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year 2012 in review
Jan. 10th, 2013 08:56 pmThe last year.
Well, as we are now well into January, I might as well to think about last year. It didn't feel busy, but it fact many things happened, most of them not something I did, but something that happened with my help or without.
- we got green cards. I still feel very weird about our relocation to USA from Canada, but of course live with green card is much more convenient. Now I can look for work, except I have no idea what kind of work I want now – and how to get I don't know what.
- we lived through the disaster of the year – hurricane Sandy. I think I didn't write much in English about us, but it was more of a major inconvenience for us, comparing to other people, even in our town that didn't get a lot of damage (fallen trees and lack of power). We were without power for four full days, which is unpleasant in November New Jersey, but we had a full tank of gas that served us through the week, and an opportunity to drive and have hot breakfast in cafes, and lots of friends who invited us to stay. Now, hearing all the stories about people for whom the disaster isn't over yet, it is hard to talk about it. But when we in, it was... scary.
- we were on vacation! It's been years since we were on an actual vacation. In fact, it seems in was the last one was in 2008, when we went to New York. So quaint, hee. Anyway, this year we went to see California, specifically San Francisco and Silicon Valley, thinking, among other things, to see whether we would like to live there, if anything happen (like a job). We liked it, but didn't fell in love with it to move there immediately. Not unless lots and lots of money are involved. But as visitors – we enjoyed it very much, especially since the weather was incredibly, summery good.
- Daniel's started the kindergarten, and he loves it. I am so happy to have a sociable kid who finds lots of friends everywhere! He does well at studies, too – math and reading especially. He is slowly starting reading in both English and Russian, though I see that he finds English easier- there are more book at his exact level of reading skills, whereas in Russian he is reading above his level, and it is hard.
- I've been learning things the whole year, too: I took the full advantage of coursera.org online courses and had a lot of fun listening to lectures, reading and writing essays and taking quizzes. I only not sure how to apply that to my life though – none of the courses I successfully finished were of the applied usefulness variety. I mean, who would pay me for my advanced knowledge of Greek Mythology? I did started to write again. Not sure what exactly it was that made it impossible to finish any kind of story in the previous two years. It shouldn't be that hard.
- I startedmaking friends in my little town, and I started to grow attached to it – just in time to moving out, as we most likely won't be able to buy here (too expensive).
- My mom and my sister with her son visited in 2012. Unfortunately, I couldn't visit them (waiting for the green card, it turns out, locks you up – you can leave, but you'll have problems returning). Have crazy hopes for this year.
- Some things were not accomplished due to heath issues. I hope for the better luck this year.
- My health reminded me that I am not a young girl anymore, even though the number that suppose to mean my age looks suspiciously alien to me. I mean, 36? 36 is the age for a respectable matron, not for a person skipping around in public and using Skype to make silly faces at her sister.
- I read a lot, but not as much as I used to. Suddenly, an hour with a good book is a luxury that is not always possible to justify, even when I waste my time on other silly things. I do read when I can, and I enjoyed going back and reading old classics. Nothing brings the self-esteem up as much as reading Oresteiaand writing essays about it.
- During the last week of the year, we introduced D. to Harry Potter (first two movies). He is sufficiently enchanted and talks about Harry Potter a lot. He asked for books, too, but I refused to read them to him – they are waiting for him to learn to read by himself. It is incredible to see that he got a very different story than the one that is in the books, that somehow still consistent with what he saw on screen and what we explained.
Well, as we are now well into January, I might as well to think about last year. It didn't feel busy, but it fact many things happened, most of them not something I did, but something that happened with my help or without.
- we got green cards. I still feel very weird about our relocation to USA from Canada, but of course live with green card is much more convenient. Now I can look for work, except I have no idea what kind of work I want now – and how to get I don't know what.
- we lived through the disaster of the year – hurricane Sandy. I think I didn't write much in English about us, but it was more of a major inconvenience for us, comparing to other people, even in our town that didn't get a lot of damage (fallen trees and lack of power). We were without power for four full days, which is unpleasant in November New Jersey, but we had a full tank of gas that served us through the week, and an opportunity to drive and have hot breakfast in cafes, and lots of friends who invited us to stay. Now, hearing all the stories about people for whom the disaster isn't over yet, it is hard to talk about it. But when we in, it was... scary.
- we were on vacation! It's been years since we were on an actual vacation. In fact, it seems in was the last one was in 2008, when we went to New York. So quaint, hee. Anyway, this year we went to see California, specifically San Francisco and Silicon Valley, thinking, among other things, to see whether we would like to live there, if anything happen (like a job). We liked it, but didn't fell in love with it to move there immediately. Not unless lots and lots of money are involved. But as visitors – we enjoyed it very much, especially since the weather was incredibly, summery good.
- Daniel's started the kindergarten, and he loves it. I am so happy to have a sociable kid who finds lots of friends everywhere! He does well at studies, too – math and reading especially. He is slowly starting reading in both English and Russian, though I see that he finds English easier- there are more book at his exact level of reading skills, whereas in Russian he is reading above his level, and it is hard.
- I've been learning things the whole year, too: I took the full advantage of coursera.org online courses and had a lot of fun listening to lectures, reading and writing essays and taking quizzes. I only not sure how to apply that to my life though – none of the courses I successfully finished were of the applied usefulness variety. I mean, who would pay me for my advanced knowledge of Greek Mythology? I did started to write again. Not sure what exactly it was that made it impossible to finish any kind of story in the previous two years. It shouldn't be that hard.
- I startedmaking friends in my little town, and I started to grow attached to it – just in time to moving out, as we most likely won't be able to buy here (too expensive).
- My mom and my sister with her son visited in 2012. Unfortunately, I couldn't visit them (waiting for the green card, it turns out, locks you up – you can leave, but you'll have problems returning). Have crazy hopes for this year.
- Some things were not accomplished due to heath issues. I hope for the better luck this year.
- My health reminded me that I am not a young girl anymore, even though the number that suppose to mean my age looks suspiciously alien to me. I mean, 36? 36 is the age for a respectable matron, not for a person skipping around in public and using Skype to make silly faces at her sister.
- I read a lot, but not as much as I used to. Suddenly, an hour with a good book is a luxury that is not always possible to justify, even when I waste my time on other silly things. I do read when I can, and I enjoyed going back and reading old classics. Nothing brings the self-esteem up as much as reading Oresteiaand writing essays about it.
- During the last week of the year, we introduced D. to Harry Potter (first two movies). He is sufficiently enchanted and talks about Harry Potter a lot. He asked for books, too, but I refused to read them to him – they are waiting for him to learn to read by himself. It is incredible to see that he got a very different story than the one that is in the books, that somehow still consistent with what he saw on screen and what we explained.
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