Year in review.

2015 highlights time, in no particular order:

-Hopeless sprint through the tubes and Heathrow to inexplicably make it to my Greek holiday.  I am still so happy that I got to take a first visit to the classical world, as I officially decided to grit out attempting to get to the flight despite my possible making it being illegal by Heathrow’s own policies regarding international flights.

-A good job, finally: after the debacle of my second year in China, in which I suffered under a B-movie style terrible boss, I was a bit shell-shocked.  My decision to return to the profession landed me a bad job to start 2015, in which I dealt with some of the worst behaved students I’m likely to see. Fall 2015 brought a good school, good students, good workmates and a sense of calm I hadn’t felt at work since 2013.

-Catching fish! I had two transcendent episodes of icthycide during the year: catching a champion-sized (for SSI) rainbow with Lynette in the boat (proving I wasn’t just buying them or something beyond all doubt), and catching a decent spring in about 8 feet of water with my Dad using 60+ year-old tactics that people generally don’t know about anymore.  Both were tense affairs that led to exaltation and great meals, and count highly amongst the year’s experiences.

-World travelling: I visited the UK, Greece, Germany, Scotland, Canada, South Korea, and Vietnam during 2015.  7 countries in one year, without cheating by using a cruise or a long train journey… not bad.  Alas that I had to renew my passport halfway through the year.

Track of the year: Ukifune by Go!Go!7188

Meal of the year: stuffed grilled squid in Athens with pitas/hummus and beer.

Biggest personal expense: custom-made suit and shirts in Hoi An!

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In a lot of ways, 2015 was characterized by being cold; I managed to be uncomfortably cold in all seasons but the early fall – late fall being when the Siberian air started to drift into Seoul.  In a lot of ways, it was a cold ‘world tour’:

-UK: bloody freezing, living in a poorly insulated house from January – April with people who (rightly) never wanted to turn the heat on, and who always stood near a door to smoke cigarettes out into the cold…rather than step into the cold, it became both cold and smoky inside.

-Greece: remarkably cold, to the point of snow each morning.  I remember looking at the forecasts from the UK and viscerally looking forward to the highs in the high teens…and arriving to find I had to wear my winter coat to take in the Parthenon, the ancient agora, and all the Mythos beers I could find.

-Germany: confusingly cold, with one form or another of ice falling from the sky each time I left the apartment.  My brother and sister-in-law were both shaking their heads at the litany of unseasonable hailstorms, rain, snow, sleet, etc etc that accompanied my visit.  I still gamely went out, but with the incredulity of someone who hadn’t really been warm in four months.

-Scotland: atypically wonderful, warm and sunny.  Don’t think the weather gods knew I was there.

-Canada: made the foolish mistake of going camping in the summer.  Struggled up into an unremarkable mountainous area (Golden Ears park – skip it) only to be walloped by a huge 2-day rainstorm that defeated my tent’s waterproofing and soaked my friend’s sleeping bag.  After some deliberation we legged it back to the parking lot to get sushi.  Cold fatigue setting thoroughly in.

-South Korea: blisteringly hot in the early fall, changing to lip-crackingly cold after about a two week goldilocks-zone of habitability.  Siberian air is no joke.

That’s 3 continents of cold (apologies Africa/South America…absolutely not, Antarctica) covered in one year, with the antidote forced at the end: Vietnam.

Vietnam was warm, inexpensive, and an altogether nice place to give a meteorological middle finger to the rest of the year.  The food was fantastic, the people were great, and the sun was out more than the forecast had dictated.

We spent days wandering around the old town, eating huge lunches, siesta-ing when appropriate, and questing for the best bahn mi the town could offer.  It was cheap, warm, and easy: an oppositional end to a year’s worth of difficult, cold living.  I write now from a chilly New Year’s day, hoping 2016 is a warmer year.  If I had a resolution, it would be to not be freezing cold as a throughline for my years’ travels and travails.