terkaznebes

Let’s do a small recap. Coming from a more mature person on Forbes.com, who unlike me is at peace with leaving the decade behind.

Things that you should have done in your twenties:

Start taking care of yourself.

Yep, a big check for that one. I think the last time I was being stupid eating like pig and not paying attention to sports was left behind sometimes in the year 2010. And when I look at the photos from 2009, I think I looked better in the 9th month of pregnancy. If you are not going to take care of yourself who will? It’s the best investment. Skin, body, mind. Buy that oil, book the yoga class, go for that run, take the time to journal, cook for yourself. Forget about packaged foods and then it’s ok to drink the gin every now and then.

Allowing yourself to feel lost.

Boy I wish I did that. Unfortunately I was always a girl with a plan. I am just really thanking my former self that once the plan was: to travel, take great photos, hike the mountains, see the carnival, taste the local beer in every country. I think this is as close to being lost as I have come to. If anything I am more lost as a parent than as was in my early twenties.

Dreams require sacrifice. 

Apparently I should have learned that dreams require sacrifice. I would sacrifice a young virgin if I knew what my dreams were. I should have figured out my purpose in my twenties, but I guess it will have to be the thirties or the forties, but please let me find out before I am fifty.

Stop caring what people think.

Most likely they are not thinking about you anyway. This is a tough one. I think I have gone through periods in life where I was so high (metaphorically), I couldn’t care less what others thought, but I also voiced some opinions so stupid that my present self is judging my former self. Ultimately I never stopped caring what others thought. Especially the “others’’ that don’t really think anything at all. I did do some solid, solid work in this area in the last two years. Especially because I struggled to write about and share anything parenthood related, except for some cute photos. Even when writing used to be my favourite thing in the world. This was purely because that none of my high school or university friends have kids yet and I just didn’t want to be “the mother”. It took me a while to realise that it’s ok to share whatever feels right. I still care what people think, but at least I don’t let it define or change what I do. Well mostly.

Embrace failure.

No. I don’t think I ever will. J.K.Rowling might have been on welfare once, but she has loads more talent than I do soooo… I guess my move to Italy was a bit of a fail, but the result was such a success, so I am not keen to count that as a failure. Maybe that’s something I might have to experience in this decade then, after I figure out the purpose, then I will sacrifice something, possibly fail before I succeed, it just sounds a lot more daunting when you’ve had family.

Don’t compare yourself to others.

I wish I worked on this throughout my twenties. I don’t just compare myself to others, I would compare to someone who is the most amazing mother when it comes to motherly things. I will compare my career and the money I make to single girls living in the capitals of Europe, my yoga skills to someone for whom it’s a full time job and who’s gone to gymnastics since the age of five, my looks to girls of Instagram and happiness to online gurus and coaches. In the end it all comes down to one thing only: Are you happy?

Don’t make excuses, apologise.

Yep. I know when to admit I was wrong. Check for this one.

Things don’t workout for a reason.

But sometimes the reason is that you are an idiot.

Invest in experiences, not things.

From the bottom of my heart, I can sincerely say this was my motto throughout my twenties. Apart from my Fiat500, I have spent all my money on travels, gym, food, good wine and just enjoying life. Before landing the love of my life, I had nothing because the very last money I have saved, I have spent on moving all of my things back from Italy, visa and a one way ticket to the land down under. It’s good that it only took me a week to find a job. Only towards the late twenties, I have started to invest some of the hard earned cash on things like architectural studies for our future home. Looking forward to that btw.

Start saving money ASAP.

Well I always did, but then I went on holidays. No regrets, you can always make money, but I probably won’t backpack through Bolivia again.

Your friends will change.

It’s true. You are not meant to spend a lifetime with everyone, some people just come to enrich part of your life and then they disappear. Hurting your arms trying to hold on to them is not worth it. Then there are the kind of friend who used to come to your home after school to take afternoon naps in your single bed. Those are here to stay.

Time is your most precious resource.

As a person who rarely does something she really doesn’t want to, I have been aware of this eternal truth since I was a kid.

Know you are enough.

Ok I am sorry but Frances Bridges what a load of bullshit you wrote in this paragraph: as long as you know you are on the right path to realise your potential and your dreams, you know you are enough? How the fuck are you supposed to know that? So you are enough only when you are doing all the right things? No you are enough just when you are trying to be a kind person. That’s all. 

Love yourself.

Ok, I do. Even as a thirty year old, which let’s be honest is probably a tiny bit better than me at the age of twenty.

2020 was shit. Let’s start with that. I feel weary, tired and defeated. I am juggling conflicting thoughts in my head like what’s health without freedom but also we should be protecting those vulnerable in the community and I haven’t signed up for this. I know that it was our choice to live so far away from our home and family, but to be suddenly being denied the opportunity to go home is a total blow. Forget about the wedding that never happened. What about the babysitting that never happened? Again, I know I am not the only parent in the world that gets no help from family members, but damn it’s taxing. Generally the wellbeing of an individual human consist of being fulfilled in certain areas of life. For me, an introvert who loves to spend time alone, it’s first and foremost actually being alone. Ideally at least once a month, not for 8 hours, but for a whole day. In my eyes a ‘’whole’’ day consists of going to sleep and waking up. Selfcare is different to everyone, for me it’s sitting, reading, writing in my diary, knitting, listening to music and maybe making photo albums. Another necessary part of me is sport, yoga and running, hiking and swimming. Love life, family and friends. Feelings of achievement on the work front – or in other words, finding a different purpose in life other than being a mother, partner, daughter and that person that makes dinner every night. And of course having something to look forward to, like travel.

For me when I became a parent in 2019, it felt really easy and natural. Unlike for a lot of people the first six weeks just floated away on a love cloud. It wasn’t until after Josie turned one year and was able to physically run away when things started to get a little harder. And for the last six months, I have found myself longing for the girl that I used to be more and more. I don’t want to sound ungrateful for the life that I have because ultimately I wouldn’t change it in any way, but let’s just take this for a fact and let me go on with my cry. I find myself being jealous of people that are free. Free to read a book in a coffee shop, free to sleep in on a day off, free to do nothing, free to do something, free to float in the sea, free to go to a yoga class, free to meet up with a friend and go try on jeans, free to sit on a couch after work, free to have time to browse new book titles online and then read them, free to write, free to pursue their dreams, free to update their Instagram accounts, free to figure out what their dreams might be, free too see their family.

I have lost my part time job to covid right at the beginning and unfortunately in my line of work, the only available options were full time. In a desperate attempt to run away from the “being a mother’’ part of my life, I took it. It seemed like a good idea, but it wasn’t. Me and Lukas managed to drive ourselves to an absolute exhaustion. Mentally and physically. I find a great deal of satisfaction in the fact that lot of time times we managed our desperation with a light hearted sense of humour. Sometimes we would just laugh lying at the carpet when our darling daughter just decided that not only she’s not going to sleep, but we also have to follow her everywhere she goes. More than anything this proved that I absolutely love and adore Lukas and it have me a great insurance that yes the rest of the life will be too short because there can never be enough time to spend with him.

Which brings me to another point, time with your partner is important, necessary, a must. Quality time that is. Time to talk, time to discuss world matters, philosophical questions, the future and the paintings that you will hang in your future house, time to get drunk together on a great whiskey and then fall asleep spooning. It’s not possible with an active toddler. I know that the time when kids are small is too short and everyone always looks back at it. But I can’t wait for my kids to become teenagers to drink coffees slowly, have long talks, stretch in the mornings and not having the house plants violated. I need all of this in my life now or else my will to live will fade away.

I have always been a slightly self-centred person, which I don’t think is necessary a wrong thing because how else can you make others happy when you can’t make yourself happy – the egoist mantra. I thought that naturally when one becomes a parent this personality trait quietens, it didn’t. I still want to make myself happy. I still have the same desires and needs while making the conscientious choice to put them aside to care for someone else.

In normal times, I usually manage to ignore the world’s bad news while staying in my happy bubble surrounded with likeminded people and following my yogi blogs and zero waste instagramers, but in ‘’times like these’’ it’s very hard to ignore where the world has shifted to. My greatest source of worry is the fact that fear is the easiest way to manipulate masses of people. And boy have we been manipulated left and right since late March. More than ever I am convinced that common sense is not that common anymore. Whilst the incredibly rich have made some money, lots of people that have worked hard all their lives have lost everything. Back home most government decisions were only benefiting large corporation whilst slowly eliminating small businesses. On the backhand of all of this making major decisions like bringing back a 600 year old plan for a river canal that we have been warned about from every specialist in the matter. Forget fighting climate change and finally opening eyes to what’s really happening, let’s make matters worse, fill our pockets now and fuck the future generations. But! In saying that, I am also a little bit disheartened by my efforts to single-handedly save the planet one reusable nappy at a time. While I am slowly damaging my hair using solid bar shampoos, there’s 100m of Styrofoam and bubble wrap and about 100 of plastic cups used every day in my work. I have no illusions that things are different elsewhere. Whilst I will be avoiding buying new clothes and avoiding evil brands, there will be people filling up their trolleys with plastic crap to put into Christmas stockings that will become landfill before the end of the year. So is there still point in trying?

Damn it, I want to write about this for so long, but I just can’t stand to be so annoying. For some reason whenever I post something online, I always imagine the handful of people who might be reading it and think: would they roll their eyes reading it? Especially the people that I used to crack jokes with about anything and anyone. Would they still think I am funny? I know we haven’t spent a lot of time together in the last four years because I am living in a goddamn paradise at the end of the world, but I promise you, I am still the same idiot that I was before when it comes to all the inappropriate jokes. I still love getting drunk, I still occasionally roll a joint when my daughter goes to sleep. I still dance when making breakfast, I still browse 9gag and find memes to be relevant form of communication. 

But yes I am a mother and I feel like I have this responsibility now to not take shortcuts at the expense of the planet or our wellbeing. This has nothing to do with motherhood, it’s just what really brought it onto the surface in me personally. It’s an uncontrollable urge thought. So here we go, here’s a blog about our plant based diet. We have been eating like this for 10 months, which I realise is nothing, but it also means the passion is still there.

It started in a totally innocent way. I wanted Lukas to do the whole30 diet with me and he kept telling me that eating so much meat just doesn’t agree with him and that he feels too heavy. Nonsense I told him, we need meat, it’s super important. And I started doing a bit of a research to prove it. Instead I proved myself wrong. This is what happens when you dive too deep into an actual research. I felt so cheated by all the propaganda. I thought when I stopped with the dairy and sugar few years ago that I knew it all. I silently laughed at everyone who told me they have strong bones because they drink so much milk.

So we gradually stopped eating meat every day and soon we were only eating it once a week. Then the Game Changers came out, or in other name the Vegan propaganda. Lukas suggested we try it for a month in November. A month has gone by without us noticing and it has become the new norm. It’s really interesting how once you start doing something slightly better, it’s almost impossible to go back into your old habits without feeling totally guilty. It doesn’t matter if it’s something small like not using plastic shampoo bottles or something big like trying to avoid the industry that’s responsible for an incredible water use, pollution, deforestation and a noticeable percentage of human produced greenhouse gases. There’s definitely a lot of vegan propaganda that greatly exaggerates these statistics.

Nevertheless the one thing that nobody can deny is the struggle of the animals farmed for meat and dairy. They have the most miserable lives, which have kept me emotionless for many years. Partly because I hadn’t a clue and partly because since becoming a mum I am definitely a lot more emotional. Meaning when somebody tells me: It’s been scientifically proven that cows form a bond with their calf right at birth and when they get separated, they struggle, it moves me a lot more than it used to. Yes I can see the fact that I have just compared myself to a cow. I have no regrets.

 The information continues and I find out that lot of the calves are kept unfed for 24-48 hours and then slaughtered. I will stop right here. There’s actually a lot more information and a lot of horrible videos that can stick with a person for life. I did this research when I was breastfeeding and my friend said: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with drinking cow’s milk unless you have an intolerance.” This simple comment has sent me into a spiral of research and ironically it has caused me to lose my own milk and Lukas had to forbid me to use the internet for a few days so I cold keep my sanity and our daughter fed.

I just want to clarify that by no means I think that extreme veganism is the only way. I think that any lifestyle has to be sustainable. Therefore if you are having trouble sustaining it or struggling with it, you are likely going to snap one day or another. And I know it will happen one day or another, on occasion or once a year that I will do something contrary to my belief. Although the more time goes on, the less inclined I am to wanting to eat meat.

Also the information is never black and white. There will be further studies using the arguments that land needs to be grazed by livestock and they will also have a point. However spending some time reading both sides of the story, my conclusion and moral values still incline towards less meat and dairy consumption.

Since we have stopped eating meat as a regular item on our menu, we have still had it a few times. There was one occasion when me and Lukas were on our own in our favourite brunch place and I couldn’t resist the bacon and egg roll. When we were feeling under the weather, I made chicken soup because I didn’t know what else to make. I have had real ice cream (not sorbet) twice. I definitely had some cheese as a part of some dining out meal. So what. At home we eat about 95% plant based and I think it’s great.

The other day my friend was telling me that he loves nothing more than a good BBQ, but he only has it once a week and that’s still great too.

I think what bothers me the most is the whole propaganda around meat industry. I honestly wish, I knew a little bit sooner. It’s incredible how much judgement we have received from friends and family for feeding our daughter plant based meals, wholefood plant based to be clear. We had to go to a nutritionist, not because we were unsure about what we are doing – god knows we have spent hours reading scientific papers, but because we wanted a proof for our families from a professional. It’s crazy how this meat industry propaganda has driven people (including me) to really believe that you need meat for iron, to be healthy, for energy and strength. It’s absolutely distorted that you get more judged more for cooking every single meal from scratch plant based than for taking a child to McDonald’s.

Not to mention that Josie is the healthiest kid, thousand times knock on wood! I am really a big believer that what you eat is what you are. With so much extensive scientific research available that proves how what you eat can deter so many illnesses, I think it’s really worth doing the effort. At least it definitely opened doors for me to see the variety in cooking, using ingredients that I didn’t know existed and I have to say – I am a pretty good chef.

Anyway all these things that we do, that are an “inconvenience” in our lives, always come down to one thing. When Josefina asks me one day if I knew what was happening with the world, I will be able to say yes and I really did try to do my best to create a better one for you. Unfortunately I am not a sexy activist so here, eat your chilly sin carne.

That sent me into a spiralling research that has led to somewhat changing our life for the better. It’s a process that’s never finished, but it’s a fun enjoyable process. We sometimes feel like hipsters or hippies just simply doing the things that were totally normal for our grandparents. Just this weekend we ate our first fermented sauerkraut. It was good, I didn’t enjoy it as much as our gin :D, but it’s still awesome that we can have it without all the preservatives they put in the store-bought one. To be honest, these are pretty much Lukas’ projects, I just enjoy the final product. 

I did however change the way we shop to avoid processed foods, packaged foods, unnecessary plastic bottles in the bathrooms and so on. 

And I managed a year and a half with reusable cloth nappies and there’s really nothing to be proud of because nowadays they are just as easy to use the the disposable ones. We also managed a year without disposable wipes, we are still alive and so is our daughter. Granted she’s one of the dirtiest kids on the playground, but if the kids are too clean, they are not having enough fun. 

So not only we are saving money, being kind to the environment our children will grow up in, preventing Josie from coming into contact with all the toxic materials inside the nappies/wipes but also none of these “alternative” ways were difficult at all. I listen to mums talking about where they can get the cheapest brand of nappies and I just always wonder why this is not more widely accepted. 

So I teamed up with Plastic Free Gold Coast and the most wonderful, fun and caring girls there and we have organised a Zero Waste Parenting Workshop. If I can turn one family to cloth nappies, I will be pretty happy with myself.  

I am currently reading a book about parenting “The book you wish your parents had read and your children will be glad that you did.” In one chapter it talks about how sometimes our reaction could be over the top because we are in fact reacting to how we might have been treated when we were that age. Instantly I thought that can’t possibly be it because I have zero negative memories from childhood. I couldn’t help myself though and started to think about my earliest memories, even the negative ones. That led me to re-read through my blog entries from ages ago and generally reminisce, messaging my old flatmates and friends. Now how much have I really changed? Ideally I’d just like to think I got a lot wiser and worldly, but it is cringing to think about some of my opinions from back then.  

One thing that comes to mind is my teenage essay on whether there would be wars if women led the world. I proceeded to talk about how men should be leaders and women should wear pearls presenting an extremely antifeminist view. As a big believer in equality and someone who has unfortunately encountered a lot of chauvinism, I truly can’t believe I wrote it. Thankfully I don’t think the seventeen year old me would really vote for inequality, I just haven’t crossed paths with it back then. And for some reason, maybe I just wanted to have a different opinion to everyone else. I also remember having long conversations with my best friend, sharing her stories and some of her friends’ stories and realising how ignorant I have been. I could write about this for pages, but moving on. 

The following might not have so much to do with change or heart, rather finally taking the time to study the topics. I used to think that a meal without meat is not a meal. How specific diets such as “gluten free” are nonsense unless you have an allergy. I was convinced that for cosmetics to work, it needs to be full of chemicals. I do believe that I used to enjoy shopping. Although now thinking what a nuisance it is, it’s really hard to remember. I also believe that I thought yoga was boring and the savasana at the end was too long! 

I remember having quick opinions on things I have not researched. Sometimes reading a title would be enough to comment. I know I would never do that now. It is revolting against every inch of my being, but I do remember thinking something in the lines of this: It doesn’t really matter whether it was tested on animals or not because lots of companies that say they do not test, they purchase the results elsewhere. It was only my excuse not to research what I am buying. I am cringing at my former self, but I am also incredibly grateful that I have allowed myself to change. This is the same feeling when I now hear people saying: There’s really nothing wrong with cow’s milk. The cups will get recycled anyway. It’s organic meat so it doesn’t matter. I just can’t deal with washing the nappies. I don’t know how to shop second hand. Pretty much anything that is really convenient to ignore. Even today when we have all the information at our fingertips. I also know that nobody can be forced in any direction because I know I couldn’t be. And everything makes more sense when you get there yourself. Sometimes it’s pregnancy. Sometimes it’s the illness of a loved one or your own wellbeing. It can even be a visit to a third world country or a David Attenborough’s documentary. 

Lately I am so angry with the world. And I say the world because I don’t know who else to be angry with. How nice it would be to find someone to blame or to find the reason, pinpoint it and then figure out what’s happening. 

Foreign for here, foreign for home. Support from neither. With the little human who literally cannot be without me. It’s not so easy to be away from home. It’s not so easy without the benefits. It’s not that easy to find a job. And not just A job. The job that is your level of inteligence and part time. Because why make a human only to leave the human in the little human institution called the kinder-garden for every working day of the week? Here in the 21st century Australia - a developed country, in many ways a forward thinking country. 

I have recently lost my job due to the worldwide crisis. I have been job hunting since along with hundreds of other people. Recently I had a job interview for a full time pretty high level job. I cried all the way back home in the car. The interview itself went really well, but I thought I actually couldn’t afford to take it. Job with an above average pay. With non-resident taxes and childcare fees, I would end up in a 40 hour a week of stress with never seeing the above mentioned human. 

So tell me why is it that ALL part time jobs that are offered are for admin assistants? Do women automatically scale back their intelligence after having families? This is why feminism is still so important. Even today. Even in westernised countries. 

It’s important because women should have the option to return to workforce in their line of work. It’s important because women should be able to be stay at home mums and be perfectly content with the decision. It’s important because even if you are currently not bringing the gold into the household, it still means that you are equal with your partner in every way. 

Also! And this took me a really long time to understand - it’s absolutely ok to be completely lost in motherhood. No matter how wonderful and perfect is your child. To feel like you have lost the sense of yourself. I don’t know how to find it. Especially with no free time. But today I have been told it must be the cycle of life. That it’s not an uncommon feeling. 

Now looking at the topic from a completely different perspective. Yuval Harari (the author of Sapiens, if you haven’t read it yet, please do) is of the opinion that in the rapidly changing environment, most jobs will become obsolete. Not just manual work, but even professions such as doctors. This obviously goes into so much more depth in the book, but in short, it’s because algorithms will know us better than we know ourselves. An app that knows your full medical history and all your daily activities will be able to diagnose you much faster. In theory the education that we receive now will not serve us in the near future and thus different professions, such as raising children, will again become important. 

It might also be about changing the way I think. In my case right now, it would be to say: I am not employed right now, but it doesn’t mean that I am not working. It doesn’t mean that I am not contributing. It does not mean that I am a less of a person. And to be ok with it. Not for the people around me to be ok with it. Not to convince anyone else, but to convince myself and my ego that it’s ok. That it’s ok to take this time in my life to figure out what the hell it’s to be a mother. And just to be grateful for a partner that is supportive in every way. And that it’s also ok to want something else from life. To still want to create, write, to still want to be alone. To desperately crave a weekend away by yourself and with your diary and plenty of books. To be able to read a whole book in a day. To not cook all day. And most importantly to not feel fucking guilty about it.

The lyrics of the song say that she a superstitious girl, who never walks under ladders. I have always been superstitious, but now I am even more so. I am so worried something will change. I knock on wood probably every day. Never have I ever imagined that I could be so absolutely content being a mum. I swear to god, the happiness hormones dose is better than any drugs. It’s like falling in love with even more emotions. So as you can probably imagine, I have just been doing the mum thing in the last three and a half months. And it’s wonderfully fulfilling. 

Now that I am around a baby most of the time. A few people have exclaimed they wished they were a baby. They all had different reasons, mostly the idea of being carried around was especially appealing. My neighbour and closest friend here in the land down under Lisa, took the fantasy even further. She was telling me: Imagine someone’s goal is your absolute wellbeing. I wish somebody would be like “you look a little tired, do you want to take a nap?” Then put me to sleep and when I start waking up, they would be like “no not yet shh, keep sleeping.” Or: “You might be hungry do you want a little snack?” Haha come to think of it, it sounds great. Being a baby can be really hard though, you have got all the growing up to do. It’s also unbelievably frustrating when you are trying to put the dummy in your mouth, but forget your fingers there and pull it out again as you move your hand. So you know, there’s pros and cons to everything. 

Definitely having the infant has made me a lot of random friends in a lot of different places. I have been told that Josie is so beautiful maybe a hundred times. I have not gone to a single shop without someone talking to her or me, asking me how old she is, what her name is and maybe that they want one of their own. I don’t know if it’s an Aussie thing and if they tell all the babies they are beautiful, but as a proud mother, I would like to think that my one is especially amazing. 

So far it’s been smooth sailing. Knock on wood - see there it is! Everyone keeps telling me that it will get much harder lalala and it probably will, but so far it’s definitely been one of the better jobs I had. I mean I am a bit tired, but that’s probably because I was used to the nine undisturbed hours of sleep every day. I am definitely not more tired than when I was working for the hellish Commonwealth Games. Josie cried for the first time when she was 11 weeks, someone called her a unicorn baby. Obviously I love that expression. She is a good girl, let’s leave it at that. 

And since there are no troubles in the paradise, I have all this time on my hands to concentrate on myself and my vanity. Whilst a lot of people can tell you a lot of things about you, it’s only your personal feeling and opinion that matters. There will be people who are most content and beautiful with curvy hips and heavy bosom. I am not one of them. I have been chubby before and it doesn’t agree with me. I like to be skinny to feel 100% myself. I am not gonna lie, as I was not enjoying being pregnant, I am not enjoying the post baby body. I am still kind to myself, I go with the flow, breastfeeding and all, but I do miss having a toned belly. They did say that this will be the last thing on your mind once you have the baby, it’s not. However saying that, I do feel that things are slowly starting to turn around now that it’s over three months postpartum. I definitely feel like my core strength is returning and my yoga practice is almost like before if not better in some cases.

I did want to talk about the environment, low waste living and our minimalistic household - hence the title. But now that I am actually typing, I feel like talking about a different environment, the place where we live, the house, the street and neighbourhood. I believe that apart from good relationships with your partner, friends and family, good health and general good quality of living, one other thing is important for happiness - community life. Already when I started to watch Cougar Town back in the first year of university, I always thought how amazing it is to have great friends as your neighbours, I imagined what would it be like to have that one girlfriend that you can have coffee with in your pjs. Let’s face it, slumber parties are a thing of a past when you become an adult. I know it’s sad, but that’s the way it is. And having that one neighbour friend can almost make it feel like you have slumber party. And lately it’s happened so many times that my girlfriends just came over and we were cooking a dinner together, then Lukas came from work and we were all jolly and lived happily ever after. Alright, I know I am making this sound like a B rated romantic movie, but it really was like that I swear. Double pinkie swear. In all honesty though, even in my “about” section of this blog, I talk about how I am homesick because I don’t know where my home is, but for the first time ever I feel like at home. Maybe it’s the relationship, maybe it’s the baby, maybe that’s what family is actually about. However I have never known my neighbours by name, but now I know what they do, who their family members are, what their jobs are, we talk on the sidewalk and in the stairwell. The other day we had dinner and wine. And that’s just the regular neighbours, in the case of Lisa, she actually became the closest person I have here, I trust her with everything. Apart from wonderful neighbours, I do enjoy a great community when I go to bootcamp, where I have made real friends. When I teach mums and bubs yoga or when I go to my own yoga practice which coincidentally is only 220m away because we are probably in the best neighbourhood ever. Speaking of the yogi family, my friend Laura and her boyfriend Nate took us to the most amazing forest retreat in the national park and it was a paradise. A hot tub on the terrace, nature views to die for, forest walks, yoga, good food, good wine. The only problem was that we couldn’t stay there forever. 

Remember when I used to complain about things all the time? Yeah I bet lot more people read my blog. Fuck it who cares, I am happy. Not instagram happy, just happy. 

I found out in Prague after a beautiful trip with my friends, I messaged in the group asking if everyone is feeling a “bit weird” after the lunch we had yesterday. No? Just me then? Confirmed with a big plus on a pregnancy test. Soon after I had every symptom in the book of “what to expect when expecting”, that’s the kind of good quality literature we have in the household now. It has a super healthy and happy expectant mother on the cover. I had the worst nausea, I couldn’t eat what I normally eat and I haven’t pooped in days. Except for that one time when I had an emergency when walking our family dog in the forest. I only managed to tie her to a branch and the whole time she was giving me judgemental looks. It’s not like she is the biggest lady when it comes to it. The rest of the time in Czech Republic was spent in haze, half sleeping only summoning enough energy to teach my yoga classes.

The flight to the Gold Coast was possibly one of the worst ones yet and I was so grateful for my packed lunch because airplane food is normally disgusting, but airplane food in your first trimester is hell. I had a never ending jet lag that felt like depression. Did you ever cry watching How I met your mother? The all knowing literature said this all goes away with the first trimester so at this time more often then not, I caught myself thinking: “Yeah if you could just go ahead and grow from a blueberry to a king prawn that would be great.” 

And away it went - thank god. I started teaching and practicing yoga as much as I could and I really feel like it was a very harmonic time in my life. I had way to much time on my hands, so I started painting, I decorated the nursery beautifully, I made homemade granola probably for everyone we know. It’s definitely not ideal becoming pregnant when you are unemployed because turns out, it’s not really easy finding a job in the first trimester when you feel like throwing up all day and not easier still when it’s visible that you probably won’t stay in the job for very long. And yes, it was fantastic being a yoga teacher, but as a person who is used to being busy and knows that rest is only great when well deserved, this was not ideal. Even still, even thought I am complaining now, I will be returning in thoughts to this time of my life as a very peaceful time. When I was painting the bunting in the next room and listening to Lukas working away in the other and thinking how happy we are, how harmonic our life is and how fantastic it is just to think about healthy food, our balcony garden, sustainable household and just really understanding the meaning of “life is a beach” not “bitch”. 

At seven months, I had to stop teaching yoga and stop practicing at eight and now in the ninth month, I was told I shouldn’t even swim. Hopeless. I think the reason I have only gained 10kg is because my muscle turned to fat and everyone knows fat is lighter than muscle.

To be fair ever since doing nothing, my pains have subsided. I had a horrible back and ribcage pain, which I thought was unbearable until the bruised/torn belly muscle showed up. I barely ever go to a doctor unless I absolutely have to, but when I do, I make sure it’s something super serious like a bruised muscle. This is the second time it has happened along with that bruised intercostal muscle back in March last year. I started laughing when the obstetrician told me, so I explained what’s funny and he said: Everything is serious when you are 36 weeks pregnant. So sweet! 

Ever since my sporting activities were banned, my friend Lucy suggested I should start knitting and damn I enjoy knitting. My former colleague Dean started calling me grandma and asked if I ever heard of Nintendo :D So for the last two weeks you can almost exclusively find me in my baby feeding chair watching Homeland and knitting. I guess I sound really boring to some, I even bore myself to be honest. I know one day though, I will think I wish I could just sit and knit and be completely at peace. 

Now before I move onto another episode of Homeland (highly recommend this TV show btw), let me just tell you about my birthday and baby shower weekend. I haven’t celebrated much in the last two years, even though I still got special surprises from Luky. That’s why this year, before becoming a mom (geez sounds serious), I really wanted to have a party just celebrating me. Luky went away around 5AM on the day of my birthday and I didn’t pick him up at the airport until 8PM that evening. So I really didn’t expect him to plan anything given how busy he has been lately. But guess what? He still keeps stepping up his game as the best events manager and boyfriend in the world. Once we got home he suggested a walk on the beach where there was the most beautiful set up with blankets, pillows, strawberries, heart shaped cake, fairy lights, candles and champagne on ice with glasses. We cuddled and watched the stars and the moon until late night. So cheesy, so corny so unbelievably amazing. I will tell you more about this night soon. 

The baby shower next day was supposed to be a casual BBQ, but when I have put all the things needed into one pile, it was more than 4 trips to the car and it started pouring down rain just as we were headed to the venue on the grass under the trees overlooking the sea. We had to find a last minute location but it still worked out anyway. And it was a great afternoon, my friend Eva bringing all the blankets and pillows, helping me out with the food, Lisa organised the most amazing cake and baby games and Luky surprised me with more flowers and a handwritten letter from my family. My Czech Friends gave me a yoga bolster that I have wanted for so long and everyone else brought beautiful baby presents and one Champagne bottle for later. Also from Lisa, Saga and Joel I got a bracelet with the Tree of Life and Saga singing hip hip hooray just made my morning. I was so touched, so emotional and grateful for everyone in my life, for all the effort that everyone has made, for all the flowers, just for everything, I felt like I can’t even deserve it. I couldn’t fall asleep until early morning hours because I just kept thinking. I must have been born under a lucky star. 

My yogi friends

The night of my birthday <3

The beautiful present 

Cake time! 

The set up on our beach with GC lights in the background. 

My project! 

All the flowers. 

Baby shower cake <3

All the amazing people. 

My favourite kids. Kids can be cool too you know! :D 

Kate and Maria <3 

Thanks to this I was able to accompany Luky to Tasmania for a short business trip and it was amazing. I just love this part of the world. The nature is so much closer to my heart than what you usually encounter on the Gold Coast. I mean beaches are great, but in heart I am just a mountain girl. I love the mountains so much and hiking too! At five months pregnant I still did really well, two half day hikes with no issues. Beautiful views and weather. I did not enjoy the fact that I couldn’t eat fresh oysters from Oyster Bay like like last year with Dominika and Radek or drink wine, but it was still good enough. Just a few weeks after we travelled to New Zealand, North Island this time. And unfortunately that was a different story. We planned this busy travel holidays before I was knocked up and I must have said like hundred times that I wish we went for a spa holidays instead. It was so much harder to spend time in the car and I just didn’t want to go for another walk. We still did and I even managed one that was nearly vertical. But I didn’t enjoy it as much as I normally would. Also the North Island is just not as beautiful as the South one and the food was dreadful! I really need good food to enjoy life. In general, at home or when travelling, good food is of great essence. I don’t mean fine dining, of course, I will be delighted if we come across brilliant home made steak pie bistro, but unfortunately we didn’t. At one point we even had KFC, which made me so sick, I swore I will never eat there again in my life. Not to mention it was disgusting. To thoroughly enjoy holidays you need good company, good surroundings and good food. And it doesn’t matter if the food is cooked on fire at a campsite or by an excellent chef. 

Luky showed me a lots of places which he visited when he was young and living abroad for the first time and he also took me to places where he raced. Funny how NZ is a small country so far away from ours, but it has changed our lives. When I was about 8 years old, my dad has decided to travel there for six months to learn English, this experience has shaped our family life significantly. If it wasn’t for this, maybe we would have never lived the states, maybe I would never be fluent in English at the age of ten, maybe I would have never gotten the scholarship to a British high school, I would have never made it to Scotland. Maybe if I have stayed in my hometown high school, I would have never become a motivated person. Who knows. When he returned from NZ, young Luky came to visit and listened to my dad’s adventures and on the way from our house, he bought a one way ticket there. With hundred dollars in his pocket, this marked the beginning of his amazing adventures around the world. Of course, it was another 20 years before we went there together for the first time, but I still feel this place is somehow significant to our lives. 

I was happy when we finally made it to Auckland though. I really wanted to stay in Devonport because from last time, I remembered it being my favourite part of Auckland. We finally had some good food and good coffee. We were planning to take a boat to the centre, but I saw the city centre in the distance, I saw the boat and I made that face. That “I am tired of adventures this year” face and we just enjoyed a wonderful afternoon strolling through Devonport and then chilling in our beautiful airbnb. 

The next day, I was happy to return back to our comfortable home. 

We have been planning a Christmas holidays, bold plans like driving all the way to Airlie Beach or maybe the Blue Mountains. I asked if we can stay in one place instead. So for the first time in the last ten years almost, I didn’t have to travel anywhere for Christmas and it’s amazing! 

I must say we have really enjoyed our Christmas, only doing what we really wanted. Stand up paddle boarding, jumping into the sea, swimming, yoga, lunch at our favourite restaurants, BBQs with friends and we finally managed to book in for a massage. 

And this briefly sums up our year. It’s been a good one. I am obviously super excited for next year and the tiny hands, and tiny feet, and tiny little nose and a tiny cute butt and finally getting to use the tiny little socks that I bought. Looking forward to it so much! Still adamant not to lose freedom and the lifestyle that we have managed to build living together. 

I do realise that I live in a bubble that extends to all of my friends, who are smart, educated, well-traveled humans with healthy positive opinions about life. That’s why I am often surprised with certain political outcomes and it always baffles me WHO votes for these idiots? And then I realise, it’s my whole extended family. Take away a few good cousins and maybe my dad’s siblings. It only took a few weeks before I was completely tired of the negative energy, comments, complaints and reasons why this and that is simply never going to work. It puts you off sharing any ideas really. I have to say that dramas in my extended family and negativity of general public is partly the reason that has kept me away from home for so long. Not that I agree that’s right. Instead I should be at home, trying to change things, be better. But whenever they ask me when I “intend” to finally come back home and I know that question is asked and meant in reproach, I just want to spit back - never! Forget it! Why don’t you ever want to talk about my experiences rather? Why don’t you want to hear about my job? Why aren’t you interested in life in different parts of the world instead of small town gossip?

Moving on. I love my parents and my brother, I still love my closest friends, ones that I have known for years and years, our amazing nature and ironic sense of humour. I also enjoy Czech beer, I wish it was more often accompanied by good quality food, but Czechs in their passivity (yes, that’s a great way to describe the Czech Nation in one word “passivity” it’s been true throughout the World Wars too) just get on with the fact that if you want to eat healthy, you just have to pay a small fortune for it. Thanks to all of this, I feel like a foreigner abroad and like a foreigner at home. But it’s still home. It’s my country and it has a lot of beauty and I do want to live there some day. I don’t know when “some day” will be, but I have been pondering about that some day for the last few years. 

Straight away upon arrival I was put in a room with two girls my age that lived on the Gold Coast Laura and Yuna, instantly I made two new friends. It was like the old times when I used to go to Summer Camps or had slumber parties with my girlfriends. These moments are generally too rare in adulthood and I think we had a great time. The schedule was busy, having only two weeks. We started our day at 6AM with asana practice, had a wonderful sattvic breakfast most of the time eaten outside in the sun, followed by two more philosophy/health/theory classes. Lunch was mostly a social gathering, but sometimes a lot of studying, two more classes after that. Well deserved dinner and a last class of the day. That usually would be the most interesting one, singing, chanting, meditating or ancient yoga philosophy. Sometimes we managed to squeeze in a swim at the pool, some reading, acro or partner yoga, once we even went dancing to town. Although saying that, I was ready to leave as I was missing Lukas and maybe coffee too. Yoga every day, immersing myself in the practice and philosophy and eating nothing but sattvic diet for all this time must have worked wonders because we literally had  seven days together with Luky and we’ve made a baby. I didn’t think that that was the case, that’s why I was so surprised a few weeks later in Czech Republic and maybe regretting all of those gin and tonics with my good friends that I haven’t seen for such a long time. 

I have said this before and I will keep saying it, I freaking love yoga! Not just the asana practice of course but the way of life. The fact that I have learned how to breathe into my belly properly. That I have learned to turn off and only concentrate of one thing at once, maybe finding a little bit of patience in my life too. The fact that I can spread my toes, something that’s impossible for a lot of people. Of course the fact that I can now get into splits is unbelievable. It’s just so great in every way, I really do recommend it to every one. Chances are that you didn’t like the class you went to, but not every yoga is the same. From yin yoga to literally a yoga boot camp, neither of those two being my cup of tea. Teachers that make you feel like you want to run out of the class exist too unfortunately. Whatever sport you do adding yoga on top of that will only make it better. Sometimes when chanting together with a group of people and unifying our voices in a chant of om can really feel amazing. Saying that, there are still experiences that are too wild for me, like the Full Moon Dance for women, which I had to leave after about 20 minutes because I just couldn’t shout, yell, dance and pound sticks into the ground without feeling silly. I have started teaching right after my course and I have been enjoying it since. It’s funny to think that I became a yoga teacher when I became pregnant. I still feel lot more like a student of course and I still go and practice whenever I can. I have started teaching in my home town, which was fun.

Almost as soon as we landed we have met up with my friend from Prague Aneta and her husband and started to explore the town. So we got drunk on happy hour in a quiet cool and very Japanese bar in Shibuya and after Korean BBQ and some more beers, we hit the karaoke bar and sang our hearts out. Not sure how we made it to Lukas’ friend Martin’s place, who was kind enough to let us stay in his beautiful apartment in Azabujuban. Azabu was featured in the last book that I have read from Huraki Murakami 1Q84, I have been going through a phase of Japanese authors and books only in the first half of the year. 

The next day, we have had some coffee at a really cool tiny roastery in a neighbourhood that won’t be featured in any of Japan’s travel guides, did some shopping, I did a headstand on the busiest crossing in the world, we had some amazing sushi and then of course we took some cool photos in one of many Tokyo’s photo boots and then embellished them with cat ears and noses. 

After that we travelled to Odawara where we had the most awesome accommodation in a Ryokan hotel. We were sleeping on the traditional tatami, washed ourselves in the traditional stone bath and I haven’t slept better since. It was fantastic. We took a trip to Hakone from where we were supposed to see Mt.Fuji, which we didn’t, but we had the best apple tart in a cute little tea house and eventually saw the mountain the next day from Shinkanzen. 

We have decided to make Osaka our base for the next few days and travel from there. We have met up with Lukas’ friend from high school. He is without a doubt one of the most interesting people that I have met in my life. Although saying that Lukas really has a lot of interesting friends all around the world. Anyway, he’s a buddhist monk, who has dedicated his life to monastery in South Korea, meditation and knowledge. He was incredibly wise and really knew something about everything, which he would prove in a very nonchalant manner as if he didn’t realise himself how incredibly smart he is. But it was also fun to hang out with him and it was really cool that he was visiting Japan at the same time as us and with his fluent Japanese (as well as Korean and Chinese), it was definitely a little bit easier. We explored Osaka on day one and Uji on day two. 

Uji was on Luky’s list as a place to go because he absolutely loves tea. I mean real tea, not your Christmas special cinnamon, honey bun, pumpkin spice hot water. And we were in luck as they were already selling that year’s harvest and I am telling you, it was spectacular. The tea ritual and the taste of perfectly prepared Gyokuro from a tiny little cup, just wow! 

On day three we decided to explore Kyoto, but that unfortunately was not the greatest as it was raining like crazy and the massive temple anyway was under construction. However in the evening upon return to Osaka, after we unsuccessfully tried to find some shops with cool Japanese gadgets, we’ve encountered a very local sushi place and it was perhaps one of the best sushi feasts ever. We were alone in the joint and the chef and owner made everything fresh for us from the few fish caught that morning, speaking with Martin Japanese the whole time wanting to share absolutely ALL of his experience with sushi making and oh my god! Was that a good sushi. 

The next day we’ve said goodbye to Luky’s friend M. and took a Shinkansen to Hiroshima. First we have decided to spend some time at the Myiajima Island, which was full of tourists at the bottom, but nobody decided to venture any further past the main temple so we got to enjoy the spectacular views and nature in peace and quiet. Sitting next to a temple looking into the beautiful Japanese trees and just relaxing. Later listening to a monk singing and playing. After coming back down to the beach and the tide was low and I wondered what everyone is looking for at the beach, turns out it was massive oysters, which they did on the grill. As a big fan of oysters I of course had to try. Not bad, but I have to say I prefer fresh ones, like the ones you can eat near oyster bay in Tasmania, fuck I miss fresh sea food. 

Anyway after we’ve explored the island, we took a tour of the famous museum and walked around the Dome and for some reason, maybe because of all the tragedy in the world, I found it very hard to be touched by its history. We finished the day back in Osaka tired but happy. Next on our agenda was Nara, as expected, the crowds of tourists were unbearable, wanting to pet the deers, take the best photos with the Okonomyaki, but guess what? About 300m away from the normal temple - nobody! We are really getting to that stage when people are unwilling to move from vehicles further than a few hundred meters and I for one love it, because it means I will still get to enjoy mountain peaks in solitude. There was another temple just above, which was beautiful and again, we got to sit and just really soak in the atmosphere, breathe in and out in silence and later take some yoga photos of course. 

The evening we spent in the busy streets of Osaka and explored some places that Luky remembers from when he was there about ten years ago. 

After it was time for what we were looking forward to the most! We have booked accommodation in Nozawaonsen, in winter a very popular spot for powder snow lovers in summer, as it turns out, abandoned village full of onsens to soak yourself in. There were zero tourists in the town and a very few locals too. Almost all the onsens we enjoyed on our own. We also enjoyed some walks in nature and explored the old olympic sporting complex from Nagano 1998. Aaah such good days, I really had a good time there. After that unfortunately we only had time to return back to Tokyo, enjoy one last Korean BBQ and fly back to GC. Overlay in Singapore, I got to watch the Royal wedding. I love you Megan, I am so happy we are pregnant at the same time. Like we could be besties now. Anyway next time I will tell you about my yoga course in Byron Bay and then we will almost be caught up, except for my trip to Tasmania and New Zealand. I know life is good. 

Unfortunately I had the worst manager. But maybe that was a good experience in itself because not everyone I meet will be intelligent, open minded, willing to offer a helping hand and actually listen when you talk to them. Maybe I was too lucky in my past jobs where my superiors were quite happy to let me get on with my work and actually do something worth while. It definitely is a life experience having to work with someone who sucks up to his superiors yet looks down on his inferiors. With someone who is weak, yet finds a way to make your life more difficult. Who wants to prove something, not realising the cost of his decisions. Especially someone who you cannot trust because he only has bad things to say about everyone behind their back. Sure that was an experience too. However when I think back on how amazing the cluster manager and the manager of Logistics altogether were, I feel so sad. So many people in the same role just had a much better experience because they weren’t “led” by a spiteful human being. Long story short, apart from really long hours, which varied from 50h/week in February to 70h/week in April, the work was definitely way too physical. I managed to end up in hospital with a severely bruised intercostal muscle, turns out that when you have 53kg you are not exactly equipped to push and pull about 100kg back on forth every single day for weeks at a time. And it wasn’t just me, my closest colleague ended up at the doctor’s as well with injuries and even the strongest one really had his days. At one point, I didn’t sleep in my bed for a week, only at two office chairs on the sporting venue. So to be entirely truthful, I was never happier to end a work contract and when we sent off the last truck away, we took about a hundred celebratory photos. It took me weeks to physically recover, I didn’t even get to enjoy the wrap up parties because I was just dead tired. So here you go, this was the job for which I was competing with hundreds of other applicants and that paid much much less than my old simple 7-8 hours a day job. 

During this time from January till April it was very hard to squeeze in anything else but work and sleep, but there are a few notable things that are worth mentioning. Luky took me to the Australian Open. Again not something that was on my “to do” list in the past, but when I was there, it was THE place to be. The atmosphere of the game got me instantly. I loved cheering on Czech tennis players and loved seeing them win. I got my tennis balls signed by Tomas Berdych and Boris Becker. I saw Federer too. Anyway being in Melbourne again was great. Gold Coast life truly is wonderful and I realise that every day, but it’s so painfully devoid of any culture and inspiration, it’s sometimes great to check with reality and travel to a bigger city. Most notable foodie experience was in Top Paddock. If you ever do travel to Melbourne, I encourage you with all my heart, please do go to Top Paddock, drink their filter coffee, eat the food, don’t look at the prices and let that experience drive you to the rest of the week. 

My birthday and Valentine’s happened in the middle of a busy week, but my wonderful boyfriend and the most amazing man in the world made it so special anyway. He pretended like we won’t have time for anything and when I jumped in the shower to get ready for a quick dinner out, he magically changed our dining table to a spread of grapes, cheeses, champagne, flowers and candles. There was no need to go out for dinner as we were full after this, so we took the rest of the bubbles to the beach and drunk it under the stars. So freaking romantic, did I say how much I love him? I also got a cake and balloons and work and Lisa came over with sushi and we organised a little BBQ with my colleagues on the beach during the weekend. 

That same month I organised two cool gals to form a TRI team for Luke Harrop memorial Triathlon and we won second place! Given how little time we had to train, this was an achievement so well done to us! They also surprised me with a team t-shirt that featured our team name Snoop Log. It totally got me into the spirit, you know what they say: Swim, Bike, Run - it’s in Everyone. 

During the time I worked on the venue, I have discovered the best coffee place, I don’t usually go to this part of the town and I was lucky. Zi Espresso thank you! Thank you so much for making my days bearable. Half of my salary went to you, but I have no regrets. Your coffee was amazing, your service spectacular and your chicken pesto sandwich got me through the day and you always always greeted me like your favourite customer. When I came to your shop, completely sweaty after already six hours of work with another five to go, you were just the best! And I really thank you for this. 

Since my trip to Tasmania with my best friends, I have been on a few camping trips, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, I have worked for the Commonwealth Games, saw the Australian Open in Melbourne, went to Western Australia, explored Japan, finished my yoga teacher course, took very long holidays back in the homeland, started to teach yoga and to make a full circle, now I am planning another trip to Tasmania almost exactly a year later. 

I don’t think South East Asia is my cup of tea. Of course there’s a lot of beauty in that part of the world, but it doesn’t seem to match the ugly you have to see before you reach it. Some people would say it’s part of the charm, I am just grateful that for my after-uni travels I chose Latin America and not Asia. However to focus on the positives, the food in Thailand is just spectacular, the massages are heaven, our accommodation was really pretty and it was great seeing my family after such a long time. I’ve also enjoyed twice a day uninterrupted yoga flows. 

Travel on the bus to Cambodia was absolutely endless and I am so tired of tourist scams after all this time that I don’t know where to begin. I swear to god if someone calls me a friend when trying to take my money for a “must have” service, I will abandon my “do no harm” philosophy and get violent. In the end we did get to a place we needed and found a room to sleep in. The bed did work, unfortunately the toilet didn’t. Angkor Wat at sunrise the next day was spectacular though. And we did have the best tuctuc driver who spent the day with us. I do have a funny story to share from that day. I was wearing a dress that did cover my shoulders and had no cleavage, but did end just above my knees and I have been told that I am not allowed to enter the main temple. For this reason, I brought a jacket (despite the heat) so I could wrap it around. I have been told that’s not appropriate anyway. Luky’s idea was to pull my dress down and put the jacket on. That would have worked perfectly if the dress was at least a little bit elastic and I was wearing a bra. Somewhere behind a temple where nobody (except for a blonde guy who said “Jesus!” and left”) saw me. I did however rip my dress and did look like an idiot. Worth the view from the top though. And the dress was fixed in ten minutes for a dollar by a local seamstress. 

The capital of Cambodia Phnom Penh was not as charming and we would have left much sooner if it weren’t for the visa to Vietnam, which I messed up. I cannot say I enjoyed the Genocide Museum, but it was definitely a powerful experience. The place was left with a lot of negative energy and I soon found myself with tears in my eyes. The sunset boat tour on the Mekong river was romantic and we did have a great laugh at watching an Indian guy pose for photos on the top of the boat. He even chased away two Japanese girls with selfie sticks so he could take of his shirt, put his hand and his hair and have his photo taken from all angles. I mean you gotta laugh. When we finally got our visa to Vietnam, we jumped on a bus to Ho Chi Minh city, unfortunately thanks to the time wasted waiting for the visa, we had no time to explore the country and all we saw was from the bus and the capital itself. When walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh, there were rats literally everywhere, once I screamed so hard when one touched my foot and I thought that was the last time, I will pursue the travels to third world countries other than for a specific adventure and my beloved agreed. Finally we have made it to the airport and from there to Singapore. The city was nice and clean, its botanical gardens amazing, but my favourite was a french cake shop and shopping in Jack Wills. I really miss JW, especially watching the Crown now, I realise how much the UK has been a massive part of my life. Needless to say I had McDonalds at the airport. I only eat fast food maybe twice, three times a year and the only occasions being really hungover or tired of asian food.