Hot Yoga

So for a month or so I’ve been going to a thing called “hot yoga” (otherwise known as Bikram yoga) with a girlfriend of mine. She’s been doing it for a while and finally persuaded me to go along with her. Bikram yoga is like regular yoga, only in 40c heat and 40% humidity. And also, where in normal yoga the routine changes each time depending on the students, Bikram yoga uses the same 90 min set every time.

If it sounds scary, that’s because it is scary. The first time I went, the teacher told me that if I feel dizzy, like a want to vomit or black out, I’m doing it right.

So why am I doing it??

In actuality it’s not that bad. Often, going into the pose I feel really ill but once I’m there and I’m breathing as the teacher is telling me to, I feel stable and not like I’m going to throw up. And I sweat. Everyone sweats. You have to bring a full towel to cover your yoga mat because you will sweat so much it’ll be as wet as if you’ve dunked it into a swimming pool by the time you’ve finished.

I went for the first time because I was looking at lots of photos of yoga people on Tumblr and I decided I wanted to be cool like them. I am ridiculously influenced by things I see around me. I’ve just finished painting my nails green after seeing a girl at work with green nails and deciding I want green nails too. I made the boyfriend a strawberry – avocado – spinach sandwich the other day because I saw a photo of it online and decided I wanted one. And so with yoga, I decided I wanted to be the people in the photos and so I joined my friend in her class.

I’m going to be completely honest here and say that while mental pictures of me being cool and flexible were what brought me to Bikram yoga, it is the changes to my body that keep me going. Sure, it’s water weight. But you burn about 1000 calories each class, and I do see a difference the morning after every session. My legs look amazing. So amazing I just go out wearing knee high socks and I don’t even care. I’m 26, I go to the gym often, I eat well and now I have this one thing that boosts my confidence and my legs look amazing and I don’t even care if I’m not “meant” to wear knee high socks.

The other reason why I keep going back is that I have pretty weak knees and the heat in the room makes the exercises a lot kinder to my joints. I’m a lot more flexible in the hot room, and my knees aren’t nagging me nearly as much any more. I feel they are much stronger which is great.

The downside is that it IS super scary. Being told that wanting to pass out is normal is usually a sign that you should get the hell out of there. I still can’t do the whole routine through. There’s this pose called the camel pose which looks simple but comes towards the end of the routine and I can’t even start to bend back – I just want to vomit. The best I can do it kneel “Japanese style” and wish for the day that my Bikram sea sickness goes away.

The last scary part is that the routine and the teachers push you. If you clicked on the camel pose video above you’d have heard the teacher say “it’s supposed to hurt”. Things like that are said often. They want you to push yourself beyond your boundaries and stretch that little bit more but often it’s said in ways that sound like they don’t have your health as their priority. However, when doing this kind of yoga you really need to just listen to your body – you know your limits – and use your common sense.

HERE is a nice video showing each of the poses in the routine. It’s pretty positive. But if you search you can find lots of negative things about the yoga and its founder. Personally, Bikram yoga makes me feel better about myself and as long as I look after myself, I don’t see it having a negative impact on me.

Merkez – Mediterranean Food

It was late in the evening and we were hungry – fresh out from the FITS comedy show. So, we decided to head over for some hummus, because I love hummus. I’d been to Merkez before – back when I was on the Dukan diet we went there because you can order just a plate of meat, which was perfect. But now it was quite the opposite that I was hoping to have!

 

I had the plate on top and the boyfriend had the falafel above – both were very yummy and well priced. They made my plate up specially for me – lots of hummus and no meat. The staff were all very friendly too.

In the heart of a slightly dodgy area, it’s always nice when you can go to a nice place with good food like this. I often find that the yummiest restaurants have the dirtiest looks to them – but while this place isn’t dirty, it looks very much like every other greasy kebab shop on the street and so can be overlooked. However, I say it’s worth having a look inside. There was enough for vegetarians, enough for wheat free people too (though it’s hard to look at hummus and not take a chunk of bread to dip into with…)

You can find Merkez at Münchener Straße 33, 60329 Frankfurt am Main

Thoughts on Vegetarianism

On the first date with the boyfriend, we went for sushi, and he sat down and told me that he’s vegetarian. I’ve never dated a vegetarian before so I freaked out wondering what the etiquette is and ended up ordering the same veggie sushi set as him, even though I love fish based sushi so very much.

As we got to know each other more, and when it was obvious that we would end up together, I made the decision to be vegetarian when I am around him – if I was the veggie one, I would think it gross to kiss someone who had just eaten a load of meat, and also I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable so it just made sense to me. What’s more, at home I rarely buy meat and the only time I eat it normally is when I’m out for a burger or some German food.

Since making this decision, I’ve seen food in a new light. Checking food labels all the time is kinda a hassle and finding that things I thought were clean actually having animal products in them makes me sad – things like Worcestershire Sauce and kimchi. I’d say that overall, Frankfurt is pretty good with vegetarians but still sometimes there are places with only one or two options. That kinda sucks too, especially when I’m restricted by my gluten allergy as well.

But when we cook together, it’s amazing. I’ve learnt that there are two types of vegetarian food – one type that pretends to be meat with all the fake mince and fake bacon and whatnot, and the other type that is just meatless by nature. He’s been teaching me lots about cooking the second type of food, though when I cook for myself I still like a good slab of pineapple curry flavoured tofu to replace the chicken I would have had otherwise.

I enjoy this new way of eating and I don’t feel like it’s a negative choice, or that he is forcing me to do this. However, I have been surprised by some people’s reactions to this small change. People turn their noses up at food I’ve chosen because it has no meat in it, even when it’s still veyr yummy. In this day and age where I can go to a bakery in Germany and get gluten free bread and where there are whole supermarkets dedicated to people who have special diets (Denn’s… you are heaven!), it should go without saying that you can live as vegetarian and still really enjoy food. But it seems that even now people sometimes treat vegetarians like they are just being that way to be difficult. It’s pretty shocking, really.

The only worry I have is that some day, I’d like to take the boyfriend to Japan and show him my “hometown” and all the places I used to go – Japan uses fish stock in pretty much EVERYTHING. So it will be a challenge like no other. But we’ll see. Maybe it’ll still be do-able…

Spring in Frankfurt!

Spring is a good time in Frankfurt. The dark days of winter are finally over and the Germans start to very VERY VERY excited about things. One of the things they like to get excited about is spargel – asparagus. You would not believe how excited these white sticks make the locals…

This was the area outside department store Galeria this morning – a man on a mic, lots of official veggie people, SO many people crowding round to get their hands on asparagus… and a bored sound man eating a sausage sandwich.

But this is what we came for – the green sauce festival! Green sauce is a big thing here in Frankfurt and so we wanted to check out the festival dedicated to this herby, eggy sauce.

There is a closed off section that I think wasn’t open when we went. There are a handful of stalls outside, though, with 3 different green sauces to try with eggs, potatoes and sausages. Sushi circle have some special green sauce themed sushi variaties (none of which are vegetarian friendly) so there are a few things to check out there!

 

Our potatoes, eggs and sauce was so yummy we forgot to take a photo before we dug in! The sauce was pretty sweet and creamy. I much prefer it when it’s chunky and herby but it was still very yummy! The festival is lasting through to next weekend so check it out at the Roßmarkt in Frankfurt!

Frohsinn – Afternoon Tea?

I’d been past Frohsinn a few times and seen that they do afternoon tea with scones and stuff, but I hadn’t really been moved to go in. However, some people on Facebook were asking for placed where they could have afternoon tea and I mentioned it and one thing lead to another so before long we were 12 strangers sat drinking tea together!

I say “tea”…I am beginning to get very tired of everywhere in Frankfurt either charging 5 euros for a cup of hot water and a packaged tea bag, or (like this place) being limited to Kusumi tea. Kusumi branded tea is ok. But it’s certainly not worth the price tag that comes with it, nor is it anything very special.

The scones were good and seemed freshly baked, but the sandwiches were kind of hard and there were no choices for them so you were stuck with fish and meat in them even if you are vegetarian.

More than anything, the service was TERRIBLE. Really bad. We got the tea and food we ordered a full hour after having ordered it, and the waitress was really difficult to deal with, too.

 

What saves Frohsinn, though, is the incredible decor they have going on there. There is this random picture of the queen but the whole place was lovely inside. It seemed that the other food on the menu was very good – and another lady in my party said that she’d had some lovely chicken there so I guess it’s worth another go.

I think the jury is still out on Frohsinn…if any of you have been there then please do let me know!

You can find Frohsinn at Börsenstraße 14 60313 Frankfurt am Main, just behind Galeria.

The Train

It was a weekend that had had a lot of football in it. I didn’t know much about it, but I heard the people cheering from the boy’s apartment – he lives in the “party” area of town, where there are lots of hen parties and people just going out getting drunk.

The walk to the nearest station had been tricky all weekend – there were more rowdy people in the streets than normal and the amount of graffiti on the shops’ walls in the area had doubled overnight.

I was getting a Sunday afternoon train back home, and the walk to the station wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I ducked past a group of 6 women in tutus taking photos with young boys who were leering at their breasts.

Getting on the train I managed to find 4 seats free so I sat in the corner. At the next stop, however, there was a large group of football fans – mainly men – that got on the train and were followed up by a couple of policemen.

They piled in around me. One young lad of about 18 sat next to me, making his friend nudge him and shout “waaay heeeeey!!!” Opposite me sat another young guy with his girlfriend.

“Offenbach!! Offenbach is shiiiiiiiit!!!” shouts one guy sat in the next set of seats. “Offenbach is shiiiiit!” reply all the other fans. A couple of men start a song to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, and they start bouncing up and down to the tune as everyone joins in.

Another guy in the next set of seats has the loudest voice of those around me. He seems to be really caught up in the excitement and is yelling at the top of his lungs. He also gets up to bounce to Waltzing Matilda, but then shouts “Kassel!!! Kassel is shiiiiiiiiit!”

No one replies with yells as they did with Offenbach. One thing Frankfurters can unite with is their dislike for neighbouring Offenbach, but apparently Kassel is spared the same loathing. The guy looks embarrassed and sits back down. More shouting starts and so he soon perks up when he can join in again.

While the shouting is going on, the girlfriend opposite me is wincing at the noise. We catch each others’ eye and give a look of understanding – “yeah, these guys are morons”.

Luckily the train pulls into the main station and the football fans and I go our separate ways. The girl and I nod at each other one last time – “good luck with those guys”. And she is gone in the jumping, yelling crowd.

Piknickbank, Frankfurt (omg is that hummus?)

 

We had a busy Saturday running around town buying toasters and things to cook that evening. We planned a lovely lunch at Piknickbank, a Moroccan cafe/restaurant we went past once, and it was the perfect end to a busy afternoon.

The place itself is like a back-to-front Tardis – it’s much smaller on the inside than it seemed from the outside. Luckily we got the last table for two but other people were made to wait in the rain for tables.

The waitress was fairly aloof but she replied to our German in German and so she was all right by me.

I had the large Piknick Teller which wasn’t quite as large as I had imagined, but still filled me up. Boy had the vegetarian tajine and though he said I had ordered the best thing, his meal was very good too (though had hidden olives! Grown-up food alert!!) My hummus was lovely and the carrots were so good I am going to try to recreate them at home next week!

The other people there were surprisingly not young hipsters, but older, middle class groups. I don’t know what it says about the place but it was interesting anyway!

I hope to go there again soon – we both said we wanted to try all the things on the menu.

You can find Piknickbank at Weißadlergasse 7, 60311 Frankfurt am Main

Take That’s “Back for Good” is Terrible

Last year I wrote about how I think that “Little Saint Nick” is a really stupid song. Well guys, I have another one. It breaks my heart, but Take That’s ‘Back for Good’.

Now, I love Take That. I begged my mum to get me Take That bed sheets when I was younger. She didn’t let me because they were way too expensive. But it’s only as an adult that I listen to Back For Good and realise that they would not have made the ideal boyfriends.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s take a look at the lyrics!

(For those who don’t know this song, or need reminding, find the music video HERE)

I guess now it’s time for me to give up 
I feel it’s time 
Got a picture of you beside me 
Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup 
Got a fist of pure emotion 
Got a head of shattered dreams 
Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now 

Charlotte says – wow, you’re emotional. Maybe something really bad happened to you?

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – So… what you’re saying basically is “I’m not sure what I did to upset you, but whatever it was I didn’t mean it and take me back now plz because I’m sad”.

Unaware but underlined I figured out this story 
It wasn’t good 
But in the corner of my mind I celebrated glory 
But that was not to be 
In the twist of separation you excelled at being free 
Can’t you find a little room inside for me 

Charlotte – So you figured out that she was pissed at you, but you still felt chuffed with yourself? She went off and was happier without you, and now you are sad.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – tell you the song? So basically “put words into my mouth and I’ll agree to them and then we can get back together”? That isn’t a healthy relationship!!

And we’ll be together, this time is forever 
We’ll be fighting and forever we will be 
So complete in our love 
We will never be uncovered again 

Charlotte – I think you’re getting a bit delusional now.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

I guess now it’s time, that you came back for good

And so, as you can see, it’s not a pretty picture. I’m glad these boys grew up to understand women so much more (yeah scrap that…)

It’s amazing how, when you listen to songs you know and love and actually hear the lyrics…

New!

I thought it would be nice to include some little drawings on this blog and I also needed a new mobile so I have a swish big one that also allows me to do little doodles. I’m just getting started on it but hopefully you’ll enjoy this kind of thing too!

And I hope it’ll encourage me to do more posts because I seem to be lagging recently…

Thoughts on Smoking

I was with a friend trying out a new burger restaurant in town. It was a gorgeous day, so we sat outside. The restaurant serves healthy burgers and really wholesome food. My veggie friend and I were looking forward to a really nice dinner.

We were sat on benches, across the table from each other. Just after we’d ordered our food, we noticed some young girls looking for a place to sit, then pointing at our table. We motioned for them to come and join us, so they did.

The food was delicious and I was taking my sweet time. However, towards the end of my meal, one of the girls lit up a cigarette and started smoking. I looked over to her and said “I’m still eating. Would you mind not doing that right now please?” They are giggled and bitched in German under their breath.

To my annoyance, the second I put my knife and fork down to finish, they lit up again. I was so angry.

People here just don’t think it’s rude or gross or bad at all to light up around people eating. It affects the taste for me – after all, taste is whatever % smell, right? But it happens so often here. Back in Japan, too, it wasn’t uncommon to have people smoking at the next table along from you. I always put it down to Japanese men being stubborn because most of the time it’s men and not women who smoke.

Germany has this super clean and conscientious image but when it comes to smoking it can be pretty behind the times. A lot of great bars in Frankfurt are let down by there being smokers there. And the one thing I miss the most about British life is being able to go out for a drink and not having stinking jeans and hair afterwards.

I just don’t understand why *I* must be uncomfortable when out eating or drinking just because some people want to smoke. It makes me pretty angry…

Maybe I’m in the minority with this kind of thing and most people just put up with it?