For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

T.S. Eliot

I love reflecting at the end of a year and dreaming about what is to come. While I know it has been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, I thought a new year is a perfect time to begin again. So, here are some notable events from my 2018.

2018 Highlights

Winter 2018

Martin and I both worked full-time in Shenzhen, China as English teachers throughout 2018. Between my semesters, I get 6-8 weeks off and since we hadn’t visited the United States for a while, we decided to spend January and February in Minnesota. Of course, this wasn’t the ideal time to visit but it was the time we had.

I surprised my grandmother by showing up at her 90th birthday party. I was just as excited as she was to see me. While home, we got to see most of our family and friends. It was so nice to catch up with everyone, despite it being insanely cold. I did end up forgetting my phone in the bathroom of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport and had to buy a new phone as a result. 

April 2018

After returning to Shenzhen in March, we spent the spring traveling to nearby Chinese places. One of my favorite trips was a weekend in Guilin to visit an American friend of ours and his daughter. It was so much fun to travel with him again – we hadn’t done so since our epic motorbike adventure in Vietnam a couple years ago.

Hong Kong is not only about a big city, but its also about hiking. We often visited Hong Kong in 2018, but my favorite memories are from long hikes with friends. 

At the beginning of May, I had a week off from school so I decided to take my first solo-trip and go to Palawan Island in the Philippines. I remember relaxing, exploring and letting my heart guide my adventure. It was a beautiful trip on many levels.

Summer 2018

On my birthday in July, I went to Hong Kong alone to visit their book fair. I had hoped to find a bunch of books to help me teach my English classes. While there, this man interviewed me and I thought nothing of it, until a friend of mine sent me pictures of me on TV! I couldn’t believe I made it onto Chinese TV. 

Martin and I and our friend Natalia all have birthdays within days of each other, so we decided to hold a joint birthday party at our favorite bar in Shenzhen. We were so happy to see so many friends that night. 

We spent four weeks this summer in the United Kingdom. Some of that time was spent on the Isle of Skye, hiking and camping around the gorgeous island. Unfortunately, one night we were hit by a terrible wind and rain storm. We (I mean, Martin) spent the entire night holding our tent together with a trekking pole. Amazingly, we were dry and our tent was unharmed in the morning. Most of the other tents around us were not so lucky. 

After we got tired of camping in the rain, we visited Martin’s aunt in Edinburgh just in time for festival season. We got to spend quality time with her while also getting a healthy dose of art and culture. It was just what we needed.

We ended our trip in the UK with a few days in London to visit Martin’s cousin and her family. Much to our surprise, our friends from America who now live in the Netherlands took a spontaneous weekend trip to London just to see us. It was so much fun to see them!

Fall 2018

We were not very excited to return to China this fall. However, one thing that made it enjoyable was spending time with our friends. Going out for a meal or having a few drinks with friends is what always makes my soul sing. 

This fall, a major typhoon hit Shenzhen. Even though we weren’t in the middle of the storm it was close enough to us that we stayed home for two days. It was a little scary to hear the wind howling and see tree branches break off, but our home was quite safe and we even had power for most of the storm. 

This fall, I’ve been feeling burned out on traveling, on taking photos and on writing. So, we didn’t take many weekend trips at the end of this year. Instead, we would do random things, often with little to no planning. Sometimes we’d go to a health fair. Other times, we’d meet some friends who wanted to show us remote controlled skate boards. 

We did take a short weekend trip to Guangzhou in October for the Chinese National holiday. Guangzhou is only 30 minutes by high speed train from Shenzhen, but we’ve never been there before. We had a great time exploring the old city, especially its parks and river. 

This fall, I bought a used bicycle. I was tired of always riding broken shared bikes and needed a more reliable way to get to work. This also means I got to go on a bunch of biking adventures around Shenzhen. I live in a modern city but Shenzhen is one of the least bike-friendly cities I’ve ever seen. You can actually get a ticket for riding your bicycle on the road instead of on the sidewalk with all the pedestrians. Nevertheless, a new bike path opened and my friend Jacky and I took full advantage of it one day. It was glorious. I love bike riding!

To celebrate its 40th birthday, Shenzhen put on a 15 minute light show most evenings this fall. It was pretty impressive to see all the buildings coordinate their lights and decorate the sky. 

Martin and I both had four days off for Thanksgiving this year (pure coincidence). So we took a last minute trip to Xiamen, where we decided to take a short ferry ride to Kinmen Island, which is technically Taiwan. I loved seeing a different city in China and I loved visiting a nearly empty island. The island is known for a military fort, so there are a plethora of ammunition shells on the island which they use to make gorgeous knives. Since my chef’s knife had just broken, I picked up a fantastic souvenir. 

Now that 2018 has come to a close, I’m looking forward to many things in 2019. One of my goals for 2019 is to post a recap of every month on this blog. I want a more comprehensive record of what I’m doing and feeling throughout the year, and I think this blog can help me do that. So, look forward to new post at the end of every month! 

Happy New Year!