We got 2009 first!

Happy New Year! And we get to say it first! Nya nya nya.

This's kinda what the big New Year's event looks like. This link isn't this year, that's not posted yet, but close enough. We did not go see this mammoth display of pyrotechnics. The traffic, and I mean the people traffic, was just amazing. I left for Cat and Cyndy's at about nine at night, and I almost couldn't squeeze into the metro car. It's usually only that bad at rush hour, and I don't think I've ever seen it that bad way out where we live. Just nuts. And much worse closer to Taipei 101 (the building in the middle of the fireworks).


















But we had fun with Cat and Cyndy, Georgia and Fay. Pizza and munchies and a couple of drinks. It was a pleasant evening, at least a little due to not having to go to work tomorrow. And I'm a even happier 'cause I have an easy class on Friday so it's easier to go back to work.

And Christmas was a lot of fun, too.


















We decorated a little and cooked a lot. Marie made a really good chili, and we had a ton of sugar in various forms.


















This's a better shot for the lights. The lights and the little tree (the little fiber-optic thing behind Fay) came from a guy I'm tutoring. He just showed up with these decorations, which was great 'cause I wouldn't know the first place to buy stuff. I suppose I could've gotten something at Carrefour (said Jalla-foo in the local lingo, don't ask me why, no one knows), but I don't think we would've spent money for something we might not use again. So that was a pleasant touch.

It hasn't been all Christmas spirit here, tho'. Marie had an unsettling experience with the local view of Christmas. She was at Carrefour for last-minute ingredients on Christmas Eve (we had to work that day) and when she was at the store that evening she saw they were taking the Christmas decorations down. "On to the next sale," as she put it.

But in spite of any cultural confusions it's been a good holiday season for us. I got Marie a big, fluffy robe; new, semi-fluffy towels; and several bars of expensive soap. I found a Lush right next to the metro near my school, for all your skin needs. Really, all of them. Some in several forms.


















This's a game we played at the party. Three people would reach into a box, and by touch alone they had to find a specific object among 30 or so other things while the other two were trying to find it. It was a cute game. I think the box even mostly survived.

So happy holidays from this side of 2009. We hope to hear from people when you get up.

Really, I know geography, I swear!

Kinda embarrassing, but I just realized how wrong I was about where New Zealand is. A couple of entries ago I was talking about how it really isn't that hard to fly here, so a few more hours to New Zealand wouldn't be that bad. Of course, this might be true if New Zealand was where I thought it was, in Papua New Guinea.

I learned the hard way when Marie and I were just talking about big vacations we might take next year. New Zealand popped into my head immediately because I've heard stories from Mike and Becky. And, I thought, "it's on this side of the ocean so it's really close." Sadly, maybe because I'm an American and there's been no war there I don't know where it is.

We did a quick search for flights and of course it really isn't that close. All the flights were ten, twelve, fifteen hours. I couldn't understand (and prices were $1,200, $1,500, etc.) how that could be. So Marie pulled up a map and I had one of those "ohhhh" moments, after which I wondered where the heck I got the idea that New Zealand was north of Australia, instead of a couple thousand miles southeast. Whose job was it to teach me geography?

But that's one way to really learn something. Forget writing it down and listening to it and teaching it to someone. Make a fool of yourself telling it to people incorrectly. Good luck ever forgetting that fact again.

But, we are closer to New Zealand, by about half the distance. All the flights from the U.S. claim it's a 24 hour flight (two-four) to New Zealand. Whew. That's hard to even imagine. I didn't suffer too much to fly overnight to get here, but I dunno. I'm not sure that trip's gonna happen. Even Australia's still ten hours and $1,200 apiece away. That might be a bit much for a couple of weeks. We'll see, I suppose.

So, that's the educational bit for me. Let this be a lesson to you!