Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you started the new year well! I spent the last few days in Istanbul, but arrived home yesterday evening. While I enjoyed sunny 15 °C in Istanbul, a blizzard approached New England. We already kind of knew on Tuesday that thanks to the heavy snowstorm we might get a snow day today. When I switched on my smartphone after landing, I immediately received the message that we would have the day off. Now that I sit at home, I am very glad that I don’t have to leave the house today at all. Instead I can nurse my jetlag and cuddle with Canavar. The extra day off also gives me time to consider my goals for this month.
In January I want to:
- eat more of the things I already have at home instead of buying food. Except for fresh food like vegetables.
- neither buy any beauty products nor books nor anything that I don’t urgently need to survive.
- call my granny at least twice.
- text or call my friends more often.
- try to excercise a little and if it is on the carpet at home.
- upload many more photos on Shutterstock now that they accepted me as a contributor [become a contributor, too]*.
- calculate if I really need both Xfinity TV and Amazon Prime TV.
- be well prepared for the part of a professional development day that I am presenting.
- organize a school trip to Washington D.C. in February.
- have a great time participating in Harvard MUN with my students – attending that conference is a professional dream come true.
In December I wanted to:
- make it through the next week with all its events and still get enough sleep: I’m going to the Jake Bugg concert on Tuesday, to the Celtics game on Wednesday, to a colleague’s Christmas party on Thursday, to the cinema to watch “Jumanji” early on Friday, to another Christmas party on Saturday √ – I somehow managed everything except for the final Christmas party, but it was exhausting.
- extend my parking permit for Cambridge (already for 2018) Χ – I still have to do this. Thank god the parking permit is always valid for January as well.
- get much work done before the year is over √ – I even took my laptop with me on vacation, but so I managed to finish a big task.
- and tidy my desk at home before vacation Χ – This would have made sense, but I couldn’t find the time. I really should tidy it now.
- figure out where to park my car for the two weeks of Christmas vacation √ – Once I asked the right person, this was very easy. My car still is parked at work, and I dread to clear it from all the snow. I also believe that the doors are frozen and I might not be able to open the car for a while.
- pack my suitcase(s) not last minute and leave some space for the return journey √ – I mean I packed quite late, but I didn’t forget anything. While I flew to Europe with one suitcase, I returned with two full ones.
- book a hotel in Istanbul √ – I found a very nice one right at Taksim Square and enjoyed my stay there very much.
- enjoy Christmas in Germany √ – Absolutely!
- make an appointment with a dentist in Istanbul √ – I found one online and they did a great job. I got my night guard within less than 8 hours and for 1/3 of the U.S. American price.
- celebrate New Year’s Eve in Istanbul √ – I had the most relaxing NYE ever I think.
© janavar
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