Tag: family

Top Posts of 2025

I’m sorry about the lateness of this post. Usually I am sharing with you the biggest posts of the year right around New Year’s Day, but because I was traveling through Patagonia at that time, I wasn’t able to sit down and sort through all of the data until now. 2025 was a crazy year for most of us for various reasons, and this was no different for me. I had taken a new job in Peru in July, so I spent a lot of the time getting all of my stuff together and moving it halfway around the world in Jordan. During that time, I was able to travel to many places such as Egypt, London, around Jordan one last time and a couple of trips back to the United States, but most of my time was spent moving all of our stuff and our puppy to Peru. Because of the visa requirements, I was not able to leave Peru once we arrived, but this was not a bad thing because the time I did have off was spent traveling through this amazing country. I hope you enjoy this look back of last year, and here is to more opportunities to see the world this year.

10. The Start of the Last Hurrah – Jordan

2025 was the last year that I spent in Jordan, and before we left, we started to have visitors. I was able to make the Jordan Loop, (Petra, the Dead Sea, and Jerash) one last time. It was a month before I left, and it was like my farewell tour of the area. I do consider myself lucky that I was able to make this trip that one last time, and do it with such good friends. It allowed me to create great memories of Jordan before I left it forever.

9. The Mummy

Egypt featured heavily in the posts for 2025, showing up four times in the top 10. The first time was a poem that I had written while out there, thinking about what it would be like to be a mummy so many years after you had been rediscovered by archaeologists. It was great to see them, but it was also gave me a sense of dread of what it would be like to have your body on display in a museum so people could come by and view you.

8. Packing Up the Holidays

My first post of the year was also one of your favorites. I spent a lot of time in the States this year, and I had spent some of that time with my family during the holidays. It is easily the best way to spend this time of year, and it always makes for great memories, but at the same time, there comes that moment when you have to pack everything up, and return to the life that you live. It is the reason that January is always a quiet month for most people, but it was still nice to have this to hold on to during that quiet month.

7. Santa Catalina Monastery – Arequipa, Peru

I made a big move this year, coming from Jordan halfway around the world to land in Peru. Because it was my first year there, I needed to stay in Peru for my visa. It is not a bad place to be stuck in as there are a lot of things to see. We were holding off on the big one, Machu Picchu, because we knew we would have visitors and we would see that eventually, so we went off to other locations. Our first big trip was to Arequipa, and it is a place in Peru that is not talked about enough. The monastery is a great place to visit if you are in Arequipa, and a lot of people enjoyed the post.

6. Cultural Duality

A return to Egypt with another poem about my time in Cairo. I really enjoyed this unexpected trip last year as what I thought would be another experience in a Muslim country turned out to be a cultural education about one of the oldest places in the world. The thing that struck me the most about the place was the way that the people embraced both aspects of their past. There was a huge pride in both their connection to Islam and the Egyptian kings of centuries past. At times, it seemed as if these cultures were at odds with each other, but there was a marriage between the two that allowed them to exist in perfect harmony in this part of the world.

5. The Last 100 Days

For many people, 2025 was a tough year. The world seemed to be imploding, and as I left one of the parts of the world where that struggle could really be felt, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my time there. I started to take one picture a day during my lat 100 days in Jordan as I went about my routine and posting that picture to Facebook. I was not trying to be political or get people motivated to think a certain way; I was just documenting the mundane. I received a lot of feedback from doing this as it gave people a reprieve from the crazy they were seeing on social media. This little experiment resinated with you as well, and oddly enough, it became a simple way to bring a little happiness to people’s lives during a time when they needed it.

4. Enchanted Grounds – Littleton’s Board Game Cafe

I had gotten back into one of my favorite hobbies, board games, during the 2020 pandemic. It was a great way to have fun with the few people that I had contact with at that time. It turned into something that stuck with me beyond that strange time in the world. As I explored this hobby more, I have gone to a couple board game cafes, but never the one that was right down the street from where my dad lives. Over the summer of 2025, I met a few of my friends down there to finish off our Dungeons and Dragons campaign that we were unable to finish due to me having to leave Jordan early. I am glad that I had finally gone into this place. It has opened the door to look for more of these little places around the world as a way to enjoy a couple hours of downtime during my travels. It was also nice to give Enchanted Grounds a little plug to keep them busy for future years.

3. Onirim – Welcome to the Oniverse

As I started to explore the board game hobby more, I started to review the games that I picked up along the way. I have only done one or two reviews a year, but they always seem to be very popular, and people continue to come back to them as they decided on the board games for their collections as well. This year I reviewed one of my favorite solo board games, Onirim. Many people must have been just as curious about this game as I was when I first came across it because it was one of the posts that was visited, and is still visited, the most last year. I still stick with my initial assessment that the game is fun, but the free app is a better way to enjoy the game.

2. Coptic Cairo

Usually when I think of Egypt, I think of the ancient culture with its pantheon of deities, or the modern people with their position in the Middle East. What I tend to forget about is the fact that Egypt plays a prominent part in the Bible. Jesus and his family spent a lot of time in this part of the world, and even some of the more important saints, such as Saint George, have part of their stories told in Cairo. There is a little corner of the city where these Christianity stories come to life, Coptic Cairo. It added a deeper level of nuance to a part of the world that already held a lot of depth, and it is one of the places on this trip that really stuck with me.

  1. Grand Egyptian Museum

Egypt has been putting a lot of energy and resources in order to get this museum open, and as of October 2024, it was 90 percent of the way there. I was able to visit it shortly after the opening in February of 2025, and the place is easily the best museum that I have ever been in. The collection of antiquities that can be found in this place is overwhelming, but I was lucky enough to have a guide to take me to the things that I really should be seeing. I must have stuck with a lot of you as well because it was the biggest post of mine last year.

Thank you for going through this walk down recent memory lane, and joining me on all my voyages throughout the year. I hope to see you more often in 2026, and look forward to sharing with you all that this crazy world has to offer.

Summer Bar B-Q

The smell of chicken wafts over the grill,
Blending with the puffy cloud afternoon.
The sweat of the bottle matches the thrill
Of not having anything to do soon.
A cool breeze feels good against my bare skin,
And I join it by rocking in my chair.
I watch the sun curve to the mountain rim
As it will soon become my only care.
I enjoy sharing this meal with loved ones
During the early part of the summer
Because I know how it is that time runs
Where there’s few moments we can number.
We must make the most of the ones we can
To live fully within our short life span.

Packing Up the Holidays

The holidays are always a great time to get back to the people that you love. There are millions of people that believe the same, and if you do not believe me, just visit an airport an see how packed they become as people travel back and forth to those spots where they can make the magic of the holidays happen. At times, it can be a pain in the butt to be one of those people who are trying to make their flights, and move across the world, but in the end it is worth the time that was spent making the effort.

Despite all of the rewards that come with travels, there comes a time when you have to pack things up and return to the life that you are living. The holidays cannot last forever, and we all need to pack up the packages and decorations. If we left them up all year long, then the moments that we create during this time of the year would be meaningless. We need to have the drudgery of a regular routine to make those moments matter.

I am in the process of moving back to that life. I am not sadden by the prospect of going back to my classroom, my alarm, and my responsibilities. Yes, they can bring us down some times, but at the same time, they give us the life that we wish to live. It is when we get those breaks from the routine that we can find those treasured moments in our lives.

I have just come from a three week respite from the daily routine. It was a great couple of weeks being able to spend time with family and catch up with their lives while sharing what was going on in mine. The meals, the laughter and the hugs will stay with me during the cold and dark beginning of the year, and it will take me through the time until I can come back to see these people again. It is probably the greatest gift that can be given over the holiday season.

I want to thank all of the people in the United States that I was able to spend time with over this break. You have made the beginning of my year great, probably without even knowing that you have done that. I hope that the start of 2025 has been just as memorable for you as well. It may be discouraging that it is time to pack up the season, but keep in mind that it is only a short time until those glittering lights and thoughts of family will return. Until then, have a great 2025, and I look forward to sharing with you the highlights I have along the way.

Quick Trip Home

It was only yesterday I touched down
To a room full of family and hugs.
I could discourage the traveling frown
By leaning into where my heartstring tugs.
But responsibility tells its tale,
Reminding me that this has to be brief.
I am given enough time to exhale
To enjoy this short moment of relief.
I have to go and get my bag repacked
Because there is a flight calling my name.
My job could threaten me by being sacked;
I’ll continue to play its silly game.
I hope you are happy that I have been,
But this trip has been there and back again.

There and Back Again

First of all, I would like to thank Bilbo Baggins for the title of this post. I had not been thinking much about his story over the last weekend, but these words rang in my head many times during this voyage. Most of the time, I would not recommend making such a quick trip where you fly half way across the world, spend a couple of days in your destination, and then hop back on a flight to make it back home. Add on top of this some inclement weather and it makes for one crazy trip.

But why would I even attempt to make such a trip. There could be no reason why I would mess up my mind by subjecting myself to the trials of jet lag while risking lost luggage, uncomfortable sleeping conditions, and the headache of spending just a short amount of time at a location. Yes, it had to be something worth the voyage to put all of this on the line. But it came down to the next generation of my family starting the marriage tradition which I am sure will continue on for the next decade or so. It was a moment to witness a great event while reconnecting with my family during a joyous celebration. I waffled a few times if I should go or not, but in the end, I am glad that I had made that choice.

There were many times along the way where I felt exhausted. I did lose my luggage along the way, and got rerouted through Las Vegas, adding another leg to an already long day of travel. There were many times where I needed to change plans and buy clothes so I did not look like a slob at the reception, but it just added to the adventure of this weekend. I probably spent more time on planes, and in cars than I did on the ground, hanging out with people. But the time that I did get to spend with those people was worth it.

After all of it is said and done, I am glad to make it back to the place that I call home. I was not gone long enough to really miss the people that I love, but I am still glad to be able to see them again. It was the time that I spent with the rest of my family that allowed that other hole to be filled. The quickness of the trip and the amount of stories that I accumulated along the way made me feel like I was on an epic adventure like Bilbo. So I guess that it was that connections that made me always have the title of his book in his mind as I took this trip. It was really a great experience, and I would do it all over again because even though the payout was just a small part of the adventure, it was one of the greatest I have experienced in recent years.

The Family Recipe

This recipe is a long tradition
That has been passed down to me by my mother.
As I pass it to your generation,
I hope you’ll pass it on to another.
We will use the freshest ingredients
As you blend them together in the pot.
We adjust the taste by using the scents
Whose unique detection my mother taught.
It’s best brewed during a warm afternoon
Where we enjoy each other’s company;
We’ll wrap ourselves in the kitchen’s cocoon,
Waiting to partake in the labor’s honey.
We have to protect what could be a loss,
So I will teach you how to make our sauce.

Life on Hold

Summer Break is one of the greatest perks for teachers. It is a time for them to unwind from a busy school year, and recharge their batteries so they can be ready for their students in the fall. For some teachers, it is a time to take on some projects that they have forgotten about during the regular school year. For others, it is a time to travel around the world and create those memories that they can think back to when things get tough. For an international school teacher, it is a time to travel back to the places they left behind and catch up with loved ones, and friends.

This creates a strange dichotomy for those international teachers, and it gets weirder the longer that they stay abroad. There is a life that they return to for a couple of months every year, and though they will fall back into those routines that they used to live, they are still guests to a life they used to live. On the other hand, when they are back at their respective schools in various places around the world, they are leaving behind their home town and the identity that they built over the years of living there. It is almost like they are living two lives, and throughout the course of the year, they experience those two sides of themselves.

Some people would claim that this is true for anybody that moves away from their home town to a new location, and there is some truth to this. Those people have those moments where they head back to where they are from when they are trying to pick up what they left behind. But it is like holding on to the ocean as it laps against the shore. There is no way that they are going to be able to hold on to it because it keep drifting away from them. They can experience it for that short moment that they are back home, but as soon as they leave, it will be gone again.

Though international teachers have the same problem when they are back in their home towns, there is a little more permanence to their trips. A lot of that time is spent catching up with those people that are still there, but they have more time to settle in. It is not just a week or two of vacation, but a couple of months where they still have things they have to attend to in their other life. I have been back in the States on numerous occasions where I have had to work on professional development, or create plans for the upcoming school year. Any teacher will tell you that their work does not end during the summer vacation. They might not work as much, but they are still working. It takes away this notion of being on a two month vacation where you are visiting friends and family, and it turns into you living in that place where you came from for a period of time.

It is not like it is a bad voyage, returning to this life that you left behind, but it means that the life that you are living is the one that you left behind. I spent two months this summer living out of a suitcase, moving from place to place, trying to get little things done for the upcoming school year, and watching videos of my puppy that were sent by the boarding facility where she was staying. The life I have been living over the last nine years was placed on hold.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy my time in the United States. It is always a pleasure to go back and get to spend this time with my family. At the same time, there comes a moments where I want to get back to the place where I spend most of my life right now. I am looking forward to get home. When I feel this way, I know that the holiday has been a good one. It has gotten me to the place where I need to be, a place where I am excited to get back to work and refreshed after a long break with the ones I love. I also will not have to lead this duel existence again until the next trip out to the United States when I am ready to go back.

So, I would like to thank America for the great summer as I say great to see you again to Jordan. I can’t wait to get back to my original home, but it is also nice to be back home at the same time.

The Holidays at Home

Things are starting to slow down again, and we are starting to pack up the decorations and waving goodbye to loved ones as they make their way back to their homes. The holidays are over, and it is time to find ourselves in that slower groove that comes with our regular routine. And though the bills coming in might depress us a bit, I think it is important to look back at the holidays, and remember why we put ourselves through it every year.

It is a time of the year where the little things that we do not always get to notice become more obvious. The decorations that people put together can be subtle, but they can make us laugh and put us in a better mood just by having seen them. It is also nice knowing that the little details that we put together for someone else has been appreciated as well. We might forget these things as we move on with our busy lives, but these are the things we should remember when the weight of responsibility starts to get us down.

It is also a time when the inclement weather does not get us down as much. A snowstorm in December is a different event than the ones that bear down on us in March or April. The blanket that it produces is just an extra touch that adds more to the moment because we do not have those places we need to get to, and it forces us to slow down a bit and enjoy the moment. I know that it can become a chore later on as we have to pull out the shovel again to make sure we can get our car out of the garage, but we should really enjoy on those days where we are not forced to address this concern with the cold snow.

And for ourselves, we get to find those small moments we can slow down and recharge our batteries. Life can be busy and hectic, and sometimes we can forget to take care of ourselves. But when we are shut indoors with a heavy snow coming down, there is no excuse but to let things go and just enjoy the afternoon with a little nap.

But I think the thing that I enjoy the most when I get to go home for the holidays is seeing all of my family again. All of the other stuff is nothing more than fluff. The time at home should be about home. It should be about getting together with those that you love, so you can share in laughter and good conversation. Yes, it is centered around tradition, and sometimes we forget about the most important thing because we put too much weight on those things that we believe need to be done. But in reality, life will be fine if you did not find the time to bake those cookies, or you were unable to find that perfect picture for the Christmas card. It all gets forgotten the moment that you lose yourself in your family, and that is the most important thing to take from this time of the year. I know we will all soon forget what this time of the year brought. Some of us have already done so. I also know that it will be easy to lose yourself to school or work as you push your way through the colder months. We will have to endure a couple of Hallmark holidays, and soon the lazy dog days of summer will occupy our minds more than the cold comfort of the end of the year. But when things start to get you down during those times of the year, think back to this time and how you felt. It may be the greatest gift you can take with you throughout the whole year.

Thank you for those memories for everybody I got to spend time with over the last couple of weeks. It has been wonderful to be back in the United States for the holidays, and I treasure those moments I got to spend with you. It may be awhile before I get to see you again, but I will take those memories with me as I hope you do as well.

A Snowy New Year

It started last night when I arrived at my brother’s house. I had gone down to Castle Rock so I could ring in the New Year with a couple of my family members, and there was a little grumbling about how it was a terrible night to have it snow. It would make driving difficult, and a bunch of idiots would be out on the road after they had drunk one too many. There would be wrecks all over the place, and the police would be driving around to make sure everybody was safe. If only it could have waited a couple more days, the much anticipated snow would be welcomed in the state of Colorado.

I did not feel the same way. First of all, the first big snow of the year would keep people from going out and doing stupid things. It would also bring much needed moisture for an area of the world that was thirsting for any drop. The fires that started up north and destroyed a big part of Boulder county would also welcome the snow because it would put an end to the destruction.

These were all great reasons to be excited about the snow, but the real reason I wanted to see it was because it was snow! I remember a time in my life when I would grumble and complain like many of the other people that I spent the night with when the snow continued to pound the front range throughout the course of the Winter. Most of these complaints came during the later Winter months such as late February, March, and late into April when I was done with the wet and cold. But it has a different feeling when it first arrives. It brings in the change of the season, and marks an end to the one I had just experienced. I would get enjoy cold days of drinking hot coffee and looking out the window and the snow collected on the ground, creating a blanket of calm and peacefulness. I would have an excuse to snuggle in the warmth of my home while reading good books and watching movies. I knew I would eventually tire of this feeling, but when it first began, I would get excited about the prospect of what the next few months would bring.

It had been at least two years since I had experienced this change of the season, and I never knew how much I would miss it. I know it seems like a silly thing to miss, but there is a certain amount of joy that comes with the changing of the seasons. As the earth makes its rotation around the sun, the seasons give you a small, little thing to always look forward to. Every three to four months, you get to change the way you live your life, so you will not fall into rut of an everyday routine. When I lived in the eternal summer months of Thailand, I quit paying attention to pages of the calendar flipping because it meant nothing more than another day of more of the same.

Of course, part of the reason that I came out to Colorado for the Winter Break was to see my family and spend the holidays with them. It was great to hop around from home to home and enjoy their company for an evening or two. I was able to create a few new memories that I will take with me as I fly back to Jordan and return to my life there. But I will be honest; this was not the only reason that I came out. I wanted to see that snow. I wanted to experience the change of the seasons, and as my time out here continued, I kept on missing that chance. As I was making my way to the New Year’s Eve celebration, I was happy to see snow spitting from the sky. As the night progressed, I was even more excited to see it collect on the patio furniture in the back yard. And as I woke up this morning to greet the New Year, I was excited to see the whole city had been covered in this white goodness.

I know many of you might not have had the same experience, and you may not feel the same way as I do, but I hope that your New Year’s celebrations brought you what you wanted to get out of them. I also hope that 2022 brings you happiness and joy, and that you get to anticipate something great as well, no matter how small that thing may be.

A Desert Feast – Wadi Rum, Jordan

To my American friends, I am sorry I am late, but I would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope that you were able to spend it with good people, sharing good food with them, and making good memories. To all my friends who come from other places in the world, I hope that your adventures allow you to experience the same kind of joy that makes Thanksgiving one of my favorite American holidays.

Living away from the United States makes this holiday a little harder to celebrate. Many of the places I have worked for as I moved overseas has not seen this day as an important holiday, even though they celebrate holidays that are very similar to Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have found myself in a community that appreciates this day, and made sure that my coworkers and I were able to celebrate it in the best way we could find. I took advantage of this fact, and got up early on Thanksgiving morning to take a three and a half hour drive south to Wadi Rum, a Unesco World Herritage Sight, and the movie set for such famous films as Dune, The Martian, Prometheus, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and Lawrence of Arabia.

This desolate landscape might not be the first choice for many people when they think of gathering together for a big feast, but there is much more to this location than the stark beauty. There is a whole community of people that live nomadic lifestyles among the sand, and rocky mountains, and they welcome people with open arms to take a couple of days and feel what it is like to live this way.

It might not have been what I was expecting for a Thanksgiving dinner, but the food and the way it was prepared made for a great Thanksgiving experience. The Bedouins having been preparing huge feasts for centuries out in this desert. It basically starts when they dig a hole in the ground and fill that hole up with burning coals. They then add vegetables, and chicken, cover that hole with a blankets and some sand, and let it cook for two hours.

After two hours, they dig away the sand, pull back the blanket, and pull the feast out of the hole.

And it is quite the feast that they pull out of this hole. Just like a great Thanksgiving meal, there is not a lot of spice added to the meal. For the most part, it is about the preparation of it. Simple ingredients cooked well and combined in the right way to make the perfect meal, and though it was not turkey and mashed potatoes, it was still the perfect meal for this day.

But it was the friends I got to share this meal, and all of the other meals this weekend, that made it a Thanksgiving. Though we may talk about the food, it is the company and the experiences we remember. I feel lucky this year to have spent it with a great group of people. It may not have been my family, and I do miss sharing this day with them, but if I can’t be with them, I am glad that I was still able to have an experience that I will soon not forget.

I hope your Thanksgiving was just as good, and that continues on through the whole holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!!!