I have noticed that there was a contest about putting together our achievements and failures for this year. I have missed it (no surprise) but as I like to summarize and look back at what happened I have decided I will write my post anyway.
I can honestly say that I have enjoyed this year. It wasn't exactly as I planned but I have learned a lot and made some important decisions. I met many new people, visited new places and learned new skills.
Let's start with the failures:
I didn't manage to open my business this year.
It sounds negative but it wasn't that bad at all. I considered several locations but none of them was good enough for me to sign the agreement. My business plan is ready, and I even created the menu for first three months but I do struggle with the location. All this research was beneficial for me as I met many interesting people and worked on a relationship with the local authorities which is important. I can say that I learned in this regard.
I'm thinking about changing the concept, so that more locations would be suitable for it, but this is just a thought and I haven't worked on it yet. However, I believe that this is the way to go.
I didn't go to the Steemfest in Bangkok.
I planned to go to the Steemfest and even prepared my itinerary this summer. I wanted to go there with my husband for at least one month but he couldn't get so many days off due to the projects that he was working on and I didn't feel comfortable going on my own. Furthermore, my niece was celebrating her 2nd birthday at that time too and I couldn't miss it as I love this tiny adorable person. It was all about priorities this year and even though I'm still sad that I couldn't go this year I still think that I used my time very well. There will be many more events that I can join in the future.
There are more failures that I experienced this year but I think that these two are most important and those other ones are insignificant and could be called 'learning curves' as well.
And now to my achievements:
I passed my exams and I can apply for the license in gastronomy now.
These exams caused me a lot of stress. It's a local requirement and you have to pass it if you don't have any experience in gastronomy and want to open a business in this field. I spent several months studying and I must say that it wasn't easy as it was all in German. I was feeling like I was at school again and I didn't like it that much.
At the end, I was successful, and the committee told me that I had one of the best results ever. I was so proud of myself! Actually, I still am proud of myself.
I improved my German significantly.
I feel more confident and I can now have a conversation about almost any topic, so I feel much better in Switzerland. In the past, I didn't feel at home here and it was mainly because I wasn't part of the community. Now, it's different and not being afraid of speaking the language helped me a lot.
I joined an Animal Rights Activism group.
This topic is very important to me and I was looking for ways of being more active and then a friend of mine asked me if I would like to join the Anonymous for the Voiceless group. I was excited about this offer and joined them. I learned how to talk to strangers and how to bring my ego down in such conversations which helped me in other parts of my life too.
I did my first catering job.
I like to organize dinner parties as my friends enjoy my food. Cooking is my passion and I love serving delicious food that people appreciate. One day I got contacted by an organisation if I'd like to help them with an event. They heard that I make delicious canapes and asked me how many I would be able to help. At the end, we agreed on how we will do it and it was a great success! I was stressed as I hadn't done anything like this before, but I was motivated to prove that I am able to do it. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again!
I enjoy sharing some details from my life here from time to time and I will definitely share my goals for 2020 with you too!
When this post will be submitted, I will be on the plane to Vienna and from there to Slovakia. I'm so excited about the holidays and I'm looking forward to the New Year's Eve party.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
Martina
