YEAR 2019

Highlights of the year

Let's start with something attached to a specific time of 2019.

Jan-Feb. The change of the year.

That was something dragged from the previous year (actually even from the one before the previous). In February I finally quitted Qardio. I have a lot of great memories about the company, the people, the time we spend together and the great products we were working on there. Qardio is a big part of the entire relocating to Europe project so it will always be an important page in my story. But the last year in the company was tough for me. I saw that we started to lose something essential, part of the spirit we had before. I do understand there were reasons for most of the changes the team had to get through but this understanding didn't make it better. It was getting worse and worse to work there. I tried to do my best to fix what I could (in work processes mostly) but eventually I gave up.

After more than a year of searching, making test assignments and being interviewed I finally did it. That was one of the most globally positive and valuable things happened to me this year.


Mar. The show of the year.

In March my mother-in-law came to spend several weeks with us. At the second day of her visit we left Leon to her and escaped to Rotterdam for a Florence and The Machine show. The show was great, we both enjoy this music. But even greater was the spirit of freedom =)). No kid, free time, a trip to another city, getting back home in the middle of the night. It was the entire adventure, some almost forgotten feeling.


Apr. The grandmothers.

In April Leon's another grandmother came to help us. And for several days we even had both our moms staying at our place. The entire period from the first grandmother arrived till the second one departed took 1,5 months (from end of March till the beginning of May). More than a month with tho ladies whose time was mostly dedicated to their grandson, and the tired parents who had finally got a break. It was the time of the year!


May. The trip of the year.

While one of the grandmothers was still here we spent 2 days in Berlin without a kid: the wall, the city, kilometres of walking and tons of street art. The formal occasion to go was the show given by one nice Russian band. It was full of positive energy and nice memories of the times when we had fun at the same shows back in old days in Russia. I only wish we didn't spend the entire day before the show wandering around the city...


Jul. Sain-Petersburg... of the year.

Well, both Iana and I had visited SPb twice this year, but only in July we did it together. This trip took a loooot of arrangement: it was for 2 weeks, for 3 of us (including a 1,5 year child), we visited 2 cities, we stayed in several places, we travelled by plane, train and car, we had to meet a dozen of friends and several relatives. Night trains were а real challenge because Little Leon couldn't normally sleep there (meaning entertaining everybody around with his cry). And the entire journey from Saint-Peterburg to Vologda and back was almost cancelled in the very last moment because somebody forgot one of the Russian passports (so "great" to have 2 different ones!).


Aug. The purchase of the year.

It's my new glasses. When buying glasses he purchase process is more than just picking the thing, paying the money and going home with a new toy. You first pick the store, then you pick the frame, then they run some vision tests and with the help of the selling people you pick lenses (there are also lots of options nowadays: different kinds of plastic, thickness, filters, different additions for the surface), then you order it and wait for a week or so. Eventually you pick it up and then there is a period when you have to get used to new glasses: both vision-wise and appearance-wise. So it's a big thing for us - the decreasing amount of people wearing glasses ;-)

But another remarkable thing is why I had to make this purchase. Seems like I have a nasty habit: once every several years I'm being stupid enough to get into some body of water (see, river,... this time it was a pond) with my glasses on. I don't want to dive or do anything significantly active at these moments. But it happens that I eventually lose my glasses in the water which causes lots of inconvenience because for some reasons I don't have any spare glasses next to me (even though I usually cary one). Luckily this year I didn't have to drive anywhere back (which is impossible without glasses for me) and I had some spare ones at home. But it was a long day far away from home so for more than half of the day I was physically impaired and Iana together with some friends of ours (great all they were around) had to take care of me.


Sep. The undertaking of the year

In September I started to attend a one-on-one Dutch course (kindly provided by my employer). It was one of my New Year resolutions last year.

When living in the Netherlands you don't have a real urge to learn Dutch, you can accomplish more or less everything with English only. Of course there are some inconveniences: official documents are mostly in Dutch and there are some people who don't speak much English. But you can handle it.

My motivation consist of several things.

Firstly, for me it's something you need to do if you settle down in the country. If I live somewhere for more than just a year or two I feel a moral obligation to speak the local language (as well as to understand local customs and traditions). When you enter the country the custom workers tend to ask you several questions. If you live in the country more than couple of years the Dutch guys explicitly frown upon your ignorance of Dutch language. Of course there is nothing illegal and I don't have to do it for them, but I feel a bit guilty every time.

Secondly, that convenience I've already mentioned. It's still easier to live here if you know the local language.

Thirdly, we have a small kid who starts to talk now. He has Russian as his first language but now he goes to a Dutch daycare, then he will go to a Dutch school. Dutch language will take more and more place in his life and we don't want to be completely out of this part. Moreover he will have Dutch speaking friends soon. It's already a case when at the playground some children speak Dutch to me or I want to tell them something and we don't have a common language.

The last point is the vague possibility of getting the Dutch citizenship. In case we get into it we need to pass some language exams.


The book of the year.

“Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari. The book which gave me the fool tanks of fuel for different kind of thoughts. I even started to re-read it making some notes on the way.


Movies of the year.

This time I cannot pick THE movie of the year. There was nothing that really impressed me. But there were several decent or important for me movies.

Once upon a time in Hollywood. For me Tarantino is one of the best directors ever, so I couldn't wait this movie to be released. In the end my first impressions were spoiled because I didn't know some details of the real story (specifically the fact that pregnant Sharon Tate was murdered by Manson's "family"). The movie is heavily based on the real people and their stories so this context is very important for understanding. After getting to know the missing fragments I appreciated what I've seen much more. Even though it's not the best Tarantino movie it's still a good one which is worth watching (and re-watching).

Rocketman. That's probably the most interesting movie I watched this year. Although it follows all the main biopic patterns and in a matter it's a typical representative of the genre, it is still a very dynamic and compelling one. I didn't look at my watch at all when being in the cinema (the more boring the movie is, the more I check the time while watching it). The main characters are realistic, not plain and properly played. IMHO it's almost impossible to create a great movie out of the real life story. But if you compare it with other examples of its kind this one will be one of the best.

Joker. I was very curious about this one because it's Joker (one of my favourite characters), because it's Joaquin Phoenix whom I like as an actor, because there are couple of genius DC adaptations out there. Eventually I didn't enjoy the movie much, regardless the great performance of Mr.Phoenix and all the nice reviews I read and heard.


The TV Show of the year.

We were quite impressed by Chernobyl. For decades Russians (as well as Ukrainians) have not been able to create a thrilling and truthful retelling of this tragedy, but guys from HBO managed to do it. It wasn't just something interesting to watch but also an occasion to think about some serious matters. The show caused a huge wave of discussions and arguments around the globe where people mostly discussed the catastrophe itself other than just the movie. That tells a lot.


Soft skills

I kept on writing to my tech blog - just 9 posts this year. I also kept on doing my first steps as a public speaker (work related talks). It was just one local meet-up in Amsterdam and one big mobile conference in Russia (both in May).

I'm not completely satisfied with my progress in these directions (there were more planned than done) but I do have my excuses. Anyway I appreciate the achievements. I feel that I'm definitely moving in a right direction and I'll try to keep up the pace and even accelerate a bit.


The pastime of the year.

This year I didn't have much free time so I tried to use it as efficient as possible. I appreciate when at the same time I was able to have rest, chat with friends, maybe drink couple of beers and spend time with my family. We got all of that when gathering with friends for playing boarding games and this year we had it enough (couple of times a month).


Game/sport of the year.

When we gathered for the board games in 90% of the cases we played Catan, everybody around loves it.

I also got (yet another) raise of the interest to chess. I started to play again and tried to read books and study the theory. I had to brush up some knowledge from my school days.. still work in progress.


Ties with Russia.

They still are quite notable, I still read/watch some Russian news, I still discuss some issues with my Russian friends, but it's getting less interesting and important for me. Basically the general amount of communication with my Russian friends is gradually decreasing. It's sad but understandable considering that I don't live there now and it's hard to keep in touch through the distance.


Settling down.

This year was the one to decide whether or not we stay in Amsterdam for the next several years. The decision was made, we put roots down and the big uncertainty disappeared for some time. As a result we got new jobs for both Iana and me, we arranged a daycare for Leon and a Dutch course for me (for Iana it's planned for the next year).

One of the most important things this year is that we are buying an apartment in Amsterdam. The deal is not finalised yet, but should be settled in January, so we are already preparing to moving there.

Even separately all of these are quite significant changes, but all together they look like an entrance to a new life.

For me settling down is a trade-of. You give some freedom and flexibility and get some certainty, comfort and convenience back. But what the hell, we already got a child.. what flexibility and freedom we are talking about! ;-) So we are getting everything almost for free (let's forget for a moment about the mortgage which we suppose to pay back the rest of our lives =))


Leon is growing.

That's kinda boring one: kids are constantly growing, why to mention? But this fact, especially in the first several years, changes your life a lot.

This year Leon started to walk and run, to speak (although not so understandable so far), properly eat by himself, his games became more conscious (cars, trains, ball, building a tower,...) - every month some new skills appear and you just do your best to grasp all of them. The guy also started to go to the daycare and got able to stay without his parents up to several days.