A very warm welcome to my blog.
My name is Helene, I'm 31 years old, I'm into traveling, yoga, photography and good food.
Here's my story:
2,5 years back I got a job offer from adidas to work and live in Shanghai, China. A city of 25 million people. The New York of the East. I took the challenge. Sold my car, letted my apartment, cleaned up my closets, drove to the 'kringloop' multiple times in order to get rid of all the clothes, jackets, shoes etc from which I wasn't aware of their existence anyway.
I officially 'signed-out' at the local government, my personal belongings were shipped overseas and my friends surprised me with an amazing 'goodbye' party in the Vondelpark.
And then I left......
My dad went with me. That was a big support. I remember my mixed feelings in the plane. At one hand excitement of a new adventure, and at the other hand insecurity of what was coming.
Once in Shanghai I settled pretty smoothly. An apartment, a bike to get around and a social life. I do remember that the first weeks I dreamt a lot about home and people back home, friends and family. But after 4 weeks, all that was gone, and I was used to my new life. It is really true what they say about 'doing something for 21 days and it becomes a habit'. Living a new life for 21 days and it feels like you never lived differently.
The first year was amazing. Everything was new, the city, the people, the weather, the food and work. It really was a whole new life and I fully enjoyed it.
I played some hockey, did a photography course and I joined a yoga school. Thru all 3 I have met amazing people. Additionally, all 3 taught me something: hockey showed me again how people connect thru a teamsport, photography taught me to look to things differently and to look at different things. Last but not least, yoga.
Yoga taught me to connect again with myself and to calm done my thoughts. I have experienced multiple times that I'm an easy victim to became 'a slave of my thoughts'. Meaning, I'm too much in my head. Making 'to do' lists, worrying about meetings, work, friends whatever, and judging. Judging others, but mostly judging myself. And this realization was a first unconscious step in my journey to happiness.
Then, after 2 years living as an expat in China, everything started to get normal. I got used to all the craziness and not only that, all the things I enjoyed in the beginning I couldn't see anymore. Or actually I should say, I couldn't feel anymore. I was becoming a robot. Doing my thing. And with this I actually started seeing the negative sides of living abroad and the negative sides of living in Shanghai, China.
The frequency of these thoughts started to increase, but I didn't know what the alternative was.
Then, in December the pollution in Shanghai got to a terribly high level. It was so bad that my skin was completely irritated by the chemicals in the air. It was then when I realized how important clean air is. The primary need of all living beings. I never really thought
about that, as there's always air. But, then when it wasn't there or hardly there, I realized it's actually a very precious thing. And I thought: Human beings haven't been created to
spent their lives in filthy air, in traffic jams and office buildings. And that's when I knew I had to change something.
So, here we are. 2014.
It's February now.
What have I done so far to make a change?
I have quite my job.
I will be leaving China as per April.
I have done a Reiki course.
I signed up for a yoga teacher course in Ubud, Bali.
And as we 'speak' I'm writing from Uluwatu, Bali.
I was fortunate to celebrate Chinese New Year here in Bali. Something which was plannend already before I took the above mentioned decisions.
And actually it has been very good to be here. I felt home the minute I stepped out of the airport. I was so intense happy with the smell of nature, the sounds of nature and feeling the breeze on my skin. The fact that it's rainy season over here I don't mind at all. It enhances all the senses from nature and moreover, it's low season over here so not that many tourists.
I've rented a scooter and explored different parts of the island, east, west and south. I have met interesting people and I explored different yoga schools and teacher. I try to prepare myself for the YTT (yoga teacher training) as this will be intense. I started to study (I need to read 9 books and write book reports) and it's not the easiest reading material. Everyday I practise yoga poses and I follow a class, just to prepare my body and build strength.
I'm currently staying with an older spanish man, Carlos de Goyeneche. He is an artist,
painter (check out his work at www.carlosgoyeneche.com) He has an amazing place in South Bali, overlooking the ocean and with an infinity pool (I love it, check it out https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1742714 Also he has amazing stories to tell. Last night he showed me a video on youtube from Bob Marley on Ibiza in 1978. At that time he was Bob Marleys driver, GREAT!
This morning I woke up early 6.45. I did some yoga at the pool and then I went on my scooter to Uluwatu temple. I deliberately went that early as I wanted to avoid any crowds. And that worked, I was literally the only visitor!! But that actually scared me out a bit. As there's a lot of monkeys around that area. And walking there by myself, I wasn't so comfortable. When some monkey hissed at me and showed me his teeth I decided to leave..... The monkey won.
On my way back I discovered a nice, hidden road to a beach. I went in but encountered two fighting cocks. It scared me out!!
And in my little cottage here, there's a whole gekko family living. Now after travelling for 2 weeks in Indonesia I have seen quite some gekko's but 2 of the ones I have here in my cottage are so big, I suspect them to be crocodiles. But, we mutually decided to become friends, so that's allright now.
All these encounters made me realize how disconnected I've been to nature!!
Crazy.....
I did not consciously plan to start a blog. But just now I felt like writing and I actually think it will be interesting to track my happiness journey and share my experiences.
Namaste!
I officially 'signed-out' at the local government, my personal belongings were shipped overseas and my friends surprised me with an amazing 'goodbye' party in the Vondelpark.
And then I left......
My dad went with me. That was a big support. I remember my mixed feelings in the plane. At one hand excitement of a new adventure, and at the other hand insecurity of what was coming.
Once in Shanghai I settled pretty smoothly. An apartment, a bike to get around and a social life. I do remember that the first weeks I dreamt a lot about home and people back home, friends and family. But after 4 weeks, all that was gone, and I was used to my new life. It is really true what they say about 'doing something for 21 days and it becomes a habit'. Living a new life for 21 days and it feels like you never lived differently.
The first year was amazing. Everything was new, the city, the people, the weather, the food and work. It really was a whole new life and I fully enjoyed it.
I played some hockey, did a photography course and I joined a yoga school. Thru all 3 I have met amazing people. Additionally, all 3 taught me something: hockey showed me again how people connect thru a teamsport, photography taught me to look to things differently and to look at different things. Last but not least, yoga.
Yoga taught me to connect again with myself and to calm done my thoughts. I have experienced multiple times that I'm an easy victim to became 'a slave of my thoughts'. Meaning, I'm too much in my head. Making 'to do' lists, worrying about meetings, work, friends whatever, and judging. Judging others, but mostly judging myself. And this realization was a first unconscious step in my journey to happiness.
Then, after 2 years living as an expat in China, everything started to get normal. I got used to all the craziness and not only that, all the things I enjoyed in the beginning I couldn't see anymore. Or actually I should say, I couldn't feel anymore. I was becoming a robot. Doing my thing. And with this I actually started seeing the negative sides of living abroad and the negative sides of living in Shanghai, China.
The frequency of these thoughts started to increase, but I didn't know what the alternative was.
Then, in December the pollution in Shanghai got to a terribly high level. It was so bad that my skin was completely irritated by the chemicals in the air. It was then when I realized how important clean air is. The primary need of all living beings. I never really thought
about that, as there's always air. But, then when it wasn't there or hardly there, I realized it's actually a very precious thing. And I thought: Human beings haven't been created to
spent their lives in filthy air, in traffic jams and office buildings. And that's when I knew I had to change something.
So, here we are. 2014.
It's February now.
What have I done so far to make a change?
I have quite my job.
I will be leaving China as per April.
I have done a Reiki course.
I signed up for a yoga teacher course in Ubud, Bali.
And as we 'speak' I'm writing from Uluwatu, Bali.
I was fortunate to celebrate Chinese New Year here in Bali. Something which was plannend already before I took the above mentioned decisions.
And actually it has been very good to be here. I felt home the minute I stepped out of the airport. I was so intense happy with the smell of nature, the sounds of nature and feeling the breeze on my skin. The fact that it's rainy season over here I don't mind at all. It enhances all the senses from nature and moreover, it's low season over here so not that many tourists.
I've rented a scooter and explored different parts of the island, east, west and south. I have met interesting people and I explored different yoga schools and teacher. I try to prepare myself for the YTT (yoga teacher training) as this will be intense. I started to study (I need to read 9 books and write book reports) and it's not the easiest reading material. Everyday I practise yoga poses and I follow a class, just to prepare my body and build strength.
I'm currently staying with an older spanish man, Carlos de Goyeneche. He is an artist,
painter (check out his work at www.carlosgoyeneche.com) He has an amazing place in South Bali, overlooking the ocean and with an infinity pool (I love it, check it out https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1742714 Also he has amazing stories to tell. Last night he showed me a video on youtube from Bob Marley on Ibiza in 1978. At that time he was Bob Marleys driver, GREAT!
This morning I woke up early 6.45. I did some yoga at the pool and then I went on my scooter to Uluwatu temple. I deliberately went that early as I wanted to avoid any crowds. And that worked, I was literally the only visitor!! But that actually scared me out a bit. As there's a lot of monkeys around that area. And walking there by myself, I wasn't so comfortable. When some monkey hissed at me and showed me his teeth I decided to leave..... The monkey won.
On my way back I discovered a nice, hidden road to a beach. I went in but encountered two fighting cocks. It scared me out!!
And in my little cottage here, there's a whole gekko family living. Now after travelling for 2 weeks in Indonesia I have seen quite some gekko's but 2 of the ones I have here in my cottage are so big, I suspect them to be crocodiles. But, we mutually decided to become friends, so that's allright now.
All these encounters made me realize how disconnected I've been to nature!!
Crazy.....
I did not consciously plan to start a blog. But just now I felt like writing and I actually think it will be interesting to track my happiness journey and share my experiences.
Namaste!
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