It's December 31st. Again.
Okay, so it was when I began writing this post...
It seems like a moment ago when I was writing my 2010 run-down back in our little studio apartment in Boll, summarising our leap into married life, our big cycling bonanza (one may say that these are in fact one and the same thing), and the subsequent decision of where we should choose to live for a year. I doubt there will ever be a year with more crammed into it than 2010 (well... 2012 just might!), but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't attempt a summary of 2011 anyhow!
2011: The Year of Embracing Switzerland
Number of apartments we called home: 4 (our teeny studio apartment in Boll, Google's temporary apartment in Zurich, our one-bedroom furnished sublet in Wiedikon, and our current 2 storey, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, dream bathtub, dream view apartment in Horgen.)
Number of countries visited: 8 (Scotland, Australia, France, Belgium, Italy, Lichtenstein, USA, Canada... surely there's more?)
Number of attempts at snowboarding: 1 (No comment. No photo. No evidence.)
Number of visiting Aussies that slept in our living room: 9 (Mark, my parents, Dunc's parents, Sammy, Tom, Clare, Alex... I am SURE I forgot some!)
Number of international sporting tournaments participated in: 2 (weehoo for discovering Zurich Netball and Netball Switzerland!)
Number of enormous life-changing decisions made: 2 (Firstly, that we will make Switzerland our permanent home and not return to Australia in the foreseeable future, and secondly, that we are ready to start a family!)
Number of amazing new friends made: COUNTLESS! I forget how many until we cram them all into the one room for a housewarming party!
(I have surprisingly few friend photos! Need to get onto that...)
Number of books I finished reading: not enough
Number of books I finished writing: not enough
...I could keep going... number of times I threw up, number of physio appointments I attended for my ankle (bruised bones take a year to heal, people. Just say no.), number of bicycles we now own, number of musical instruments we now own, number of new cheeses I have tried, number of cafes that I will need to acknowledge once my book gets published...
It has been a great year, that is for certain. I have been reading people's posts about how 2011 was awful ('bring on 2012'), and I remember the same kind of comments from last year. And probably from 2009 too. This got me thinking (uh-oh, Dunc would say). It has been a very very long time since I looked back at a year and thought 'Gee, that sucked, let's start a-fresh'. My days of utter contentedness continue to grow with each passing year, and I consider each and every day how lucky I am. This must be the very definition of happiness.
Meanwhile, my New Year fortune cookie has something important to tell me:
I look forward to meeting you at last. I plan to visit in 2012. Thanks for sharing (increasingly infrequently :-)
ReplyDeleteWheeeeeeee I am in your blog! ^_^
ReplyDelete2011 was great, 2012 will be too :)