My 2022
2022 was a hurricane of events. This post is about some of those events in my life in pictures made by me.
In the beginning of the year, I left my hometown Novosibirsk, got a dutch visa in Moscow and took a flight to Amsterdam.
On February 11, I moved to live and work in the Netherlands. After staying here just for 6 months, Amsterdam already felt like my home. Now I live in a beautiful apartment next to a lake where I can see swans and ducks every day. I already know all my neighbours and I complain about heating prices like a real Dutch.
On February 27, protested in the center of Amsterdam against the war in Ukraine.
On March 1, I started working in a very traditional dutch company de Bijenkorf. It's a very well-known department store across the EU. Besides a website, the company also has apps — which I design.
On April 1, I've became a happy owner of an electric bike Vanmoof that I dreamed about for many years. Biked to 6 nearby cities around Amsterdam last summer and will bike to many more the next season.
After my russian vaccine, I also have been vaccinated with Pfizer.
In 2022, I traveled just twice. The first time was a trip to Turkiye to see my parents.
I've already discovered and keep finding a lot of nice places in Amsterdam.
During 2022, I've released 36 episodes of my podcast Showroom. It could be more, but we've switched to bi-weekly schedule. Sent a lot of postcards to our patrons, and met 2 listeners in real life in Amsterdam.
Previously, I didn't have any plants in my apartments, but now I have 5, including a banana plant and a succulent (and excluding a Christmas tree now).
On time of this post, I've learned Dutch for 380 days straight. Yes, using Duolingo. Next year I will take a real course with a teacher. I plan to stay here and naturalise eventually. To do that, I need to live here for 4 more years and pass some exams including a Dutch language test (for 2023, the requirement for language level stays pretty low, just A2).
On July 16, I received my Panic's Playdate console that I waited for a couple years.
On September 21, attended a concert of Poets of the Fall and met my friend Ollie Tukiainen who is a lead guitar in that band.
On November 8, attended a concert of Lil Nas X. It was a blast!
For the first time in my life I've dyed my hair. Tried silver/white. I was surprised by how good it went! Next time I will try something more colorful.
At the end of the year, on December 16, I took a flight to Oslo, Norway. I have never been there before and really enjoyed the city and especially a trip to fjørds.
A lot of other different things have happened in 2022. Some of them I prefer to keep private, unless I post it here, in my blog. You can read previous posts that I made about my life in the Netherlands, subscribe to my Instagram where sometimes I post stories, follow me in Twitter or Mastodon, and subscribe to my Telegram channel.