Posted by For most of the residents in Europe, the ambiance of 2020 has been stress, anxiety, boredom, solitude, etc. Professionally they are, if not fully or partially unemployed, are almost fully working from home. Private life is pretty disrupted too, staying with the families 24/7 can be challenging, especially if you have kids around; similarly, if you are living alone, spending time alone all the time is also very painful.
对于大多数欧洲居住的朋友们来说，2020年的氛围是压力，焦虑，无聊，孤寂等等。工作上呢，如果不是全部或者部分失业，也必须在家工作。其次，大家的个人生活也受到了很大的影响，每天24小时和家人黏在一起总会有一些小摩擦，特别是如果工作时还有小孩子在身边，相反的情况，如果你是一个人居住，整天被关在家也是非常的痛苦。
Luckily at the end of the year, European Union has approved the vaccination developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and started to make plans to roll it out in 2021, this is one of the relieving news which brings a bit of light to the whole year of darkness and solitude.
The situation in 2021 will not immediately change, but at least we know what to expect. With this post, I am going to share with you some of the unique and unprecedented life experience in 2020, together with some hacks which helped me (to survive without going crazy), as well as my personal outlook for 2021.
All the hacks including the places and items mentioned in this blog are from my personal experience, this post is not sponsored by any of them.
在整年的黑暗和孤寂中，唯一带来一点光明的好消息是，终于在年底的时候，欧盟总部批准了由辉瑞和德国生物新技术公司合作开发的抗击冠状病毒的疫苗，并已经开始计划在2021年推出。然而疫苗的推广还需要时间，2021年的状况并不会立马好转，但至少我们都大概知道应该期待什么。这篇文章我将分享一下今年的一些前所未有的生活经验，伴随着帮助我们渡过困难的一些生活小技能，以及我个人对2021年的展望。
所有分享的商店名和商品都是基于我自己的生活经验，这并不是打广告，这篇文章也没有被谁赞助，特此说明一下。
1. Travel – 旅行
One of the best things about living in Europe is the proximity and easy access to all kinds of tourist attractions. The combination of rich culture, complex history, and breathtaking landscape makes Europe one of the most perfect places to live for travel lovers.
My husband and I usually plan quite some small travels within Europe and 1 or 2 cross-continental travels every year. However, in February 2020, right after we finished most of the travel plans and were looking forward to our 3 weeks China trip in April, came with the declaration of health emergency and immediate lockdown, followed by a whole year of working from home.
Except for a small 4 days trip and a weekend in France during the summer, our whole year travel was replaced by walking in all kinds of parks in Belgium during the weekend, it is not comparable to hiking in the Alps, but well, with this condition, it is better than simply staying at home. Some of the parks we went to are: Park of Tervuren, Provinciaal Domein Kessel-Lo, Woluwe Park, Park van Brasschaat etc.
生活在欧洲的最大好处之一就是周围有很多旅游景点，并且都很容易到达。欧洲的丰富的文化，复杂的历史以及让人叹息的美丽景色让她成为旅行爱好者的最理想的居住地之一。
老公和我每年都会提前计划号一些附近的旅行计划，可惜的是，2020年2月一开始，就在我们完成了今年旅行计划并期待着三周的4月回国旅行的时候，冠状病毒突然席卷全球，随之而来的长达一年的居家工作。
除了夏天的法国4日游以外，取代我们今年的整个旅行计划的活动是去周围的公园散步，虽然不能和阿尔卑斯山徒步相比，但在这样的情况下，也好过在家待着。我们把周围的漂亮的公园都已经逛了无数遍了。
2. Sports – 运动
Sports clubs were closed during the lockdown, I did not feel comfortable going for a run during the pandemic, furthermore, my daily bike routine to and from work was also stopped thanks to working from home. Frankly speaking, quite guiltily, I did not do sports at all during this whole year, which might also partially explain why at the end of the year, I suffered from so many health problems such as back pains, tinnitus, shingles, insomnia, etc.
One of my biggest goals for the new year is to bring back some home sports routine to improve my health situation, a friend recommended a Yoga Youtuber called Boho Beautiful, I already get started this week, hopefully, I can make it a daily routine throughout 2021!
健身房在封锁期间一直被关，我也并不想在这样的情况下去户外跑步，由于在家工作的关系，我每天单程20分钟的自行车通勤也被取消了。非常惭愧地讲，整个2020年期间，我就一直没有锻炼，这大概部分解释了为什么前段时间快到年底的时候，身体上出了一些小问题导致耳鸣，带状疱疹，失眠等等。
新年一个最大的目标是希望每天抽出时间来锻炼提高身体素质，这段时间休假已经开始了每天早上的瑜伽锻炼，希望能整个2021年都坚持下去！
3. Food – 食物
Before the pandemic, both my husband and I enjoyed occasional dine out; during weekdays, I also enjoyed the healthy salad provided at the workplace. However, this year, the canteen closed the salad bar, and the restaurant was opened only briefly in summer and quickly closed down after the second wave. Since the lockdown, our home-cooked food was rather repetitive initially, this motivated us to explore more options.
在流行病导致封城之前，我和老公都会时而出去享受一下餐馆的美食，工作日期间，我也非常幸运地能吃到工作提供的美味午餐。可惜今年，餐馆都只在夏天的时候短暂地开了一下门，我们自己做的家常菜一开始很快就变得很重复了，不过这也激励我们尝试更多的选择。
The new Asian supermarket which saved our lives! 拯救我们生活质量的亚洲超市！
Traditional Asian supermarkets (all over the world, especially the ones in Chinatown) are like from the 80s, usually, inside the shop, the displayed items are cluttered, the decoration is dark, location is always downtown making it very difficult to park, and somehow, there are always lots of loud people in the shop. That is why we do not usually go to Asian shops unless it is absolutely necessary (such as buying rice or chopsticks :D)
传统的国外的亚洲超市（特别是市中心唐人街开的）都像是中国80年代的商铺一样。里面的商品摆放总是很随意地堆放着，商店装潢也总是很陈旧很暗，停车也很不方便，而且总是有很多非常吵闹的人。这就是为什么这么多年我们都很少去亚洲超市，除了买米买筷子等必须活动。
幸运的是，在封城期间，鲁汶新开了一间亚洲超市离我们家开车只需要20分钟。这个超市的风格和其他传统的亚洲超市很不同，你总是可以找到亚洲很流行的食物，商品的摆放也非常整洁并且有秩序，装潢很明亮很现代，门口就有一个很大的停车场，给人一种非常愉悦的购物体验。今年我们每周都会去这个超市买很多东西，这也让我们对烹饪有了更多的尝试，生活也不像一开始那么乏味。
Meanwhile, there was a new Asian shop called Asia and More opened in Leuven (20 min drive from our home), which has a completely different style from the traditional ones! It offers all kinds of popular Asian (you can easily find things from India, China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, etc) food and non-food items, the listing is very logical and clear, the decoration is modern, this provides a great shopping experience, we ended up shopping there for grocery every single week.
The slow cooking pot which saved us lots of time 省时又省力的慢炖锅
One of the difficult things about food during the pandemic is work lunch. While working from home, our lunch break is usually 30 – 45 minutes which gives us just enough time to heat up the cooked food and afterward a quick coffee break.
This Tefal multi cooker provided us lots of inspiration and flexibility in preparing food. We usually slow cook bone broth such as chicken, ribs, beef bone, etc with spices and vegetables. We just need to put all the ingredients beforehand and set up the timer, when the time arrives, fresh food can be served and ready to eat, this is definitely one of the best-used hacks this year!
今年食物方面的另外一个困境就是工作期间的午餐怎么解决。在家工作期间，我们午休时间大部分是30到45分钟，这根本没法让我们好好做饭吃上新鲜的食物，而且我和老公也不是和老外一样一天三顿可以吃面包。Tefal的一个多功能慢炖锅真的是帮我们解决了这个大问题，我们经常用它来煲汤（鸡，排骨，牛骨，猪蹄等）。只需要提前把肉和菜准备好，设置好时间，这样在中午12点的时候就能吃上美味的肉汤，不再担心中午没有时间做饭！
4. Work from home – 居家工作
Another drawback of working from home is the lack of face-to-face communication with colleagues and the golden morning coffee break which provides a crucial bonding time among the colleagues. Until in July I suffered from heavy neck and back pain, I noticed that while working from home alone, I had been in a completely sedentary working style! Amid the continuation of the pain, urgently, we got each a standing desk so that we could reduce the sitting time.
居家工作的另外一个缺点就是没法和同事面对面交流，特别是每天早上在咖啡机面前的非工作聊天，这保证了劳逸结合，而且对同事之间加深感情非常有用！七月的时候，突然感觉自己颈部和背部开始疼痛，这也使我意识到，这几个月我每天都是电脑面前一坐就是四五个小时！担心背疼会加重，我们紧急地去宜家添置了两张可以调节高度的办公桌。
这个站立式办公桌让你可以随时调节书桌的高度，我们同时也把办公区域搬到了我们的第二个卧室。这样不仅让我视频会议的时候看起来稍微专业了一点，而且也让我们的背和颈在工作的时候也放松一些。
This standing table allows you to adjust the height according to your needs, we also moved our work area from the living room to the guest room, making it a home office. This move not only helped me to appear a bit more professional (instead of showing the kitchen on camera) but also gave my back and neck big relief while working.
5. Social life 社交
There was only a brief window in the summer that allowed us to meet friends in a restaurant or café or invite them home, the rest of the year, we had to be creative to keep in touch.
在夏天第二波流行病来之前，有很小的一段时间我们可以去餐馆见朋友，或者邀请朋友到家，其他时候，我们必须在和朋友保持联系这方面稍微创新一点。
The online dinner/drink 线上吃饭或者喝东西
We had done some online dinner and drink with friends, just to share news in life.
Walk in a park 和朋友去公园里走走
One of the places to meet someone is in the park for a walk with a social distance.
很多时候想念朋友了就提议去公园里走走，这似乎已经成了我们标准的社交方式了。
Meet at the bubble team take away shop 在鲁汶奶茶店见面
Luckily our favorite bubble tea shop (Into drink) is still open for taking away, when we go grocery shopping in Leuven, we pass by and take a cup of bubble tea, meet some friends sometimes and take a walk in Leuven.
庆幸的是我们钟爱的鲁汶奶茶外卖店一直开着门！我和老公经常也会提议和朋友在奶茶店见面，捧着一杯热乎乎的奶茶在鲁汶散个步，聊聊天，这也是让我觉得非常经济，健康的社交方式。
Go hiking in a mountain nearby 去比利时南边的小山徒步
6. Food for the soul 投放给灵魂的食物
A lot of things have been slashed in the year 2020, which means you might end up with some extra time than planned, as a result, bored. The cure for boredom is curiosity. It is important to feed your soul with activities such as learning a new language, read, watch movies, or start a new hobby. My husband and I started following Japanese lessons every Thursday, I dedicated most of my weekends to reading, and some of my friends recently started intriguing hobbies such as embroidery and knitting. So if you feel you are bored, this is a great opportunity for you to do something you have always wanted by did not have time for!
相信你和我们一样，很多2020年计划的活动都被取消了，这意味着你可能会有一些空余的时间，会感到无聊吗？治愈无聊最好的方式是好奇心。在这段时间，你可以开始学习一门新的语言，读书，看电影，或者开始一个新的兴趣爱好。我和老公从九月开始没周四晚上学习日语，周末我的大部分空闲时间都用来阅读，我的一些好朋友还开始了一些非常令人惊叹的兴趣爱好，有的开始学习刺绣，有的开始学习针织，这些不仅把时间利用起来了而且还给生活增添了很多乐趣。如果你感到无聊的话，不妨利用这段时间做一些你一直想做却没时间的事情？
The highlight of 2020 – 2020 年也有亮点
Apart from all the inconveniences in life due to the pandemic, there are still some highlights in life this year. From big events such as the election of Joe Biden, expedite new type of vaccination development and approval, and finally a Brexit deal (although still many pending items), to my personal achievement of cutting sugar intake to a minimum, getting my diploma in Management and getting more responsibilities at work.
除了大流行给生活带来很多不便意外，2020年其实也有一些亮点，国际上Joe Biden当选下一届美国总统，新型疫苗的紧急研发和批准，以及脱欧四年后终于达成的一个协议。我个人也在今年达到了几乎零糖摄取量，拿到了2年学习后的管理硕士学位，以及工作上也有了更多责任。我希望你的这一年结束得让你满意，无论发生了什么，都已经是过去了，新的一年应该不会有这么多出人意料的地方，希望事情会和你计划得一样发展！
说起新年愿望，刚才已经提到我是希望每天坚持锻炼，你的呢？
最后祝大家新年快乐！
I hope your year has ended well so far, whatever happened, they are behind us now. Next year will (hopefully) be less surprising and I hope most of the things go according to your plans! Speaking of new year’s resolution, mine is to lead a healthy life by sticking to my daily sports routine, what are yours?
Happy 2021 everyone!
Source: https://proverbicals.com/boredom
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Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
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