Christmas Week Recap

Well, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Christmas was very different for me this year being away from family and in a country that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas. I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually Christmas! Oh, and the fact that it is about 70 degrees here and there is no snow also makes it feel like anything but Christmas. I’m not missing the snow or cold though- sorry all you who are having to deal with that! Okay, so here is my week. On Monday, I went shopping with my friend from church. He was on a hunt to find some groceries for Brother Meeks to make some Christmas goodies. Yes, I braved the crazy traffic and after about 30 minutes even found a parking spot! Here is a picture showing you how they like to park and block you in. It really is “fend for yourself” type attitude here.

Look, Its Snowing!

Okay, and the picture after I cleaned my lens off...

Anyway, we did a lot of walking around and then stopped in and ate at a nice Indian style restaurant. They had great tortillas which you wrap up the chicken and this sauce concoction, it was pretty tasty!

If this video works it is my "Christmas Lights"

Tuesday, Dec 23rd, I didn’t have to get up early since my shipment of household goods finally arrived. They packed up my stuff on November 13th, so I was very happy to get my stuff! The movers showed up around 9:30am and were gone within 40 minutes. Everything but a full length mirror and a clothes drying rack made it without breaking- pretty impressive! As soon as they left I headed into work so I have a lot of unpacking to do still.

My Simple Christmas Decorations

Christmas Eve was a normal work day other than our little work Christmas party in the middle of the day. Everyone had a sock made up for them which had an orange and candy in it. I want to say a group of school kids from the States sent over the goodies basket with all the socks made up for everyone-very nice. It was a fun little party. Well, I left work at 7pm and went and enjoyed a steak dinner at the dining facility with some co-workers. There were Generals sitting on both sides of me… I didn’t talk to either of them (since they were not in our group), but not too often does one get to say they dined with Generals on Christmas Eve!

Christmas day was a fun day. I got to sleep in until 7:30am which felt so nice, especially since I typically get up at 4am. I was going to go out and about with a coworker and a friend, but my coworker called saying she had a migraine and wasn’t feeling all that great. So, it ended up just being me and my friend from church. I picked him up around 9am and then we went and had a nice breakfast at Johnny Rockets. After breakfast we wandered around the area shopping and exploring. It was nice to see the town during the day… that was a first. We stopped by the Hilton to get information about any tours they offer. While we were there we walked outside and sat on the beach for a few minutes just soaking in the wonderful view. It was such a beautiful day! Enjoy some pictures of our day…

After walking around and shopping, we came back to my apartment and put on a movie. It was nice just to sit and do nothing for a couple hours. After the movie it was back to exploring. I was on a mission to find a converter that would work with my hair dryer… success! (Side note: I just plugged in my toaster oven and got a loud pop and a bright flash of light. I thought I was going to start a fire... it was kind of scary!)

Christmas evening I got to chat with my family… it really didn’t feel like Christmas until then. I am so grateful for technology that allows us to keep in touch. I got to join Jared, Katie, and Cayden while they opened presents- I love skype! Thanks guys for letting me join you for Christmas morning! I got to talk to everyone in my family, too. So, it was a good Christmas. I love you all and enjoyed chatting with everyone! Thanks for enjoying a cinnamon roll for me, too. I definitely missed Mom’s cinnamon rolls this year!

Friday was declared a federal holiday, so I had two days off in a row- NICE! I again got to sleep in and enjoyed the morning unpacking some of my stuff and doing laundry. I know that the 26th is Boxing day, but in my world it was Tennis day! I challenged some co-workers to a friendly tennis match and beat both of them…. 6-2, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-2. They were both good sports about getting beat by a girl! I am sore still from playing though… I must be getting old! It was great fun to play.

After playing tennis and grabbing some lunch I went to the woodshop to work on my project. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned the woodshop before, but I get to do craft projects for free… all the wood, materials, and even the one-on-one help is provided- its awesome! I had the initial idea and sketched out what I wanted to build and my helper took it from there. He did an amazing job! I made a few cuts, but I really can’t take credit for making it. I’ll post a final picture after it has been stained, but for now this picture is after only 4 hours of work… not too shabby, huh? It is a coin holder made out of walnut wood. The rest of my Friday was spent unpacking.

Saturday was back to work… just a normal day. After work I watched the movie Mr. Kruger’s Christmas while I sanded my coin holder. What a classic Christmas movie with the delusional old man. Good times!

Well, that brings me to today. I got to talk to Mom this morning and now I’m updating my blog- I love Sundays! I’ll continue my unpacking/organizing and hopefully have that done soon. Then I’ll head to church in a few hours and we’ll call it a day!

Okay, so, I’ve been here for over a month and it wasn’t until this week that I saw a bug… two in fact. Don’t worry I captured them both. I don’t think the picture does the cockroach justice- the thing was huge! Pretty Good Sized Spider

Have a great week everybody! Make your New Year’s Resolution, because its coming quick!