In with the new, out with the old!

Well, it's official! The year is at it's end! Whereas I was previously accustomed for 17 years to waking on this day by the sound of distant booms and bombels (fireworks), and strings of popping crackers in the streets of Suriname, here I instead woke to the sound of... Samson loudly chewing on his bowl of Whiskas, and more distantly the sound of eery Asian music blaring from the temple up the road.
In fact, I believe I haven't heard a single bombel yet on this fine New Year's Eve day. What a shame! Traditionally, in Suriname, at noon on today (which, as of the time of this writing, today is actually yesterday over there, but whatever), most of the businesses in town would hang a pagara (a long string of firecrackers) through the streets of the downtown business districts, and there would be full on street parties, music, drinking, etc. Crowds of people would flock to watch the firecrackers crackle and pop their way through the streets to wave goodbye to the old year. I remember most distinctly the feeling of pushing through the crowds to avoid the nasty smoke that resulted, while trying to keep up with my Dad, who devotedly filmed every single pagara in town. When the smoke died down and the crowds thinned out and there was nothing left for Dad to film, we would go around the piles of red paper and burned out pagaras on the sidewalks and look for firecrackers that survived (hadn't exploded yet) and collected them for our own fireworks collection to display later that evening.
Then on New Year's Eve, the sky would be full of colorful fireworks displays in all shapes and sizes, while we piddled around in our driveway with whatever our own small collection of fireworks happened to be for the year. It was always a most looked forward to event, and one I haven't participated in for several years. I always remember the feeling of anticipation leading up to New Year's Eve as a child, and I haven't felt that in a long time!
Here in Taiwan, businesses will usually do some small fireworks displays shortly leading up to midnight, with bigger ones right at midnight. The last couple of years, we had parties at our house and then we all went up to the roof of our building (13 stories up) to watch at midnight. This year, we're going to TGI Fridays for dinner, then driving our scooters out to a local mountain with a view to overlook the city and wait for the fireworks. Law generally prohibits the locals from doing their own fireworks, although small ones are sold at local stores and rarely shot off in front of houses. It's strange to me, that, since most of the fireworks in Suriname were imported from China and sold by Chinese businessemen. Prior to moving to Taiwan, I thought the New Year's Eve fireworks craze would be rather similar to Suriname, given the Chinese fascination with the bombs. I guess I was wrong.
Well, Christmas has come and gone, and it was a very nice one here for us. We had a small gathering of close friends on Chrismas Eve and exchanged gifts for each other after a nice dinner and a reading of the Christmas Story by candlelight followed by prayers of thanks. My wonderful and very observant boyfriend gave me a Kindle 3G touch, which I'd been mentioned here and there for months I wanted, and happened to be the gift on top of my high pile of gifts for the night, therefore the first one I opened and set a very great tone for the gift giving! It was completely unexpected and a very happy surprise. I was actually going to order one for myself with several Amazon gift cards I had received, which can now be used for books! Most of the gifts I gave were homemade pieces of art, since I took the semester off and am waiting to go back to school, I had lots of free time and I do enjoy arts and crafts and the like. But I think everything was well received. I'm actually rather proud of a few of them that I think were particularly well done.
On Christmas Day, our church small group had a breakfast/caroling/gift exchange in the morning, and in the evening we hosted a larger dinner for our more extended missionary friends and family. I also got to Skype with mom and dad for the first time, and even though they could see me and I couldn't see them, it was still great to call home for Christmas. Yay for technology!
So then, there goes another year! Why do they seem to go so fast? This year started off not great for me, but I learned a few very important lessons, then things picked up when I unexpectedly got to visit my family and be at David's wedding in July.
And for next year? So far my plan is to return to Chinese study in March, full time for one more semester, then part time as I hope to re-sign a contract for more hours with Jackson for the following school year. Aaron and I plan to visit his mother on Cape Cod in July during our break. And that's as far as I've got planned at this point! I've always thought 2012 would be a great year, simply because my birthday will fall on 12/12/12 and that's just awesome. So we'll see if I was right.
Um.... ok. I can't think of anything more that would be of interest to blog about. I've been flying through books since I got my Kindle, and this afternoon presents a fine opportunity to finish another book.
So, happy 2012! And I hope you all get to see some fireworks this evening. :D

Real Birth Days

Baby, it's cold outside! And speaking of babies, I got to see a brand new one this morning. Brand new, like minutes old. So congratulations again to my friends Mandy and Jacob Moore, and their new little guy, Abraham. (sounds so old and wise, right?)
That's a Real Birth Day.
Today is also my birthday. Not as real, not as special. The older I get, the less great birthdays are. Over the last couple of years, they've actually been kind of sad days. I'm not sure why. And today, while it should be great because there's a new baby around and stuff, I'm sitting here at home alone for the afternoon, kind of have plans to go out for ice cream later tonight with friends, just like we always do, feeling kind of like I want it to be a special day but it's just not. I'm grateful for the birthday wishes from my friends who know it's my birthday, but I kind of wish it was over. I just want to not be in this weird state of "it's supposed to be a special day, I guess? I don't feel special? I should be excited? Why am I not?"
What are you supposed to feel like on your birthday? When I was a kid, I always got really excited because the people in my life made a big deal about it being my birthday. I think I found out pretty quickly that after you leave home, your birthday isn't such a big deal anymore. Really, it's only parents who think your birthday is a big deal. So slowly it set in, that birthdays aren't that exciting after all.
Only the Real Ones. Like the Being Born Day Ones. Those really are special. All sadness aside, I'm proud to share a birthday with my little newborn friend, Abe.

stuff

Today, I accomplished... absolutely... nothing. Nothing! I woke up with a headache, ate some food, watched a tv show, and went back to sleep in an effort to rid myself of said headache. It didn't work, and now I am ten minutes into waiting for my excedrin to work whilst I complain to my blogging world about my headache.
Isn't life great?
Ok, on brighter notes.
Last Saturday a group of friends from my church went to a.. thanksgiving? ... christmas?.. something holiday-ish program thing at a home for the elderly that a guy from somebody's cell group works at. A group of about six of us had been practicing this song/dance routine thing for like two months, and we finally performed it for the old folks. I think probably half of them could actually see us, and of those, maybe five of them liked it. I just watched the video on Facebook, and we definitely were better than I thought we were! Later when my friend Jacob gave a message and invitation to know Jesus, maybe eight or nine old folks wanted to be prayed for. So all in all, it was a very long, somewhat awkward afternoon, but with grand results for those seven or eight old folk.
Also, it's finally December! I have decided to make most of my Christmas presents myself this year, in an effort to save monies. I think they will all turn out rather well, however, making myself get to work to finish them before christmas eve will be a tricky thing. Today, for example, I had planned to finish two projects that are in the works. Did I lift a finger to finish anything? Nope.
Also, my birthday is a week from today. This means... well, not much! I actually haven't got a plan of any sort for my Real birth day, the 12th, except to probably finish some christmas projects. One of my roommates, Beth, also shares the 12th with me as her birthday, and our other mutual friend Mandy is having her c-section on the morning of the 12th as well to have her baby boy. So I think Beth is planning something or other for her birthday, but I have not a plan for me. I think a few days after my birthday some friends and I will go to a steakhouse for dinner instead.
Every year, I find, birthdays are less and less exciting, especially when so much else is going on and other people share the same birthday and are more excited to celebrate theirs. I think birthdays are something more special for kids than grown ups. I'm happy just to go eat some steak.
So far in the works this next coupla months are: a birthday/bridal shower for a friend this weekend; JacksonFive christmas program on Sunday (which I get to watch this year and not be involved in! yay!); Beth/Me/Baby Moore birthday stuff maybe; strawberry picking next weekend in Mioli; Christmas programs at the church; Christmas eve/Day; roomate Amy's birthday; New Years; friend's wedding in Kenting in the beginning of January; Chinese New Year trip planned back to Hualien and Taroko Gorge.
I'll keep you posted.
Bye!