Friday, December 31, 2010

New Year's Traditions in Colombia

Here are some fun things you can try for New Year's:

- Yellow underwear: good luck in life
- Red underwear: Good luck in love
- Lentils in the pocket at midnight: brings money for next year
- Carry a suitcase/passport if you would like to travel.
- Drink a glass of champaign with some jewelry inside.
- Eat 12 grapes with the 12 chimes of the clock and a wish for each month
- Bread with wheat stalk (don't eat the wheat stalk) means prosperity
- Jump over a bucket full of water (means you will cross the ocean)
- 3 potatoes in a plastic bag. 1 of those fully peeled (meaning very little money coming next year), 1 randomly peeled (means average amount of money), 1 not peeled at all (means good money coming). Each person picks a potato from the bag to see what type of money you should expect for next year.

No one knew of something for luck in jobs, but I'm sure if you carry a job listing page or something symbolizing work/job.

Hope this helps and you can try something new for this year!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

This is not me on my soap box I swear!!!

It has been a while since I have had an actual post about my life here and with the holidays coming up I thought a "Christmas Card" review would be a nice way to finish out the year on my blog.

Diego and I have been working at Presence together for a little over two months now and things are pretty good.  For a while I was a little frustrated with my job simply because I was searching for things to do and the difference of opinion to some of the corrections are made- my boss' Harvard style vs my more simple and understandable style.  But it is much better now...I think we have found a happy medium and we are working things out as we go.  Anyway, I'm not going to lie I LOVE being busy at work.  I actually become quite obsessed and people around me are shocked because I look "tan seria" or "so serious".  There is never a rush on finishing things, but I still work quickly.  Luckily, I don't have the same pressure that Diego has.  Since he is in support normally if there is a problem then it needed to be fixed yesterday so there is a lot of stress that comes with his job.  

Diego and I are also doing well....we have come to the conclusion that the "honeymoon" part of being together again after so much time apart has faded, but we are working through it.  I have to give him credit, I was very VERY difficult to live with for a few weeks there during the Thanksgiving holidays and after.  But I feel like myself again- not sweating the little stuff and laughing instead of bitching when things go wrong.  It's funny all the little things you learn about each other and the give and take on how to deal with things that really annoy you.  So far so good- we just can't lose our sense of humor!


The weather is starting to get a little better which has been great.  It still rains almost every day but now it rains a little less and we keep the sun and blue skies longer during the day.  It feels weird to be here during Christmas...kind of like visiting Florida during Christmas time.  There are lights everywhere and you feel the holiday spirit, but it's just not as strong as when you have cold weather and snuggle up in a blanket with hot chocolate (with a little big of eggnog in it) and watch White Christmas.  I have become quite the eggnog maker....the problem is that I have now figured out that if I know how to make it, it doesn't have to be a seasonal drink.  For those who don't know, I can drink eggnog like a fish drinks water. 

We have had up decorations since a little before Thanksgiving and I put pictures on facebook....but more should be coming.  I have to give Colombia credit...they do have a certain flare for decorations, however, individuals (not businesses and building so much) seem to love blinking lights and I mean blinking lights on crack....like crazy blinking lights....but I digress.  The Cable (business/shopping district outside of the centro) where I work has the most beautiful display of lights in a little park are.  Diego and I are planning to go there and take pictures this week (ahem but someone continues to work late).  At the factory where I taught my English class, they had lights everywhere of flowers and flamingos and tropical birds.  An interesting change and I respect it considering that is what much of Colombia experiences during Christmas.  Why should they be putting up decorations of snow and pine trees if that's not what they know?

Another Christmas topic is one of thanks.  Diego and I have already received "gifts" from family and we cannot tell you how much we appreciate it.  We will post pictures of some things we buy using the money given (nice shelving unit for the wall, a nice clock for the family room, diploma frames, etc).  We also went out to eat using some Christmas money at a DELICIOUS restaurant where I ordered the most excellent lamb with a blue cheese sauce (pictures on facebook). 

Diego and I LOVE food (not that anyone can't tell), but we try to stay money conscious and stick to going out once maybe twice a week, but normally to cheaper restaurants.  Diego and I are so into food (and also cheap) that we crashed a Christmas party for a company of about 600 people.  We got a half bottle of rum and 2 plate of lechona out of it.  Remember lechona (which is delicious) is the food that is stuffed inside a pig including rice, meat, and peas and cooked.  So when you see the pig, it looks like it got a good tan, but is missing it's back half.  

With Christmas and New Year's coming up, I will have a lot of new experiences.  Christmas will be just Diego and I, because it's not really safe to drive on the roads between cities with all the landslides so we can't go visit his parents.  It will be strange for me, because I am used to be surrounded by the family but to be honest it feels easier than Thanksgiving did.  We are trying to mix some traditions together (Diego has never opened presents on Christmas morning) and trying to come up with different things to do to make sure that it feels special.  New Years should be a LOT of fun.  Colombians have a lot of traditions which I will post before New Years so you all can take part in them if you like.

I think that will be all for now.  I will post pictures on the blog later, but you can also look on facebook.  There are some fun ones from a Bachelorette party that I threw with the girls from the office- I couldn't put up any of the pictures with our "special poster" where we played pin the penis on the naked man.  But there is a good picture of everyone staring at something hard but you can't see what!

Happy Holidays everyone!!!!