Hello weird part of the internet. It’s me again, you might know me from a The Kiwi Diaries, a sort of travel, lifestyle diary I started when I moved to New Zealand, hence the Kiwi aspect.

Throughout the years that blog became a bit of a mix match of themes: food, travel, design, art, events, heavily focused on my Auckland years. But since then I moved to Berlin, now Spain, and who knows… future place TBC (parents don’t freak out just yet)

It didn’t seem right to continue with The Kiwi Diaries if I was not in New Zealand, no matter how I tried to force it and after a couple of years I realised that my interest had changed, and it seemed weird to suddenly talk about other things online

At the beginning of this year I said goodbye to TKD. Reasons you can read here (this would be an eternal introduction if not) and I really thought I wasn’t going to blog any more, yet…. I still find myself going back to old entries and praising myself for writing things down because now I can go back to those moments.

Therefore, it seemed quite fitting that I start this blog today, on All’ Hallows Eve, a day where (it is believed) that the dead can roam the earth again. What I mean to say is (in a bizarre choice of words), Im bringing the kiwi diaries back from the dead, with a face-lift.

Still food… still travel…still epic fails…still not sure about putting my face out there… but with new things, new interests… I hope to meet some of you along the way and if not… future ME welcome to volume 2…welcome to Jules in a Box

Until next time. – Jules

I started this blog in 2013. I had moved to New Zealand a couple of months before and I remember finding online a list of 150 things to do/visit in Auckland and I thought it would be great to try and tick as many as possible and maybe write something about it, that’s how it all started.

It was never about having people read it, and it took me a while to even post a picture of myself (I still struggle with that) I saw this blog more like a diary, to go back and remember places, and events and yummy things I ate along the way.

As time went by I started getting more and more into it, uploading 3 times a week, researching, editing and reading other blogs the rest of the days and I was happy, always thinking what else I could upload, going to blogging events, meeting a great group of girls in Auckland that were into the same ‘world’.

I don’t think I ever stressed about it, maybe because the blog never go ‘that big’, so I was able to keep it as a hobby. It did introduced me to a whole new world of things, photo editing, writing, food styling and so on, but I don’t think I was ever one of those number crunching, SEO fanatics always trying to expand and get more and more readers.

After a couple of years, I started to feel more and more disconnected to this blog, maybe it was the lack of time, maybe I wanted to enjoy more things instead of documenting them, and I think that showed… in the lack of consistency in uploading in the last couple of years.

2017 was a weird year, I’ve talked about it in one of my latest post, another move, another starting over, dealing and understanding my newly found thyroid problem I found myself only writing just to upload something, picking up projects and leaving them half way because… meh why bother?… and I realise that is awful, that goes almost against the reason I started to write here in the first place.

What I mean to say is, I think is time to say goodbye to this blog, I think we had a good run, The Kiwi Diaries opened a lot of new possibilities, introduced me to lovely people and help me travel through a new country with a different perspective, but I think I’ll leave it at that. Who knows I might write from time to time, but after 5 years and 3 countries I think is time to put the pen down (or the keyboard more like it)

If you read, have read this blog, commented or not, lurked in the shadows of the interwebz, I hope you’ve enjoyed it, I hope it made you laugh or helped you learn a new recipe, made you wunderlust or simply entertained you. Thank you and we might be meeting again. And given I started this blog with a Maori greeting…I might as well

Haere rā The Kiwi Diaries

Jules.

The next day after we got to Milan, we made our way to Milano central station and took the first train to Verona. I remember feeling a little nostalgic as the train stopped close to lake Garda, remembering that trip to Italy I did with my grandma almost 10 years ago.

We arrived at Porta Nova station and decide to walk towards the city center, we quickly arrived at Verona’s Arena but decided to keep walking through the pastel buildings.

I vividly remember my grandmother getting into a heated argument with a waiter about the difference between an americano coffee and her choice of coffee (a ristretto, in a ristretto cup, with hot water on the side) [lesson learned…you don’t mess with grandma haha] Well, we found that same café, 10 years later, still standing.

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Ohh the motherland… There is a big chance that 1.5 in every 3 Argentinians will profess his love Italy when you get to know them. Maybe it’s because most of our grandparents and great-grandparents came from Italy, maybe it’s because of our delusion that we are European and not Latin American, anyways we feel this weird bond with Italy that is hard to explain.

So, since we got to Europe I’ve tried to get Le boyfriend on a plane for an Italian weekend away.

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Ph. Jose Rains

Le father said it best, Spaniards found the secret to life: countless town parties, holidays, endless meals, breakfast on the beach, water flights between neighborhoods, siestas, food and drinks, food and drinks….and… food and drinks.

We heard about the Ruta Martiana from a friend in Berlin, and when we moved to Palma we made sure we visited it, the very next day.

Every Tuesday a series of bars in Palma’s old town organizes the Ruta Martiana (We are still discussing if the name come from Martian or Tuesday, so it would be something along the line of ‘The Tue-rtian Road’ but don’t quote me on that.) These bars offer its customers one caña (200ml beer) and one tapa for around 1 or 2 Euros.

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Last time we went to Barcelona, I made sure I’d save some time to visit the design museum. The whole city is known for its love of art and design, so I had big hopes for it.

The permanent exhibition is separated into four categories: Product Design, Decorative Arts, Fashion Design and Graphic Design, and it houses more than 70000 objects resulting of the merge of four different museums in the city. Usually they will recommend that you go to the top floor and then make your way down.

I’m not sure if the graphic design area was under construction, or meant to be expanded, but I couldn’t help but feeling a bit underwhelmed. There were so many objects in all the other areas that I wanted to see more!

Nonetheless, I still enjoyed all the floors and loved the new building.

Info:
Pl. de les Glòries Catalanes, 37-38
Opens Tues to Sun from 10am to 8pm
Permanent Exhibitions 6€
Temporary Exhibition 4€
Combined ticket 8€
Free entry every Sunday from 3pm to 8pm and the first Sunday of each month

From Wednesday until Sunday more than 30 restaurants and bars throughout Palma will come together for TaPalma 2017 an event that combines good tapas with yummy cocktails for us to enjoy.

There are several routes designed on each neighborhood with an array of eateries and bars that will offer the public with a new and special tapa and drink for the event.

Unlike past years, on Monday there was also a contest where 10 of this 30+ places competed for the best tapa and the best drink of this year’s edition. The winner, respectively were Rodrigo Vallejo from Shamrock restaurant with his tapa ‘Picnic’ and Victor Abal from MG Little Italy with his cocktail ‘Deseo de Otoño’ (Autumns wishes)

Photo: J. Fernandez Ortega

Photo: J. Fernandez Ortega

For more info, times, and a complete guide of the restaurants and its tapas visit their website here. Happy eating!

I always felt like I owed myself (and le boyfriend) another trip to Barcelona, given than the last one was literally a blur given my drunken state. So, I guess I overcompensated by travelling back to Barcelona 3 times in two months.

We didn’t stay a lot each time, but it was enough to get a quick grasp of the city (and this time I stayed far away from cocktails.) We also followed some of your suggestions on Facebook.

Barcelona Quick Guide

Don’t miss:

• Mercado La Boqueria. Yes, it will be filled with tourists, but you will find everything, from fresh Spanish ham and seafood, to fruit juices and ‘chuches’ (sweets)
• Montjuic Castle: Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday around 9pm, there’s a choreographed water show on the Montjuic fountains. And if you get there any other day, the top of the Montjuic still offers one of the best views of the city.

Look up:

• There are countless details, signs, and architectural wonders around the city.

Food and Drink:

• Tapas and Sangria. When in Spain you should never pass on a good sangria pitcher and some yummy tapas…. that you can find…everywhere.

Long way-big pay:

• Park Güell. It’s a bit away from the city center and other ‘attractions’ so you best plan for it. You should book your tickets online to make sure you’ll get in. Best sundown spot in the city.

On the first part of this post I talked about how I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, how the treatment ended with me in the other side of the spectrum: hypothyroidism.

Losing my hair and regaining my confidence

The upside of this whole ordeal, is that I was able to experience both sides of the ‘disease’ So if you come to me and said ‘Hey I have hyper…. Or hey I have hypo…’ I can say ‘I get you girl…’ The downside as you can imagine is that I experienced ALL THE SYMPTOMS haha I went from anxious and hyperactive to barely being able to get away from the couch, from sleeping all day to insomnia, and the ups and down of the scale, but the only thing that got me were the physical changes.

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Hey remember me? I know I’ve been a little MIA lately, not only here but in most of my social media platforms (besides the odd Instagram story) and I guess I have a ‘good excuse’ for it.
2017 wasn’t the best of years, it took a bit of learning, falling a bit back in love with myself to get through it and realizing that sometime is best to leave it to the professionals.
It all started around the time my parents came to visit us in Berlin, when they realized that my hands used to shake a lot and I had lost a bit of weight (but to be honest all parents are always saying you lost weight)

I used to blame it on the cold and the stress of moving countries, but when we got to Mallorca, things got considerably worse. My hands keep shaking, just a bit of sun would ‘hurt’ my eyes, I felt nervous, anxious, I couldn’t sleep, I kept losing weight even though I was basically binge eating and for some reason, every loud noise (dogs barking, cars honking, someone shouting) would scare the crap out of me, I would feel almost paranoid and fear closing doors for god’s sake.

I kept blaming it on other things: stress, that Berlin was quite dark and I needed to get used to the sun again, that I was unfit therefore my heart felt like it was trying to leave my body (alien style) when I exercised and that I never had dogs so I wasn’t used to the barking…. bulls#t like that.

Eventually Le Boyfriend forced me to go to the doctor, within a couple of seconds he made me stand up, he touched my neck and said, ‘I think you might have a thyroid problem’ Two blood tests and a scan later and I’m crying myself over a bucket of ice-cream screaming ‘WFT is a thyroid?!’

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