The New Year

The last year of the first decade of the 21^st century began four days ago and was greeted by worldwide celebrations. A miniature bottle of champagne & some white wine received much needed attention that night. I wonder how many tons of fireworks were detonated across the globe to mark the event? It’s an odd but fun tradition – celebrate the beginning of a new year by blowing stuff up! Unfortunately, campus residence only offers students five television channels and none of them covered the party at New York’s Time Square.

The striking transit workers in my hometown of Ottawa have beaten their old record of 24 days and are now on Day 26 and counting. This calls for another celebration! Well, it’s easy for me to say that considering I’m in Christchurch and not having to suffer citywide gridlocks in winter weather. Now the federal government has gotten involved in the matter because the urban transit system is the only one in the country that falls under federal legislation. That and both sides are being stubborn and won’t talk to each other.

In a week I’ll be travelling to Australia to visit my brother Roman, who’s studying law in Canberra. The flights shouldn’t be a problem because the bulk of summer travelling is done in December. My Down Under destinations will be Canberra, Sydney, and Brisbane, so a lot of pictures will be taken. Also, we’ll be celebrating the swearing in of America’s first Black president, and my brother’s birthday so that’ll be something. My trip will last 10 days meaning there may be a BLOG blackout during that time but after will come a flood of posts.

Following the old calendar, Ukrainian Christmas is on January 7^th, and unfortunately, my parents will be celebrating it without the presence of their sons. Usually at this time, I’d be helping my mother make ear dumplings for the traditional beet soup (called borsch) because of my natural talents. No humans and/or animals are harmed in the production process – they’re made of dough and mushroom stuffing. We call them ears because they appear as such during the early stages and our hands paste around 100 dumplings every year.

Aside from a fierce thunderstorm two days ago, the weather has remained clear & sunny. I’ve almost used up my bottle of SPF 45 sunscreen and I’ll have to buy some more before heading off to AUS. Like in all summer weather, there are people who sit outside and BBQ themselves for reasons I’ll never understand. Although . . . it does give me a good excuse to ask the ladies if they need sunscreen and/or tanning oil assistance.

Gotta run!