Routine

Tonight we had the second half of our gym introduction. We got acquainted with the strength training machines and my new favorite item, the power plate. Those things are amaaaazing. Matt tried out a machine made by Kaiser, which is actually produced out of Fresno Cali, which he can better describe at another time.

Guan once again kicked our behinds, with the express purpose of seeing how far he can make us go so he can use that to judge how to program our keys which have all of our information encoded. So, he showed us how to use a machine, even if we thought we already knew, and then he had us try one by one, do 12 reps at what he thought a good weight would be, and adjusted up or down based on our reactions. Usually how red in the face or shaky we got. It really is an amazing program. It's like we have a personal trainer without having to pay the extra cost that usually comes with this kind of personal attention. We also learned of another perk here tonight. My upper back reverted to a tingling square between my shoulder blades at one point, and Guan told me to keep aware, and if I felt like it was getting too bad instead of improving with the new program of excersize, then we have one free consultation with the on sight physician. I will probably take them up on that sometime next week.

We already made plans to come back Tuesday (after the meter reader stops in, since he has to come inside the apartment to get a reading, and has made an appointment) evening for a pick up volleyball game. And for myself, an appointment with the instructor of the Power Plate class on Thursday evening. We are throwing most of our spare time right now to the gym, trying to get back on the ball for the Fit for Fun trip to Jamaica in less than a month... too little too late I fear.

I had a nice cool day in service with Naomi, who then drove me home and came in for sammies. I'm thankful that the sister (Claudine Davis) that Matt helped with computer stuff showed me how to lay a sandwich board when we visited her. And that I went to the store with Matt recently and have a somewhat stocked pantry and fridge. I missed the market today, but at least I can still catch the one on Tuesday here in Stadsplein, which they call the bio market, which means basically that it's organic. The pic is from the bio market last week. Notice the little green fruits beneath the grapes. I asked what they were, and he told me a Dutch name starting with an F that I should have photographed so I'd remember... Then he sliced one open for me to try. They taste really good, like something between a guava and a pear. And a passion fruit. But in a tiny bit size package. So I got a handful. I bought milk without really reading the label and trying to understand it. It turned out to be pressed oat milk, flavored with safflower oil and sea salt. It's actually very very good, so long as you don't mind a strong hint of oatmeal when you're not eating oatmeal. I can actually offer tea to guests now. I think that's a sign that you've become civilized again. It's so nice to be able to have people over now! We are finally settling into a good routine. Service, gym, work, meetings, in varying order depending on the day.

I just looked at the clock, and it's after midnight... Past time to sleep. In the morning we have bookstudy at 10 am, then service. Then who knows!!!