What I learned in 2019

Another year over and upon looking back on 2019 I have to say it was a good year. So many city trips and longer vacations. With friends or alone, every time I left Vienna I learned something new. But also my time at home was intense with family and friends. So much is happening all around that sometimes I just need time to myself to recharge my batteries. But as I said, it was a good year.

And to all my readers, thanks for visiting my site and coming back again and again to learn about my new adventures. I wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2020.

So here is what I learned in 2019. Yours, Pollybert

1.) Travel in new combinations. It’s a lot of fun and you get to know your friends better. I really enjoyed it this year while in Barcelona and Cyprus.

travel buddies in January 2019 @Barcelona

2.) I had an amazing grilled cheese with pulled rabbit at Kaval Rebane in Tallinn. Definitely the most memorable snack of this year.

grilled cheese with pulled rabbit @Kaval Rebane in Tallinn

3.) I got stuck on two ‘boring’, okay demanding, books and it took me forever to finish them (actually at the time of this writing I am still reading one of them). I wasn’t in the mood anymore to read until the wee hours of the night. Instead I preferred watching series and wasted away hours in front of the TV. Which is unlike me. So my resolution for 2020 is to read more entertaining books and keep the educating ones at bay.

4.) Always make time to meet your friends. Even if it is in the morning for just an hour before work. Because you want to see them now, and not later.

5.) I would like to start a petition that salt mills should be forbidden at the breakfast table. You aim for the egg and are happy to hit the plate instead. That can’t be the solution!

6.) It’s not enough to just say “I’m dinner cancelling’. I actually have to cancel my dinner. Which is so unbelievably hard.

7.) This goes hand in hand with my gym membership. I can’t believe I am still supporting them although I only managed to go there twice this year.

8.) I managed to travel every month this year and I loved it. Perversely I don’t feel ‘flygskam‘, even though I should. I vow to try better though next year.

9.) Long gone are the days when I got a grade for hand-writing. But I should definitely work on it again. As much as my postcards are appreciated, only a few can read them.

10.) Even though we already write the year 2020 I love my analog calendar. But I have learned this year that I need to support my analog calendar as well as my memory with the digital calendar. Otherwise I just forget things like number 4.

11.) The trip to Scotland in fall was epic again. Can’t wait to return and next time I will bring a friend along to this happy family outing. But actually all trips were wonderful this year, like Indonesia. And the next year is starting with interesting destinations as well.

12.) I started with Austrian sign language in March and even though my progress is limited, I am happy that I am sticking with it. But how stupid is it that there is no international sign language? That every country has its own gestures and sometimes even provinces have a special ‘dialect’. Also, you can’t write anything down but have to memorize every gesture. That’s definitely a challenge for me.

13.) ‘Old’ friends are the best friends. The ones that go way back with you and still talk to you despite knowing you forever. And love you, no matter what. Here is to many more memorable sushi nights and other events with friends, including the ones on the picture below and others who are missing on it. You know who you are.