Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year...

... and happy 35th birthday to me!

I miss you!

Hope y'all had a great holiday season... and as you cuddle up with a loved one on the couch, sipping some apple cider... watching football... maybe thinking of me... I just want to let you know I am sweating my ASS off. There's no a/c at work, in my cottage, or in my car and this is AFRICA, people. The only relief I get is when buying yogurt at the grocery store.

Overall, the holidays were tolerable. I worked on Thanskgiving, so really that's all I have to say about that. While y'all were busy gaining 5 pounds in one day... I was... sweating. But let's not talk about Thanksgiving.

Christmas almost got off to a bad start... My neck started to act up again the day before we were supposed to drive to South Africa. But thank gawd for my boyfriend and his African hands... and he was able to massage me back to health. (Don't tell him, but he may have given me a few unecessary massages.) We drove to Witbank, South Africa to visit his family. He has 10 siblings, and most of them live in Witbank and we stayed with his brother Robin. On the first night, I hung out with a few of the ladies including his niece (who is in her late 20s) and his older sister. It was a fun night of watching Beyonce and R. Kelly videos. Unfortunately, I'm not kidding.

One thing I should mention is that South Africa and Swaziland are a little behind the times and when it comes to having fun, that usually means the men hanging with the men and the women hanging with the women... so sometimes I don't see my boyfirend that much during these family outings... AND I wish I had a rand for every time one of the ladies invited me to their home to cook all day before a family gathering. (I have yet to accept an offer... I'm American, dammit!)

The next day was Christmas and we went to the Witbank Dam and had a braai (i.e. barbeque) and just chilled all day. It was fun hanging with zee fam, but did not feel like Christmas at all. It was hot and the adjacent car was playing really loud African music. And people were dancing. Sadly, no christmas tree or stocking for this ex-pat. But in exciting news, I have a boyfriend who LOVES Christmas music, so yeah for me! Specifically we listened to "Mary's Boy Child" and "Little Drummer Boy" over and over and over and over and over again throughout December. And he always made me join David Bowie and Bing Crosby in song... Come they told me...

We also ate a lot of beans and rice because that's what they do here.

Next it was New Years, which was celebrated back in Swaziland. Here in Ezulwini, the bars are pretty happening on Friday and Saturday nights so I made the executive decision to stay local. Bad mistake. It was like a ghost town. Coincidentally, we ran into his brother and wife and we decided to make the trek to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE where apparently there was an all night party. We got to the tent literally at 8... 7... 6... it was pretty stressful. Sadly, no champagne for me this year, but I got to watch a lot of Africans getting their groove on. I did not join them, because I'm still not ready to look like a fool.

Then there was New Years Day... totally anti-climatic. No football games and no saurkraut.

And I guess that brings us to today. I'm pretending to work... but I'm actually just sitting here sweating wondering why in hell I ever decided to work in Africa. I jest, but did I mention it's hot? So blog readers, let's keep in touch... in my next entry I will tell you the exciting news about how I am probably coming home in March FOR GOOD because I engaged in some behaviour that will forever alter my life. Are you on the edge of your seat?