the gods are watching

they must be. i mean, i wake up on my birthday and for the first time that i can recall, despite the fact that the end of January is right bang in the middle of winter, there is snow outside! yeah! i love snow. sure, it made it a little more complicated to get to work and especially to get back but what the hell. it snowed on my birthday! a gift from the gods. plus, let's face it, it's the year of the dragon and i was born the year of the dragon. this means auspicious. definitely. can't wait for what this year has in store for me!

the cheese

a sample of the cheese we tasted while on our outing last week. amazingly, i've eaten through nearly all of my 0.9kg already!

connected vessels

it was supposed to be my last session with the shiatsu practitioner. supposed to be. while he was fixing my arm, he unearthed an interesting issue - pain related. what he was doing to my arm was clearly working. unfortunately, it also started the worst pain ever in my lower back brain. imagine razor blades slicing through the stuff. yes, it was that bad. so he did something to my head and within a minute, the pain was gone (ok people, forget aspirin, paracetamol and tylenol: just have a shiatsu person hanging around you at all times). next thing i knew, in order to deal with the cause of the pain in my head, he was working on a part of my lower belly and although not as bad as the razor slicing thing, it was still painful. and, after a while, the pain shot right back up to my brain. this time, visualise a tree-shaped lightning bolt. that's how it felt, too - electric i mean. so he had to deal with the head again. clearly, this whole connected vessels thing was going to put a damper on this being the last session.

the winter outing

this year we stayed away from snow-tubing which, although fun, was starting to get a bit old. instead, we started by visiting a cheese factory. it was good. especially the huge amount of cheese we all wolfed down after the tour. French cheese is good but seriously, just out of production is just heaven! so i also bought nearly a kilo of the stuff. i only realised later how much i'd got but what the hell, it can keep and will not go uneaten.

after that, we battled through the snow to the next destination: our lunch place and afternoon activity. we were nearly one and a half hours late by the time we arrived. starting off late, snow and getting lost hadn't helped. by the time we were done eating and ready to go snowshoeing - despite the rain - it was nearly 3. we ended up starting our trek at half past, which was perfect timing as it was a 2-hour walk and it would get dark at about 5.30. except we also got lost but couldn't panic because there were 3 kids with us who were clearly worried too. but we made it back just before 6pm (yes, it was dark by then) and found out the other group had also got lost and had only just come back themselves. the track signaling clearly needs a bit of work...

when i eventually got home, after following someone else's car - someone with a GPS, an all important item when you're somewhere lost in the mountain - i was exhausted but happy. it was nice to get out of Geneva and not think about work or studies.

airport security

i'd been queueing for the security checks for 10 mns so i'd heard the announcement several times by now: passengers were free to opt out of the new security system but if they did, they'd have to be patted down. sounded good to me so when the guy gestured toward the big machine (as opposed to the simple metal detector), i asked to opt out. oh boy, did that create a bit of a scene. the guy looked crestfallen. why did i want to opt out? because i could. but i'd be patted down! not a problem. but, but, it wasn't X-rays, it was ultrasounds and nothing could be seen, etc. that's ok, i said, i still wanted to opt out. oh.

i was asked to wait on the side until a woman came to pick me up. she took my stuff and explained what she was going to do. then she asked if it was ok to do it 'out here' or whether i'd rather have the privacy of a cubicle. uh... this was just a pat down, right? in which case, i was fine with doing it in full view of everyone. after a very thorough pat down, she put a piece of tape on my clothes and then put it to some kind of detector. turned out she was checking for chemicals. it was quite an experience.

i realise that the fact that this was Miami and it was 28°C outside and that i was wearing jeans, closed shoes and 2 layers of top clothing (including a warm sweater) was perhaps the reason they asked me to go through the big machine but seriously, the temperature change between outside and inside is not something i like - plus i was going to spend more than 8 hours in a plane, a cold place. but what i find really funny is how the announcement clearly states you have a choice but that when it comes down to it, they're not too happy about you choosing the other option.

shiatsu

so after months of random and then less random pain, i finally decided that my shiatsu practitioner was the fix-it guy. and after the first of three sessions (he says he can fix me in three sessions, which sounds a bit dubious but he does seem to be doing his best), he said i shouldn't do any sport during the 'treatment'. not the best thing to say to me right now, as i spend most of my days sitting down and since May, a lot of my non-working time sitting down - studying. therefore, the sport aspect is really quite important.

so how did he convince me? he started explaining that i didn't really need sports - for a short space of time. he said lots of things but let's face it, the only thing i recall is him saying that my abs didn't need any work. that did it for me. i was totally onboard with not exercising for a few weeks. sweet.

NYE dinner

D. had chosen a Cuban restaurant for our NYE dinner, and what an experience that was! our waitress was completely crazy. seriously. she was apparently 26 but didn't look older than 15... and certainly didn't act older! i don't know what she was on but she was certainly entertaining. during the course of our meal, we found out about her boyfriend who wasn't really her boyfriend since he left her 9 months earlier, her relationship with her mother countries (not very good) and how America was her El Dorado. and her boyfriend would come back once he'd understood she hadn't really mean what she'd said. and it was her birthday, so she was sporting a crazy birthday princess hat and she kept forgetting things. and she kept telling us about how nice we were and started chatting up D by just asking him if he wanted kids. D. was really nice about it and actually feared she'd leave her number on the bill (she didn't, although she probably seriously considered it).

in the end, the food wasn't that special (apart from the amazing pork) but she certainly made it a dinner to remember!

tipping

as a European in the States, tipping's a bit of an issue. D. was explaining that, as a rule, most people (bartenders and others) added at least a dollar to the price to ensure they'd get what is considered a fair tip - nowadays, that's apparently about 20% of the bill! then we went on to discuss the reason for not including the tip in the prices, as it is generally done in Europe, at least to some extent. his argument was that if the tip was already included, why would the waiters, etc., give you good service? there was no incentive. a point that seemed fair until i thought about the general level of service during my ten days there. not great. generally not as good as service in Europe. for our dinner at the revolving restaurant, for example, the hold forgot us when the next table became available, one of our waiters clearly couldn't be bothered while the other kept forgetting stuff - D.'s sauce, A.'s tea, C.'s water. this was apparently made up - in his mind - by joining our conversation just as i was about to pay, making a comment that apparently linked my point to his name. the type of comment that makes me cringe by its total fakeness. generally, service seemed to be restricted to people talking to us like we were family friends, making small talk instead of doing their jobs. as far as i can recall only the waitress at our very first dinner had actually done her job well. so no, i don't agree with that point. while tips are included in Europe, good service will generally lead to extra tips.

New Year's

for NY's, D. had booked us into a hotel at St Pete's Beach. we got there on the 30th, in time to see the glorious sunset before having dinner in the revolving restaurant at the top of a nearby hotel.

on the 31st, we spent most of our day on the beach. then, just before sunset, the fog rolled in, making for a pretty interesting view. quite odd, on a beach in near-summer weather! but it made for an amazing sight a few hours later when, before dinner, D. took us on a little tour of the island and we ended up on the beach on the southern tip - the moon finally shone through, giving instant atmosphere to the place. it was magnificent. i think i loved that moment more than any other that night.

after dinner, we joined D.'s friends at another hotel beach, where we lit the lanterns L. had given us for Xmas. that was lots of fun! we also played jenga - both before and after the countdown. i was having a ball but i think that D. was still hungover from the previous night and A. presumably less happy because of the lack of dancing. also, i did have to get up at 5am so it probably wasn't a bad idea to head back. still, i think this counts as one of the best NYE i've ever had.

holiday recap

so i'm back home after a lovely 10 days in Florida. and this year, it wasn't cold at all. it was gorgeous weather most of the time and i even got some (a tiny bit of a) tan. this year, no drama and no delays of any kind or related last minute changes. only lots and lots of quality time with the family. although L. was, in the end, unable to spend New Year's with us - the joys of working in Hollywood - we got to see D. the whole time, which was extra nice as he was sick 2 years ago and barely there last year. M&M were also doing great and even O., at 15 (105 in human years) became quite perky on our last few days there. all in all, a great, great time!

i miss it already

this was where i was yesterday. on a beach, in the heat. and now i'm back in the cold winter. a bit of a shock to the system...