What I did this winter (2017-2018)
My new year's resolution is listening more to what my body tells me. The last two years were quite stressful and I was starting to feel the consequences of ignoring the signs that my body send out. The constant fatigue, the chronic pain, and the lackluster performance. I was sick and tired of it and I did all I could to become healthy again. I tried all kinds of things, from forcing myself to eat breakfast, while I normally always skip it, to drinking all kinds of Chinese medicinal soups and drinks. I found out that some foods and soups worked for me and I am also more disciplined, as I go to bed when I feel tired and wake up naturally without using an alarm clock now. I am more in charge of my life and I am less stressed out by the things that other people expect me to do. I used to not have enough hours in a day to spend, while I will now focus on the things that give me energy and what makes me happy. One of them is fully relax. Normally, I cannot stop my mind from wandering off, while I am doing something. I am always planning ahead and thinking about all kinds of things and not enjoying the current. I learned to fully immerse myself in fun activities and discover new things, like exploring new cities and places. Here are a few things that I did in the winter.
I was surprised to see how well the slogan of Fuze tea ("Serve yourself a little me-time") fits with my new lifestyle this year. Fuze tea was already launched in 2012 - I have seen it before in McDonalds restaurants in Hong Kong - and early this year, it has finally launched in the Netherlands with 6 flavors. Green tea and Black tea sparkling are two flavors, which were specially created for the Netherlands. Besides those two flavors, the following flavors are also available in supermarkets and eateries: Black tea peach hibiscus, Green tea mango chamomile, Black tea peach, and Black tea lemon.
First, I tried the two special fusion flavors: Fuze tea Black tea peach hibiscus* and Fuze tea Green tea mango chamomile*. The Green tea mango chamomile had a light green tea flavor with a subtle mango chamomile end taste, which was a little bit sour from the mango and slightly flowery from the chamomile. I liked the black tea peach hibiscus a bit more, as it has the typical ice tea peach flavor with a slightly sour berry flavor from the hibiscus.
I was also curious about the Fuze tea green tea flavor, so I bought a bottle at the Albert Heijn supermarket. It is a bit strange that they didn't mention it in the name, but they did show a picture of a lemon on the bottle. I quite like the green tea flavor (it is similar to the Lipton ice tea green that I like) and the added lemon flavor made the difference.
The three flavors haven't made me hooked on them yet, but they are great alternatives for when I go out for lunch or dinner and don't want to order the usual Lipton ice tea green or Schweppes bitter lemon. Currently, there is a cashback promotion on Fuze tea ordered in shops and eateries (not in supermarkets) until 30 April 2018. So, you can try it out for free and see if you like it.
Gaming
When I was a kid, I really loved gaming, but I told myself to stay away from it, as I needed to focus on my studies. I had been great academically, so I can finally allow myself to play as much as I want. I started with playing the game Mobius Final Fantasy on my tablet (you might have already seen it on my YouTube channel). I was totally hooked on playing Final Fantasy games on the PlayStation, so it brought back a lot of happy childhood memories. I am a day 1 player and so far, I have really lucked out on jobs, but less lucky with good ability cards and I have no supremes yet. I am still enjoying the game without spending any money, but leveling up is starting to be a bit exhausting. During the Christmas break, my brother brought the Nintendo Switch over and I spend hours playing Super Mario Cart. While driving and jumping up and down, I was burning calories like exercising in the gym. It is my favorite Nintendo game and I am so good that I can even beat guys in this game. Never underestimate girl gamers!
New supermarket
I haven't been in Rotterdam city center for a while (been abroad for some time and still too jet-lagged to go do some serious shopping in the weekends), so I was surprised to see that the Marqt supermarket, near the Markthal, was replaced by a Coop supermarket. I was very sad to see the Marks & Spencer supermarkets leave the Netherlands, so this new supermarket made me feel a little bit less bad. I will mainly miss the Marks & Spencer for their delicious desserts, cakes, and cookies, but I discovered some new Conditorei Coppenrath & Wiese pastries at the Coop supermarket that I can try out instead. The Toblerone chocolate cake, the Philadelphia almond layered cheese cake lemon, and Daim chocolate cake with crunchy caramel look very delicious too.
Fuze tea
I was surprised to see how well the slogan of Fuze tea ("Serve yourself a little me-time") fits with my new lifestyle this year. Fuze tea was already launched in 2012 - I have seen it before in McDonalds restaurants in Hong Kong - and early this year, it has finally launched in the Netherlands with 6 flavors. Green tea and Black tea sparkling are two flavors, which were specially created for the Netherlands. Besides those two flavors, the following flavors are also available in supermarkets and eateries: Black tea peach hibiscus, Green tea mango chamomile, Black tea peach, and Black tea lemon.
First, I tried the two special fusion flavors: Fuze tea Black tea peach hibiscus* and Fuze tea Green tea mango chamomile*. The Green tea mango chamomile had a light green tea flavor with a subtle mango chamomile end taste, which was a little bit sour from the mango and slightly flowery from the chamomile. I liked the black tea peach hibiscus a bit more, as it has the typical ice tea peach flavor with a slightly sour berry flavor from the hibiscus.
I was also curious about the Fuze tea green tea flavor, so I bought a bottle at the Albert Heijn supermarket. It is a bit strange that they didn't mention it in the name, but they did show a picture of a lemon on the bottle. I quite like the green tea flavor (it is similar to the Lipton ice tea green that I like) and the added lemon flavor made the difference.
The three flavors haven't made me hooked on them yet, but they are great alternatives for when I go out for lunch or dinner and don't want to order the usual Lipton ice tea green or Schweppes bitter lemon. Currently, there is a cashback promotion on Fuze tea ordered in shops and eateries (not in supermarkets) until 30 April 2018. So, you can try it out for free and see if you like it.
