A New Year

Welcome to 2018! It is, almost,  my birthday and so a perfect time to reflect on the coming year  as well as the past year and to relax with my new Nicolas Cage pillow, a birthday gift. Things are looking pretty good in both directions, so let me share a bit about why.

Since last January I've done a lot of traveling, first to Japan in the spring to catch some cherry blossoms, and then again to Japan in June as part of a school trip to Hiroshima. I then again went to Japan this past December to see my family for the holidays. Three times in a year I went to Japan! That is a win. I also made it back to the US this summer to see family and spent a month in California for a summer program, so that was a good bit of traveling too. I added two new countries to my travelled to list of 40 countries now, Myanmar and Mongolia. As always, it was very exciting to go somewhere new and see a different way of life.
I don't always travel though, sometimes I have to work too and that has been going well. I've continued teaching at my brick and mortar school here in Beijing and online both semesters with GOA. In addition, I've been doing test administration and examining both for IB and SAT. Extra bucks for extra work! In addition, I spent 4 weeks this summer at an NEH seminar that, besides paying nicely, was super interesting and connected me to a lot of great educators in the US. I did have a stab at finding a new post in the fall as the hiring season heated up, but the market didn't look too good and the only great lead I had fizzled out, so we are here in Beijing for another year, shackled by golden handcuffs.
Health wise, we are doing pretty good. I ran two half marathons last year and Aya has been exercising more as well. We are both getting older and feeling some of that in stiffness and longer healing times, but nothing too major. We even got out to do some hiking in the Beijing mountains and I think there will be more of that in the next year as the air here has been getting better.

For the coming year there are a few things in the works. It looks like we will spend some time this coming summer in Wisconsin and I will also be going to Seattle again for GOA training in July. Last time I had a calf strain so I couldn't run around the beautiful trails on Bainbridge Island, but, fingers crossed, that will not be the case this year. I'm also eyeing some smaller races over the summer, like the Hairpin in Fish Creek. I also think there will be some additional trips as Aya and I are 100% sure that this is our last year in Beijing. The time has come so, good job or not, we are going to make the jump to somewhere else. Most of that will again gear up in November and December, quite far away at the moment. Who knows where we will end up, but some of the trips we are looking at would be to southern parts of India and Sri Lanka (new country!), maybe to Scotland/London/Iceland(new country!), or to some further parts of China like Tibet (new... country?). I will also stay on with GOA and teach with them next year, but I think my commitments with them will change and so I might be teaching a different subject, that will be exciting.

Certainly not least, I am looking forward to seeing some close friends and family. Happy 2018!