My News Highlights for 2019

Dear everyone,

I started this blog, it was my first blog when I moved to England, UK and my thought on starting it was it will be a good way to update everyone on my news. I don't always get the time to update everyone individually. Sometimes I am not the best at replying texts or messages either especially when I'm busy working or with friends, I forget but I do love hearing how people are. I actually like phone calls or video calls which is weird because when I was younger sometimes I would just let our house phone ring and ring or put the answering machine on because I didn't want to answer it haha! Meeting in person is of course the ultimate best but not always possible as a lot of people I know are scattered around the world. I love meeting up with people and catching up with people. I don't get around to updating this blog as much as I would like, I am averaging a post a year haha but this is some of the news highlights of what I got up to in 2019!

Let's start with the Best news of 2019! My beautiful nephew Logan Gavin Plummer was born on the 14th of February 2019. I love him so much! I met him in November 2019 and he is such a happy smiley boy! My sister and brother in law are amazing parents. More about Logan later in this blog!

My nephew Logan Gavin Plummer - I LOVE HIM!

Next let's move on to my age. Ouch. I turned 30 in 2019 on the 14th of April to be exact - if you want to send me a present for my next one I will give you my address, only joking. The big 3-0 wow! The thing I will say about turning 30 is that in your teens you think you know everything and then in your 20's you think you know everything and know who you are and then when you reach your 30's you realise you didn't know anything when you were younger and you have changed as a person. I wasn't looking forward to turning 30 but now that I have I am really happy because I feel like I am finally at an age where life has taught me so much and I have grown as a person and I know who I am. I am also at an age where I am ready to try new things and do anything I want to do.

My friend surprised me with a birthday meal with some of my other close friends in the area for my 30th. There is actually a video on my Instagram of it because they filmed my reaction and of course a lot of pictures on my Facebook/ Instagram. (I take a lot of pictures of everything). It was really nice of her and my other friends and they all kept it quiet so well, I was very surprised haha. I am so thankful to have such amazing friends who would do that for me. Here is a picture from my 30th:

Posing with balloons my friends got me - I am 30!

Now we move on to Nicola the globetrotter. The thing I like about travel is that you get to see such amazing places and get to see what a beautiful world we live in and meet awesome people. Of course there are things that happen that are not beautiful in the world but the actual beauty of nature and places is amazing and there are some really kind people too. If you are on my social media you might have seen, I have done a fair amount of travelling this year - I have been to 6 countries! (Ok one is technically an island in Greece).

 I have always wanted to try solo travel and stay in hostels and I did it in 2019 - 4 times! I did my first solo travel abroad trip in November 2018 and went to Tenerife but I stayed in a hotel. I did a solo travel local UK trip a few years ago too and went to Torquay, Devon and stayed in a hotel. The thing about solo travel is that it isn't always exactly solo - you meet loads of people who are also travelling solo too or with friends and hang out together when you stay in hostels or do group tours etc. My first trip was to Madrid, Spain in March and the experience of solo travelling and the awesome people I met and the fun I had, made me want to do it more and more!

Here are some pictures in Madrid, Spain - (the bear and tree are the symbol of Madrid):

 


 I booked another solo trip to Corfu, Greece in June (Greek Island) and stayed in a hostel - here are some pictures of me in Corfu, Greece:

               
I booked another solo trip and stayed in a hostel in Faro, Portugal in June, here are some pictures:

 



I booked my 4th hostel solo trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands I also met up with a friend there too, here is a picture:

I would encourage anyone looking to travel to solo travel, it's such a brilliant experience and I met amazing people from all over the world and saw amazing places! I will definitely be doing more trips in 2020! I love travelling and visiting people and also travelling and meeting new people and seeing new places! I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to travel so much and it has been so nice to meet such great people from all over the world!

That does not conclude my travelling for 2019 though, I have covered 4 out of 6 countries I visited. I also visited South Africa and Zimbabwe. In November I flew to Johannesburg, South Africa. I landed at the airport and my family were there waiting for me. I met my nephew Logan for the first time at the airport on the 9th November 2019. I was so excited to meet him and I had been so excited for months before. My brother in law had made Logan a t-shirt that said "Aunty Nicola Flight AF 990" which was my flight number when I arrived and he held him up when I walked through at the airport. It was awesome! I walked straight up to the barrier and grabbed him off my brother in law. Holding my nephew for the first time was the most incredible feeling and he was so relaxed at being held by this stranger who just took him. I have video called him before but he hadn't seen me in person until then.

This is a picture from the airport when I first met him (9th November) and another one that same day:

My nephew is such an easy going happy boy! I loved spending time with him and getting to know him. I put a video of him too on my Facebook. As you can imagine Aunty Nicola has hundreds of other photos and videos of him! I can't get enough of him! I love him sooo much and miss him so much! I love video calling him and getting updates on his life and pictures.

Here are some more pictures of Aunty Nicola (me) and Logan (my nephew):

                       

He is the cutest! Please spend a moment of appreciation for his cuteness.

Ok moving back to my trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe because I could literally talk about my nephew all day but I wont. We had a bit of a family reunion when I was there. My two aunts (dad's sisters) and my cousin came and visited Johannesburg at the same time. Most of my family are scattered between South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and the UK so it was nice to catch up with them. My dad, stepmom, sister, brother in law, nephew Logan, sister in law and stepbrother are all in Joburg. I also saw my stepsister in Cape Town.

I had some great times with family in South Africa, we all went together (Logan included) up the cable car at Hartbeesport Dam (try say that) and had lunch and looked at the views. We went to a local market, they are very talented and creative at making things in Africa. We visited Walter Sisulu botanical gardens (the picture of Logan and I at the waterfall was taken there).  We had a lot of laughs and chats, my family have a great sense of humour and I learnt more about my family history. I loved the Pantomine, it has special South Africa style and humour and we laughed so much. We went to watch a Pantomime - Jack and the Beanstalk. We caught up with other family and family friends too. I did lots of shopping too haha!  

Here are pictures of my family from my trip in South Africa:

My stepmom Noeline, Dad, Aunt Bev (dad's sister), Aunt Noeleen (dad's sister), cousin Luke and I

My cousin Luke, sister Christina,  nephew Logan and I

My sister Christina, brother in law Ray and nephew Logan -  we wore him out the 1st day I met him

My stepbrother Derek, sister in law Shannon and I

My sister Christina and I (I have had comments on the background haha)

My stepsister Carmin and I in Cape Town

I also visited Cape Town, South Africa and stayed with my friends and their family and saw my stepsister. My friend and I went wine tasting (there are loads of vineyards there) and it was my first time wine tasting, I really enjoy it. We also went up the cable car to the top of Table Mountain (very popular mountain in South Africa) and visited the V&A Waterfront and had lunch there.

My friend Sarah and I at the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa

My friend Sarah and I wine tasting in Cape Town, South Africa 

I also visited my hometown Harare, Zimbabwe to catch up with friends and family there. It's such a beautiful country with such kind people and when I go back I feel like I have never been away. Although my home is in the UK now, a part of my heart will always be in Zimbabwe. It also makes you appreciate the UK because I grew up with power cuts, water cuts, potholed roads, food and fuel shortages and Zimbabwe still faces most of these things today except the shops are full. My childhood was different, Zimbabwe was a booming country back then, then everything collapsed around the year 2000. Despite all the problems it is a lovely country with awesome places to visit and it has built up a lot since I lived there. Our Zimbabwean motto is: Make a plan! It is not actually the motto but we do joke we make a lot of plans there! No electricity - make a plan - generators, candles, inverters, solar power. No water - we make a plan - water tanks in houses, boreholes. And so on.  It taught me that whatever life throws at you, you can make a plan!

Here are some pictures of my trip to Harare, Zimbabwe with family and friends: 

That concludes my travelling abroad for 2019. It has been amazing to catch up with so many people and meet so many new people! I am blessed to have such awesome people in my life all around the world and in the UK! 

I also travelled locally and went to the Ed Sheeran Concert in Ipswich, Suffolk with one of my friends from Zimbabwe who also lives in the UK. We also went to the beach there. It was amazing! I love concerts and it also featured Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy and the Darkness so we got to see them live too! If you notice on my Facebook I post a lot of music and I am always listening to music at home, at gym, in my car, at work sometimes and any other opportunity I have. What I love more than listening to music on devices is live music too. I have a very wide taste in music - a very very wide taste in music. I find music relaxing and peaceful. I'd say my two main things are writing and my love for music - it's just a love for music by the way, don't ask me to sing or play an instrument - that could be scary, that is not one of my talents but I have such an admiration for people who are talented with singing or playing an instrument or both. 

Here is a picture from the Ed Sheeran Concert in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK: 

My friend Tanya and I at the Ed Sheeran Concert in Ipswich, Suffolk

I had an amazing year living with my previous housemate and friend. It was great to live with such a nice person, we had lots of great times and laughs in the house. We rented a house together and we moved in together in November 2018. She left in October 2019 to move up north and I got a new housemate who is also very nice and I live in the same house.

Here are some pics of my previous housemate/  and I, we also recently met up and went to the Birmingham Christmas markets together this December:

                              

 I also caught up with friends recently from Zimbabwe who were visiting the UK this December, I used to babysit them and they are now 18 and 20! It was great to see them. 

Here is a pic of us: 

Costa (18), me and Irene (20)

These are two of my best friends below who I love so much and are always there for me and know all the things that go on in the life of Nicola Hill which can be quite humorous at times! They have been there for me throughout all my ups and downs in 2019! 

My best friend Dan and I

My best friend Rebecca and I

I also joined two local meet up groups this year and met more amazing people and made new friends. They are online groups where you go and meet up with people you have never met for the first time somewhere and they do regular events. It's a lot of fun. I always like trying new things.

Now let's go to the affordability factor. How does Nicola pay for life? I have a job. Woah I know right who would employ me! It's actually a job I love. I work with people with Autism/ learning disabilities/ mental health disorders! I have worked as a support worker  since September 2013 and I have been in my current job since October 2017. I love it because I get to help people every day! Some days are challenging - don't the staff and I know it but the reward of seeing the happiness from our residents makes it all worthwhile. I also have the best team to work with ever. I really cherish some of the friendships I have at work and all the laughs we have. I think the world is wrong in the sense that sport and many other things pay a lot more but caring for human beings doesn't. We do these kind of jobs because we care, you have to care to do this kind of work properly. We also work throughout public holidays etc, it's 24/7 care. I do 14 hour shifts from 8am - 10pm, 3 days a week but if you are me I do a lot overtime and can work over 60 hours a week sometimes over 70 - 80. Although I do balance my weeks and obviously find time to spend time with friends too and do other things I want to do like gym and running, I love exercise! Don't ask me how I manage to fit in things, I have no idea haha but I do. This is why sometimes I take a long time to reply messages because I do a lot. 

In October 2018 I became a British Citizen "British Nicola". Which makes the UK my official home now. I have had some amazing times throughout my years here with the best people! I have also had some really hard times and really low moments over the years too. Although in 2019 I decided no matter what happens I am going to focus on the good and I did and it really changed my year! I am really thankful of all the places in the world I ended up in the UK because it has been filled with a lot of personal growth and been a fun experience!

Writing this blog post has made me realise that I have had so many good moments with special people throughout the year! If you would like to see more about my year, I have lots of photo albums on my social media. 

If I have missed anything out, I may add to this later. I may have, I have spent the whole day writing this, summarising a  year of my life haha!

I am really thankful to God for this journey and I feel we are meant to love others not to judge them. So let's go spread that love in this world, the world always needs more love than anything else. No one is perfect, not everyone will do things you agree with but you can love them anyway. Remember too that it's not happy people who are thankful, it's thankful people who are happy! That's one of my favourite quotes! If you look at the good things in your life you will realise you have a lot of them. Yeah there are bad things that happen too but where is your focus?

I have another blog too this is the link:

With that I shall love and leave you,

Until I write again,

Nicola Hill

PS: I LOVE MY NEPHEW! :-)