Skip to main content

Lockdown Activities

Most of us are having a hard time with the second round of lockdowns in many parts of the world. So we started to collect ideas for lockdown activities (thanks to everyone who answered our call on Instagram!) and share them with you. Here they are (and please feel free to add ideas in the comments):

Go Outdoors!

It's getting cold outside (at least in the northern hemisphere), but when the sun is shining (or you have proper clothes), outdoor activities are the best! We (re)discovered our love for being outdoors during our first lockdown and try to maintain it. You might not feel like leaving your warm living room, you might be exhausted afterwards, but we always feel so satisfied after a good hike or bike tour. If you live somewhere warm (or aren't like Else who is always freezing), we recommend canoeing!

Get Creative!

If you can't get yourself to go outside, start crafting something. We love painting and knitting, but you could also draw, crochet, sew, cross-stitch, or make jewelry. Write poems, short stories, or even a novel! A diary might help to sort your thoughts and channel your emotions.

Move Your Body!

If it's too cold outside, but you still want to move your body, you can also exercise in the warmth of your home—use your own routines or find some online. Else loves yoga and finally convinced Ilse to join her. And we always end our session with meditation which never fails to remove at least some tension. Our newest find: dance tutorials on YouTube. We started learning waltz this weekend and had so much fun! (Plus: unlike real dance classes, you can dance in your socks and have a drink in between lessons.) If you have a video game console, use it for playful workouts!

Play!

Or you just use it for regular video games. If you live with someone, play board games! We started Legends of Andor, a cooperative adventure board game with tons of extensions, during our first lockdown and we are still playing. We also recommend the cooperative board game The Lord of the Rings and the strategical one Catan (they have a two-player version!). One of you suggested the New York Times crossword puzzle and we would also add jigsaw puzzles. There is so much out there—we are sure you'll find a playful distraction you'll enjoy! 

Use Your Kitchen!

Bake bread, cake, cookies. Cook a delicious dish you love, try an eccentric recipe, create something new. It tastes so much better if you make it yourself! You'll know exactly the ingredients used and if you bake or cook for fun, it usually is fun. And this comes from the mediocre cooks.

Binge-Watch That Show, Read That Book!

Sometimes, we just want to hang on our sofa and consume. And to help you find the good LGBTQ+ content (or the one we enjoy), we just published a page with our favorite queer books, movies, and shows. If you can't decide which book to read, you could start with these recommendations we published a while ago. In this blog post, we reviewed a selection of queer BIPoC media. And if you want to watch some heartwarming movies, we recommend these romantic movies about older people—no LGBTQ+ content here, but a friend suggested Cloudburst afterwards and you shouldn't miss it!

Nap!

If nothing of the above suits you: take a nap.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

When Our Worlds Turned Upside Down

We recently told you that we got lucky enough to  meet on Tinder . We were texting each other for about two weeks when we finally had our first date at Else's favorite Thai restaurant in Cologne. We didn't make a reservation because the restaurant is often quite empty during the week. But not this time. So we decided to try a Burmese restaurant that both of us didn't know. (We were relieved when we realized that both of us need to use GoogleMaps to find places nearby.) The restaurant still has nostalgic values for us. Eight days later, we went on our second date.  (We can't believe that there was a time we voluntarily spent eight days without each other!) Ilse had never been to Cologne's Sculpture Park, an open air art gallery with new exhibitions every other year, so Else planned a date exploring the park and the area around it. It was just a week before carnival so she brought Berliners (filled pastry particularly popular during carnival) filled with egg liqu...

Cochem: A Few Days in the German Countryside

Cochem is a place in the German countryside, in Rhineland-Palatinate. Although it is a district seat, it is rather small with about 5,000 inhabitants. Although it is probably easiest to arrive by car, traveling by rail is convenient as well. And as you know: we will always prefer to travel sustainably! We had booked a vacation home with a surprisingly comfortable Murphy bed (our first time in a Murphy bed!) and a little kitchen. Although Cochem had almost no COVID-19 cases when we visited, we nevertheless wanted to be careful and a place where we could make our own food was a perfect solution. But although it rained a lot, we luckily could enjoy a few patios. Cochem lies at the Moselle and is part of the Mosel wine region. The Mosel wines are amongst the best (if not the best) wines in Germany and the local/regional wines in Cochem were delicious. Since Cochem is a popular town for tourists and day visitors, there were lots of restaurants. But this popularity also meant that prices wer...

Welcome to Else & Ilse!

Welcome, dear visitors, to Else & Ilse . We invite you to look around, leave a comment or write a message, and come back in the future. A few months ago, we started an Instagram account where we share our 'adventures.' It started out as an account mainly for our travels and explorations, but it soon became more: we began sharing pictures and stories about everything important to us: intersectional feminism, queer rights and visibility, body positivity, and books! Here are some individual introductions that we would use to describe each other (not conclusive): Ilse is big-hearted (including frightening insects), emphatic, spontaneous, perfectly insane, funny, book loving, smart, adventurous, strong, open, curious, badass feminist, gorgeous, and a traveling superheroine. Else is so glad she chose to be with her! Else is a dinosaur-loving, gorgeous Wonder Woman! She is funny, so caring, considerate, sweet with the most gorgeous smile and a life changer, because...