For the past years I have been not doing really many of such reviews. One I clearly remember was the Amazing Year 2014 Review as it was really a wonderful year full of great memories. The past years on the other hand have been more like “meh” compared to 2014. Now 2018 is something totally different as it will be definitely a year I will remember for a very long time due to its ups and downs.
The year started kind of slow and I thought back about the past years living in Germany and how it changed since we moved here. Besides that I also had another part of the “New Apartment” series which is still not entirely solved thus far. One big thing I had going on was my family research combined with a DNA test to find somehow some relatives somewhere on this globe. I am still in this whole research but have once again hit too many brick walls and for now I just wait for some lucky discoveries when someone adds to their family tree at some point.
In March things changed a bit as we arranged our trip to China and also had finally the confirmation that we could travel to Japan in May! Though we were excited to go once again to China and enjoy the good food there and kind of experience the strange Chinese family with their weird requests the main thing for us was Japan. For so many years we wanted to travel to Japan but it never worked out. Either it was the Japanese Embassy in Finland telling us the wrong information regarding the visa for my wife or we simply had suddenly no time for it. My wife planned the entire week in Japan for nearly two months to make it as perfect as possible for us and especially for Nathan. I don’t know why but I have barely any memories about April even though we wouldn’t fly to China till near the end of the month. Guess we were just busy with work, keeping Nathan busy with sports and being way too excited about our holidays.
May was the most amazing month for us in years as we were in China and of course in Japan. Blogging wise I didn’t do anything and wrote all about the wonder of Japan in June. Tokyo and Osaka were just so wonderful and Nathan really enjoyed the few hours we had at Thomas Land. Each day in Japan we had a blast and thinking back I still can’t believe that we actually experienced all of that. I must say that all the planning my wife did for this holiday surely paid off. Usually all her preparing and planning are totally messed up as I wrote later in summer after our two-week holidays in Finland. The time in Finland was way too short but we did go to Moominland which had been on my bucket list ever since I was a child!
With Autumn approaching we got a new family member, Haruki the Shiba. That tiny dog gave us so much joy thus far and by now he tripled his weight and can fart like a champ. In fact whenever he does release some gasses he cannot take the smell either and runs to another room. He is a strange little fellow with his constant smiley face. Ever since we got him I only started to see how many dogs we have in the neighbourhood. Even now I still encounter “new dogs” with their owners living somewhere nearby and I’ve been doing the rounds with Haruki for four months now. Besides Haruki we had another last highlight and that was visiting Lego Land in Denmark. We didn’t plan to go there this year but after finding some ridiculous good deal we just had to go. Two days of rain but also two days filled with Lego and that is all what Nathan cares for. I also got myself some goodies and went on updating my computer and rambling about my gaming history.
And now I come to the absolute depressing November after having such a great year till then. This month was just cursed as one bad thing after the other happened. Workwise we were totally overloaded, my wife got her wallet stolen, a mirror crashed down and my father was diagnosed with Leukemia. I think that was by far the worst month I can think off. I mean after so many good memories this year everything was just destroyed in one month. By now we are over most of those terrible happenings but just remembering back makes we feel really empty and also angry. But life goes on and December has been rather positive without anything bad thus far.
How was your year 2018 so far?
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Crazy Chinese Family 
Ha, I met met all my neighbors by meeting their dogs, too. Woofie wanted to play with all of them, of course.
I remember all the dogs’ names but often forget their owners’!
Same here, I know pretty much all the dogs names but I have no idea at all about the owners. Some of them are my neighbours for years but I have no clue about their names…
2018 has been a good year so far for me–nothing spectacular, but the ordinary good days are just what I want. Quiet days to write and take walks and visit with friends. Movies and plays with my sister. Fun trips in June and August when my kids and grandchildren came to visit. And I finished the first draft of my second novel. Now I have to spend another year making it better.
It seems like a very productive year for you now that you even finished the first draft of the second novel.
Even though we went to many places this year I was not productive at all. Didn’t read any book at all which never happened in the past 25 years and I didn’t study anything new
Sometimes all the good memories get washed away by one sad news 😦 I wish a speedy recovery for your dad 🙂 and all the strength and power to you for the upcoming challenges 🙂 You can check about my year here https://ametalk.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/reflecting-on-the-year-2018/
Thank you for reading and I will check out your year 2018 review. My dad actually got today his first bloodresults back and they are pretty good considering he had only one treatment thus far so things are looking better right now
Thank you for reading my post 🙂 Glad your dad is doing good 🙂 I wish him a speedy recovery 🙂
2018 has been an absolute rollercoaster but I think it is going to end on a high!
Sounds interesting, most years are more like rollercoasters which is not that bad till the rollercoaster is on a level which has too extrem drops!
For us the only way that this year ends on a high would be winning in lottery after such disasterous November 🙂
So many things happened to you this year! My year was basically focused on the pregnancy and the baby and I didn’t do much else… although I managed to read some books. But I wasted too much time on my phone… that should be my new year resolution!
Last year when Nathalie was born we also mainly focused on her so I actually have not even much memories what happened besides her 😀
2018 was a good year for me. I hope your dad has the same recovery my dad had in 2018 with remission from leukaemia. Haruki is so cute; loving the smile too (love how he doesn’t like his own smells too – ha ha). Merry Christmas to you and your family.
It seems like 2018 was a challenge for you as it was indeed for me. Focusing on the good parts is the only way forward. Haruki looks so sweet and like you, my trip to Japan was a highlight! Happy New Year!
Haruki is certainly a funny little fellow and we managed rather fine through the New Years Fireworks.
Japan is really wonderful and will be on our travel list again in the next years 🙂
Lovely!!
Haruki is Gorgeous.
Ps, so glad 2018 is over. 2019 is looking much better.
Thank you so much. Haruki is surely a little wonderful puppy but also getting on our nerves at some points just like few hours ago ripping all buttons from my jacket off…
2019 has been really good thus far. Sure it’s been only few weeks but they have been good
Dogs are such charming companions. I see a few of them in my commute sometimes. Cute pics.
Dogs can be really entertaining however they are also tons of work, just like kids 🙂