Before the 2009 Countdown

Before the countdown on New Year’s Eve, I habitually spend a few minutes evaluating the past twelve months. Usually, I focus only on the positive and gloss over the negative. When I was younger, I used to put down the names of all the handsome guys I’d met during the year. This time, however, I decided to make a list of all the things I’d never done before. In order to spare the reader the entire list, here are just a few examples:

• I’d never had a Master’s.
• I’d never been married.
• I’d never been to Asia.
• I’d never practiced yoga and meditation.
• I’d never sat on an elephant’s back.
• I’d never eaten nor cooked chicken curry.
• I’d never seen a jellyfish.
• I’d never been to a dolphin show.
• I’d never climbed a 4000m mountain.

The year 2009 has been so much different from all the previous years. (As if Reality decided to finally make a point.) It has been both un año fenomenal and un año fatal.

I wonder how much Prague has changed since we last saw it from the aircraft window at the Ruzyne airport. Call me sceptical, but I suspect it hasn’t changed at all. Prague has this fantastic quality of remaining unchanged on the inside, while everything changes on the outside. I guess there’ll be a few more high-rise buildings at Pankrac, the capital’s La Défense. No doubt, the suburbs will have expanded again, with several new villas built for the wealthy. However, I suspect that on the inside everything will be the same old story. Waiters in lovely, old cafés will greet us, just like they did before, with their unmistakable frown. I think it is then that I will miss Asia the most.