Giedre tyttö Ozista

More of Xmas

Merry merry once again! This is a nativity scene (Beatliejus) that we did with my colleagues yesterday. Can you recognize me? Ronald impersonated baby Jesus in the massage chair, Wahida was Mary, oh my, Joseph was missing.. Was our Mary a single mom then? How inappropriate!

It was great fun, we finished work early yesterday and had lots of food. I brought some herring from Ikea and made some potatoe salad, but these things were not very popular.. Everybody cheered me as being very adventurous Ang Moh, since I like local and spicy food. There are lots of discussions (on the web and in media) wether the term "Ang Moh" is rasist or not. "In the 1800’s, when the British began to open up trade routes with China, many of the Chinese, never having seen anyone unlike themselves were astounded by the appearance of these strange men.  The most atypical of these men that came to their country were those of Scottish origin. These men were aptly dubbed Ang Moh Kwee, or red headed devils... The root Ang Mo can have numerous endings, Kwee (Devil), being the most offensive. When speaking with several people in a chat room on IRC, I came to the startling understanding that in Hokkien, the dialect from which these words originate, there is no non-derogatory term for a caucasian (white man)." Don't know, I don't take it as anything offensive, but aparently "Ang Moh" pops up when some westerner gets better treatment than the local guys. I am sure we get a better treatment almost everywhere here, because we're Ang Mohs...

These 2 guys, Gail and Yong started working in TP at the same time as me. Last week we got to hear that Ministry of Education was late approving the new program in our department (one of the reasons why we all were hired). So it may mean that we don't get to do much for one year (now I have 6 hours teaching only and the rest is "developing" lecture notes, yourself, environment and relations.. wah, not bad..)

Jeffrey, on the right, is my "buddy", meaning that he's assigned to help me and I can bug him with any kinds of questions. He looked so natural in his saudi appearance.. I put an Ikea lamp on my head (to impersonate a wise man) and it gave ideas for Tommy's children - everybody was worried that somebody will be electrocuted.. Don't try this at home (especially when children are watching)..

This is just to give a glimpse how my cubicle looks like. It may sound scary, working in a cubicle, but it is quite nice and cosy in there, I put up Norvyda's wedding gift on the wall, so it looks just great - pink and warm instead of gray and impersonal..

The Christmas Eve continued with the hotel Hyatt buffet dinner with free champagne flow (haha, the concept wouldn't work in Finland, I'm sure..). Before going we were a bit worried that there will be crowds of people trying to snatch the last piece of lobster from in front of your nose.

But it was just great, cosy, beautiful, peaceful, gorgeous food, Joulupukki (Kaledu Senis) popped by, a choir sang few Christmas carols..

In Lithuania Christmas Eve meal has to be very simple and poor (because Jesus was born in a humble way, in a shack with the animals). Ours wasn't really traditional in that sense. But it was great...

And the champagne was really flowing freely... Got to be careful with these waiters, as soon as you take one sip, they fill the glass up again..

Since we got to sleep this morning, we didn't even get a massive hangover. I got a very nice "adult looking" bag and Kaj got a Tshirt and a promise for an iPod. I was too late with my presents, so there was not a single iPod left on the island anymore! Got to wait after New Year. When I was writing the previous post, I thought we'd be gone to Manila by now. We had flights booked, deposits paid, I got my (very expensive!) Philippines visa. However, Kaitsu all of a sudden decided that it is too much traveling from Manila to Mindoro (we checked our schedule more closely just a few days ago). So after frantic searching and attempts to book flights (where?), we got our tickets to Cebu (leaving tomorrow). That is also in Philippines, but more South and is easier to travel around. (They say Manila is a metropolitan hell). So lets see how it goes. We come back on New Years eve, what are we going to do?!? I don't know...