torstai 31. joulukuuta 2020

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta 2021!


 

Huh! Oletteko selvinneet tästä vuodesta? Takana on haastavat ja varmasti historiallisesti merkittävät ajat, jollaisia toivottavasti ei tarvitse kokea kovin montaa vuotta putkeen. Minun elämäni ainakin mullistui normaalista matkusteluaikataulustani etätöihin ja etäkoulun pitämiseen, välillä kolmellekin oppilaalle. Meillä oli kotona siis nelosluokka, kutosluokka ja AUT 2 luokka... Joku saattaisi kysyä, että miten sain mitään aikaiseksi, mutta jotenkin koronavuosi on ollut jopa töiden puolesta tavallista ahkerampi: Hankehakemuksia lähti parin kymmenen luokkaa; Ohjattuja opinnäytetöitä valmistui kandeja 18 ja gradujakin 8. Sen lisäksi julkaisimme muutamia tieteellisiä artikkeleja ja sain vaativan Horisontti 2020 hankkeeni 'LEA':n kunnialla purkkiin heinäkuun lopussa. Huh mikä vuosi töissäkin! 

Korona vaikutti arkeemme siten, että Juhan työt olivat keväällä totaalisen seis ja hän muuttikin jo maaliskuussa iloksemme takaisin Jyväskylään kokoaikaisesti. Tuntui ikävältä luopua Tampereen kämpästä, koska sinne ehti 1,5 vuoden aikana tulla jo kivoja muistoja mutta kyllä yhdessä asumisessa on selvästi enemmän hyviä kuin huonoja puolia. Syksyllä isommat lapset alkoivat myös olla meillä enemmän, mikä tietysti on ollut meille suuri ilo! Lasten kanssa on puuhailtu kaikenlaista leipomisesta luisteluun, retkeilyyn ja pulkkamäkeen. Ihanaa kun ovat vielä sen ikäisiä, että tykkäävät tehdä yhdessä juttuja. Nautin tästä ajasta <3.

Koko vuosi on siis mennyt kotoillessa. Toki pahimman epidemiatilanteen väistyessä kesällä lomailimme Juhan kanssa autoilemalla Balttian halki Puolaan saakka. Valitettavasti Valko-Venäjälle meno olisi vaatinut passin. Se oli ihana irtiotto kotiarjesta meidän lomatyylillä eli nokkakohti tuntematonta ja katsotaan hauskimman tai hassuimman näköinen majoitus illaksi samana aamuna tien päältä. Kiitos airbnb:n yövyimme muunmuassa puuhun rakennetussa pikkutalossa ja oikeassa noitamökissä keskellä pilvipeltoa. Vuoden muita seikkailuita ovat olleet retket Pyhähäkin, Hiidenportin, Rokuan ja Helvetinjärven kansallispuistoihin J:n kanssa. Lapset vietiin Hitonhaudalle kävelylle ja yövyttiin (jäädyttiin) mökin pihalla teltoissa kun se oli heidän toiveensa ollut. 

Syksyllä toteutui myös suurimpia haaveitani, josta kirjoittelen toisessa postauksessa tammikuun alussa. Lopulta sanoisin, että vuosi on ollut rankka, mutta olen nauttinut ajasta lasten kanssa kotona ja Juhan kainalossa sohvalla. Olen saanut matkustaa niin paljon elämäni aikana, että tuntuu mukavalta se, että välillä saa olla ihan kotonakin. Työssä kaipaan sosiaalista aspektia kyllä kovasti ja Teams & Zoom palaverit eivät voi koskaan sitä paikata täysin. Silti uudenlaisessa arjessa on ollut monia positiivisiakin puolia kuten se, että univajetta on ollut vähemmän ja on voinut viettää enemmän aikaa läheisten kanssa.

Näin vanhan ja uuden vuoden tienoilla minulla on jo vuosikausia ollut tapana muistella edellistä vuotta ja tehdä uuden vuoden suunnitelmia ja lupauksia. Tänäkin vuonna teen sen tänne blogiin englanniksi niinkuin tapanani on.

Aikaisemmat vuodet blogissa:

So that's how far back it goes!

Muistelutapani on vuonna 2007 kehittelemäni standardimeemi 40 kysymystä viime vuodesta. Tänäkin vuonna vastaan niihin englanniksi. Kuvituksena perinteiseen tapaan instagrammin "Best Nine" vuoden huippuhetkiä... Tämän vuoden Top Nine instassa ei anna kovin hyvää kuvaa vuodesta vaikka toki tykätyin kuva olikin piste iin päälle LEA-projektissa, mikä kieltämättä oli tärkeimpiä saavutuksiani tänä vuonna. Vuoden highlightseja siinä näkyy kylläkin - reissultamme Balttiasta ja Lontoosta ystävien kanssa, kihlauksen kaksvuotispäivän kesädinneri kotosalla, hengailuja lasten kanssa marjametsässä ja joulukorttia. Olen ollut vähemmän ja vähemmän aktiivinen instagramiin kuvien postailija ja tähän toki syynä ovat kätevät stoorit, joita tykkään itsekin katsoa enemmän kuin kuvia. Olisi kuitenkin mukava katsella ehkä hieman kattavampaa otosta ensi vuodesta, joten täytyy pitää tämä mielessä.

Mutta sitten asiaan: Vietämme Uutta Vuotta tänäkin vuonna lasten, Juhan ja ystävien kanssa. Illalla on tarkoitus viedä muksut ampumaan muutamia raketteja - itse kaupungin ilotulitushan on peruttu. Toivon kaikille mahtavaa uutta vuotta 2021!


/Summing up my year of 2020, once again in English. I do this every year, just like Charlie Brooker, except you know - not funny...

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?

Wore a mask to Lidl? Took a Covid-19 test? Worked from home most of the year? I guess these similar answers are on most people's charts this year.

2. Did you keep you New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I always make some resolutions and I was successful in most of them yes:) I make a more detailed account of this whenever I write about next year's resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! My cousin had a baby girl in the beginning of December. My longtime friend had a baby boy. Also my work colleague had a boy. There has been some babies this year.

 4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes Sasa died suddenly in August. <3.

5. What countries did you visit?
 
Well I did manage to visit UK (London) with friends and Belgium for work before the COVID-19 hit and we drove through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland with Juha during the summer, but that is still the least amount of countries that I have been to in the late years. More than most I guess.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?
Freedom to see friends and travel. I guess that's obvious.

7. What date from 2020 will remain attached upon your memory, and why? 19.10 was a pretty significant day in my life but I'm not ready to reveal why yet.

 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I think just surviving this year is a big achievement, don't you? But also I think finishing LEA project with good grades was miraculous. My biggest achievement happened in October.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I have occasionally failed to communicate well. I guess I feel that one of my failures was to be quite gullible in one work matter which lead me to be used.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes I fell on our trampoline and stretched a tissue around my knee. I was using a harness for like 6 weeks thanks to that.

 11. What was the best thing you bought?
Investments - I have been investing heavily this year also due to the fact that not so much money went into traveling. However my biggest and best investment was for a healthcare service.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I could list a pretty similar list of people here every year. I have a great support network of family and friends who can step in if help is needed. I think I have had an easier year than many others, but I'd still like to thank you people around me. Above all Juha, who tolerates my lacks of skill in kitchen cleaning; brings coffee to bed and takes care of me even when I have odd requests. He has repeatedly told me this year: "You don't have to do everything by yourself, you know."

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I am pretty sure that the person who has acted this way can recognize herself without me putting her name here.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Housing, food, investing and healthcare. Putting money to work is addictive.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about 
I made a plan to become a millionaire by the age of 60. That is a pretty exciting plan.

16. What song will always remind you of 2020?
Into the Unknown

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. happier or sadder? Happier
II. thinner or fatter?  Fatter
III. richer or poorer? Richer
 
Same answers every year

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Delegation

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I am pretty content of my year. I guess I could have missed a bottle or two of wine in the Spring.

 20. How did you spend Christmas?
We spent the Christmas eve at home with family - it was so much fun. We had three guests: My brother, Juha's mother and the bigger kids' mother. My brother was a very funny stand-up Santa who came in twice as he had forgotten to come the previous year. We did do excessive cooking Juha and I on the day before - I suppose after all the Christmasses in England, my standards for Christmas dinner are quite high and mean a lot of labor! Otherwise we spent Christmas just the two of us on the couch watching netflix - blissful! - on Boxing day we went for Juha's mother for porridge and saw my relatives at Timo's place. Good combination of family plus chill time. Apparently even for Christmas haters it was a 'tolerable Christmas'.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020?
mmm yes.

24. What was your favorite tv programme?
We have lately been watching a lot of series: Expanse, The flight attendant, His Dark Materials, Undoing, Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful, Raised by wolves (which really was not that good)...   But Survivor season 40 in the Spring! OMG! That was sooooo good. All winners. Saved my quarantine for sure. I would also listen to endless amounts of podcasts that speculated the turns of events while it happened. So in some ways this is probably my choice for the best tv programme. Best winner in Tony, but Zoom finale - I mean come on!?! Even though it was so cool to see Jeff's garage.
    
25. Do you hate anyone now that you did not hate this time last year?
Hating is so pointless.

26. What was the best book you read?
Millionaire Realestate Investor was phenomenal

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
In the Spring I listened to a lot of Disney tunes... But I don't think I discovered a lot. I have not listened to much music this year to be honest. It's all podcasts.

28. What did you want and get?
A Second Chance

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I've been to the cinema once to see the Tenet, which was good, so I guess that.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 39. I spent the day at home - had Indian for supper and went for a walk. In the beginning of March, I celebrated my birthday at the last possible hour before all world closed for COVID-19.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Without COVID-19 Pandemic - doh!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
Haha you mean sweat pants and comfy shirts. Extremely comfortable.
 
34. What kept you sane?
Well, I have been seeing a therapist regularly now which helps. But I am going to say walks and talks with a lot of different friends who have been walking and talking with me this year: Kirsi, Jaana, Matti, Esa, Kaisa, my mother, Ritva, Juuli...
 
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Brandon Turner, who you probably havent even heard of but he is a realestate investor and podcaster who lives in Maui. I've learned so much from him this year.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
COVID-19

37. Who did you miss?
I miss those friends and family members who I can't visit thanks to the world situation right now.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Riikka Pullola my son's phenomenal new Speech therapist.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020:
Life is happy also with less traveling.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"As long as I know how to Zoom I know I'll be alive." See the whole show here.


And so I’m back
The students are gone
As all my colleagues try to figure out how they’re gonna get along
I should have kept up with the tech, not skipped that class on course design
If I’d have known for just one second I’d be teaching all-online
Go on now, go, leave me alone
I’ve got to figure out
Just how to lecture using Panopto
You gave me two days to adjust, to move everything online
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to Zoom, I know I'll be alive
 
 
Thank you for this year of 2020 everyone!

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