A week in my life part 1

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. - Alice Morse Earle

People ask me often what my life looks like on the other side of the world. How different everything is and how to survive let alone thrive. So let me answer these questions in this post, by taking you with me, and describing a week in my life here.

Holy foods Monday

Hey, I know it's Monday. But it's also a new day and a new week. And in that lies a new opportunity for something special to happen. - Michael Ely

6 am: Why can I never sleep in?!

My day usually starts around 6 in the morning. My alarm is set at 8.30, but for literally no reason at all, I wake up every day around 6. I'm not one to stay in bed doing nothing, so I get up, drink a sip of water, get back in bed, and keep myself busy in silence, trying not to wake up Kiki. I usually read the news during this time, whilst listening to the birds chirp outside.

Around 8.30, I wake up Kiki and start my 10-minute morning meditation. Then we get dressed and go to a local coffee place to have our morning coffee. Here in Cambodia, if you order something, you'll get a customary drink. This comes in the form of tea or water. At Paris Bakery Coffee, this is a customary tea with our coffee.

Letting the creative juices flow

On Monday mornings I start to write my new blogpost for Sunday. We work at the coffee place for approximately 1 hour from 9 - 10. During this time, I brainstormed on the topic and made the structure of the blog post. This time for me is like a feel-good productivity moment. It is quality time with Kiki where we are both working to reach our goals. This isn't an intensive work moment, more like waking up and letting the creative juices flow with a cup of coffee hour. The perfect start to the day. Around 10, we go back to the apartment, change into our gym outfit, and hit the gym. On Mondays, I train my chest and triceps.

The afternoon

At 12 Kiki and I went to the Little Red Fox Espresso Café for lunch. They have delicious food bowls and it is a nice place to eat in general. I ate the tribowl. It's a bowl with full grains, veggies, and some more healthy things inside.

At 2 pm I try to be back at the apartment to get some work done and have a look at the lessons I'll teach that day. On Preply, the platform I teach online on, I have 32 hours of available slots during the week and Saturday. My students choose an hour slot. Usually, I teach between 2 pm and 7 pm. But this varies greatly from day to day and week to week. Today, I teach from 3 to 4 pm and 5 to 6 pm. In between the classes I worked on my online Dutch course, and I did a breathwork meditation from the Wim Hof Method.

Online Dutch course

I made infographics today about the articles in Dutch. The definite articles 'de' and 'het', and the indefinite article 'een'. I go in-depth giving tips and tricks on when to use which article, and why they are so important. I try to make it as visual and easy to understand as possible, making sure all the important information is still included. This is a balance exercise that I can't understate how important it is.

Evening relaxation

When I'm done teaching, I'm usually pretty hungry. I go order food at 'my Bong', a street food vendor, I usually get two meals of fried rice, veggies, and a fried egg to take away and go back to the apartment. There I eat my food and list up my to-do's for the next day. When I finish my dinner, I wind down with a book or a series. I'm currently reading 'The 4-hour workweek' by Timothy Ferris, and 'Crooked Kingdom' by Leigh Bardugo. I'm watching 'The Bigbang Theory' for the billionth time, it helps me wind down because I know what is going to happen.

When Kiki gets back home from her work, around 8.30 pm, we talk about what happened at school, about our days, get cozy in bed, and watch 'Kamp Waes' with a cup of tea.

Side Project Tuesday

I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.
― Juansen Dizon

Excited to start the day

6 am, excited to start the day again! The morning ritual starts again. I jump out of bed and I'm very energized to start the day. After doing the 10-minute morning meditation, we go get coffee and have our feel-good productivity moment. I continue working on the blog post. I got the topic and the structure done yesterday, today I continue to write the body of the post.

To improve my productivity, I focus for one hour on just this one task. I write and it doesn't have to be top-notch at this moment, I'll edit the post later, I just need to make sure I get my point across. I couldn't finish writing the body of my blog post today. Around 10, we packed our stuff and got ready for the gym again. On Tuesdays, I train my shoulders and abs.

At 12 we leave the apartment and go eat at Champey's, a street food vendor lady, located at the riverside in the city center of Siem Reap. She makes delicious food at a nice location. Her kids are always around playing at the riverside. A nice place to eat lunch. After lunch I grab some coconut waffles, these are amazing waffles, made right in front of you that contain coconut meat in the dough. Yes, it is as delicious as it sounds. I eat them on a near-daily basis as a snack.

Deep dive into side projects

Tuesday is usually a quiet day, as far as teaching goes. It is in the middle of the week and most of my students are busy. I had only one student at the end of the day from 6 - 7 pm. This doesn't mean that I take most of the day off. I treat days as these, and they happen every now and then, as workdays just like any other day. It is a chance to take a deep dive into my side projects, this blog, and the online course. Today, I plunged into my online course. I finished editing the infographic about the articles continued with the different kinds of words and explained more about why the articles are important in Dutch. This chapter is finished now and I can start on the next one, important words in the Dutch language.

Evening relaxation

At the end of the workday, I winded down with street food from my local Bong at the corner of the street and my book. When Kiki got home, we watched Expeditie Groenland together and went to sleep.

Social Wednesday

Every day of the week comes with its special challenges and rewards. Wednesday is no different. When Wednesday becomes the best day of the week, it means that we live a life of meaning and that we know how to make the best of each moment, no matter where we are. — Samantha Jobs

Excited to start the day

Today I did some breathwork from the Wim Hof Method. Basically, you breathe in and out in a 'circular' way, finding a rhythm. After 50 inhales, you stop breathing for as long as possible. When you need to breathe again, you inhale and hold your breath for 15 seconds. This is round one. I did three rounds with this breathing technique. It gets your heartbeat down and this will decrease your stress.

At the café, we tried to buy plane tickets to go back to Belgium. We want to go back to visit friends and family, and we have to for our insurance. Unfortunately, it is expensive and the cheapest round trip Bangkok - Paris, was just sold out. We figured we'd try again another time and headed to the gym. Wednesday is back day.

It's always a good time to eat ice-cream

At 12 we go grab some lunch. Joshua, our friend and neighbor joined us for lunch. We tried a new place 'Madame Café'. I've been there for coffee before, it is a nice garden where you can drink, and since this week, they also have a food menu. The food was delicious! We are definitely going back!

We went for a dessert after lunch, to Gelato lab. They have the best ice creams in Siem Reap, as you can see in the following picture.

Back to work

After lunch and dessert, it was time for everyone to start working. Joshua is currently also working online. Kiki went to Kulen Outreach to teach, and I went back to the apartment to teach. I have 2 teaching hours, from 3 pm to 4 pm, and from 5 pm to 6 pm. In the evening, I ate a baguette and started my evening routine to wind down for the night.