If you try making this recipe make sure you don’t go too heavy on the sauce and cheese. It makes rolling the dough next to impossible.

Oh hey! Look who got a haircut today.

J’s hair has been getting a tad on the long side lately, so I sent him off to the barber. He said he was thinking of going “shorter” and came home with this do:

Here’s what his old hairstyle looked like before today’s chop-chop:

I’m a fan of the new style. I think it makes him look younger and more handsome. He’s undecided. Any opinions?

—

I’m so happy to be able to say that I finally made an order on The Flying Pig. It’s a CostCo run Web site that delivers to Japanese addresses. Unfortunately there’s not a CostCo within two hours of our apartment and dragging home a bunch of bulk purchased items on the train and our bikes would be beyond inconvenient. I’d much rather order online and I’ll happily pay the 998 Yen to have my items delivered, thank you very much.

Our food goodies should be here Friday and I can’t wait. There was definitely some items purchased that I’ve been missing out on.