It becomes a tradition I recap the year towards the end of it. Let’s go!
January – Felt better with the pregnancy, travelled around South Island for 2 weeks with my family. Covid was raging around the world, NZ kept the border shut, so we were the lucky ones get to travel around the country.
February – Celebrated mum’s birthday on top of skytower. Valentine’s day hosted over 20 people for Isabella’s 4th birthday, towards the end of the party, everyone got a pin on their phone. Auckland went into lockdown.
March – I cant remember how we celebrated Magnus’ birthday, also what happened in this month. It was a blur. I think we went camping up north for a few days.
April – My boss whom I admired a lot was made redundant, there was a lot going on in my team. I went into hospital due to some bleeding. From this month on, I worked from home more and more.
May – Celebrated my birthday with family. Organised a hotpot dinner with my girlfriends, it went on for 4 hours until the restaurant was closed for the night.
June – On the 17th, Ingrid arrived. Our family expanded to 4 people.
July – Spent time at home with a newborn, my mum came over with food everyday, Magus started a new job and worked from the office. We lost my aunty, my mum’s 2nd sister.
August – Auckland went into another lockdown due to Delta. I thought it would last for a week or two just like back in February. We got our first dose of the vaccination the day before lockdown.
September – Home everyday with Isabella and Ingrid, we made cardboard boat. It was pretty impressive.
October – Lockdown continued, it was hard as we felt trapped at home and no end to it.
November – The restrictions finally eased after 100 days, mentally it was draining. I started thinking about going back to work. I published an article on Stuff, recorded podcast with BBC.
December – Back to work after 6 months maternity leave. Almost my entire team has left and replaced with new colleagues. It felt like starting a new job at the same company. I published a short piece on my family life with the help of Asia Media Center.
2021 was a bit shitty, but we managed pretty well. Raising two incredible girls, I wrote things and even got posted on proper media websites. Marriage is going strong, parents are healthy.
2022, I want a pay rise with flexible working hours (who doesn’t?). I want to visit families overseas or having visitors from overseas staying with us. I want my family to be healthy and content. I want all children around the world feeling secure and loved. I want global warming to cool down. I want everyone to hold their beliefs lightly, but have strong values , listen well and speak with honesty and integrity.
Hello 2022, please be less shitty and dazzle me with some good news! Thank you.
LIYANG'S THOUGHTS 