I celebrated thanksgiving for the first time last year. Twice.
I hadn’t been expecting to celebrate it at all. On the last Thursday of November, I was sitting in a university seminar, my concentration dwindling, when my Russian friend texted me: ‘Are you free tonight? Do you want to come to a thanksgiving celebration with us?’
Two days later, I stopped by the shop where my friend from Kazakhstan was working. I experienced déjà vu when she asked: ‘Are you free tonight? Do you want to come to a thanksgiving celebration with us?’
On both occasions, I came away full of good food and conversation.
This year is different. If I was in a shared flat, I might have suggested having a small celebration, but since the beginning of November (and hopefully not for much longer), I’ve been living on my own.
Nonetheless, there’s a lot to be thankful for. Yes, even in 2020.
January: After celebrating New Year’s in Devon with a group of good friends from across England and Germany, I spent a long-awaited weekend in London. I may not want to live in the city, but I won’t say no to visiting.
February: I returned to the Czech Republic for a cross-country skiing race and beat my time from last year. I was delighted to see familiar faces and even managed to string some sentences of rusty Czech together.
March: A week’s downhill skiing holiday in France with university friends, followed by a weekend in Austria with my colleagues from the ski school: empty pistes, fresh snow, perfect conditions. I flew home to England just before the borders closed and Tom and I practiced handstands in the garden.
April: I took up painting again and began work on a canvas that Dad had commissioned years ago. After Easter, the summer semester started up and I continued teaching – all online, of course. I was grateful not to have a commute and to be able to dedicate more time to my studies. In all honesty, without lockdown, I wouldn’t have managed all the university courses alongside the teaching.
May: Wild swimming at every opportunity – discovering local secret beaches and braving the icy-cold rivers on Dartmoor; running through the lush green fields around the village; watching the lambs grow and the trees blossom (in the breaks between Zoom seminars and Teams meetings).
June: I got back in touch with a good friend from the village who I hadn’t seen for years and we went for socially distanced walks. On the longest day of the year, we took some cider up to the common and watched the sunset.
July: Having found a temporary flat, I returned to Munich and received two pieces of exciting news: my application to transfer onto a different Master’s programme (East European Studies) was accepted and I was awarded a study scholarship from the DAAD. At the end of the month, Saul came to visit, before we both went to Graz to visit friends there.
August: Encouraged by Mona, I went climbing in the Alps for the first time. Serena invited me to join her on a glacier tour and together we made it to the top of the Wildspitze, Austria’s second highest mountain. I also spent quality time with Veronika and Matthew before they left for the USA.
September: After a spontaneous three-day hiking trip with my flatmate Lutz and his friends, I spontaneously flew home for a week (my parents had been planning to visit me, but we decided this was the better option). Sun, sea and surf – yes, home.
October: I finally finished my essays (the summer was not so much a ‘holiday’ as a ‘lecture-free’ period for writing essays) and had a break from work. Sören and I celebrated with khachapuri (a traditional Georgian dish) and wine at my favourite restaurant in Munich. I started going to a new church and took up singing lessons.
November: The temporary sub-let came to an end, and (after spending a week on the living-room floor) I moved into a friend’s recently vacated flat, which was conveniently empty for the month. The winter semester quickly got underway with courses in politics and history, and I plucked up the courage to start Russian and Czech language tandems. I am so glad I did. The people I’ve met are so kind, interesting and generous with their time.
There were plenty of clouds this year, but these were my silver linings.