It's been a complicated year, but I'll sum it up the best I can without going into too much detail.
I started off 2022 quarantined in my childhood bedroom with COVID - I even spent an extra 2 weeks there and rescheduled my flight before finally passing a PCR test to fly back to Moscow. But, I thought, it's ok, things can only go up from here!
Oh, dear reader, how very wrong I was.
We're all familiar with what happened in Eastern Europe on February 24, 2022 by now. Flash forward to friends fleeing, more farewell parties than I care to count, panic and confusion, and serious currency controls. Airspace over Europe closing (and still closed!) to flights from Russia. In the summer, I flew through Tashkent to New York, and back through Dubai.
I took a Delta Module 1 prep course (teacher things, in other words) in April, but couldn't take the exam since Cambridge suspended operations in Russia. I fought in my first boxing (not kickboxing!) match, and lost, but admirably. I did what we all were doing - anxiously chugging along and trying to live.
Then my company announced it was leaving the country, and employees had a month to sort our lives out. So I took a day to mope, then started applying to jobs and interviewing, and 2 weeks later I had the job I'm currently at in a bilingual K-11 school.
I went home for the summer to decompress, spend time with family, and get a visa for the new job (which took 2 months instead of the usual 1, but went otherwise smoothly). I was back in time for mom's birthday. I got to go to my 10 year reunion at Williams! Then pop and I ticked an item off my bucket list by visiting Niagara Falls, where we went on the Maid of the Mist, into the Cave of the Winds, on an arduous hike, to the aquarium, on a jet boat, and more. We were together for father's day. I was able to be at my cousin's housewarming party for his and his wife's first home, and then my first stateside 4th of July in 10 years. I had the honor of attending my friend's beautiful (though long-delayed by covid) wedding in upstate New York. Pop and I went on many a hike, kayaked, tried all the vegan places within driving distance, and watched a lot of movies (top picks: Dr. Strange and Maverick. Avoid: Nope and Morbius). Mom and I took a ferry trip to Port Jeff. Uncle and I got to have lunch every week. I visited with close friends in NYC.
It was nice being around for birthdays and celebrations and the regular day-to-day, in the longest stretch of time I've been there since leaving.
Then I got back to Moscow, and 3 days later I was at work. It's been challenging, exciting, but mostly - exhausting. I'm still getting used to it. Working in a school is a far cry from training teachers and executives, running workshops, and working remotely. It has its pluses, but work-life balance, at least for me thus far, has not been one of them.
Other highlights are that I started living without a roommate this spring. I went to my first Russian village, population ±150. In September, I had my 10 year Russiaversary. Then I got covid a second time! But, to top the year off with positive emotions, I took a Christmas trip to the Russian north - to Sortavala and Ruskeala, with a vegan travel group, and it was amazing. We rode in on a steam engine, played games, traipsed through the snow, zip lined, toured caves, star-gazed, hiked, and lived in an idyllic wood cabin.
So going into 2023, I wish for peace and tranquility, and the fortitude to cope if we don't get either.
