Recently in January '25

January is coming to an end, meaning that around 8% of 2025 has already passed. It felt like a slower month, definitely slower than the previous months in the sense that there was nothing big happening. However, the things that happened, I’m very glad with.

🍄 Life

This year I celebrated New Year’s with a few friends and friends from friends. It was cosy, and nice, and there was a myriad of different foods from different countries. There was even Portuguese food, even though I was not the one bringing it. And, as usual, we got to experience the fireworks 🎇 madness during the Oud en Nieuw.

A few days after, it snowed ❄️. If you’ve been following me long enough, you probably know I love snow. I tried to enjoy every single moment I could and take walks as often as possible to see and experience the little bit of snow we got here. It was not much, but it was enjoyable!

Later during the month, we went to the Efteling. According to Wikipedia, it’s the largest theme park in the Netherlands and one of the oldest in the world, having opened 72 years ago in 1952! The theme of this park is connected to ancient myths, legends and fairy tales. I don’t have that much experience with theme parks, but I really enjoyed it - except for some scary rollercoasters 🎢 (but I tried them anyways)!

Later this month, we went try a new restaurant here in Eindhoven: Matsu. They call themselves a beef atelier and fine wines. I just want to say that, despite being more expensive than the ordinary restaurant, it was extremely tasty 🥩. I go very rarely to this sort of restaurants, but it’s always an enjoyable experience!

💪 Health

Maybe some of you already know, but I started running 💨. It’s been a nice experience and I’m sticking to the Couch to 5K program to ensure I build up slowly and don’t overdo anything. I recommend reading the linked post if you’re interested in more.

Other than that, there’s not a lot of updates, which is quite unfortunate. My wrist is still not really feeling much better. I don’t really have pain when working or doing regular life things. But as soon as I need to do something with heavier weights (e.g. gym), or bend my wrist a bit more than usual, I can’t. I’m checking in with the doctor next week, so let’s hope they will further investigate 🤞.

🍿 Entertainment

We watched a lot of 🎬 movies this month. I think I say that every month - and probably that too. The biggest highlight of the month was We Live in Time. The movie was very well made, and the way the timeline was presented to the viewer definitely gave the story another dimension. It was extremely heavy and sad. I do recommend!

Young Hearts is also an aanrader (recommendation). It’s a coming of age Flemish movie about two boys that fall for each other. The other movies were nice, but I don’t have any highlights.

When it comes to 📺 series, there’s also a lot of stuff. Probably more stuff that I want to highlight here than in the movies. We finished the second season of Silo, and, having read the books, I think it’s quite brilliant. Of course, there’s differences here and there, but the whole concept and story are very well presented in this format as well.

We also started watching Ted Lasso. We just finished the second season and have already started the third. It’s one of those cosy series to watch. I would also highlight Bad Sisters, which apparently is based on a Belgian series, but with more budget and better. They extended the story and made a second season too!

Happy February!