Hello Steemit world! Let's be friends!

Hi guys! Welcome to my introduction post! I joined Steemit to express myself, to meet new people around the globe and most importantly just have fun. So here are some things about me, what I like and what I do.

My name is Valentyna, originally from Ukraine, moved to Cyprus 6 years ago and never looked back. I have a Bachelor degree in English and do occasional freelance translation work. Eight months ago I got interested in programming and since then I made some baby steps in frontend development, been involved in two projects so far. It is going slow and difficult but I am not giving up. I have amazing tutor who happens to be my husband so this is a great opportunity to do something new. For now I am learning and working with Vue framework.

Things that I love and things that make me “me”

Travelling. I absolutely love travelling, the excitement of planning the new itinerary, exploring new places, cities, nature beauties. All of those just make me feel alive and happy. And there is one thing about travelling that I love the most - you never come back the same person! It is a great chance to reboot, refresh, see new perspective in life and your true priorities. But I also love coming back home - I am not one of those people who wanna live in travel.
So far I’ve been to 15 countries and I stayed to live in one of them! My last trip was this May to Austria.

Not far from Stuiben waterfall, Austria

Krimml waterfall, Austria

Tea. No, I don’t drink coffee. Yes, I prefer tea. Yes, people like me exist! I think I can easily open my own tea house with all my grand selection of teas. That’s why I don’t go to local tea cafes because they simply don’t have as many kinds of tea as I do! I drink tea even in the hot Cyprus summer.

Sea. I cannot imagine myself living in a place without sea or ocean. Sea is always different and you can get all kinds of benefits from it. It can be soothing, uplifting or energizing. And I never get tired of going for a walk by the sea. Some years ago my biggest dream was to see the ocean and it came true in Deauville, France. It was very emotional experience. Then it was trip to USA with two oceans and I never stopped ever since.

Cyprus

My cat. My husband and I adopted a cat almost two years ago and she is the most loving creature and pet I have ever had. It was very difficult to choose a cat in a shelter with over 500 cats in it so we came up with a funny solution. We left the cat carrier open to see if someone will go inside. They say that when adopting a pet you don’t choose them, they choose you. And she chose us and I’ve never been happier. When I read stories about people who bring back their pets to the shelter after 1 or 2 or 3 years of being together I absolutely cannot imagine how they do it. There is no way I am gonna leave my cat behind. Even if I decide to move to some other country, I’m taking her with me because she is part of the family.

Meditation. I am a huge fan of Calm app, it helped me in so many ways so far. I think mental health and psychosomatic symptoms are still underestimated by traditional medicine. But this is where the root of many problems lies and to get to the bottom of it you need to be open and brave. Mindfulness meditation is one of the best and always available tools to help you with that. And good news it that you don’t need to become a Buddhist monk to practice it.

Me trying to meditate and my cat doing some cat yoga

Healthy food. I absolutely love cooking healthy meals. This is one of my passions. I don’t really like labels about what kind of food you choose. I personally support eating whole plant-based food and ditch processed food as much as possible, both vegan and non-vegan. When you live in Mediterranean country with lots and lots of quality seafood you just can’t stay away from it. Well, at least I can’t and don’t want to. Despite my love for seafood and fish I have a lot of plant-based recipes that I make on daily basis including raw desserts and smoothies. The love of my life (besides my husband) is avocado. And I get really cranky when I have to wail for days or for weeks for avocado to get ripe. And when it is ripe I don’t cook for days because I just eat avocado in all kinds of ways - salads, sauces for pasta, guacamole.

Red mullet in Cyprus fish tavern

Vegan bowl in Cyprus vegan café

So, what kind of writing am I going to do? Well, mostly about my travels with lots of my original photos and food recipes. And maybe something else, I just go with the flow. Enjoy!