Muscle Memory

I'm trying my best to keep a positive outlook on things here, but it's not always easy.  My home here is bordered by fields and stables to the North, and the beautiful "Schönbuch Naturpark" forest to the East. I could not have asked for a better location. I'm the type of person who will go crazy without some sort of nature around me. I like cities as well, but not without an escape into the wild...

I guess living in Hawaii really satisfied my needs for some green, without depleting me of a little city life. Tübingen is also perfect. I have to go into the city (more like town) every day. I take the bus. I go grocery shopping. But every evening, I get to walk through the fog and smell a mixture of horses and wet trees.. mmm :)

Hiking became one of my favorite pastimes over the years. I exploited many of O'ahus's trails until they became a routine for me. (Routine not meaning that I lost pleasure in hiking them!) I guess hiking was one of my biggest hobbies.. I love that feeling of being on top of a mountain, of having made it to the top. The view of what's below is always such a special experience. My favorite (rather short) hike was the Mariner's Ridge Trail in Hawaii Kai. I lived right around the corner and could do it every day if I wanted. There was a point last year, where I would be on top of that mountain 3 times a week. But the view never ceased to amaze me.

Now that I'm away from my home, I need to find some new trails to explore, and I have them right in my   backyard. The only problem is, it's SO cold.

My longing to go hiking, to move myself in some way, is pretty much crushed by the temperatures outside. I know that -2 to 6 isn't THAT cold.. but I still feel so chilled to the bone and numb that I can hardly wait at the bus stop for 10 minutes without feeling like curling up in fetal position and shaking.

I guess my idea of hiking has always been: shorts and t-shirt, tight, brown skin from the sun, covered in wonderful salty sweat, breathing the refreshing humid wind air.. I can't describe it.

Tradewinds

Mountains

Sweat

Browned skin

Air

Moisture

GREEN

view of the ocean

muscles that feel so good

The two times I've hiked here have been.. meh. Cold feet on one side, but too hot, and bundled up on the other side. I want to be FREE when I hike. That's the whole purpose... to achieve that liberating feeling of being so closely connected with nature.

I miss home on days like these, where I just want to get out and breathe, and move myself. Sadly the cold air hurts my lungs and dries out my skin and makes me want to sleep...

I can't wait until the spring or summer, when I can actually go out into these beautiful woods by my house and see what they have to offer...