This week I had my days off on thursday and friday, which changes the usual weekly schedule a bit.
Monday
Manon and I slept in and after a shower and make up, we first both had breakfast with a Herbalife shake. Then we went to the supermarket to grab together ingredients for a good lunch. We found some nice ingredients to put in the salad we planned, got a bottle of wine and headed to the cash register. I guess we weren’t the cashier’s most favorite customers that day, sorry for that! First I bought packages of soy milk with a sticker that said ‘0,50€ off!’, but she couldn’t get the barcode because all of the stickers broke. After a long struggle, she finally managed to add all the discounts and I paid. Then Manon had some other articles, which all went well. But when she paid, I dropped the bottle of wine.. oops! At least we could smell it was a good wine and the sweet cashier send us back into the store to get a new bottle, for free.
To recover from this, we had a coffee in the sun. It was very windy, but when the sun was shining it was actually not that bad. This means spring is coming, yay!
At home we composed our salads, with lettuce, grilled bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, olives, egg, parmesan and slices of bread with an olive-tomato spread. Delicious! I had to work at 15:30 and Manon came with me, she also worked here during the summer and for her it was great seeing everybody again. It wasn’t too busy at work, so I arranged some stuff I still had to take care of with Human Resources and then I wrote articles for my blog.
Tuesday
Weigh-in time! It was the end of the 45 day challenge. Curious for my results? You can see them here.
I met Manon in the center of Lyon to have lunch together. We went to Simple Food, a small restaurant with yummy dishes that changes their menu every day. Tuesday they were serving eggs with truffle as a starter, as main course I had a spaghetti without the ham and Manon took a variation on beef bourguignon. My meal was a bit boring, but it was also a bit our fault not to call them earlier to mention that they would have a vegetarian guest. Oh well, it was still good! For dessert they had two options, so we both took another and shared them. We got banana bread and chocolate cake and cream tasting like cheesecake, I loved the cream!
After lunch we went on a walk alongside the Rhône, since it was a lovely, sunny day again. We enjoyed the sunrays and sat down on a bench for a while. Then we got back to my house to make sure that I would get to work in time, but we still had a long time, so we went for a coffee at Paul. The lady behind the desk suggested us to take a mokka, which was a good choice.
Time to say goodbye again, because Manon was going back to Paris after today and I went back to work.
Wednesday
I cleaned out my room and took the mattress out, even though I like having guests, it’s always so nice when your room is all back to normal. For lunch I prepared whole wheat pasta with tofu, tomatoes, grilled bell pepper, olives and parmesan. Got two servings out of it, perfect for the next day! Back to work, my last day of the work week. I only worked three days this week, because next week I will have to work seven days and there has to be a little balance in my schedule, so that I’m not doing overtime every time I work seven days.
Thursday
I had a good bonding session with my bed this morning, mm! Then I arranged all my papers and went to the office of the health insurance. I’ve never done my paper work, so doctor costs and everything aren’t covered yet, because I don’t have a card. Very important to take care of that! My colleagues always told me that it would be dramatically busy, so I came right after lunch hour. It wasn’t that bad at all, within three minutes a woman handed me a form, which I needed to apply for the health insurance card. Bummer, I forgot to bring a copy of my birth certificate.
She told me it was no problem, I could give off all the papers in an enveloppe in a special post box they have outside. Then I went to the supermarket with all the empty glass my housemates and I collected in the past months. The landlord already put it outside for over a week for someone to bring to a glass container and nobody did, so I decided to take this task on me. It was good, because afterwards I could do my groceries.
When I came home I prepared buckwheat apple banana muffins, see the recipe here. I got a moment to relax before I would have to get to my appointment at night, so I read a bit on the couch.
Okay, time to go! I parked my car in the comfortable parc relais and took the subway to the historical center of Lyon. I was meeting one of the Irish men I’ve met on Sunday. We went to Johnny’s Kitchen for dinner, I was kind of disappointed they didn’t have a vegetarian burger, but fortunately they did have other good options. We both got the jacked potato of the month: tomato sauce, onion, olives and mozzarella, yumm! It was very good, even more when washed away by a pint of cider.
While discussing lots of subjects, we apparently both felt very much influenced by that night’s full moon. We were both full of energy and amazed by the view of the moon, so we decided to walk to the river and soak in the energy of the full moon shining over us.
Next stop: the Antidote. Another Irish pub, James told me that every thursday there is live Irish music. I expected a live band with a crowd enjoying both the music and their conversations, but it went a little different. The guests brought their own instruments and installed themselves in a corner of the pub, where they started to play their music. In the end there were at least 15 people playing some sort of instrument. It caused a very nice and pleasant atmosphere. My colleague Ronald also came to join us and we had a good night. James let me play his instrument for a while, some kind of drum made of goat’s skin, but I didn’t really manage to play it the right way.
Friday
I didn’t have plans for today, only to deliver the health insurance documents. I slept in, had breakfast and drove to their office to drop the papers off. Then I parked my car in the parc relais again and decided to walk to the city (5km). It was a sunny day again, but still very chill so I couldn’t take my coat off, but well. I’m sure soon I will be dancing the streets without any coat! In the meantime I contacted an Icelandic friend, who was also in town. We decided to meet at H&M, where I joined him and his friend in their shopping session. Then we went to Starbucks, we all haven’t had lunch so we were pretty much starving. I took a roll with mozzarella and vegetables, a frappuccino (still a bit too cold for that, but I love them) and a coconut-chocolate pastry. The roll was boring, but the chocolate thingy was yummy!
Further on to some other stores. The guys both bought clothes, I didn’t score anything. We finished our session with a drink at the James Joyce pub. Then the guys decided to leave, while I decided to stay a little longer. In an earlier blog I explained that I feel very awkward when I’m going somewhere alone and I really want to break through this fear of mine.
I did feel awkward when I was alone. I sat down at a table with 4 places and instead of staring around, I decided to read a bit in my ereader. As if that wouldn’t be any more awkward.. sitting in a pub on a friday night, READING! To be social and to give groups of friends the opportunity to sit down, I moved to the bar and kept on reading a bit. Because reading didn’t really make me feel how I should feel on a friday night in a pub, I put my ereader away and ordered a cider. Not long after, a girl who was also alone came to stand next to me. We started talking and when she left, she told a Peruvian guy, who was also alone, to keep me company. He did a good job at that! Another conversation and I ended my night with a Subway sandwich filled with vegetables, since I haven’t had dinner yet. So at the end I did score two phone numbers again. I might start liking this going out alone and meeting new people!
Saturday
For most of us the start of the weekend, for me the start of a new work week. Didn’t take the time to prepare myself a good lunch, so ended up with wheat, scrambled eggs and a coleslaw and carrot with mustard, which I couldn’t even finish before work. Then work, evening shift from 15:30 until 23:00. Not much to do, so at the end I watched a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars. Even though I prefer to watch my favorite series at home, where I enjoy them a lot more than at work. After work I brought a colleague to the city and then I watched NCIS: Los Angeles on tv, my saturday night ritual when I don’t have anything better to do. I really like it that I can turn this show in English spoken, because it really isnt’t the same when you are watching familiar shows with the weird French voice overs :-/.
Sunday
I was already planning for a few days to cook myself green curry, so today was finally the day! I added an aubergine, courgette, green bell pepper and mushrooms to the green curry paste and coconut milk. It was delicious! And I got 4 servings, so one in the fridge for tomorrow and the two other servings in the freezer. Winning! Now I’m at work, again working until 23 o’clock. Again, not much to do, so my colleague provided us a few other tasks. In the meantime I’m working on my blog. On this article, for example! 😉
Have a great sunday!
