This Christmas

Sincere apologies for being MIA from the blog lately!  With the Christmas Season, I've found myself a bit on the busy side.  My first Christmas in the Big City was memorable for sure, and I have to say- it ranks pretty high on the charts.  Here's the breakdown of the coolest three days ever:

December 24th- Christmas Eve

10am: went to class late, but it was all good.  My teacher made me sing a Christmas song for all to hear, and I forgot the words to "Joy to the World" halfway through due to nervousness.

12pm: mad rush around the neighborhood preparing for the next day's festivities.

5pm: got on the most crowded bus in town to spend Christmas Eve with some cool friends.

6:30pm: finally arrived at my friend's party just in time to decorate cookies and watch ELF, "Son of a nutcracker!" 

8:30pm: looked out the window to see this:

Apparently this country's caught onto the commercialism of the holidays and big sales go up on Christmas Eve, unleashing an insane amount of traffic onto the streets of the Big City. 

11pm: Said goodbye to a couple members of the party and started getting ready for bed at the "nicest apt in the Big City".  It was fun to hang out with these guys: 

12am: Wished the remaining party a "Happy Christmas" (because they were all Aussie).  Also learned that you don't give presents until Christmas morning according to Aussie tradition...which also meant a longer wait to open presents (dangit!)

December 25th- Christmas Day

10am: Woke up and had a yummy breakfast of Macadamia Nut Coffee and smores poptarts. Tried to get ready quickly for Christmas Lunch, scheduled to start at 10:30

10:30am: Ignored where we needed to be at that moment to give and open presents. I got a beautiful scarf, socks, and a Christmas mug!  Rolled over when my friend opened the gift from her parents, her dad's mp3 player.  "I knew you needed one!" explained her fun parents!

11:30am: Finally made it to our lunch an hour late.  Lunch included a table full of delicious yummies, including our Christmas bird: KFC.  

3:30pm: After a super-fun time with friends at Christmas Lunch, I rushed home to prepare for Christmas Dinner at 5 with a couple of girlfriends.  I had an 1.5 hours to wrap presents, cook food, and set up the place. This was looking to be a crazy Christmas!

4pm: Got a call from my parents to wish me a Merry Christmas!  Aww!

5pm: Am not close to being ready for guests, but they arrive anyway!  Fun found in food prep together!

7pm: After about two more hours, during which I kept my friends occupied with "It's a Wonderful Life", dinner is finally ready!  What a joy it was to host these girls for their first Christmas!

8pm: Dinner is finished, and no one was complaining!  (whew!) We start the night's activity, which consisted of going through my Advent Calendar to tell the story of Christmas.  What a joy!

9pm: Christmas story told and friends are intrigued!  I then explain that because of the precious gift given on Christmas, I had gifts prepared for them.  We the proceeded to open presents (again!)  Among this round were a silver bag (with sparkles), pink PJs (with bows), more socks, and a Calendar in a language I have yet to master.  FUN!

10pm: Had to say goodbye to some friends (who had class in the morning if you can believe it!) But four friends stayed to sleepover.  I felt like mother hen hosting these girls and making sure they slept well.  =)

12am: Took my place on the couch, PTL for a wonderful Christmas and went to sleep!

December 26th- Boxing Day (for those who are part of the Commonwealth)

7am: woke up to the sound of two of the girls waking up for class.  Quickly went back to sleep.

9am: woke up the sound of the other two girls waking up for class.  Ate a mishapped Apple Crumble for breakfast.

11:30am: Finally cleaned up from the night before and went to lunch at a Brazilian BBQ Buffet with my roommate.  It was fun, AND she was fascinated by my red nails, which I painted in honor of Christmas:

2pm: Finished lunch (it was a buffet after all!) and rushed home to chat with the Fongers. Found out that the one year I wasn't home, my aunt decided to start giving us decent gifts! 

6:30: Movie night at a friend's.  I cried and it was nice to know that I still can!  ;-)  

So, all in all, it was busy, but super enjoyable to spend Christmas here in the Big City!  Oh, and if you thought that I was wearing the same outfit for three days straight, you would be correct- hey there's not much time of wardrobe changes when you're running around everywhere!

Odd Things on the Street

When you live in a foreign land, you expect to see and hear unfamiliar things.  But here are two things I saw the other day that really made the "that's not right" flag go up:

1. Kid with pants down.  The other day I passed by two kids walking together on the street.  They were wearing the same winter outfit (cuz it's about 20 degrees here).  The only difference: one had his pants up (normal) and the other had his pants halfway down (not normal).  Oh, and there were no signs of parents nearby.  Still scratching my head over that one.  

2.  Woman with an IV in her arm.  On my way to the market I saw a woman walking calmly walking with an IV in her arm and a man next to her holding up an IV bag.  I'm not a doctor, but shouldn't you be in a hospital (or rushing to one) while that thing's flowing??? 

It's hard some times to know what unfamiliar situations are things I need to get used to (like seeing the same kid peeing next to a tree everyday on my way to school??); and what situations are totally fine to call weird (I'm thinking kids chillin' with pants down in 20-degree weather would qualify here).   Oh the joys of culture shock!

 

Getting Ready

There's a lot of fun for me in making preparations.  This month, I had the joy of preparing for the celebration of Christmas!  One thing that I took special joy in was the making of my Advent Calendar.  I decided that I would make a countdown calendar by each day revealing a new verse that prepared for the birth of Jesus.   The purpose for this is to be reminded every day that there is anticipation for our Lord.  It took me about a week to get everything together, but it was one of the most refreshing weeks ever to just be able to prepare my heart with so many different passages that point to Him!

Oh there was definitely a mess involved in the making of this project!

But with time and a lot of grace, I ended up with a pretty cool finished product!  I loved this preparation activity!

Proud to be a Bear

Okay, so I usually don't get very spirited when it comes to my alma mater, but tonight I got to the swing of things while decorating cookies (of all things).  I was inspired by a friend who said that he was going to decorate a bear with his team colors, and suddenly it dawned on me: if I decorate a bear in blue and yellow frosting, it would be a Cal Bear!  

So I got to work.  It took a lot of concentration to work the frosting just right, but the results (I think) speak for themselves:

Look anything like the original?

The coldest day EVER!!!!

This whole week I've been warned about the cold weather coming into the city on Thursday. Everyone was abuzz about it!  But when I woke up this morning, it was sunny.  I took into account what seemed to be manageable cold coming from my porch, which is encased in windows, but still a possible gauge of what the outside weather is like.  So I thought to myself, "How cold could the weather be?"  ....Um, stupid question!

The walk to school wasn't unbearable.  I mean, the numbness 5 minutes into the walk may have contributed to the fact that I couldn't really feel the cold all that much.  But the walk back from school could have possibly been the 10 coldest minutes I've ever experienced in my life!  Not only was the temperature cold, but there was cold-as-ice wind blowing in my face too!  It was as if my body tried to go numb, but the cold penetrated my numbness so that I could feel its fury. There was alas no defense against the cold, not even my three layers of clothing (tomorrow I will try four, maybe five)  My friend and I actually had to duck into a heated store halfway through our walk in order to survive our 10-minute walk to lunch.  

Given my weak-sauce reaction to the cold, I regrettably had to cancel my weekly visit to the coffee shop (that would've been a 15-minute walk, and I don't want to imagine what that would've felt like).  I did have a nice evening at home though, protected by concrete walls and a heating system that works wonderfully.  It also was a great time to contemplate a better defense against the cold tomorrow (Oh Lord have mercy!) 

Great Holiday Music!

With it being December, I have officially busted out my holiday tunes for the season!  As I listened to the songs that used to get me into the spirit, however, I realized that something was missing: Christ.  Don't get me wrong, I love the merry, fun-filled songs that give me that warm fuzzy feeling.  But Christmas is just another commercial holiday if we miss that joyous celebration and praise to God for sending His Son.  (I got near angry when I heard songs like, "Blue Christmas".  Why would Christmas be blue when it's about the coming of the such a precious One?) 

So, I decided to get a whole new collection of Christmas music, songs that are a reminder of why there is joy in the season.  It's not because of the "Mistletoe and Holly", "Silver Bells", scenes of a "Winter Wonderland", or even being "Home for Christmas" .  Our joy comes from the humble King who was born for us, knowing full-well that His life would be a loving sacrifice for a bunch of people who don't deserve it.  

That said, I do have a recommendation if you're interested great holiday music.  Check out Todd Agnew's "Do You Hear What I Hear".  It tells the story of the birth of Christ from the perspective of the eyewitnesses of the event (the innkeeper, Magi, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, etc).  It's definitely worth the purchase if you're looking for music that points to the true joy of Christmas!

The Discovery of Advent

Being away from home for the holidays is a bit difficult.  Today, I almost ran straight into a pity party, thinking about how alone I'll be in this new place for Christmas!  It won't be my first away from home, or even away from my family.  But it will be my first away from pretty much all things familiar.  

At the risk of sounding like a TV Christmas special, however, I have been the challenged to really remember what this season is all about.  It's certainly not about the trees or the trimmings, and really- it's not about spending time with loved ones either (although it's certainly a joy and blessing to do so).  It's about the celebration of the birth of our Savior and worshipping He who is the King of Kings and yet humbled himself to be born as a baby in the humblest of places.  How mind-blowing that is!

So, I've decided that this year, instead of getting into the spirit by watching movies or decorating my home, I'm going to prepare my heart a little better by counting down the Advent season.  I am going to make my very own Advent Calendar, which will hopefully share the truth about Christmas to all those who come into my home; and hopefully, I'll be able to remember the joy that is available to me this season. I was recently illuminated to the fact that we do the countdown of Advent to signify the OT, which essentially prepares for and "counts down" to the birth of the Savior!  Is there ANY better way to kick off this season than to prepare our hearts in this way?  

So for those who are wondering: yes- this is going to be a rough time of the year; I'm not gonna lie.  But at the same time, I take joy in Advent and the preparation to celebrate the coming of a King!