Ringing in the new year

Our tradition for new years is to hang out with friends until the wee hours of the morning and down non alcoholic sparkling cider...well our friends here do not celebrate new years so it was just us, but we did find a carbonated apple drink called appy fizz.
I skyped with A and rubbed it in her face that we were in 2010 way before her (by 10 1/2 hours)... This different time zone thing has its perks at times.
Z's quote of the evening " 2010 is the year of the cynics, we are very optimistic that this will be our year."

so this is Christmas...in curryland

Here are a few things that made my heart merry and bright this Christmas:

• We hoarded all the apple juice in the city and enjoyed homemade apple cider all season long
• Z Downloaded 'A Christmas story' from Itunes...I debated about playing it over and over for 24 hours just like TBS does every Christmas day.
• Last year Z and I saw a live performance of the nutcracker...this year we listened to the soundtrack and danced around like 5 year olds.
• Our door bell rang twice at midnight on Christmas morning...we really did not want to answer the gate...then I got a text message from S, 'Hey open up! 2 idiot Santas are at your gate.' So we quickly got up because I wanted to see Santa! ...S and her brother were outside wearing Santa hats and bearing gifts for us - Woohoo PRESENTS!
• We opened boxes that our families sent us...I was so happy to get sheets for Christmas...I would have never imagined in a million years being so happy to see fitted sheets as a Christmas present...thanks M & Dabby
• Z bought me a Christmas bouquet...the best thing was it only cost $4...haha, don't hate because everything is so cheap here.
• Finally and most importantly: We were able to talk with family on Christmas, Skype is such a blessing!

To Dabby with love :)

We sent this package a week and a half ago, the postal workers in curryland said it would arrive at Dabby's door on the 24th...somehow I am skeptical. Anyways I am so proud of Z for 'wrapping' the package so well. At first he went to the post office with the box securely wrapped up in packing tape...little did we know that in order to send international packages the box has to be sown shut! So Z bought some fabric and meticulously sewed all openings. Then we jumped on the motorcycle and headed back to the post office...on the way to the post office one of our tires went flat - ugh! another set back, at this point I was beginning to wonder if the package would ever get mailed. Thankfully some good natured mechanics patched up the tire quickly, in total the tire set back only took 45 minutes (I am really astounded when something takes less than an hour to accomplish here). At the post office they inspected Z's box sewing technique and it passed their requirements. We decided to send it 'speed post' - doesn't that sound fast and efficient!
Anyways Dabby I hope the package gets to you for Christmas...mainly because I am chuckling in the inside imagining how in the world you are going to get it open :) Last year on Christmas Z decided to wrap Bro bro's present with duct tape and zip ties, it took him 15 minutes to open his Christmas present which ironically was a gift card. What can I say, we enjoy receiving entertainment when we give gifts.

HO HO HO!

If Mrs. Clause and Chucky had a child this is what it would look like:

*Some American friends kept telling me about these creepy Santa masks they have been seeing around town. Well they were right! Scary huh? I decided I could not keep the creepiness to myself.

-tough questions-

• How do you explain stockings? Yesterday R inquired why we had socks hanging up. I then proceeded to tell her that we put gifts in each others socks the night before Christmas. Feet are considered physically and spiritually dirty here...so R is probably thinking "These people are nuts why would you give someone a nice present in a dirty sock!"
• "What do Christmas trees have to do with Jesus?" - this question was asked by S my Muslim language helper. My response -"They have nothing to do with Jesus. Christmas trees are from a historic Germanic holiday called winter solstice. We are from a German background so we put Christmas trees in our home." I left out that winter solstice is a pagan holiday for fear we would be labeled as pagans...we definitely don't need anymore labels.
• When we have been asked about Santa Clause I talk about the historical person Saint Nicolas...I don't go into why people portray him as a hefty fellow who rides around in a flying carriage and fits down chimneys.

Lets face it, even I find it a bit baffling why we do the things we do on Christmas and I have celebrated Christmas for 25 years, I have been a sugar plum fairy, I have been Santa's helper and I have donned tacky Christmas sweaters while singing commercialized Christmas carols. Maybe I shouldn't mention these Christmas experiences in the next round of Holiday Q&A...I have no clue what a sugar plum is.

12 days until Christmas

On the first day of Christmas...da, da, da, da, da...a Peacock in a plastic pine tree...

No really I was standing straight when I took this picture - the plastic pine tree leans a little bit. Finding this tree took some work, there were only 2 seven foot trees in the market last week, everything else was 3ft or smaller...maybe the smaller trees do not lean as much...

My Christmas pride and joy ...our Norfolk Island pine tree. It is native to the South Pacific so does very well in curryland weather conditions...I love this tree - it embodies the Christmas that we are going to have here... freshly replanted and devoid of all commercialism.

...and a peacock in a plastic pine tree!

Karma in curryland

Karma - in my mind I use the term to describe 'what goes around comes around'...Wickipedia gives a slew of Eastern philosophical descriptors that made my head spin...so for the purpose of this post we will stick to my definition. This week I personally have experienced the effects of 'what comes around goes around'...In a previous post I wrote about Z's misfortunes only to have some of the same misfortunes happen to me. I came down with the 'nasty G' and this morning in language class a bird pooped on me! I guess that is what I get for getting a good chuckle at my husbands expense.

Brownie

Last week I was a proud goat owner for 24 hours

This is what I learned from owning a goat:

• Goats are very social - whenever we were around Brownie he was very happy and quiet...
• Goats are very Loud - when Brownie was left alone you could hear his bah's from two blocks away...a man a block away ran up to our house because he thought our goat was dying! Brownie was just displaying his vocal prowess.
• Goats do not require as much sleep at night as humans - Brownie was loud and awake 40% of the night.
• Goats drop poo pellets the size of marbles - they sounded like marbles too when they hit the concrete floor of our garage.

I miss Brownie but owning a goat did not work out very well because we lack spacious land to roam and poo, other goats to keep Brownie happy, and a shepherd...

I am still very fascinated by goats.