2016, here I come!

There's been a few new years in the span of last few months. A new academic year, which meant coming back to Oxford and embarking on a journey through my final year; a new liturgical year with the Year of Mercy. And now it's the new calendar year, 2016.

I made a list of 12 books I want to read this coming year. I'm not sure if I can realistically get through all of them, but I started the first one, Anna Karenina, already because, gosh, this is a thick book. Though really good, everyone should read it. Frankly, this is my third attempt at it, because each time I start reading it, something drags me away from the book. But this time I'm determined. Besides Tolstoy, I also have Zusak, Carroll, Christie and Bennett on my list. Good and demanding literature.

Instead of making vague resolutions, I want to make a plan. With my swimming and Zumba incorporated, so that I don't have to make ad hoc decisions as to when to go to the leisure centre. And I have three things to guide me in 2016 (and thereafter):

TAKE CARE

CELEBRATE OTHERS

BE CONTENT

I want to take cake of myself, so that everything else will have space to fall into place. Take care of my body, mind and spirit. No binge eating of pecan cookies, binge watching Parks and Recreation, ignoring my exercise schedule. But at the same time I want to be kind to myself. There's no point beating myself up because I'm not perfect.

Celebrating others is hugely important to me. Making time to actually see people, feed them and talk is a challenge for me, but I know that if you really care, you always find time. I would love to have many meaningful conversations.

And, most importantly, I want to be content. Content with what I have. This doesn't mean settling for what I got and leaving it like that, but rather living in the present. I sometimes feel that everything is about tomorrow, it's the busiest day of the week! But I can be happy and content now. And this is what I want.

Nativity Scenes in Krakow.

The tradition of making nativity scenes (szopki) goes back to 19 century in Krakow, when it has been formalised in 19th century.* Each year people make those really elaborate constructions showing the birth of Jesus and this is quite amazing. It takes dedication to make them, especially the big ones (and those are at least 1.2m high) and the tiniest ones, when you need to use tweezers to get all the parts together. It was actually my first time in years when I went to see the szopki and it was surprisingly enjoyable. I'm not a big fan of museum trips, unless it's an archaeological museum, but it was fun. It's sweet that people cultivate the tradition, chapeau bas, because it does take a lot of thinking, time and effort, people spend the entire year making the szopki, you need to love it to do it.

Below, I share some of the nativity scenes I liked in particular.

Krakow demands access to the sea!

This is not pretty, but there is so much going one in here, all things piled up, all the tin foil and excessive number of figurines! Love it!

This one was absolutely tiny, made on a honey plaster with optical fiber all around.

* Want to know more? See here and here.

Getting ready for Christmas.

Christmas tree is ready, all the baking has taken place already, hovering is done and I've packed all the presents. Except a few bits and bobs to sort out tomorrow morning, now it's only waiting for the birth of Jesus.

My Advent was a bit of a roller coaster, with a lot of ups and downs,mostly downs, with plenty of flat periods in between and a handful of ups. But I'm thankful for that. I've come to realise many things. Or rather I was clearly shown that I can do better. I hope to be able to it on board and change something. There's a lot that could be better in my life if only I made some small steps in a different direction. This sort of goes to my New Year's goals. I have a few in mind, but I'll leave it for the time being.

In the meantime, happy Christmas! May it be a time of blessed hope and joy for you!

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

 Luke 2, 10-11

My term (almost) without meat.

I tried to go vegetarian a couple of years ago and it was a total failure. I was hungry all the time and generally not determined enough to keep it up in the face of delicious meat options.

This time, it was different. I've actually really enjoyed my diet this term. Meat has appeared on my plate only a handful of times, though I still keep some fish in the menu, but will try to phase it out next term. I definitely got some more variety in my meals: butternut squash peanut curry, stir-fires, potato and leek pie, pear and Stilton tart, veggie pasta sauces, fennel risotto... These were are delicious and filling. However, kidney bean burgers were a failure on both occasions when I attempted to make them, but maybe next time I'll be more successful. 

I'm really looking forward to making black bean spinach enchiladas and maybe I'll have enough courage to make something with tofu. I still stay away from falafel: I like it a lot, but when I tried to make it from scratch it was major disaster, even more so than the kidney bean burgers.

Admittedly, being a vegetarian is inconvenient, especially if you spend a lot of time with meat-eaters. It requires some planning, because I cannot simply heat up some hot dogs, but it is healthier for me. And for the environment too. I'm not sure about arguments for vegetarianism of a sort that it is cruel and painful for the animals. It probably it, though we still have more humane methods of killing food than a few centuries ago. I probably wouldn't like to kill my food with my own hands anyway. But I do worry about the planet, we produce so much meat these days, and it is simply not sustainable. You might think what sort of a difference I make as a single person, but if each one of us decided not to eat meat on a single day each week, the impact would be huge. But the choice is yours.

I'm not one of those fighting vegetarians who will keep telling you that it is one and only proper way to live, but it's worth looking beyond our own little lives and see the bigger impact we make. There's 7bn of us. We do make a huge impact with our daily choices.

Jingle bells.

My Christmas wish this year is that somebody else do the Christmas shopping for me.

Honestly, having spent over 4 hours of my life browsing through shops, I despair. The shelves are overflowing with stock, and yet I could not find a single gift to give to my family and friends. This is just ridiculous at this point.I might actually just spend one hour searching for stuff online and get it in this way, will probably be more time-efficient.

The thing it, I can't just get anything. I want to get something personal for everyone. Gifts should be meaningful, shouldn't they? Buying socks or chocolates will not do.*


So I'm still stuck with Christmas presents, trying to figure out what to get for everyone. I would love to make some gifts myself, but there simply isn't enough hours in the day for me to do it. Hopefully next year will be less hectic and I'll be able to carry on my tradition of making cards and so on. In the mean time, online gift shops it is. Woohoo!


* Although I do love both socks and chocolates.