Happy New Year!

I want to wish everyone a happy 2014 and say goodbye to 2013! 

This year when I was welcoming in the New Year with some friends I came to a conclusion I had never thought of much before, no matter where in the world you are, everyone ushers in the New Year in almost the same way.  Most people get dressed up and have good food and drinks.  Obviously the types of food and drinks vary from country to country, but most people tend to find the best tasting, least healthy thing they can think of and happily enjoy it.  Knowing of course that, “the diet starts tomorrow.”  Another thing is that people make resolutions whether purposely or not, even if it is as simple as “this year will be better.” Everyone who is not in bed counts down the last ten seconds of the year. And of course there are fireworks. Most importantly, everyone wants to be with people they love.  Whether you choose to be with friends or family, we all want to be with people we like to welcome the next year of our lives.

So Happy New Year! I hope that you were with people you love, that you had delicious foods, that it will be better than last year and not as good as next.

P.S. Here's a video of people celebrating around the world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrJjndWLoY8

Black Friday and Boxing Day

My teacher and I were talking recently about Boxing Day and Black Friday.  We discussed how big Boxing Day is in the U.K. and I mentioned how crazy Black Friday is in the U.S.  Nowhere else in the world celebrates Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November.  In Canada it’s in October, but as much as we love Thanksgiving the focus always shifts from the meal, to football, to shopping the next day.  I am using the term day here lightly, seeing as it is still very dark outside when you roll out of bed at 3 AM to start hitting the big sales.  By breakfast time, usually around 8 AM or 9 AM you are usually shopped out, but some people can stand a few more hours after a meal and some coffee, but rest assured, by the time 11 AM roles around and the sales are slowing down most people are crawling back into bed for a bit.  I have never experienced U.K. Boxing Day sales, but from the sound of it it’s just as crazy as Black Friday. 

Since I am living in Oman at the moment I did miss out on Black Friday shopping with my grandma and aunt.  Usually we wake up early, get a Starbucks coffee (since they open early for Black Friday), shop for a few hours in the small cities near their houses (where people are so nice they’d hand over the last of something if you were giving it as a gift instead of keeping it for themselves), get some breakfast and go back home and take a nap.  My teacher was saying how she missed Boxing Day in the U.K. and that she had gone to one of the sales here in Muscat, which was nothing close to the craziness that occurs in the U.S. or U.K.

So if you are going to be in the U.S. on Black Friday or the U.K. on Boxing Day it is definitely worth your while to wake up at 3 or 4 AM once in your life and enjoy the madness and crazy low prices. 

Travel Tip: Don't Travel Sick

One time I was flying home to Tunisia for Christmas from Los Angeles.  I had a layover through Paris, France.  From the time I left LAX to the time I arrived at Charles De Gaulle I had contracted the flu.  It was horrible.  I barely had enough energy to make it to my gate, I had a carry on and personal item that were heavy because they were filled with gifts for my family.  I was nauseated and dizzy, had a headache, body aches, and was lethargic.  It was quite possibly my worst trip ever.  Which brings me to an important point about travelling, make sure to drink lots of water and take Vitamin C.

It is a tip that I had heard quite a bit, but never took very seriously.  Whenever the flight attendants would come by I would ask for a water or juice normally. Now I only ask for water and I travel with packs of EmergenC. Really any form of Vitamin C is helpful in boosting your immune system, but EmergenC actually tastes pretty good as well.

It is important when you’re putting your body through that much stress to treat it as nicely as you can.  There is nothing nice about flying in a pressurized aircraft or eating plane food.  So before you leave your destination make sure to have a healthy meal, take your vitamins, get a good night’s sleep, and drink plenty of water.

The healthy meal is obviously good for you, it helps get your body vital nutrients.  Vitamins, especially Vitamin C, help boost your immune system and make sure everything is running like it is supposed to.  Your body heals and restores itself during sleep, which is why we have to do it every day.  When you don’t get enough sleep your immunity drops, you eat more, you generally want to eat less healthy things, and you don’t function as well.  Last, but not least, water. We are generally told we need to drink 6 to 8 cups of water a day.  When you are flying it needs to be much more.  Hydration is key to staying off illnesses.

If you aren't sick when you are traveling you’ll enjoy everything much more. 

For more information visit:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/travel_tips.html

Dad’s Special”tea” Cakes

This year I was a little stumped on what to give my dad as a Christmas gift.  I know he doesn't really like to get “things.”  He doesn't like to get gifts that he will not use, or more particularly eat.  His favorite gift is chocolate.  On one hand, I knew chocolates would be a good gift, on the other everyone else got him boxes of chocolates.  So I decided to go another route.  Dad and I are the two tea fans in the house, he likes getting things that we've made, and he loves chocolate (which I cannot stress enough).  So I put together a little package with a mug, two types of teas, two Toblerones, and a batch of cookies I wanted to try to make.  They are called Russian Teacakes, but thanks to the Betty Crocker Cookbook I took a tip and put a treat in the middle of the cookies, which is where the “special” comes into the name.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup finely chopped nuts

½ tsp salt

Bag of caramel-filled chocolates

Powdered sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat together ½ cup powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.

Once mixed add nuts, salt, and flour.  Mix until well incorporated.

The texture will be similar to a pie crust, slightly dry.

Flatten a spoonful of dough in your hand and place caramel-filled chocolate in the center.

Form dough into ball around the candy.

Bake in oven until firm, they should not be browned.

Coat in powdered sugar immediately, then again after cooled.

Why We Travel

While searching for blog post ideas I came across this article.  I clicked on it more out of boredom and slight curiosity.  It is very well written and caused me to really sit back and think more about traveling.  I have always associated travel with a part of my normal life.  Every two years or so we move to a new place and that’s how it’s always been.  My family does travel around the regions we live in, but for people who have not been raised in a new house every two years travel is much more compelling I think.  One part of me always wondered why people thirst to travel.  There is the curiosity, the excitement, the unknown.  Those things are always alluring.  I always fell to the historical aspect of travel.  I love history, it was always one of my favorite subjects and I have been to many of the places I learned about in school.  That to me is incredibly exhilarating.  I love that I can walk down an old street where Caesar might have walked.  I got tingly standing on Mars Hill knowing that the Apostle Paul probably stood in that exact spot to talk to the masses.  I never thought of travel in the way that this article puts it though.  This article speaks about travel like it is the breath of life.  It shows how something I had always thought was rather normal can be life-changing.  And It shows how even when you are doing the traveling and experiencing the new place, maybe you are showing the place you are visiting another world at the same time.

 http://www.salon.com/2000/03/18/why/

When A Machine Eats Your Card

This is a story that never gets old in my family.  When I was 11 and we were living in Japan we found a really good deal on trips to Australia, so around Christmas time (summer in Australia) we flew down to Cairns. It was one of the best trips we have ever taken.  We saw (and ate) snakes and crocodiles, petted wallabies, held koalas, took an Army Duck tour through the rain forest, snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef.  All in all it was fantastic, and is always in the top 3 on our list of favorite vacations. 

The hotel we stayed in had three swimming pools with waterfalls, the food was fantastic, and there was a swim-up bar to order drinks.  I still remember I got what they called “Poolside Poison.” I thought it was funny that I was drinking something called poison.  It was made with pineapples, bananas, and many other fruits. 

We had a great time, but the first day we were there dad got his ATM card eaten by the machine.  At the time it was terrifying.  It was a three-day weekend, it was a holiday, none of the banks were open, and all of our money for the trip was in that account.  We thought we were done for.  One morning we split a chocolate muffin and a banana for breakfast between the five of us.  The funny part is that we don’t remember anything bad about the trip! We still laugh about it.  I’m sure mom and dad were stressed about it, but our hotel was paid ahead and when mom and dad explained the issue to the hotel (knowing they could get the card back at the end of the weekend because they had spoken to someone on the help-line), we ate mostly at the hotel and charged the items to our room, but we still went out around town and it was still one of the best trips we ever had. 

Unexpected things always come up when you travel.  One good thing to keep in mind is don’t do the same thing we did.  Have some cash to use, if you have more than one account don’t put all your trip money in one account, and always have an emergency credit-card.  We don’t remember anything being bad on that trip, and I think we would've had just as good of a time if the card hadn't been eaten, but it would've made things less stressful if there was a back-up plan in place.