Apple picking

Yesterday I went apple picking. It is a tradition here: going to the farm, pick the apples, eat some on the way, having lunch on the spot, and if you are lucky with great cider donuts (!). We drove quite a ride, something not unusual for locals, and reached a lovely orchard with apple trees and raspberries fields. We could feed goats, have lunch and buy other Halloween pumpkins and cider bottles, with traditional music. The pizzas were delicious, hot cider very nice too, and apples crunchy and just sweet enough – not to mention the donuts, the best I have ever tried – just right, not greasy, homemade with wholemeal and apple cider and a touch of cinnamon. Un regal!

Mornings Q

I couldn’t run during the all quarantine at home. I injured slightly my ankle in Singapore and that got worse the first day I came back in Maine. So I decided I needed a break from running, and my outdoor workout was to climb on the top of the closest mountain, going by feet all the way. It took me about 1h 15 minutes each day, a little more when I enjoyed the view a bit longer – and took pictures. Foggy, windy, sunny, cloudy, I tried to climb every day. Refreshing it was, energizing too, and I didn’t regret, as I could also appreciate the changes in the leaves day after day… a post to come, with some magic trees….

Sunday Q-walk

Still one week to go until I can mingle a bit with friends and colleagues and do the groceries myself. But I am not going to count like I needed to do in Singapore: there is no psychological challenge before hugging my family. This quarantine is a retreat far from the civilization, that’s all. And this is how I take it – reconnecting with nature.

And it is rather easy to be caught by nature. Every time I look around the landscape looks different. Green, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, brown, the leaves are coloring fall, in harmony, with delicacy and brightness. And it is magic!

This Sunday long walk was a 4 peaks – 14km long hike, via the cove, pine forest and quarries, under the sun and the rain, and crossing the paths of only a few masked hikers. I came back home wet but reddish from the morning sun and the air, tired and looking forward to re-heating the homemade soup from yesterday, and full of colorful thoughts…

Acclimation

I am re-acclimating to Maine. The weather, the rhythm, flora and fauna, cooking, loneliness – another type of quarantine… trying to find again an equilibrium.

Today was extremely windy, and rainy, houses lost power… I was lucky, just a bit colder than the days before, but this pushed me to change my rhythm. Because it was too dangerous for an outside workout, and already too electric (!) for a strong cardio workout, I decided to begin my Qi-gong education and followed the direction of Master Thich Man Tue with the eight movements Shaolin BaDuanJin – a special recommendation of my very experienced mum! I practiced the first move, soothing the anger from the wind and calming down the entire atmosphere at home. I was refreshed and re-energenized – ready for the work day!

Once the trees lost half of their leaves, the wind finally dared to fall and blue sky appeared… It was late afternoon, time for me to decide what to do with my body; so I turned on the music – rather loud. If I would not made it radical I would have sunk in the sofa! Warm up, arms, legs, core exercises, more or less my Q-afternoon workout sequence with crunches, planks and mountain climbing… I am still listening to the latino songs, dancing and singing while the moon is ascending in the sky. Not a bad day finally!

  • Fresh salad for lunch
  • A first try: Chard bunch in omelette
  • The moon ascending…

Traveling back

Voila, after a last jump in the Singapore Strait water and thirty six hours non-stop with a face mask, I am back in Maine.

The trip back was rather uncomfortable, replacing a new mask at every plane and being quite nervous in a strange untrustful atmosphere. I couldn’t work nor sleep as much as I wanted, so I am back in Maine rather tired, jetlagged and in quarantine again…

I won’t to be able to go shopping and I won’t have the bento boxes three times a day like I had in Singapore, but I will be able to spend my day outside on the porch if I wish to, cooking what I like to eat, and feeling more free that in a little hotel room – at least!

The dark side of leaving remotely however, is that no company accepts to deliver groceries – even not Amaz** Pri**, or the supermarket of the area -, which is not really compatible with staying in quarantine! But I’m extremely fortunate to have wonderful friends and neighbors accepting to do some groceries for me and I also finally managed to get a delivery from the farm once a week, so I should really survive very well :).

On my way to the US I could see the dusty sky from the fires in California, I could see anxious people dealing with a virus that one cannot see, and who didn’t trust each other anymore, I could see scary empty airports built for a crowd, and I must admit that I was very happy to arrive, even in an isolated home invaded by other still unidentified creatures!

  • Last beach time near the Equator line
  • Los Angeles smoky sky line
  • Who’s hole is it?
  • Morning sunrise

Tropical feelings

The last three weeks have passed like a day. I have tried to incorporate myself in the routine of the family, enjoying each and every moment, including the very special tropical feelings so specific to the region. And so it went…

Coming back to Singapore – and coming out of the hotel – I instantly felt this heavy and humid atmosphere; a great feeling until you begin to spot this little drop of sweat that leaks down your spine and will certainly help turn your body into a sticky and heavy thing – unless you quickly find a temperated air-conditioned shopping mall to hide!

Nevertheless, I had a special joy to exercise outside, jumping, biking, running or just walking in the jungle among flowers I had already forgotten. For sure I didn’t encounter (yet) cobras, monkeys, monitor lizards, hornbills, or any of these blue kingfishers in Maine, and coming back to this familiar environment was kind of special – yes, I almost run on a cobra 2 times, was surprised by a baby monitor lizard during a run too, we had the visit of a couple of monkeys in the kitchen and hornbills on the balcony, and heard and saw some kingfishers in the trees around… Some animals were actually a bit too close to human activity – a consequence of the lockdown probably, as it has been described elsewhere in the news.

I enjoyed Epicurean dishes as well: delicious fruits such as papaya, mangoes and mangosteens and had succulent asian food, including Japanese sushis and sashimis.

And a very special Tropical feeling that I didn’t get to have for a while: the real fresh beer after the workout, the one you dream about and salivate way ahead!!

  • Mangosteens
  • Hornbills
  • Flowers collected from my run
  • Morning magic sky

Q-Workout Cardio routine

I spent time (and I had plenty!) developing and mastering a morning workout that would motivate me enough to continue exercising while confined in the one and only hotel room. I kind of promised it, so here it is, an amateur training that hopefully will inspire you a bit.

The workout consists of about 25 min warm up, 20 min main workout followed by 15 min warm down. The music can guide you through the exercises non stop during 1h (57 min exactly).

Warm up:

1. On “Escape 700” from The Chemical Brothers (5’16): Slow head motion, then arms (make rounds, keep them horizontally with thumb moves up for 8 counts, then down for 8 counts, then behind, etc… for about 2’), legs (this step begins when the music stop beating for a while), then back on track with a stone plank lasting until the end of the song.

2. “Pelican” (Edit) from David Guetta (3’25): begin running, run around the room, make your circle in the room a kind of meditative state; – I learned that several “Stay-at-Hotel-Notice” fellows have done a marathon during their quarantine so I integrated a 10 min running time into the warm up of the workout -.

3. “Obsessed” from Dyonoro & Ina Wroldsen (3’30): continue running in the room, just listen to the music…

4.  “Dangerous” (feat. Sam Martin, Robin Schulz Remix) from David Guetta (2’15): run around the room faster (the transition is not ideal, I don’t like the beginning but I really love the jumbe part and the last part of the song from the 1’03 timepoint).

5. “Glasgow” from David Guetta (5’14): Here you should be already quite warm, and this is going to be serious: almost nonstop intense cardio alternating with legs up, running fast at the same place, ice-skating and jumping jacks. Make a break in between if you need to drink water. 

6. “Bad guy” from Billie Eilish (3’14): Do not stop, go directly down in plank position, it is going on with great intensity…. So stay a bit in plank position, then alternate mountain climbers slow and fast, high and low plank. When the music stops and it is the jam phase, take a breath and drink a sip! get ready at the end of the song. 

Core workout:

You must be sweating already. This part of the workout is based on 8 repetitions per exercises, 4 on the right and 4 on the left side or 8 in total, each repetition consisting of 20 sec intense action and 10 sec rest. I slowly moved towards following the music once I knew I could more or less do the same intensity with the rhythm (and once I choose the music).

1. “We own it” (Fast & Furious) from 2 Chainz & Wiz Khalifa: Squats: 1 repetition slow, 1 rep slow with hands going down, then 2 rep in a row, then 2 rep resting in squat position, finish with 2 reps adding a jump. Arms can go from the horizontal front to the sides of your waist with the move.

2. “Turn me on” (feat. Nicki Minaj) from David Guetta: start in lounge, arms horizontal in front of you, the behind right leg comes up in front, foot close to your left knee, left leg gets straight at the same time, while the arms come down with clenched fists. Go back to lounge. Repeat about 10 to 12 times (during about 20 sec), rest 10 sec, and repeat this 4 times with right foot in front and 4 times with the left foot in front lounge.
At the end of this music you can take some rest drinking water and breathing and dancing. The next song is long!

3. “Panamericana” (Michel Cleis remix) from Gotan Project: When the second foghorn sounds in the song, go back to the workout with Burpees (8 x (20 sec + 10 sec rest).

4. On the same music and the following: continue with Leg kicking: put your hands on the floor, feet flat about 1 m behind; bring the right foot up and kick behind in the air above your body and tightening your but, come down at the level of the knee and repeat by kicking again. Hold your but and strengthen your core. Kick for 20 sec, rest for 10sec, and repeat this 4 times on the left side before passing by to the right side. When you master it, the kick can be done by jumping up. If this is too hard you can leave your left knee on the mat while you kick with the right leg. The song may end before you finish the 8 repetitions, but the next song has the same rhythm so it doesn’t matter. 

5. “La cruz del Sur”(Interfearance Vocal Mix) from Gotan Project: Once finished with the Leg kicking, go back on the mat. Lie on the back, and proceed with crunches (8 repetitions of 20 sec + 10 sec each, you can make it 4 slow, 4 fast or choosing 2 different crunches types. 

Warm down

Series of stretching, legs, back, with bouddha like positions, front flexibility, and the lizard position… breath, and smile.

1. “I put a spell on you” from Nina Simone: I like this music because it can refer to your loved one, but also to yourself…

2. “I’d rather go blind” from Etta James

3. “I’ve got to see you again” from Norah Jones… hope

4. “ Here comes the sun” from The Beatles CONGRATS! YOU ARE DONE! And the sun will shine soon!

Inspirations of the training was based on:

⁃ Yoga shred workouts found online (HIIT yoga shred on Facebook watch);

⁃ The fabulous workouts of Herzie and Raz at the Tiong Bahru Gym PushPullGive in Singapore, that inspired our entire family at large and prepared us for the Spartan races last year (www.pushpullgive.com);

⁃ My playlist can be found on Spotify (“Quarantine – morning workout”).

Q-Release

I was quiet for few days… I was released from the hotel quarantine;

Released to the world, to the natural air, to feel the weather, the sun, the rain, the wind; to hear the birds and insects;

Released to human activity;

Released to the family; allowed to hug and feel the warmth of your loved ones;

Enjoy freedom surrounded by precious people that I couldn’t feel for so long – Actually released from a quarantine that lasted 6 months…..