Ho Ho Ho and the Year in Review!

Ho Ho Ho and the Year in Review!

Hi everyone – I hope you all had a very merry time over Christmas but left enough petrol in the tank to celebrate New Years appropriately too! Did Santa bring anyone anything extra special?

I had a very nice Christmas time even if I was away from home and without snow! I managed to speak to lots of people back in NZ, had a wine and cheese evening at the hostel for Christmas Eve, brunch with Natalie on Christmas Day and a big ol’ turkey dinner with the long-termers at the hostel on Christmas night. Throw in some ice skating, near victories in monopoly, and a couple of glasses of bubbles and you have a great old time! Thanks to all of you that sent me cards and presents – it was great to get so many messages from my friends… and apparently Santa even has some late deliveries to get to me this week – Ho Ho Ho says me!

So how has 2006 treated all of you? Mine has been pretty damn great – lots of time with family and friends in the first half of the year and a great time travelling since the start of July. I got to celebrate Scott and Fiona’s wedding with all the family back in March, saw the first phase of the Reducing Youth Offending Programme pilot through in June, even if it was a bit hard to let go, and scored a really excellent work trip to Denver back in March! I also got to see Red Square in Moscow and the Pyramids of Giza – places I have wanted to go to since I was little – and I got to experience places I didn’t even know much about that I ended up loving like St Petersburg and Aswan. It was fantastic making new friends from all over the place and getting to see some of the old ones in new places like Amy, Alana, and Em over in London. There have been a few new arrivals I hope I get to meet in the new year too – I can’t believe I am grown up enough to have all these friends having babies on me!!!

Well I guess I had better go but I hope all of you have had as much fun in ‘06 as me, thanks for all being part of a great year and here’s hoping we all have an even better one in ’07!

Cheers,
C