HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I’ve started writing this post on Saturday when I had a pile of clothes on my bed, waiting to be packed. I was still thinking of how I’d pack, since more than half my clothes stink of nicotine! Greeks do smoke a lot and I’m not used to it anymore (fortunately). I’ll probably wash everything when I get back (including the clean probably now smelly clothes) and leave my luguage open outside.

My Christmas holiday has been really nice. I was away for 10 days and tried to keep clear from all things related to technology. OK, not all things, but it was an honest effort. I didn’t log in to facebook, msn or twitter to contact people and I kept my accessing to the blogs I follow to minimum. Now, I have a lot of catching up to do…

I spent Christmas with family. My brother visited us for that weekend with his new girlfriend. It was kind of fun when my father called her with my brother’s ex wife’s name, during the massive meal, in front of everybody! I don’t know how funny she found it, but I did. Suddenly, all went quiet, not knowing what to do or react (hilarious)!

I spent New Year’s Eve with friends and family. I don’t know what the rest of the world does on that eve, but in Greece we have some traditions to follow. In theory, what you do at the change of the year is what you will be doing for the whole year. That is why you should be well fed, well clothed, happy with family and friends! We exchange presents right after the change of the year, for that same reason. You see, we don’t have Santa Claus coming in Christmas, but a variation of him on New Year’s Eve. He looks exactly the same (influences from the western civilisation aka Coca Cola) but he’s called differently (Saint Vassilys). We also traditionally cut a cake in his name that was made with a lucky charm inside. Whoever gets the piece with that charm will be lucky for the whole year (I didn’t get it this year)…

Another tradition is that after the change of the year you either go out (clubbing, to bars etc) or stay in with friends and family. You are also supposed to gamble a bit and challenge your luck by playing blackjack or similar games. Around 12:30am to 2am there’s the worst traffic jam in most Greek cities. I wasn’t an exception and I did the same. After the change of the year, around 1:30am I went to a friend’s place in the city. She had around 20 guests and it was very fun. One of the guests had a bouzouki (Greek musical instrument) with him and we sang and danced until around 4:00 when we started playing cards. I went home around 8:30 in the morning. Needless to say I spent the rest of January the 1st sleeping…

On a very different tone, I didn’t get my ‘revenge’ on ‘A’. He called me at some point saying that he was free for a coffee at that exact moment (he lives some kilometers away from the city but he didn’t tell me that he was coming to town beforehand) but it happened that I wasn’t free at that moment . He used to do that a lot in the past. Without any prior notice, he used to call me saying that he was in the city. Back then, though, I used to get very upset trying to modify my schedule according to his to see him. That is not happening any more. I couldn’t be bothered and cancel seeing some of my real friends to rush and see him. So, my revenge will have to wait…

I was in constant contact with JJ. He spent his Christmas holidays mostly working and we chatted during these days and exchanged many (many) text messages. I was very happy to see him yesterday. Coming back to a very cold (freezing actually compared to the sunny much warmer Greek climate) London was nothing since I had JJ to warm me up…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

May 2010 bring you everything you wish for!