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Published: October 24th 2009
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Water
... in the beautiful park in Kassel Ever tried travelling on crutches? I did. It requires some logistics and is exhausting, but it works. And I was glad to get moving again.
The first Saturday in September, I travelled to Bonn to see my friends Katrin, Simone, and Anke. I went by train, and as I needed my hands for my crutches, I took two backpacks for my luggage and carried one in my front and one in my back. My friends picked me up at the Bonn train station, and we had a great day together. The next day, which was a Sunday, I participated in a triathlon relay with the three girls and some of my former colleagues from the Bonn office. There were five teams of colleagues altogether. The triathlon consisted of 500m swimming, 20km cycling, and 5km running. Fortunately, I had been supposed to do the swimming part even before breaking my leg, and so I could participate. And in spite of having had only four training sessions, I did pretty well, it took me 11 minutes and 42 seconds to swim the 500 metres. I was pretty proud of myself. The bigger challenge was to hobble to the far-away spot where my
Lake
... in the beautiful park in Kassel friend Katrin was waiting with her bike. I had to go there to pass the team button on to her. But I made that, too. We didn't do too bad altogether.
After the presentation ceremony, my friend Katrin dropped me off at the nearby train station, and I caught a train to Aachen to stay with my friends Hetty and Stefan for a week. I had a five day workshop in Cologne, about one hour from Aachen. So I travelled from Aachen to Cologne by train every morning, and back to Aachen in the evening. So the three of us had time together in the evenings, which was great. The training was very interesting and inspiring. It is called "Train the Trainer", and participants are taught how to hold trainings effectively. Too soon, the week was over, and I travelled back home by train.
Only two days later, my mum and I left for an Ayurvedic retreat to the city of Kassel. Ayurveda comes from India. The Sanskrit word "Ayurveda" means something like "life science", and it is a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle. It combines nutrition, physical and mental exercise. You find more information on Ayurveda
Pavilion
... in the beautiful park in Kassel here.
We did a Pancakarma treatment which is supposed to take all kinds of poison out of your body. I think there were heaps of poison somewhere within me, like anaesthetics, painkillers, antibiotics, and I was looking forward to getting rid of it all. A treatment like that is really exhausting. The first three days, we had to drink ghee (purified butter) in the mornings instead of having breakfast. For lunch and dinner, we only got soup with rice and veggies. During these days, I didn't do much except for reading, sleeping, and eating. On the fourth day, we got a one-hour massage that was provided by two women - that was good! Afterwards, we were taken to a steam bath. On the fifth day, we had to take a laxative. After a two day break, we got four enemas within four subsequent days. Apart from all that, we ate lovely Ayurvedic food (which is vegetarian) every day, and we got lots of massages (head, legs, feet, body). I also got some special treatment for my broken leg. Apart from reading a lot and meditating, I went out into the most beautiful park just a couple of minutes from
Fountain
... in the beautiful park in Kassel our hotel as often as possible. I could not walk too far, though, as I was still on crutches.
We went home after two weeks, knowing that it would take a while until we would be able to feel an effect of the treatment. We had the poison out of our bodies, but we would have to build them up. So we would have to stick to a strictly Ayurvedic diet for at least three weeks, and apart from that, we were supposed to take things slowly.
I did have a calm week, then drove down to Tegelberg for a day in order to attend the
FreeFlight, a hanggliding and paragliding fair. I saw my friends Regina and Rebi there, which was fantastic, but I also saw my friends Iris and Toni, my flight instructor Dirk with his family, and many others. I even met Daniel, the paraglider pilot I had flown a lot with in Manilla last year. Small world!
The following weekend, I was in Cologne again in order to participate in the second part of my "Train the Trainer" training. This time, I stayed with my cousin Petra and her family. Good to see
Waterfall
... in the beautiful park in Kassel them again! And last weekend, I went to another seminar in Königswinter, not far from Bonn.
By the way, I got rid of my crutches about three weeks ago. The leg still hurts a lot, and I can't walk far yet, and I'm still hobbling around pretty much. But at least I don't need the crutches any more, so I'm all happy about that. I do a lot of physio again, three to five times per week, and hopefully I will get fit soon. When I'm not travelling around or doing physio, I try to get as much work done as I can. And there is more than enough. Suppose that is why it took me so long to let you know what I'm up to. And I better continue working - I'll let you know the latest news again, promise.
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