Happy 30th

Yesterday was Brunei's National Day, and they celebrated their 30th Anniversary.
The country have been buzzing with preparations for while, and many of our CFBT teacher friends have been busy doing several practices for the big parade and celebration at the Stadium that took place yesterday morning. I can't believe it's already been five years since I went to the Silver Jubilee..!

This is how it looked in the Mall the other day when we were there, all white, black and yellow!

It's been nice having an extra day off today (Brunei always takes a day off in lieu if a public holiday already falls on a Friday or a Sunday... They don't want to miss out on any, ha ha!) - since we've had a really busy weekend; we went out to the Yacht Club on Friday afternoon/evening, Lucas had a birthday party Saturday and Turners came over for their sleepover; we all went for dinner at the Saaps Saturday night, then the mud pool excursion yesterday and ending the Sunday with a movie night;  today Linnea & Ben went to a birthday party and Lucas had Nikolas over for a play.
Now, time to chill... - where's that pizza man?

CNY celebrations at the Hash

Tonight we celebrated Chinese New Year on the hash. After a short run around the kampong, we congregated at one of the Chinese ladies' house for quite an on-on. It was decorated beautifully of course, all in red and gold.
Many of the hashers were also dressed in red, or in traditional Chinese Cheong Sam. We also saw some spectacular head gear:

The Chinese ladies always puts on an amazing evening for their CNY celebrations. This year as entertainment, we even got treated to a Lion Dance! Complete with music, orange peeling and all!

Of course we also had the Yusheng, and we tossed and tossed for good luck and fortune for all hashers for the year ahead!

After some games, and red Ang Paos for all hashers (!), we proceeded to enjoy a lovely Chinese buffet. Mmm - such a good night!

Waitangi Run

We have a lot of themed hashes at the moment, last night was the Kiwi hashers turn to lay their Waitangi Run. (Waitangi Day is held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.)

It was a good run, in a dry jungle for a change, no rain for a few days makes such a difference. At the on-on afterwards we all got new t-shirts and yummy NZ style food. We also celebrated this month's birthdays:

They did a 10 question quiz, and Anna and I managed to answer two questions correctly first, so we walked away with prizes, again! :)
Anna donated her prize to me so that my kids would get one each, and they were very happy this morning when they received these little NZ bags with stickers, pencils and other Kiwi things inside:

The year of the Horse - Gong Xi Fa Cai

It's the eve of the Chinese New Year, or as the Chinese themselves call it, the Lunar New Year. Here are a few things you should do to prepare, according to the Chinese:

- Clean your house from top to bottom and pay off all debts before New Year.
- Decorate your home to welcome in the New Year. Red is a popular colour, it scares away evil spirits and bad fortune.
- Place mandarins in bowls throughout the house. Mandarins are the fruits of happiness. Keep their numbers even, as uneven numbers bring unhappiness.
- Wear new clothes and ensure you are polite to others on the first day of the New Year – it sets the tone for the year to come.
- Celebrate New Year with a family dinner. Traditional dishes include fish and chicken, symbols of prosperity.
- Make sure the barrel of rice is full at New Year to ensure prosperity in the year to come.

Here's what I've found that the Year of the Horse will bring for Nathan and I, as we are both oxes:

"The Year of the Horse brings a sense of restless excitement. Ox natives prefer stability and security. With Horse pulling you along, your challenge will to be more flexible and adventurous.
Wood energy encourages slow growth that supports your best interests. In a year marked by change and reevaluation, have the courage to surrender what no longer works for you.
It can be uncomfortable to leave what is familiar. But your social networks, good friends, and wise mentors will help you find your best path forward. Apparent roadblocks will be giving way to exciting new opportunities.
The year 2014 for the ox will be better and more beneficial than previous years. This 2014 can be used as a stepping-stone to the following year, a potentially huge 2015 which be the game changer the ox sign bearers have been looking for. Do not be afraid to rely on friends because they will be the support that the ox sign bearers will need."

Ah, sound just about right I guess!
Happy New Year!

Aussie Day at the Hash

Last night was Australia Day run at the hash. It was a rather long and even though it was dry yesterday, very muddy hash, thanks to all the rain we've had the last few weeks. I like the jungle around the Salezia Gardens where we always are for the Aussie Day hash, it's very jungly.

As per usual we had some Aussie snags for dinner, and the hares had also organized an Aussie quiz - which the Swedish Team (that is Anna and I obviously) won! We only had one wrong out of all the questions! Well done us!

The weeks roll by really fast now, and I only have a very few hashes left to enjoy. Luckily there are lots of special ones, next week the Waitangi run, then the CNY run, the Valentines run and my very last one will be the St Patrick's Day run.

Australia Day BBQ

This morning we were invited up to Morris for an Australia Day BBQ. Unfortunately after a lovely sunny day finally yesterday, we woke up to pouring rain, again... booo...
But that didn't stop the BBQ from going ahead of course! A little bit of rain won't scare us off! Plus, only made the water slide go faster!

 Pippa, the host, to the left, and Kym - both in traditional Aussie outfits! :)

"Us" (well, I was honorary..!) Kiwis had dressed in black, of course. 

 Boys around the BBQ:

Isabel and Hilary:

The kids had an absolute ball, didn't care one bit about the torrential rain! They were either on the trampoline, on the slide, or drawing Aussie pictures in the drawing corner:

The food was fantastic, Aussie sausages, burgers, chicken drumsticks, salads, potatoes - and of course Lamingtons and Pavlovas, mmm!

Thanks guys for a fab afternoon! Aussie aussie aussie!

The last supper

On our last New Years Eve in Brunei, we celebrated pretty much like last year (maybe we've created a nice tradition here?), with a yummy fondue dinner at home.
Nathan was scheduled to work (again!) on New Years Day so not much choice really, but - it's still my favourite way to do it. I've never been much of a big NYE party girl.

We invited the Turners as well, it was really nice to end this special year, and share this special evening with good friends.
They had never done a fondue, so it was a first for them! We started with some salmon, caviar and crème fraîche, on waffles:

Then it was time for the fondue, we had three different kinds of meat, lots of veggies and sauces - mmm! It's such a nice way of enjoying your food, you don't get full so quickly as it takes a while to cook it! Kids were so excited, they vividly remembered last years dinner, and they enjoyed it just as much this year, especially Linnea.

Hannah and Tash had made the dessert, Pavlova of course!

Before we knew it, it was time to jump into the new year! (Danish tradition) We had the countdown going on the iPad and coins in our hands, all ready to go!

Happy New Year from all of us!

I wonder where we will be celebrating next NYE..? It sure is going to be a very exciting year for this Watson family... Abu Dhabi, here we come! Bring it on!

Happy New Year 2014!

Thank you 2013 - you've been absolutely fab!

We are about to welcome 2014, and it sure is going to be
an especially exciting year for the Watsons..! 

All I can say it - bring it on!

Happy New Year to all! ♥

Sankta Lucia

Friday was Lucia day, an important day to any Swede during the Christmas preparations. Unfortunately my children don't have a big connection to this day, despite my many attempts at making sure we celebrate it, one way or another. (See here when we saw a real Lucia procession while in Sweden; here when we watched it on TV; here when we celebrated in NZ, and here, how it usually goes f.e.)

I suddenly thought, that in Dubai with such a big Swedish community, there must be a Lucia celebration somewhere. So I started to google, and yes, there was!! In the Norwegian Seamen Church!

So Anne and I packed all the kids into a big taxi and off we went. She had never been there either, so it was a bit of an adventure.

We arrived just in time and was lucky to get some seats. There were a bit on the side, but we could at least hear just fine. The procession was made up of both children and adults, and it was very pretty.

The church was filled to the brim with Scandinavians, mostly Swedes. Our two big ones weren't that impressed though:

The girls were more into it, and seemed to enjoy it, although they don't have the same feelings about it as I do of course. At least Anne and I enjoyed it a lot. It was very beautiful.

 

 Afterward there was a big line to the lussebullar, pepparkakor and glögg. Mmm!