A day not so bad

Hello everybody!! My name is Fabio and I do triathlon. Today I will tell you what happened to me on Vao beach in Vigo when I was 16 years old. I participated in the Aquathlon which is a sport in which two disciplines are combined running and swimming, as it was bad weather and it started to rain it was decided to change the original order of the competition (running-swimming running) And it would be putting together the two distances of running and doing them at the end after swimming.

The first thing was to meet Gomez Noya, then all my colleagues competed each in his category. I was the last of my Club to compete, because I was the senior (cadet). I prepared to compete and left my things to run on the transition site; it is very important to be agile and to have everything ready in a transition.

Just at that moment it started raining and we arrived at the shore to enter the sea. When I entered the sea that was about 13 degrees, I realized that I was freezing, I had given hypothermia, I tried to swim, but I was not advanced and I was breathing very badly, I still had 500 meters ahead and the race on foot that was 4 km. I was about to leave, but I set out to finish it, swimming slowly and then running, when I swam I realized my body was frozen, but I was not breathing so forced.

 I finished swimming, I put on my shoes and I ran the 4 km, I finished running and at the finish line was Gomez Noya prepared to put the medal; I know that they gave it to all the participants..., but only a few can say that he gave us a medal, a five-time world champion.

The meaning of ballet for me

 Hello everybody,

Taking advantage of this opportunity to talk about something that is significant for you, I have decided to do it about one of my passions, so today I am going to talk about ballet.

When I was little I was a very shy girl, it was difficult for me to interact with other children but the worst thing was to express my feelings. One day a friend of my mother recommended to my parents that they encourage me to try some extracurricular activity or some sport to express myself in some way and thus gain a little autonomy.

After a while one afternoon after school, my best friend's mother told me if that same afternoon I wanted to go with her to see a ballet festival in which my best friend danced and I excitedly said yes. At 8, Lourdes came to pick me up and I remember today as if it were yesterday the whole performance. I got home very happy and told my parents that I had a great time, I had liked it a lot and that I would like to try it.

The following week, my mother called the academy to find out and so they decided that I could go try a class whenever I wanted in my friend's grade and if I liked it I could officially start next year. And so it was, from that day on when I was 6 years old, ballet became an escape route for me. I remember that I started very nervous because I didn't know how to do anything, but that's the way it is at the beginning. At the end of this first class the teacher, Maite spoke with my parents and told them that she had been very surprised, that she really had qualities for dance and that she could tell that I liked her and made an effort.

Today and after so many years I continue to practice ballet where I was born, in Cangas. It really is a way for me to disconnect and vent when I need it, it is something that favored me positively and that I will continue to do as a hobby until I can. It has become a part of me.

PRE-DIABETES

 

Since I was very young I have been too nervous, which led to me being diagnosed with nervous pre-diabetes at the age of 6.

It's true that compared to diabetes, it's much easier to manage because you just need to keep it under control, without any medication.

Well, when I have this uncontrolled blood sugar level, it is very difficult to carry out any kind of activity, whether physical or mental, the headache is horrendous, the vision is very limited and everything you see is blurred and the body is tired. The next day the head still hurts and therefore it is three times more difficult to study, as the level of concentration falls completely, so it’s more difficult to perform any kind of mental task.

 

I always carry a machine with me to check my blood sugar level, although over the years, I have learned to differentiate when it is a sugar high or a low, the symptoms are more or less the same, but when it is a low, my hand shakes a little, and when it is a high, I have a horrible pain in my left eye and it is difficult to speak, the only thing I want in those cases is sleep, and since I have no insulin to regulate my sugar level, I have to walk (which at those moments is impossible for me) and drink water. (One of the symptoms of high blood sugar is being extremely thirsty.)

When my blood sugar rises when I'm sleeping, it's more dangerous, because if I don't notice it, it can end badly.

This situation has happened to me only a few times considering that I have been like this since I was very young. When this happens, I have very strong nightmares, and I wake up with very dry lips, as if I had glue on them and I couldn't open them, and, as you can understand, I don't want to walk around the house at 4 a.m to lower my blood sugar level, but, as I said, I have no other options.

Having low blood sugar makes it easier to regulate it, as all I have to do is take glucose or sugar pills. (or drinking Aquarius, the love of my life when I'm not wearing glucose at this moment).

(I want to clarify that these are the symptoms that I have, each person is different and other people may have different symptoms than mine).

Over the years I have been able to control all that, but a year ago I have had a problem: THE PANDEMIC.

I am a person who needs to have a routine, who needs to have everything under control, and with the pandemic (and another series of problems) the cycle starts again.

So I have to learn to control all this again! may the force be with me!💪

 

Fibromyalgia, The Invisible Disease

With this entry I would like to give visibility to one of the many chronic diseases that exist and that we probably don't know about until someone around you suffers from it. In this case I am talking about fibromyalgia.

What is fibromyalgia?

As I said before, fibromyalgia is a chronic disease which affects the muscles and bones, usually accompanied by other things such as dizziness, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome or chronic fatigue (the most common).

The causes of this disease are not known and there is no specific medication for it. Sufferers are given anti-inflammatory medicines and relaxants, and are advised to do gentle physical exercise (such as going for a walk).

It is quite a diverse disease, as each person can be affected in a different way. For example, if I ask the member of my family who suffers from it, this person tells me that it is a constant and stabbing pain, it generates a lot of tiredness (fatigue) and when she notices it most is in the mornings because she wakes up with stiffness in her bones. She also suffers from insomnia and dizziness. 

Here is a video that explains what fibromyalgia is very well (It's in Spanish, so please put English subtitles if you don't get them by default)

Our family experience

It is difficult to see someone you love in a bad way, because you never know how they are going to get up, as there are days when they are fine, days when they are bad, days when they are regular and days when they can't get out of bed, which means that you can't make many long term plans.

What is really important is to be there when she needs something, to support her and encourage her to go out or do things, but always taking into account how she is.

Here in Ourense, there is an association called AFFOU, in which people suffering from this disease meet and do activities such as dancing, group psychology, laughter therapy (the best medicine). I have always thought that the fact of going there helps them to cope better, because at the end, they are people who suffer from almost the same thing and they understand and support each other.

Image taken from: https://www.farodevigo.es/ourense/2019/05/11/victimas-dolor-ve-15696575.html

                                 

I would like to end this entry with a phrase that the doctor once said to this person and that I liked so much that whenever I am asked about it, I always say it to explain it:

"You are really well, the only thing you needed were some new bones and muscles".

DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU DO

 

 

Hi everybody! This Sunday I'm going to talk to you about 

my true passion: teaching.

Since I was a child, I already knew that I wanted to be a 

teacher. 

That is why four years ago when I had to choose what type 

of studies to do, I knew that my future was linked to children. 

Teach them but also learn from them.

This year has been a year of great personal growth. 

After several years studying and striving to acquire concepts 

that allow me to carry out the best possible teaching 

performance, I was able to put all my knowledge into practice 

through the practicum.

The practicum has been so far the best professional experience 

I have had in my entire life.

I came to school eager to exploit my full potential and to learn 

from my classmates and students. But I also came to school 

with fears, fear of being wrong, of not doing my job well and 

of realizing that what I thought was my passion wasn't really.

I wasn't wrong. What I always believed would be my passion, 

it was. I enjoyed every minute and every second that I spent there. 

Every day was a different day in which I put myself to the 

test: new challenges and new difficulties that I successfully overcome.

The daily learning and especially the relationship between the students 

and me made this experience a very enriching journey.

From the first moment, the relationship with the students was very close. 

I became a very important support figure for them by helping and guiding 

them throughout the process.

But what they don´t know is that they were a key piece in all this 

professional and personal learning. Each of them knew how to reach 

my heart in the most beautiful way possible: through innocence.

In all those months, we created an incredible bond becoming a 

great family. 

They will always be part of me. They are my first students and that is

never forgotten. I just hope that they keep the best memory they can 

have of a teacher from me and that those twenty-four little angels 

always have me in their hearts.

 

 

 

 

The best decision ever

Since I was a child I absolutely enjoyed going to summer camps and I went to some almost every year. But it wasn’t until three years ago that I realised that spending time at summer camps was something that I wanted to do for some more years (at least this is what I think nowadays, but the future it may change). Currently, there are not so many facilities for adults to go to camps, so I decided to do a monitor course. What I didn’t expect was that it was going to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I started it in October and finished it in December. The organization where I did the course is called ESTOU and it is one of the activities that the University offers to students. I made a lot of friends there, we had dinners together and also parties. The theory part of the course changed my mind completely and made me a more extrovert and open-minded person.

When I finished the theory part of the course, I decided to do the practise in summer. I decided to go to a play centre that was near my house and also the owner was a very good friend of my aunt, so I was really excited about going there. Unfortunately, Coronavirus arrived before I was able to start the practices, but it didn’t stop me from doing them. I started on 27th of July and ended them on 9th of September. My schedule was from 9 am to 2 pm and although I’m not very keen on getting up early, the effort I had to make was nothing compared to the desire of going there. This was the shirt that I had to wear.

Due to the pandemic, they were more or less 16 kids in the camp of ages from 3 to 14 (usually they used to be around 60 children) and there were only two monitors, an older girl and me, but the relationship with her was also amazing. The first day I was VERY VERY nervous, but as the time was passing, I felt a really strong connection with almost all the children. That bond became so strong that the day the camp ended, we all started crying and I felt so bad for them because I knew I wouldn’t be able to see them everyday. 

Everything changed when Easter holidays arrived and the owner of the centre wanted me to go again and to be part of the monitor team for that week. I was so happy and glad because I had the opportunity to spend more time with them once more. We did a lot of activities such as: pool days, going to the park, magic tricks and contests, they really enjoyed this last one because they were the protagonists. These are only part of the letters they wrote to me.

I don’t know what I’m going to do this summer yet, but with no doubt, I will do my best to go there again and to see my little boys and girls. As I said at the beginning, being a monitor was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I wish I could keep on working as what I really like.

I also want to encourage you all to try to do new things like these one, I'm sure that most of you would enjoy such a great experience the same way as I do.