Felicidades!

Before I jump into it, I always mean to write about the bathroom situation at work.  I believe that there are 4 "supplies" required for a functioning office washroom: toilet paper, paper towel, soap and water.  Yesterday, we had one of those four...  paper towel.  I don't even remember the last time we had all 4.  The soap has been out for months, and before that there would be weeks with no paper towel or no toilet paper.  And running water is always an uncertainty at the office.  After 10 months of this, it seems normal.  The idea that an office washroom in Canada has all 4 nearly 100% of the time seems so luxurious!  What I'm trying to get at is how easily we can adjust to new situations that present themselves if we keep an open mind.

For the first time after returning from a vacation away from the DR (or away from the city), I got up on Monday morning and didn't feel odd or stressed about what I would face that day.  It was all very normal.  The Spanish came back quite easily (although I would forget the odd thing here and there) and my routine really did seem routine-like.  I took a carrito to work, stopped at Sweet Bakery (the girls were excited to see me!) and headed into the office.  All normal, all good.  One thing that was new, was the amount of people giving me the hug, cheek kiss and saying "Felicidades." Now, directly translated, this means congratulations and people often say it (and use the English congratulations) in situations that we, as English speakers, wouldn't use it.  My gut told me that this was how they were expressing "Happy New Year" but I wasn't completely sure, so I asked Maria.  Turns out I was right!  So I've adjusted now and return the felicidades, even though in my head it sounds silly.

I was happy to be able to have lunch with Ozumy that day.  It had been quite a while since the last time I saw her, since we had issues fitting in our weekly breakfast and/or lunch in the weeks prior to me going home.  We decided to treat ourselves to La Lasagne.  I'm so glad we did.  I finally decided to try their Margarita pizza.  It wasn't as good as Segafredo, but still tasty anyway.  I had brought back a Canada shirt and keychain for Ozumy after she asked me if I could do so.  I think she enjoyed both.  She also gave me a bag of candy and chocolates, which I enjoyed, although it may not be helpful in getting the diet back on track.  The day at the office was really quiet since only L and I were there until 4:00 when J showed up.

We were having some internet issues at home, so it was a rather quiet evening.  I didn't mind though, sometimes they are good.  On Tuesday, I brought the gifts I had purchased in Canada for my coworkers with me.  I didn't have time to wrap them up so I decided just to give them as they were, with a card.  L was the first to receive hers, followed by J.  I gave them both a bottle of maple syrup and they were both pleased.  I gave O a scarf since he is planning on moving to Canada soon - to help him stay warm of course!  He loved the gift!  E and Sr. S still weren't in the office so I just had to leave their gifts on their desks.

Happily, the internet was fixed when I returned.  It was nice to be able to talk with mom and Bart again! I also decided to try out my new headphones that Bart had given me since the colmado music was blaring and the TV in the other room was on quite loud.  They worked wonderfully.  So I took the opportunity to relax and listen to Beethoven, and then later, they worked perfectly for going through a new mediation!

Today, Sr. S was back in the office.  He wished me Felicidades, and gave me a hug.  But said nothing about the gift.  Kind of weird.  It was a nice gift too (a hand carved marble polar bear).  I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for it the next time I'm in his office.  I kept trying to glance in inconspicuously but was unsuccessful at locating it.  I am worried though that perhaps someone swiped it off his desk overnight.  That would be odd, but I suppose it is possible.

I'm currently on a search for pure coconut oil, so I decided to walk to Nacional after work to see if they had any there.  Sadly, they didn't.  I picked up a few other groceries and then went to catch a carrito.  It took a while for one to arrive, but when it did, I ended up in B1, with 3 rather large people.  Including a old and large security man that seemed to barely fit into the car to begin with.  I had to sit in a really awkward position for it to work.  I'm glad that the ride wasn't too long!

Family Travels

On Boxing Day, Bart and I met up with my parents and Jonathan so that we could drive together to Wetaskiwin to visit my grandma.  When we arrived, Lynelle was already there helping to get dinner ready. Her parents came a bit later, along with my Uncle Murray, Aunt Debbie and Debbie's son.  It was a relaxed evening that included a nice dinner and a good game of cards.

The morning of the 27th, we got up early and had breakfast with my grandma before heading to Calgary.  We stopped in to have lunch with all of my dad's side of the family.  Lunch was excellent and we spent a few hours playing rock band with my two cousins.

After lunch, we hit the road again and headed to Banff.

We checked in to the Banff Centre where we were staying before making our way over to my Aunt's place for dinner.  She had made two amazing lasagnas!  My two cousins were back from their respective universities for the holidays and my Uncle Brian had flown down that day too.  After dinner, we relaxed by the fireplace and played a few rounds of Things which ended up getting a little ridiculous by the end.  Regardless, we all had A LOT of laughs!

The next day, the 28th, we met for breakfast at Melissa's, one of my favorite breakfast places.

We then took some time to wander around and do some shopping.  I picked up a few things to bring back to the Dominican as well as a bit of "childhood memory candy" from the local candy shop.  We also had a chance to stop by my Uncle Victor's place for a visit and some tea.

We then headed back to my aunt's place to have a quick snack.  Murray and Debbie arrived with Grandma while we were eating.  Mom and dad, Brian, Jonathan, Bart and I headed back to our hotel to get ready for the birthday dinner for my Aunt that night.  We went to a Greek restaurant called Balkan.  It was "Greek Night" so my Aunt's birthday was announced to the entire restaurant and she had to take a shot of Ouzo and dance with a belly dancer!  The food was very good and the portions were huge!

It had started snowing quite a lot before dinner, but it made downtown Banff look especially beautiful.

We decided to go to the Banff Springs to take some pictures there.  The snow made it extremely breathtaking and the inside of the historic hotel was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

The next day, we had a big brunch at my Aunt's.  We also took the occasion to celebrate my Uncle Murray's birthday a few days early.

After brunch, we all got bundled up and headed to the Springs to go skating.  It was a perfect winter day and made me so happy to have been able to come back home for Christmas.  There are a lot of things about winter that I now appreciate and miss a lot.  Although I still dislike being cold!

Following our skating outing, we took a trip to the new recreation centre and then drove out to Vermilion Lakes to take a couple pictures.

We went back to my Aunt's house to have some hot soup before saying goodbye and heading back to Edmonton.