Christmas Down Under

Christmas, or Chrissie as its called here, given the propensity for shortening everything, is a bit low key in this part of the world. It seems like New Year's is a much bigger deal. There aren't as many lights or colorful decorations as they would in Manila and there isn't as much commercialisation as in the States. It's bright and hot (we hit 38 degrees the other day) and its really for the kids. Being very multicultural Sydney everyone has their own traditions, most involving spending time with various members of family on the day.

Christmas Eve I opted out of the family dinner (at 60 bucks a pop at an Austrian restaurant!) and decided to accept a friend's invitation to join them for Noche Buena, the traditional philo feast. I had another family dinner the next day anyway, plus I was craving philo food and just the culture, really. My family here is somewhat Aussiefied, having been here for thirty years.

I went to mass first with Sacha at the cathedral, as the choir was singing and she wanted to see them too. It was a lovely experience, they were very good and it was all traditional in the old cathedral with big spires and high ceilings and a whole lot of people - a lot of people only go on Christmas. I think she enjoyed the experience. After church we were too early to leave for Noche Buena so we wandered around for a bit and I had a coffee at Gloria Jeans while she had hot chocolate and a lemon tart.

At around ten we got tickets for Hornsby where my friend's family lives. I met my friend Kat at uni in one of my IT classes. She is pinoy but has been here since she was eleven. She lives in campbelltown, with her husband, Rob (who has the most hilarious descriptions of filipino food, having been here almost since birth) and their adorable little boy Caleb. Her parents live outside Hornsby, on the north shore line way way past Epping where I used to live, in a suburb called Westleigh (I think). Rey, one of my former puputs (team mates) from work was joining us as well and he was coming from Chatswood. Rey recently arrived here from Manila and his family would be joining him in January. He left Chatswood a bit too early and was in Hornsby in record time. I think he must have waited for us for at least 45 minutes.

Sacha and I spent most of the train ride going over all the suburbs that started with "Ws" that we passed. Like Waitara and Waroonga. The last three suburbs before Hornsby all start with W. When we got there Kat was still on her way from Campbelltown which is South West so she asked her dad to pick us up. He took us on a tour of all the houses that had fancy Christmas lights, which included one with a giant santa and another with outlined reindeer and sleds. He appeared to be fascinated by Sacha's PhD and later it turned out he had studied physics himself, some thirty (?) odd years ago as an undergraduate degree.

We got to her house and in true philo tradition got fed right away. I attacked the ham and roast beef. Rey was full and didn't have much. Sacha got her first taste of halo-halo, some bits of which she didnt like very much and leche flan which she loved. I gorged myself on pandesal, having not had any since February. Kat arrived and I got to play with Caleb her little boy while Rob and Sacha exchanged their observations on philo food and he continously denied his fondness for Halo-halo despite eating almost the entire thing.

After dinner we went to their den where there was a Christmas tree surrounded by a sea of presents. It took about an hour to open them all. Kat's dad was very funny as he called out everyone's names complete with side comments. The kids (Caleb and his cousin Macky, both under the age of 2) got the biggest gifts. Kat got me linen paper - a throwback to my move (see entry below) when I lamented at the fact that Aussies do not know what it is. Sacha noticed a piano in the corner and started playing once the gift giving was over, impressing everyone and getting a new legion of fans, including Caleb who seemed to love the sound of piano music.

At around three we made the move to go. Since there are no trains after a certain time we would have to take the night bus (familiar from my epping days). The one from Hornsby left every hour so we decided to take the one from Paramatta while Rey would get a ride from Kat's aunty who lived next to Chatswood (in West Pymble, wherever that is). Rob's parents drove us, pinoy style complete with one illegal turn, to Para where we missed the bus by just a few seconds and ended down a one way street. The next stop was Strathfield so we went there and waited. More buses pass through Strathfield so we got one after about 15-20 minutes. They were so nice they waited till we got on the bus before they left. We got home around 430ish.

Christmas Day I woke up around tenish. Sacha went to spend the day with Amal & her family and ended up in Manly. I watched Charmed on DVD, tried to finish Layer Cake but decided I wanted a happy movie and saw Dear Frankie which turned out to be happy and sad at the same time. I left at about 7 to travel to Epping, and the bus took so long I decided to start walking to Central (some 20-30 minute walk depending on mood and speed) and as is usually the case, the bus passed me by a few seconds later. Thankfully another one arrived just as I got to the next bus stop. I got to Epping at 830 and most of the people were done eating. My cousin Rochelle cooked this lovely pork with apple stuffing with crunchy skin, bow tie pasta with bacon bits & sundried tomato and this wonderful potato salad. Of course I took leftovers home.

Having missed the traditional family gift-giving I got all my presents from them that day. I kind of cheated this year and split some gifts with my cousin Miel. Everyone else got pretty decent things, I think. I also finally got Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, from Miel who called two days before (talk about last minute shopping) asking, what do you want, what do you want! She actually offered to pay for the 60 buck dinner but I declined, having already made plans. I spent the whole night chatting and making chismis with my aunties which was fun. Sometimes I miss family gatherings but sometimes I really can't make them - the last one there were no trains. As in no trains at all. You had to take a bus and it was an extra thirty minutes so I opted to pass.

My aunties very nicely took me home, because Rochelle, who lives closer is phobic and refuses to drive over the bridge. Sean, Rochelle's partner took his parents home so he couldn't drive her. He's supposed to teach me how to drive and has struck a new deal with me concerning U2 tickets which I'm protesting because we're sold out and he should have told me earlier, damn it! Anyway, the aunties checked out my house, put a stamp of approval (plus "you need to fix your room") and reminded me that I promised to host a dinner party once the house was set up. Which would end up involving me cooking for, oh I don't know, probably fifteen people! Will figure that out once our dining table is set up.

Today, Boxing Day, Sacha & I vegged completely and then met up with Rochelle to see Just Like Heaven, which was a nice movie. Also saw the trailer for this movie called "Goal" which has this cute guy who is from this barrio in LA who ends up playing for Newcastle United (Duke, you have gotta go check the trailer on imdb. I was so excited). I did some reading for my Human Rights class at uni, which starts in January. The goal is to finish four chapters by the end of the week, which I really really must do as this class only goes for a month and there's a paper immediately due a week after we start. We ended the day by watching "The Cup" a movie by this Bhutanese Monk about a bunch of Tibetan Monks who were really into the World Cup. I didn't see the whole of it as I was busy blogging and chatting as well, but what I saw of it was nice and funny. He also has another movie, which I read about in Premiere magazine a long time ago. Apparently he is pretty much the Bhutanese film industry, because its just a fledgling one and they don't make much films - In fact I think they don't at all - and this is one of two that he's made and put them on the map. Am looking forward to seeing his other film.

Tomorrow its back to the grind for me - more reading to do, as having limited work shifts I worked for a bit this morning (and got sent home due to limited call volume) and then will again on New Year's Eve till 7 - and yeah, more of Charmed as I have just begun to rent season 4, having decided I needed to see fun things after all those indie flicks.

New Year's Eve we plan to hang out by the harbour bridge to see the fireworks, then maybe check out a club or hang at the hotel room my Uncle has rented. Or something. I am so glad I'm not working on New Year's.

Then...oh yeah. It'll be my birthday soon. :P I almost forgot that bit.