2 more days and then I'm off!

2 days until departure and I am off the coffee already

I’m a last minute kind of girl so you can just guess how things are looking over here, after 2 months in Finland and with 2 days until my China departure… Yes, I am more of less panicking. Panicking over deadlines (why did I leave everything until that very last minute?!), over how bad my Chinese has gone, about all the things I still have to do: some essential must-bring-because-cannot-get-in-China-shopping (mainly food or hygiene products), a serious clean up (this place looks like a war zone!), packing (how am I going to fit all my stuff into my suitcase? Oh, the usual pain) and then I have about 1 million papers to fill, some job applications to send, some friends to see/call/say goodbye to, and, not to be forgotten, a job to finish!

I’ve had so much in my head during these last few days that I haven’t been able to fall asleep at night (and I really tried everything! Went to bed super tired, read a book, changed my sheets, took a shower, drank some water, put my head where I normally have my feet, counted backwards from 347 and so on… still, I couldn’t fall asleep!). Then I’ve gotten a rash all over my legs, plus a blister in my mouth –all the typical signs of me being maybe a tad bit stressed.

I figured a power walk could do me some good when I got home today after work, so I put on some training clothes and went out there. Although, once I was out there walking and saw all the runners around me I got even more stressed. Going back to China. Not In Shape. At All. AT ALL! That was not how it was supposed to be!!

So, I glanced down at my sprained ankle, thinking: “I have now been walking without the ankle support for a few days now and that has been going well… I’ve even started taking the stairs everyday rather than the elevator.. but could I really… run? Well… I don’t know. Maybe not. But… nothing wrong with trying, right?”

Nope. Nothing wrong with trying. 40 minutes later I came home, exhausted. Legs feeling like jelly. But mind felt as if I had just flown to another planet. The planet of feeling good and de-stressed. Think how easy it can be sometimes.

But, best of all. I ran! I did it! My foot didn’t hurt and I ran for 40 minutes without stopping. Sure, we are not talking any Bai Xue marathon speed here, oh no no, I was more like a senior woman out jogging. (On flat ground only. I didn't dare the forest) But who cares? Not me anyways. Main thing is that the foot held up.

Now the ankle is quite swollen, but it doesn’t hurt. I take that as a good sign.

And, funny thing is that after that run I sat down and went through about 90% of all the papers I had to go through, sent some emails that have just been waiting to be sent, cooked myself some nice food (yes, cooked, not de-frosted) and felt rather good about everything. Now I am just waiting for a night of good sleep and then I am ready to deal with the rest!

China, here I come!