Happy 2012 to everyone! Boy has this past year gone so fast! I graduated from college in May, spent an all-too-short summer with friends and family at home, and have been in Australia for four months. Time sure flies when you’re having fun!
My first holiday season away from home has also come and gone. Christmas in Adelaide with Chris and his family was a blast, although it never quite felt like Christmas and I never did get that “Christmas feeling.” Someone commented to me that it’s probably because I’m getting older, which I do partly agree with (of course Christmas now doesn’t feel quite the same as it did when I was a kid) but the biggest contributor to the lack of Christmas feeling was the temperature. While Christmas day was “cool” (in the low 70s) and overcast, the rest of our time in Adelaide was pretty warm, and now it’s in the mid-90s. Definitely not my typical Christmas! Plus, there wasn’t really any radio station that played non-stop Christmas music all month long, like Warm98 does back home in Cincinnati. That was a huge bummer.
Despite all this, I did have a wonderful time with Chris and his family, and I still thoroughly enjoyed my favorite holiday. It was so nice to spend Christmas with a family, even if it wasn’t my family. On Christmas morning we all gathered downstairs in our PJs to unwrap our presents. Chris’s mom (or should I say Santa) gave us all giant pillow case stockings full of gifts. I got some pretty awesome stuff: an Australia t-shirt, an Australia beach towel, an Australia hat, an Australian Christmas book (“Six White Boomers”), an Australian Christmas movie, and some typical Australian chocolates. Sense a theme here? I couldn’t have asked for better stocking stuffers! Chris got me a lovely silver bat necklace on a silver chain with matching stud earrings, as well as a “K” necklace with opal inlay. Wonderful gifts from a wonderful boyfriend. :)
My Australian-themed stocking gifts (no, that’s not my hairy leg).
On Christmas Day we had a delicious lunch/dinner, homecooked by Chris’s mom. We had ham, turkey, stuffing, roast vegetables, rolls, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. I think it’s interesting how every family has their traditional food for the holidays. Our meal was different from what we have back home, and the tastes were different, but everything was scrumptious!
With Chris’s family for Christmas Day lunch/dinner. Still in our PJs.
On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), Chris, his mom, and I went out to visit Chris’s grandparents in Cunliffe on the Yorke Peninsula about 1 ½ hours drive from Adelaide. Sitting around talking to his grandparents and aunts and listening to their stories brought back memories of home and our family get-togethers, one of the things I miss the most. It was a good day of relaxing, chatting, and eating yummy Christmas leftovers, including pavlova (an Australian/New Zealand meringue-based dessert with fruit topping), ginger Guinness cake, a gingerbread house, and Christmas pudding, none of which I had had before. All of it was so good!
On Tuesday we mostly lazed around watching movies all day, and on Wednesday Chris and I went back into the city and walked around some more. We stopped back at the pet shop where we had seen the cute puppy so I could get the rats out this time. Last time when I asked the lady if I could hold the rats she said she couldn’t get them out because she was afraid of them, and all the other employees were busy. I was so excited to finally play with them, and lo and behold they were all gone! The lady said they had all been bought and that the store wouldn’t get more until the New Year. Slighted yet again! On Thursday before we headed home we stopped at Waterfall Gully outside of Adelaide to hike up the big hills. We made it less than half the way up (the trail is about 3.7 km one way and very steep) due to time constraints and my sore knee that occasionally acted up, but the parts we did see were beautiful. There were several waterfalls and lots of greenery and amazing views. It was a nice way to wrap up my time in Adelaide for Christmas.
Waterfall Gully outside Adelaide
At the falls with Chris
New Years came up quickly the next weekend, and Chris and I celebrated New Year’s Eve by camping outside Bat Cave to take an all-night bat count, watching a movie, and ringing in the New Year with a nice ($8) bottle of bubbly white wine. Definitely not a New Year's Eve I'll soon forget!
Ringing in the New Year in true biologist style!
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