The year 2025 will join the Banker annals as one of the deepest devastation and the highest joys. The soul-wrenching losses and life reckonings faced within these twelve months discombobulated us in the most unexpected ways. Yet, some of our greatest travels and dearest reunions took place this year.
We stepped into 12 countries, 16 American states, five Chinese provinces, and a convention center to join the masses in a galaxy far, far away.
From point to point, we flew 76,720.62km/41,471.73m.
We meandered 21 airports, five of which were new to us.
We sat on 26 airplanes.
We trundled along on eleven trains (excluding our random jaunts to nearby spots in China.)
In a cross-the-USA road trip, calculations not including our random meanderings, we drove 5034.09km/3128.11m.
We stayed in 19 hotels, nine houses, and one ferry that was more like a cruise ship than an actual ferry.
We traveled six times to meet someone.
We moved once.
We planned one funeral.
We survived the eighth snowiest January on record for Kentucky, with snow on the ground for 21 days.
We survived five typhoons.
Zach and the women's team participated in three football tournaments and finished 5th in the Province in their division.
I wrote eight blog posts...
With such a dichotomized confluence of life, we felt emotions deeply and seized moments fervently. It was a really hard year physically and emotionally, and to unravel it all has been a task. In years past, our annual review has been in the ABC format. Such a format seems inadequate, even a bit daunting for this year. With so few blog posts written, it is hard to highlight the best of 2025. Therefore I am taking a month-by-month approach this time. Thus, here be the rundown of our wild year:
Day one of the new year was spent in Macau hanging out with our friend, Esme, who we had not seen since our days at GDOU. Four days later, we landed in Vietnam and walked into spectacular hugs from the To clan, then screamed alongside them as Vietnam won the ASEAN Cup. We had barely returned to our hotel room when we received the call that completely flipped our world. There is absolutely no preparation for a phone call bearing horrific news. Listening to my mom hysterically sob on the phone as she frantically tried to tell me that my dad had dropped dead in the snow while using a blower to clear the sidewalk is a seared memory. Our elation turned to devastation. We headed to the motherland amid insane winter weather. In the days following my dad's funeral, Zach and I were with our respective mothers. We joked that our weeks apart were connected by our continual wade through paperwork — mine with a death, his with a divorce. It was some of our hardest days, yet there were unique moments and fun. We played in the snow with our nieces. Mom and I realized that cleaning/organizing is our mutual superpower and therapy, we are wickedly vicious at Rummikub, her macaroni soup remains a comfort food, and historical rabbit trails are our jam. A promised jaunt to IKEA with Aunt Becky and mom became reality (complete with assembly of bought products afterwards.) We hung out with family and friends longer than the fleeting moments that are typical during our summers, and we drove to the moon tree only to discover that it had been cut down.
February
This was the month that felt like the opening of a Tale of Two Cities — it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, with a dash of comedic mishaps. We departed Kentucky bound for Thailand, hoping for a week to reset ourselves. It began with six airports, five airplanes, one connection, one major rerouting, four books, and one taxi. It involved three days of food poisoning. We did obtain a vague tan line before returning to the adopted motherland and another semester. It was a discombobulated latter half. I feel we are in agreement that there was a touch of survival mode to this month.
Birthday month was a much needed beautiful reminder of life. Students showered me with notes and trinkets, while dear friends kept surprising me with adventures and gifts. We also had the delight of hanging out with another GDOU friend, Dario, who was in town for one day. On another day, we were the token foreigners at the TCM hospital during a fundraising endeavor. We had no money to give, but had a fun time meeting new people. Women's football was highlighted in the national sports magazine, with my husband (in his iconic pink socks) printed in the middle of a page. Zhongshan was stunning in color and vivid night views.
April
It was a packed month. The women's provincial tournament was Zach's focus for the first half the month, where they placed fifth for the entirety of Guangdong in their division. Mid-month, we boarded a plane bound for Tokyo for three specific reasons: DisneySea, Star Wars Celebration, and Kaden To. Three of our favoritest things collided in this adventure. We completed our unintended quest to visit all Disneys in the world; receiving a pile of stickers from Guest Relations to mark our achievement. We joined 99,998 other people to celebrate all things from that galaxy far, far away by doing all the things — pictures, panels, secret previews, and swapping swag. We celebrated Kaden being an adult and flying by himself to a new country. It was an incredible week. Intermingled within all of the big were bike adventures, reunions with friends, visits to art museums, and a campus graduation.
May
We began the month in Taiwan to hang out with SJ. It was more football, where Zach's team was wildly outmatched by former professional players in a tournament in Shenzhen. We held our annual Kentucky Derby Hat Competition with our students. I attended some local festivals. We met Emma in Nansha to hang out with Mazu in a gigantic temple complex. We signed contracts for another year of employment and celebrated it with gusto.
June
We spent our Dragonboat festival in Hong Kong meeting Portland friends who had spent the month gallivanting about our adopted motherland. We celebrated the end of another semester. We celebrated Zach's birthday in all the ways we could, especially by living the day in so many time zones as we made our way to Scandinavia. We spent the last days of the month meandering the waterways of Copenhagen and Oslo, watching a football match at a club owned by a previous Timbers player (we had no idea!), bouncing from bakery to bakery, gazing at Munch artwork, sussing out all the live music we could find (including a street battle of bands which was epic!), paying homage to some literary giants, strolling some cemeteries, hopping on and off numerous ferries, and eating pizza beneath a gloriously bright midnight sky like the locals.
July
We began the month in Sweden and ended it in Wyoming — with so much in between. We made our pilgrimage to ABBA and IKEA. We watched the women's Euros in a park with locals. We jumped the Atlantic to begin our stateside summer shenanigans. We had a reunion with Uncle Mike and Aunt Nancy, while also meeting the newest family member, Easton. We dealt with the aftermath of Zach's parents' divorce finalization. We faced Dad's first birthday without him, but honored his legacy with a large funnel cake and an evening watching the fair's tractor pull. We plotted our westward road trip, then started it on a stunningly beautiful day. We stopped at all the largest roadside attractions, paid homage to the inventor of Monopoly, followed a portion of Laura Ingalls Wilder's journey, jaunted along Route 66, dealt with a flat tire thanks to roadside angel, Kevin, watched baseball at the Field of Dreams, gawked at incredible natural scenery, stopped so much to marvel at nature, and stood speechless at the foot of Dignity of Earth and Sky only to deal with an incredible storm afterwards that had the grass laying flat and car inhabitants wondering if Mally (our modern day wagon) would be swept away as well. We also forged our own path along the Oregon Trail, pondered whether the Crazy Horse statue would ever be completed, gushed at the cute prairie dogs, and used Mom's National Park access with wild abandon.
August
We began the month concluding our road trip. We waited for Old Faithful, chased the fluffy cows, spotted a bear in the wild (a first!), found a ghost town which had been ghosted by the state park system, drove through an active manhunt, found a Buddha haven, ate baked potatoes in Idaho, and meandered our way along the Columbia River. We celebrated our arrival on the west coast with a full day of Portland essentials. After mom departed, we shifted into Portland summer mode — hikes, water adventures, picnics, live music, an indie movie premiere, football, author readings, and so many hours with dear friends.
September
With our semester starting late, we gained a bonus week in Portland. It was filled with final dinners, senior football matches, the annual taste test (Oreos), and final moments on the water. In the adopted motherland, it was a month of tumult and typhoons. Immediately upon our return, we were evicted from our flat and made to move to the building next door. It was a mad dash to move a mere 20 meters in between typhoons. We put out a plea for students to help; they rallied and were the mighty force one wants in trying times.
October
This was a month of movement and a discombobulated school schedule. We began the month by returning to our Chinese hometown, Zhanjiang, and having a slew of reunions. It was an incredible time to reminisce; there was even a typhoon to remind us of blustery times and destroyed hutongs. We ended the month by jaunting about China to cross off some adopted motherland bucket list items. We experienced the fakest Chinese tourist attractions in Chenzhou, stood in awe of the Zhangjiajie mountains, ambled through stunning caves at the Yugang Grottoes, and discovered the delights of Datong. In between these were dinner with students, a musical in Guangzhou, and, as always, some football — this time at a 3v3 tournament in Guangzhou.
November
While Zach was in Guangzhou at the footy tournament, Emma and I finished rambling around Datong on the first few days, then we switched travel partners to travel Luoyang with Mayor. Exploring ancient tombs, temples, and caves filled our days. We actually started teaching again after military training, took graduation photos with students, performed for a local TV show about the local Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital, and feasted for Thanksgiving. Zach's football team had their Provincial tournament in-between our travels and Thanksgiving, and then we actually had a first this year — our beloved Hundough restaurant had a Thanksgiving buffet that included turkey and the traditional sides. A few students and friends joined us for the evening and it was wonderful. Zach declares this was the highlight of the year for him.
It was the month to moderately slow down. We made our annual holiday pilgrimage to Hong Kong, sat around tables with friends for slow meals, celebrated Christmas in the ways we can, and I finished a quilt. We sat on our rooftop to bid farewell to a very full and exciting, yet tumultuous and grief-stricken year.
No comments:
Post a Comment