2020: A Review

2020 has been difficult. We lost many people to the pandemic or to police brutality. Many of us lost friends and relatives, jobs, homes, livelihoods. And in a year like this one, it can be so difficult to see the good moments of life. Here are our favorite 2020 memories:

In January, we spent a long weekend in Belgium. We saw dinosaurs in Brussels, took many walks in Bruges, and had fantastic food and drinks.

In February, we went ice-skating—our first time as a couple, but both of us haven't done this often in general. We celebrated our first anniversary and ended the month with one of our favorite holidays: carnival! This was the last time we spent time in a crowd: we already knew that COVID-19 was a threat, but weren't aware of its severity yet.

At the beginning of March, we attended an ArtNight and painted abstract vulvas with a colorful bunch of people. This also started our acrylic painting journey which would help us through the following months because in March and April, Germany went into its first lockdown. We practically started living together in Ilse's tiny apartment and arranged for our future apartment—we had decided to move in together just before the lockdown. We found our passion for outdoor activities, went hiking and cycling, and (re)discovered our love for being outside. Although the lockdown was lifted in May, we pretty much stayed at home or spent time in nature. And we started this blog!

In June, we went on one of our most strenuous adventures so far: we went on our first multiple-day hike! In a region south of Cologne, we hiked for three days and had the best time! We met only a few people on our paths and felt safer than in Cologne. The weather was perfect and we even saw deer and an eagle (we think—happy to be educated!).

The next month, we went on another short trip to the countryside with Else's family. This time, we couldn't hike as much as we would have wanted to, but discovered lots of cute wooden bridges.

In August, one of Else's favorite days came up: Ilse's birthday! To celebrate her properly, Else booked three nights in the city of love and romance: Paris! Although traveling in a pandemic is very different and we don't know if we would do it again, we enjoyed this badly needed break.

A month later, our biggest day (so far) came: we moved in together! We spent lots of time decorating our new apart (and still do, haha). We planned surprise trips for each other. And although Ilse's had to be canceled when the second lockdown began in November, both of us had booked the same hotel: a tree house not far from Cologne. Our tree house also had its own private sauna (Ilse's first time!); the one Ilse had booked would have had our own private whirlpool. What a pity we couldn't go! We played miniature golf, but mostly stayed in our tree house and enjoyed the sauna.

In October, we launched or vlog on YouTube, attended our city's postponed Pride parade, and went on a short trip to Berlin. On Halloween, we carved pumpkins for the very first time!

In November, we celebrated Else's birthday. Germany also went into another lookdown that probably won't be lifted very soon. We focused on indoor activities or went outside if the weather wasn't too bad. We participated in vlogmas, had a very small Christmas Eve celebration with Ilse's mom and a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration with just the two of us and our GameCube.

And writing all this down, we realize: we had a pretty good year. And although mental health doesn't work that way, we should count ourselves lucky.