Christmas and New Year's

It’s about time to settle the debts of last year! About time to write something about Xmas and NYE as more new things are coming up and at some point it’ll be too much to remember all at once.

Last time I finished with pre-Xmas gettogether which was a great success! Christmas was really good aswell. I took off towards the farm in Shelford on Saturday after a good night out with some people from work! As I said, here the Dec 24th is not as important as it is to us at home, but we still had a great dinner at James’ & Terhi’s – seafood evening. Ridiculous amount of incredibly delicious food and to top it all up – estonian home made mushrooms! What a feast! Apparently every gettogether here is crowned with great food and grog (read: booz (read again: alcohol)). On Dec 25th everyone came together again already at 11am and started unwrapping their presents. No poems or songs or acts, just straight to presents. I was told not to bring anything along, but as I was given some things (3 good red wines to be exact) I felt a bit stupid. Nevertheless, as I did not have a clue what to bring then it wouldn’t have made much sense and as I heard, they have had many overseas guests over for Christmas, so they already have kind of a tradition to treat them aswell. So it was all good!

Interesting feeling this however, having Christmas during summertime and 30degrees outside. Did not feel like the real thing to me! J One real thing from home was still there, except it was the incorrect date, but who’s counting. Sirli brought along some lead and everyone poured their luck for next year! My figure looked like either a tree or a cactus, depending on which side I looked. So my interpretation is that either I will spend my next Christmas at home or traveling. Seems doable, doesn’t it. J

Andrew, Jared, Margus

Andrew, Jared, Brydie, Sirli, Andrew, Barbra, Robert, Terhi, James, dog,
dog, dog, Margus, dog

Boxing Day, Dec 26th is THE day for cricket. This year it was Australia vs India playing on the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds). It is a popular event for the whole nation, the stadium is usually packed and many-many more follow the game on TV. As it is a test match, it lasts for up to 5 days. Read more: http://www.mcg.org.au/History/Cricket/Boxing%20Day%20Test.aspx

What concerns the Boxing Day shopping, then that was correct – most retails have their busiest day of the year just that day! And the prices can drop to ridiculous lows, therefore I was happy not to go shopping, it would have been a madness!

New Year’s Eve was a bit of a dissapointment for me. Not that it was boring or anything – I was spending that night with a good bunch of people from work and we had a good time, but somehow I hoped it would be more significant. I guess in the cities it feels more real, because of the fireworks and loads of people, however in the suburbs you really cannot have big fireworks because of fire bans, the TV does not offer such entertainment as I am used to at home. So it was a good night with good company, but nothing significant. Moreover, the next day was a working day so I was preparing myself for a calm night. Did not happen though! It was a BAD hangover! Lucky me I did not start at 8am as some of us did, I actually went to work at 11am and was still feeling done and dusted. And all of us were still lucky! Monday, Jan 2nd was the hottest day I’ve experienced here yet and we had the busies day ever in the park! 45 degrees was recorded in the park and we had totally almost 8200 people through the gates (NB – full capacity is 7000)! I would not have made it that day with a hangover. J

More photos again available at Picasa, (soon). J

Within the next days I will also get myself together again and write about the great 5 days I spent in Melbourne.