A fit fat person

I am a fierce believer of making a change if you're not satisfied with something. Although I promised myself I would accept my body, which I have in part, I cannot accept that my clothes are shrinking. Well, we all know they are not, so it means I gained weight, and that I cannot accept. So I have made a deal with myself, something that I know will motivate me: 

"I promise myself that when I weigh 65 kg I will apply to become a Spinning-instructor in Hong Kong."

I mean, how believable is a gym instructor that doesn't look fit? 

On 28/1/2013 I weigh 72.5 kg. There, I am embarrassed, but that's what the truth looks like right now. Not that weight ever really have been the right measurement for me, I am usually heavier than what I look, but it is an easy way to check. I am also measuring, which is more accurate. Now it's on print, I better fulfill my promise, and I give myself 10 weeks. 
For starters I better shape up my eating habits... Let's go for the brutality of writing down everything I eat, everything... Yeah, I'm gonna do that again. 

1. Use the app MyFitnessPal. Write down everything I eat! If I don't know the calories, find out. 
2. Follow the running program I have set up with the help of RunKeeper (they have a program that I will follow to be able to run a half marathon :).  
3. Do weight lifting at the gym twice a week, 1 day upper body, 1 day lower body. 
4. Go to spinning twice a week, just so much fun! 
5. Drink lots of water. 

Me at the finish line at the 10K race!

Let's add a "before" picture. This is what I looked like yesterday at the finish line. I will hopefully be a bit smaller in a few weeks. I will and I can! 

I am not even sure I dare to publish this post. What if I fail? What will you now think of me? A fit fat person? Yeah, that's me. 

10K done!

Honey and I getting ready to race!

We did it! We ran 10 km and we both did it better than expected! My goal has been to run 10K under an hour. According to my RunKeeper it took 55 mins. To be honest I didn't think I could do it, but it was just a great day, crisp air, a bit chilly but the air felt great once I started running. Of course being surrounded by other runners helped me move forward in a very steady pace all the way til the end. 

The race started close to Hong Kong Science Park, we ran along the water, 5K up and 5K back. It was beautiful. I don't know how many runners we were, but not overly crowded, perhaps 200 total. I'm not that good at estimating numbers like that. Unfortunately Honey and I couldn't run together like we planned, the men started running 15 mins ahead of the women. And you got disqualified if you didn't start in your group. Oh well, I had music in my ears and ran with the beat. It works great that way. 

Me at the start, still got the whole distance left.

I totally got encouraged and want to run more, next goal is half marathon. Honey on the other side was more like "Now it's done, don't need to do this again". But I think he'll run again if I find a good race for us. 

Today is a good day for some muscle building and spinning. Yep, totally is :). 

Saturday morning

It's a nice Saturday morning in Hong Kong. I went to pick up our start kit for the 10k run next weekend. The pick up station was at the scout building in Kowloon. Yeah, it's a building. They had several floors and their own hotel. HK scouts must be pretty wealthy. The 200 first to pick up got a water bottle, and we need new ones. Ours keep disappearing for some reason... Yes, I was early enough to get us some new water bottles :).

Honey usually works Saturday mornings, he's practicing with his choirs. But this Saturday they have a full day, a day where they report to the parents how their kids are doing. It also means that he has Monday off, and we're going to Disneyland. I want to go there without getting a heat stroke, so now is our chance. It's around 15 degrees right now and the sun is out. Quite nice.

I'm sitting at Starbucks enjoying a latte and the view of Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. It's before 11am and there are almost more white people on the streets than Chinese haha. That was a bit prejudice, but from my experience Hong Kong people just don't seem to want to get up early. For example stores in Hong Kong rarely open before noon, instead they are open til late, usually don't close before 10pm. As for me, I love mornings, it means I've got the whole day ahead.

Okay, I'm going to finish my coffee, head home and go for a run. Better get some more miles in my legs so I can get run the whole race next weekend!

Job hunting, for real this time!

Now that I've got my visa to work, study and live in Hong Kong as any resident I am seriously looking for work. I am sooo ready to get back in to the work force again, really looking forward to it! 

I know I said that I didn't think it would be too difficult, but my goodness, it's not easy... I set a goal to apply for ten jobs today, I managed to apply for three... I am a bit let down, but at least I have contacted a couple of people. If you know anyone in Hong Kong that is looking for an excellent employee, let me know. I am going to apply for a job at IKEA, a product executive, and they want me to send a picture with the application. Not a picture of me, but a picture of my dream home! I have to look in the IKEA catalog, they usually have one of my dream homes :). 

I have of course also contacted my nice co-workers at Philips in Sweden about working at their Hong Kong office, which I would love to do. We'll see what happens. 

Sooo, if you know anyone in Hong Kong who has an administrative job for a great, awesome and fun person, tell them about me! 

Me in the hallway of the 102nd floor. 

A peculiar experience

Last Saturday Honey and I had to go eat dinner with Honey's parents and some of their friends from their church to say Thank you to them for coming to our wedding and give us such generous gifts. I thought it was going to be a regular Chinese dinner, but it didn't start that way... They brought an electric piano to a dinner, which was my first clue. Not that I still understood exactly what was coming. 

Happy people singing hymns. 

One after one the guests started to arrive. They all greeted us and congratulated us for the wedding. A couple showed up with hymn books. Hmmm... I was a bit surprised, what was going to happen? As the last person showed up they all sat down, passed out the hymn books, Honey's mom sat down by the electric piano and they started to sing hymns, starting from hymn 1 (there are like 300+ hymns in that book)! And they sang, and sang, even some solo singing, some times a Capella.  They kept singing song after song in the hymn book, skipped a few songs here and there, and sang for about an hour. It was surreal, and I didn't know what to do, or what to think. After a while I thought it was cute, they all seemed so happy. They were all pretty good singers, and they knew every freaking hymn in that book! Pretty impressive. 

I asked Honey if this was something they did on a regular occasion, that they met to sing hymns, but he said No. It turned out that this group of people used to be the church choir, and even if it is many many years ago they still liked singing together. 

And if you want to know, there was a dinner after singing, twelve course traditional Chinese food. :)

Hymn book in Hong Kong. 

I got my visa!

I got my visa! TODAY!! Now I can REALLY start applying for work. However, of course it's a twist... Since my passport expires in May this year they could only validate a visa til April 30, 2013. So just three months. And I cannot apply for a Hong Kong ID card yet either, because they will only issue that to me when I have a visa that is at least 180 days. Sigh... Yeah, who thought about that? I should have just gotten a new passport earlier, but what the hell, the world doesn't end due to extra paperwork now, does it? Not my world anyway, just to deal with it and move on. 

We may be going to Japan in February so I cannot apply for a new passport just yet, have to wait til we get back. So here is what we need to do (like we haven't dealt with enough paperwork). 
1. Apply and get a new passport from Swedish Consulate in Hong Kong, (takes 2-3 weeks). 
2. Apply for an extension of my current visa, (takes up to 4 weeks). 
3. Apply for a Hong Kong ID card (takes up to 2 weeks). 

THEN I feel like I can really relax with all this crap. I hope this doesn't create any problems in getting a job. Keep your fingers crossed!! :) 

By the way, if you know anyone in Hong Kong who is looking for a fantastic Marketing Assistant or Customer Service Representative, please let me know! 

So dusty!

People who knows me know that I like to keep things nice and tidy. Put things in piles, hide clutter in drawers and in cabinets. Yeah, I am almost a bit OCD about these things, even if I am telling myself that the world doesn't end because everything is not in order. But here is a secret... Even if everything looks nice I am pretty bad at cleaning. During normal circumstances I would clean thoroughly once a month. That's when I would dust, vacuum and mop the floors. Here in Hong Kong that is not possible. 

Hong Kong is a city, huge city, many people and pollution. All these people and the pollution is making the air pretty bad, and the dirt is flying in to people's apartments (at least in to ours), with or without open windows. A day after I wiped a table clean it's dusty again. It's sooo annoying. I don't like cleaning! But I also don't like when it gets dusty. Both Honey and I know when it's time to do a serious cleaning, it's when both of us starts sneezing haha. Yeah, it's sad. Not to mention the floors... sigh. I know that Dingding is helping making it dusty with her rabbit hair flying around, but it was never this bad when I lived in the US or in Sweden with my lovely rabbit girl. 

I just had to whine. Now while I'm not working it's possible to keep up the cleaning before it gets too bad, but I'm just worried that once I start working (hopefully very soon) it will not be that easy to keep up. Oh well, there I am again, worrying about something that hasn't happen. No point in thinking about it now. We will deal with it when we have to, IF we have to. 

Visa paper work complete!

At my third visit to immigrations with the latest additions they asked for the immigrations officer actually said everything was okay! They had all the paperwork they need!! Woohoo! The lady said they will call me or Honey once the visa is ready to be picked up. I hope it will be soon, like... tomorrow haha! The next call we get from them is probably another piece of paper missing... Nah, it's going to be fine. 

Now time to chill in front of the TV with Honey and Dingding. :) It's still fairly cold in Hong Kong, around 15 degrees. We have the portable heater on, nice and warm, for the whole family. 

Dingding likes the heater too. 

Visa progress, or not...

We are trying to get my dependant visa so I can officially start looking for work, being able to learn Cantonese at a university, to be able to live a full life in Hong Kong. But it's not easy. I went to immigrations today, for the second time. The bureaucracy at Hong Kong immigrations is not much different from many other countries. There are so many forms to fill out, they need the right copies, translations, originals etc. Yeah, we who have applied for visas before know how it is. 

I was hoping that I got all the paperwork today, since I brought everything that the immigrations officer last time highlighted for me to bring. Still there was another form that we apparently needed to fill out and another piece of paper missing, that we didn't know was necessary. It's always like this though. I hope to have everything ready by this week at least. My tourist visa expires soon as well, so I want it all to be handled as quickly as possible. Otherwise I will have to leave the country and come back, which in reality means a trip to Macau for a day or a night. That could always be nice of course... 

Well, soon it should all be ready, I hope anyway. Keep your fingers crossed for us! 

10 km run

I haven't been working out for a month due to being sick, visits and the wedding. I know, excuses excuses. I totally got a caught by the lazy bug as well... But now I'm back working out and it feels absolutely fantastic! 

On my way to spinning class yesterday I saw a poster at the gym about a 10km run here in Hong Kong on Sunday January 27. It's three weeks away. I am not a very good runner, I run pretty slow, but I do have stamina. After conquering 5 km a few years ago I decided to go for 10 km now. I know I can do it, I ran 10 km a few times already. But now I'm almost starting from scratch again due to the long break. So, Honey and I signed up for the 10 km run on January 27, three weeks away. Are we going to make it? Failure is not an option, and three weeks goes by fast, but I see it as a goal to get back in shape very quickly. So the race is ON! 

Do I have a plan to get ready for 10 km in three weeks? Well, I have an idea for sure. 

1. I will go to my beloved RPM/spinning classes to get the cardio going and to get my heart rate in shape again, 3 to 4 times a week. Okay to take double classes during lunch to work up my stamina. 
2. I will run three times a week until the race: 
1. First week 5 km.
2. Second week 7 km.
3. Third week 9 km. 
3. Make sure I work out six days a week, sometimes twice a day. 
4. Keep eating healthy. 

I will do this for three weeks. It's a tough schedule, but it is also during a limited time. And I am used to work out six days a week, the difference this time is that I have an actual goal; to run 10 km on Sunday January 27. It will be the first race Honey and I do together. 

Okay, wish us Good Luck, we will need it. 
"Ida, get your head in success-mode, you know you can do it, three weeks is nothing"... 

New year, new possibilities

2012 is now behind us. It was a year where a lot happened in my life, and January to May was the preparation for what's to come. 

June: I quit my job at Philips Consumer Lifestyle (miss them), moved to Hong Kong with all my belongings, to be with the love of my life. 

July: A wonderful vacation to Cairns, Australia to hang out with my beautiful sister and her husband. 

August: Met with the great people at SWEA (a Swedish women's organization in Hong Kong). 

September 2nd: Honey proposed!! 

October: Finally got rid of the eye infection (took two months), and Wedding planning. 

November: Joined Bulletinen as a volunteer writer and editor (a free magazine sent out to all Swedes in Hong Kong who are registered at the Swedish general consulate), and more Wedding planning. 

December: Family on a visit (still missed Nicke, Misan and Stella), and the wonderful wedding! 

It was a pretty darn good year! I hope this year will continue the same way. My goals for 2013 includes: 

• Get the dependent visa. 
• Start working again. 
• Sign up to learn Cantonese. 
• Be able to work as a Spinning instructor again.
• Become an RPM instructor. 
• Continue to write articles for Bulletinen. 
• Develop my knowledge in editing. 

This list is not definite and will very likely be edited and things will be added as the year goes on. 

The normal new years resolutions like "Lose weight, and work out more" etc is not on the list. Instead I have once and for all decided to like my body the way it is. It's so tiring to fight it all the time, to always be unsatisfied. I will focus on seeing the good things of my body instead. At my age I have to realize that my legs will never be slim, because that's not how I'm built. So what if I have cellulite, we all do. From now on I will choose not to see them, because they don't mean anything to me. 

I know how to eat right, and by doing so most of the time I'm not going to feel bad on days where I let go for my cravings and stuff my face with chocolate, pizza and other unhealthy snacks. 

I want to feel good about myself, and a start is to accept me for who I am and what I look like. We all have different genes and body types. Is it really worth cutting out the good stuff like a bag of salty licorice, a creamy sauce, fresh bread with butter and cheese to have a perfect body? (What is a perfect body anyway?) To me it's not worth it. I don't need perfect, I want to enjoy life, all of it, with both food, work out and other fun things. 

Enjoy life, and if you don't like something, make sure to make a change, don't just whine about it! 

Let's all have a fantastic 2013! Let's all have a great year of the Snake! 

First Christmas in Hong Kong

I haven't spent every Christmas in Sweden, and I know there are other ways to celebrate Christmas. But I love our Swedish tradition of Christmas, especially the one my family has developed. 

For many years my family has celebrated the Christmas holidays with just the immediate family. It has been very peaceful and fulfilling. With a family so scattered around the world it's a true pleasure to just hang out for a day or two, sometimes more. We eat a lot, talk some, watch TV, perhaps play games and of course we exchange Christmas presents. Even though we are all adults (except for lovely Stella, my beautiful niece), we have this thing for buying each other Christmas gifts. None of us really needs anything, so we buy each other body lotions, socks, books and scarfs etc. We also open the presents in order; usually starting with the youngest in the family, and end with the oldest. It's fun, it's relaxing, it's a day without pressure. I truly hope mom thinks so too, considering she still does all the cooking. But she's smart, my mom; she prepares as much of the food as possible, so it's just to reheat on Christmas Eve. I must give her credit for that. 

Hong Kong at night on Christmas Eve 2012.

My first Christmas celebration in Hong Kong was nothing like the Mattsson Christmas. First of all, Christmas Eve is like any other day; people are working, and stores and restaurants are open. We were driving around in Honey's mom's car, ended up in Sai Kung, where we walked along the water, ate lunch at a bakery/cafe. We then drove up to The Peak, where we admired the view of Hong Kong by night. It's astonishingly beautiful on a clear and cold night. We then went shopping in the Peak Galleria. It wasn't planned at all, but they had an amazing sale at Coach, so we got some Christmas gifts for Honey's family. 

Since it was Christmas Eve I wanted to go back home so we could eat a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner. I found a Swedish store here in Hong Kong that sells the traditional ham, little sausages, herring, beetroot salad and other important foods on the Christmas table, so I had it all planned. But it was so late when we got home that it was the light version, still pretty darn good. I had made meatballs some days earlier, so those were just to reheat together with the little sausages. It was soo good, just me and Honey, and Miss Poo of course. She got an extra piece of carrot, since it was Christmas :). 

Christmas presents!

We finished dinner with some chocolate for dessert and then open the Christmas presents. It's not that common to exchange Christmas presents in Hong Kong unless you have young kids. But since Honey knows how much I love Christmas I still got some presents. 

On Christmas Day we went to have dinner at Honey's parents apartment. they don't have any traditional dishes like we do, so we ate Hot Pot, which is a boiling soup and you put different foods in the soup to cook, for example corn, lettuce, sausages, mushrooms, fish balls, beef and tofu etc. It's pretty good, and you get to eat what you want. It's a fun and social way to eat. 

After the Hot Pot Christmas Dinner there was some dessert and then a simple Christmas game; each one of us grabbed a note with a number written on it from a bowl. We then had to look for an item hidden in the living room that matched the number on your note. It was just small things like a small bag of candy, bubbles, a fruit etc. It was just a fun thing, and we all got a small Christmas gift :). 

This was my first Christmas in Hong Kong, and there are many more Christmases to come. Each year I will do what I can to keep our lovely Swedish Christmas traditions with plenty of Christmas decorations, presents and the delicious once-a-year foods. 

Our Christmas tree.