The Christmas Letter 2023
Hi,
Oh no, I’m back. It’s been a whole year and it’s time for another letter, lucky you. How are you? You good? I know you come here for a neat little round up of my life — God knows why but I appreciate you nonetheless — so I’ll get to it.
Last year’s letter was my longest one yet for good reason: I had just moved 8,000 miles to the Falkland Islands and was full of stories. This year will hopefully, for my sake and yours, be a bit shorter. I have not done nearly as many interesting activities that warrant a write up and to be quite honest, my mental health is not in a good place right now and I don’t want to bum you out. And I’ve not even got a light-hearted remark to pass over that bit of awkwardness, unless this could be it?
My 2023 started in Punta Arenas, Chile, of all places. On a very windy waterfront with friends, we celebrated the new year with a beer then went back to our separate hostels because it was way too cold, despite being midsummer, reminding me I should not complain so much about the cold. The following couple of weeks was spent doing some solo travel in Chilean Patagonia, Santiago, and Valparaíso. Whilst I was technically a solo traveller, I was fortunate enough to meet and spend time with various travel companions along the way, including one whose mum lived in the Falklands and had posted on Facebook about her son and his partner being stuck in Punta Arenas. I had seen said post and what do you know, I meet them coming out of a car hire company, after which we met up multiple times and just had a great few days. Moments like that feel serendipitous, and make a trip feel extra special.
On my return to the Falklands, it was back to teaching and to be completely honest, it was hard. I taught in a mixture of Camp (rural settings) and in town and as I came to the end of my 4th year of teaching, I thought: ‘I think I’m done.’ Now this is, of course, hard to say and even harder to write down. Even now, a few months later, I’m wavering a bit, but I can’t help but think about what else there is to do. I will most likely need to continue teaching, if only as a supply, when I get back to the UK, but I think it’s time to try something new. That being said, does anyone have any leads for a primary teacher with a degree in French and Spanish who likes to travel? hmu
Back to my year and I continued to travel to various places in the Falklands including Bleaker Island, Pebble Island and Port Edgar. I have seen so many amazing animals, my favourite is probably the seals and sea lions, but I still don’t get bored of the penguins. The Falkland Islands are so beautiful and the wildlife so unique. There’s nowhere in the world quite like it. I never would have said 18 months ago that I would be comfortable driving a pickup truck off-road, or being super proud when I use less than 1GB of internet in a day because yes, I do track it religiously.
Further afield, I also went to the Galapagos Islands and Quito, in Ecuador, ticking something off the bucket list. I don’t know how best to describe the Galapagos, so hope some photos will do most of the work. Needless to say, it was warm-bordering-on-hot, achingly beautiful and even the bad bout of sickness I had could not diminish the fond memories I made there. Quito was pretty nice too, I guess. I spent a lot of time in the mall to be fair. What can I say, I needed some fast food and recognisable shops. The final trip of the year is coming up and it’s going to be a big one. As it goes into next year I think I’ll save it for next year’s letter but I am looking forward to visiting Peru, Bolivia, Chile and shhhh, Argentina (in hushed tones — if you don’t know why, read Wikipedia), with my Mum and her partner. It will be the first time I’ve seen them in over a year, so I am really excited.
I’m now a third of the way through my 2nd year here and I love so many aspects of my life: the peacefulness, the slower pace, the people — especially living out on West Falkland where the population is no more than 70–100 on an island about double the size of Oxfordshire, or a bit bigger than the US state of Rhode Island. This is a special country for which I will always hold a lot of affection, I can’t recommend it highly enough despite it being an absolute pig to get to. That being said, I’m ready to come home in August. I want a Thai takeaway, and a Nando’s, and a Chinese takeaway, and a pie and chips from the chip shop, and I want to spend time with my family and friends who I feel that I’ve lost touch with. That last one’s on me, I know, I should do better. I can be a bit of a crappy friend if I’m not seeing you regularly so I’m sorry if we’ve lost touch. But hey, get in touch if you feel like it. I could do with a few more messages and I will try to reach out more too, promise.
Anyway, if you got though that bit of self-pity well done. Gold star for you. Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you’re doing well, wherever you may be right now. Have a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Favourites to follow.
Here are my favourites:
Favourite Film: Barbie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Dungeons and Dragons, and for a classic, The NeverEnding Story
Favourite TV Show: Taskmaster (S16 is one of the all-time best seasons), Loki, Silo, Jet Lag: The Game (don’t know if it counts as a TV show but let’s sat it does), Abbott Elementary, I also know the new Percy Jackson TV series is going to be amazing, so putting that in pre-emptively.
Favourite Penguin: Rockhopper or Gentoo
Favourite Colour: As if you don’t know this by now… (Green)
Favourite Book: The Extraordinaries series by T J Klune. It’s quite trashy, but it’s fun.
Favourite type of oven: Electric. Jeez I miss an electric oven living out in Camp.
Favourite baked good: I have got seriously good at making blondies and shortbread y’all.
Favourite Album: Stick Season by Noah Kahan, and Guts by Olivia Rodrigo. (Jeez, trying to stay relevant much, Nick?)
