Sustainable Hobbies in Retirement

 I haven't been working for awhile. In 2017, I was still working full-time with 2 young children. Now I am jobless with the almost adult children. A lot of time on hand. So, I am searching for sustainable hobbies - activities I can do until older age, activities that will not cost too much (retiree has no big budget) and a place to meet like-minded people socially.

I have tried my hands on a few, trust me. 

I tried hand-craft jewellery making. I bought the necessary tools such as metal scissor, flyer, beads, transparent thread etc. I made a few items for myself and gifts. But after some time, there is only so much you can wear and give as gifts. So I stopped. Luckily Chloe sometimes uses the tools to modify or fix her costume jewellery. It is not a complete waste after all.

Some of my handy-work

I sewed small items like pencil cases, pouches, coin wallets, bags - easy stuff. Again. we now have more than enough pencil cases and pouches. I stopped after Lucas, Chloe and myself have a few items each. The take from this hobby is I still enjoy going to the textile shops and look at the fabric pattern.

One of my many pencil cases and pouches.

Then I dipped my hand in pottery. I had my first experience in 2003. I enjoyed it. I gave it another go. I attended wheel-turning pottery workshop. It was fun. Then I tried pottery without the wheel-turning. After a year,  I stopped. I have no space and no use for all my work. 

Some of my work.

Then I tried watercolour painting. I followed some You Tube videos. I must say I do not have the flair in shadowing, color mixing, color layering. When I see a manageable piece, I try to produce it. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

What should I do with these? Throw?

The latest is Korean calligraphy. I enjoy the challenge of handling the brush but the problem is I do not know if I have improved. My teacher is more interested in teaching me to read Korean. I have been writing the most basic font - the squarish and no curve - for 6 months. A class-mate told me she wrote the basic font for 2 years before she 'graduated' to the modern font. I am not sure if I have the patience. 

Sometime I think I can write neatly i.e. good porportion but I really don't know the goal. My teacher always said well done and keep going :( 

2 days ago during dinner, I floated the idea to my 2 kids. I asked what can I do. Lucas said I should go swimming and really learn how to swim. I can do frog style but I can float and I can't do free style. Often he said I should to go the gym with him. Chloe said I should do aqua aerobics or trampoline jumping exercise. 

A few friends suggested I take up golf. A South Korean friend said playing golf in Germany is very cheap as compared to Korea.  I remembered when I first met her, she was always hoping for rain on her golf practice days. She hated it so much that she needed reason to skip. Now she misses the calligraphy class to play golf! Another retired friend said she plays 2 to 3 times a week. Hmmm....let me think about it. The cost of picking up golf is golf clubs and membership? How much is it?

One activity which I think is ideal is cooking, provided your children are at home eating it. You cook and then it is in the stomach and to sewage. No physical space needed for storage. :(

In conclusion, I am still searching. 

Mother and Daughter Trip

 Chloe and I had our first mother daughter trip. She had 2 weeks school holidays and most of her good friends were away. If we don't plan anything, she would just be happy to stay in her room with her phone. So I asked her where did she want to go. She said Utrecht, the town Miffy was born. Miffy is her new favourite character. Move over Minion. 

So we took a trip to Amsterdam. Chloe's last visit was in 2016 but she said she had no recollection of that trip. The train was five and a half hour non-stop. Not bad a journey. Upon arrival, we were hungry and went to a pancake shop. We must have stumbled upon a tourist trap. The pancake was good but the price was tourist price. 

Apple crumble and banana chocolate pancakes.

We wondered along the canals until dinner time. We clocked 15,000 steps on the first day. Chloe's definition of holiday was no need for agenda. She said just walk. So I just followed her and walked. Had dinner at a highly rated local restaurant.  The food was good but the pancake at 4pm spoilt our appetite. We both were not very hungry. 

The ribs were tendered but too bad I was not hungry to eat more.

The next day, we ventured to Utrecht. It was half an hour train ride from Amsterdam. Famous university town and of course the birth town of Miffy. We managed to squeeze a canal boat ride in the evening. There were only 2 of us in the whole boat - like a private tour. The captain slowed down the boat for us to take pictures and gave his personal commentary. It was wonderful. And we clocked 16,000 steps.

This is Miffy.

The famous houses by the canal.

There are 7 bridges aligned in a row.

The famous bridge in a lot of the impressionist paintings.

No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a visit to the museum. We only had time to visit 1 museum and we chose Rijksmuseum. On the last day, we we were walking to Chinatown for our dim sum fix, we walked through the red light district by chance. I saw all main entrances have red light on and was telling myself what a uniform facade. It only clicked after I saw some models standing behind the window. Interesting sight for us both. 

As we were done with our to-dos, the storm came. It was time to head home.

A few things I have learned or observed during this trip. 

1. There were hardly any homeless people sleeping on the streets. I only saw 2 in the central train station. Very impressive record for a big city. 

2. I was always wondering why the houses were so open. Hardly any curtain or blinds and you can literally see what's happening inside the house. A friend who live there for 30+ years said is it the religion - Calvinist Protestant - believe in transparency, nothing to hide. Hence, the open house.

3. The buildings are built with the trademark look- red bricks. I was curious and googled. Wiki/AI said red clay is abundant in Netherlands. That's why it is common to use it as the building material.

4. Like any big cities, there are a lot of foreigners working in delivery, retail, hospitality. My thoughts are how are they received by the locals? Is the language proficiency good enough to communicate or are they expected to be fluent in order to integrate? What is the tolerance level like?

All in all, it was a sweet short trip. Chloe had the best ramen in Europe as she said. I walked quite a bit and appreciate the city better.

Autumn Is Here

 You know autumn is here when the leaves change color, the rain is consistent, the day gets shorter, the birds are migrating. I find it to be a beautiful season, like the nature is preparing to recuperate after an active spring and summer. Just like human. 

If you can see the 2 black V-shaped lines. The birds are moving to somewhere warmer.

The drive to my neighbourhood is always so pretty.