This is the first time I am going to sincerely wish to everybody in the world a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Why? Well, for me personally, I have never been in touch with the entire world like in 2008 before. Where the first half of the year gave us hope and terror before the Olympic Games, the second half took us to a path of despair and revival.

Sounds strange, but on a world scale, everyone was making a run for the summer and the turning point was Beijing, which was so exaggerated in expectations, that the Games turned into dispair afterwards. Especially the earthquake hurt so much, that the Olympics were used as a bandage of hope to heal the terror.

Politically and economically the Earth was shaken into astonishment. Time to burn down and throw away the old rubble of presidents, ministers, bankers and auto industries: time to turn the page. The ISS had the visit of space shuttle Endeavour to refresh crew and interior. No, 2008 was not about the glory of China, what a pity. It was more of a cleaning up period of the wear and tear of disillusion. Nevertheless we all learned our lesson.

The New Year 2009 will not bring us false hope, because we are tired of it. We will work! Belgium needs to make a decision to remain a country by forming a government that is strong enough to slap the opposition in the face and wake up before it is too late. Fresh US president Barak Obama has already repainted the image of the USA internationally: a “melting pot society” should be run by a half-breath with international life experiences. Now people call him the black president. Why do people see black or white? Why not with a progressive minded synthesis of evolution, instead of complete change?

Anyway a lot of work awaits us. It will not be boring. This we know for a fact. And can it get any worse? Maybe when life on Earth gets wiped out? Not necessarily worse, is it? (lol)

The East stopped growing, the West started to reorganize its senses and Europe is crawling back. This hopefully leads to a more stabilized international network and it might lead to a final run to pull poor Africa and miserable Middle East out of the dumpster. Only possible if there is equilibrium in majority of the world.

For me personally, it was the same story. Working in Shenzhen, the earthquake in Xi’an, return to Belgium, teaching experiment, working at Luminus, with the end of the year pointing me towards studying for graduate IT-programming, being sworn as a translator and interpreter, and finally the decision to start a translation company in 2009.

The year 2008 was terrifying sad, but also amazingly glorifying for me. Sadness covered our urge to leave chaotic China, the emotional impact of the earthquake and the realization that teaching, although very stimulating, always worked against me in different ways each time.

But all in all; my path is clearer than ever before with a lot of extras (like playing guitar and attending a lot of delicious concerts):

Astronomy, Wing Chun and IT looked me in the eyes to confirm they accepted me (lol)

This year we visited Bruce Lee’s ancestral home and theme park in Jun An, Yip Man’s museum in Foshan and Lueng Jan’s home in Gulao before ending China in Hong Kong with Yip Man’s tomb. We also became part of the wonderful Chow Tze Chuen Wing Chun family in Hong Kong and although heart broken for leaving such a bless, Sammo Hung gave us a nice Christmas present with the movie about our great grand-master Ip Man, played by kungfu legend actor Donnie Yen.

The other sad event was leaving the Chinese world of handheld devices; the funny fakes in Shenzhen and the glorious in Hong Kong. But IT-programming will keep me on track, which ultimately will enhance my NS Basic and web design skills.

And finally the world of astronomy embraced me with all the Universe episodes of season one and two and the realization that the University in Ghent now has an Astronomy program that I am planning to follow in the future. Maybe three to four years from now.

So, you see we all leave bad and good experiences behind to build up a new year: that of 2009.

Best wishes to all of you there in the Universe!