2008: Best of Times, Worst of Times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way... - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

...And so ends 2008. I do consent that to say it included the worst of times may be a slight exaggeration, but I like the quote. It has been a crazy year for me; by anyone's standards almost insane. Consider all that has transpired:

• 7000 Pictures taken
• 85 Students
• 65 Blog posts
• 16 Airplane flights
• 9 Days late that I'm posting this
• 8 Beaches visted, including ones in the rain
• 7 Games of Ticket to Ride
• 6 Countries visted or lived in: US, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Germany, Korea
• 6 Plates of churros con chocolate
• 5 Classes taught
• 5 Bottles of shampoo
• 3 Jobs/ Internships
• 3 Churches
• 2 Blown up heaters
• 2 Websites developed
• 1 Minor surgery
• 1 Degree earned: 2 majors, 2 minors, completed with classes at 4 universities and work done in 4 countries (US, Canada, Thailand, Spain)- what was I thinking? I should get more than 1 degree for all that...
• And the list goes on.

Yes, some very good things- and some very bad things (which will obviously be ignored in this post)- happened last year. Lots of good memories: Playing with my Spanish little sister. Dressing up for Feria with friends. Spending a weekend at my boss' beach house. Visiting Leslie. 3 Cultures class. Wandering around Sevilla. Taking pictures of restaurants and hotels. Running off to random cities. Going to tapas bars in the evenings. Showing my parents around Barcelona and Sevilla. Dying/highlighting my sister's hair multiple times. Watching Psych and 24 with my brother late at night. Taking the subway to Uijeongbu. Weekends at the Hawkins. Visiting palaces with Koreans. Learning Korean words. Walking arm-in-arm through Seoul with a Korean girl I had just met an hour before (the sister of my friend).

I know 2009 will not be nearly as exciting, but it sure will be interesting... May you all have a blessed new year!