Happy New Year 2019

The end of the old year is always a crazy time. Everything gets crammed in at the last moment like we suddenly realized we forgot to celebrate a bunch of stuff. There is Halloween (if you’re into it) then Sint Maarten followed by Sinterklaas and Christmas then, at the very end, New Years Eve. It’s no wonder the arrival of a new year always fills like an accomplishment. That might sound slightly negative but the truth is I love it all. That feeling that a new year can be turned into anything you want it to be always feels me with positivity and drive.

This new year is an interesting one for me personally because it’ll start with me having just entered my forties. I’m currently trying to decide what kind of mid-life crisis I should have, so please leave your suggestions in the comments below. All joking aside, the idea of turning forty just feels weird. I don’t feel mature enough for such a big number. Am I even allowed to turn forty? They have some kind of checks to see if your grown-up enough for it right?

Looking back, my 2018 was another fun year. I made my own M&Ms & Maltesers Hageslag with a hammer, tried to cycle with two bikes like the Dutch and unintentionally used the word ‘Stouterbals‘ a lot. I also discovered why I should not give directions to tourists and that I cannot read German.

I learned that my daughter considered English and Engles to be two different languages, narrowly prevented my seventy year old parents from traveling to The Netherlands during the chaos of King’s Day and (when they eventually did arrive) I discovered why we can’t watch children’s show Buurman and Buurman with my Dad (who happens to be an ex-builder).

I updated my posts on Holland vs The Netherlands, King’s Day and Dutch Circle Parties with all new cartoon guides. This is something I plan to do on a few more classic posts (while also writing new ones).

I didn’t quite achieve all my goals for the year but that just gives me more of a reason to focus on them moving forward. In 2019 I’ll be continuing my work on the Accidentally Dutch book. Last year I let myself get a little overwhelmed by the idea of writing a whole book and following the rules of story structure. This year I just have to learn to take it one chapter at a time and trust that it will all come together if I continue to work on it. I also got a little lazy with my Dutch so this year I’ll be trying to speak and listen to the language a lot more. I’m forty. I have to get my Dutch past the ‘sort of good enough maybe/not really’ level. On the plus side I found more time to focus on this blog during 2018 and I did improve my health. Two out of four goals is not bad at all.

But enough about me. I hope you all had an amazing 2018 and will have an even better 2019. May it bring you everything you need and at least some of the things you want.

And thank you once again for following all of my crazy adventures of my accident prone life in The Netherlands.