Christmas in Australia

My Christmas was nontraditional but really fun. On Christmas Eve I went over to my friend Johnny's house.

View from Johnny's apartment 

I helped cook dinner with five of my Swedish friends. Swedes celebrate on Christmas Eve and have fun traditions like watching Donald Duck, singing drinking songs and drinking schnapps. There was a lot of food; mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, salad, hard boiled eggs, skagen (which is shrimp in a sour cream and mayonnaise sauce) on toast, and smoked salmon. They also made cinnamon meatballs, which I didn't know was a thing.

Ginger bread house, complete with creepy person. 

On Christmas day I went surfing with my friend Malin...and by surfing I mean paddling around, then falling off my board like a moron and getting trapped in seaweed. But mostly just paddling around because it's really hard to catch a wave.

Me and Emmeli

Did some yoga on the front deck after surfing

In the afternoon I had some friends over to Tom and Lorraine's (the people who I au pair for). It rained almost all afternoon and evening but we still had a great time. We had lots of food and drank margaritas (among other things).

The food! 

We played White Elephant, the present exchange game. Everyone bought something they wanted to re-gift or a small cheap present. It was fun and everyone enjoyed opening gifts and fighting over the best presents. I like to think I won because I got spiced mulled wine. 

The presents 

Wearing some of the gifts 

Diane, Scott and I watched Elf after 

It really didn't feel like Christmas but it was fun. I definitely missed my brother and parents but I got to open my presents with my dad over Skype and spend time with good friends. So I really can't complain.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

Dharamsala Video

Carl and I filmed this video one day when we were in Dharamsala. Carl filmed everything on his iPad while I walked around and did weird stuff like put wigs on mannequins. We laughed a lot while filming. He did all the editing and composed the music on his iPad. Carl definitely has skills and is a talented editor. I'm impressed with his music and what he can do with just an iPad.

Carl is in Japan now and just got a job at a ski resort, cleaning and housekeeping a couple hours a day in exchange for a room and a little bit of money. I'm pretty jealous that he will be snowboarding everyday. 

I can definitely see the Japanese influence in his editing.

Here is a link to the video if you are having trouble watching it here.

I hope everyone is doing well. Miss you all.

Back in Sydney

I have been back in Sydney for a week and it's really strange; it feels like India never happened. It's like I went back in time and never went to India or lived with Diane and was a waitress. I feel like I’ve never left and I'm just back at work, being a housewife: cooking the food, taking the kids to Kindie (daycare), doing the laundry. I forgot how much I dislike hanging baby socks on the line to dry! It's so mundane. That’s probably why I haven't posted recently; I don't have any crazy stories for you. But at the same time it is really nice to hang out with Ripely and Taylor again. Taylor is one year old now and I can’t believe I've known her for her whole life. She is so big now.  She is crawling, standing and generally just being a little cute baby monster.

Taylor at the park

Taylor eating everything! 

Ripley is almost four and it’s crazy how much she has changed in three months. She talks a lot more, asks a bunch of questions and is just such a big girl!  Is there anything you want to know about my life being an au pair or living in Australia?

Ripley :)

The babies in the double pram (not exactly a light load to push up hills)

What are your plans for Christmas? I'm going to spend Christmas Eve with my Swedish friends and Christmas Day with Diane and some other friends. Hopefully it will be good weather and we will go to the beach.

Manly (wharf side)

Manly beach (since I've been back there has been crazy thunderstorms every afternoon)

Alison's last day :(

I am planning on flying to Queenstown, New Zealand around January 5th or 6th. I have a working holiday visa there that lasts for a year. I'm planning on teaching yoga and exploring during my time there.

Queenstown (I'm going to live there! Who's coming to visit?!)

Keep in touch. Thanks for your kind words about my blog. I'm really glad you have enjoyed reading.

Tswift

I have a confession: I bought Taylor Swift's new album. At least I'm not the only one though, it sold over a million albums. It feels really good to know that I am listening to the same thing as a million teenage girls.

I really wanted to listen to it since the day it came out and was hoping it would pop up on Spotify but unfortunately the opposite happened and she took all her music off of Spotify. I gave in after a week and bought it online. Carl and I listened to it for the first time in our crappy hotel in Rishikesh...and we hated it. I asked Carl horrified "what are we listening to?!" It was too poppy and it just felt like she was repeating the same lyrics over and over again. I wanted more country, more cow bell if you know what I am saying.

But don't worry, I pressed on and forced Carl to listen to it for the next couple of days nonstop. Then something strange happened, now I really like it. Carl says he really likes it to which is even stranger, he might just be lying to me (and himself) to make it less painful to listen to Tswift all the time because I am always finding an excuse to put it on.

Taylor is most probably brain washing us. Lets just hope she is only brain washing us so we listen to her music more often instead of something worse. If she is brainwashing us I am completely screwed because I wake up with my least favorite songs from the album stuck in me head.

If you want to torture yourself here is the music video for one of my favorite songs on the album.

So what I am saying is spare yourself and don't buy her album. Avoid it or you will have stuck in you head all the time. Got any suggestions for music to replace Tswift?