I know I write this in almost every post, but – oh my, has time flown again! It feels like it was just yesterday when I was outside late at night, admiring the beautiful bright summer nights and longing for the stars and now the winter solstice is already behind us again.

After a hot and dry June came a cold and wet July (which I was so happy about, because the drought from 2018 is still something that scares me!) and in August summer made a return. A late and warm summer turned into an equally warm autumn, with a looooot of rain but also many golden and sunny days and oh so many beautiful foggy mornings, as well as another little trip to Lofsdalen.

Then came October, still warm and mild and there were so many mushrooms to collect in the forests, while also some berries were still ripe. I was in heaven!

We even got the first snow, but it didn’t last and was gone again after only a day or two… After that came more frosty mornings but cold temperatures never lasted long. The early, frosty mornings in the forest almost looked like summer or spring because everything was still so green and seemed to be even more bright due to the frost. In the end of October, I took a language test to finally be able to prove my knowledge of the Swedish language and 4 weeks later I got the result that I had passed it. I was sooo nervous before and am still incredibly happy at the thought of it! Thank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me and helped me to stay sane, when I was about to go mad from my crippling fear of exams!

November was a challenging month. Numbers regarding Corona were (and still are) rising and I felt big uncertainty about how it might go on. This influenced my mood but of course also the percieved amount of stress at work and there was generally much to do. We got less sunny days, the days were getting noticeably shorter and I felt tired, almost exhausted, most of the time. Luckily I always have the company of Pixie, who is the most loving cat I ever could have hoped for. And lastly, on the last days of November, we were finally blessed with some serious minus degrees (-10°C) and some of the lakes froze. I was out all day on a sunny, frosty saturday, taking photos of frost and fog and listening to the singing of the ice. Singing as it froze deeper and thicker and cracks were forming when it was expanding. The sounds are otherworldly.

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And then, finally, December came and brought the darkest of times. We hardly had any sunny days and since that last weekend in November it has mostly been cloudly, maybe one or 2 days in between where the sky was visible, but hardly anything noteworthy. Numbers were still rising, restrictions were put in place in most countries and I finally gave up on the hope that I might be able to travel to Germany and see my family over the holidays. The clouds covered the sky day and night and I wasn’t able to see my beloved starry skies or the moon and felt lonely, isolated and tired most of the time. Tired most of all despite my efforts to sleep sufficiently.

All of it was made even harder by the dread of knowing I would soon leave behind a job that I really enjoyed doing. I worked as a teacher at a primary school this year and I will miss all of the children so much. And it’s not only that, I was priviledged to work alongside amazing, friendly and competent people, one of the most admirable and involved people right by my side. It is hard to leave behind such an amazing workplace and I will always think back and remember the great time I have had. At the same time, I am incredibly excited and motivated to start at my new work in January. I will work as a speech therapist again, but probably in a much different way than what I did in Germany. I am curious, motivated and excited and can’t wait to start; my new team is so kind and encouraging and I feel so lucky to go from one great workplace to another.

Now the holidays lie ahead and I will celebrate them with my boyfriend and my friend Michelle, so that we don’t engage in contact with too many people at once by celebrating with family or a larger group of friends. Three times peeps is the charm is what they say, right? 😉

I wish all of you cozy and loving holidays, however you will spend them in this very different year! Stay safe, stay healthy and be well ❤