Christmas time
Yes, Christmas passed here without much ado. It still feels a bit strange to be in the middle of winter and have no sign of any sort of holiday celebrations. Actually, that's not entirely true. I was in Tel Aviv today, and somewhere in the middle of the shouk (market) there was a stall that had some Christmas decorations, including, of course, dancing Santas. Otherwise, you'd never know there was a holiday happening (well, there isn't, in fact).
Here in Sede Boqer, the graduate student council decided we needed to have a Christmas party, presumably because there are several students who come from places where such things are celebrated. It was a good party, but not much Christmassy about it. There were some Christmas decorations, including a "Merry Christmas' banner, and even a small tree (plastic, of course). Othwise, it was pretty much a dance party. The council has rigged up an interesting system for these parties, now that the new student 'club' is open (it's a room with some chairs, a booshelf that contains the student 'library', a small fridge, and a stereo). They hook up a couple of laptops to an aplifier, that is then hooked into some club-type speakers. Then someone with a whole lot of music on his laptop (all legally acquired, I'm sure), is the DJ. Good fun. The other nod toward Christmas is that Santa showed up with an orange garbage bag full of candies. I think someone has hacked into Santa's list, because he gave goodies to everyone, and I'm sure some members of this crowd haven't been entirely good this year. Of course, as one of the few males from a country that celebrates Christmas, I ended up as Santa. I'll post photos soon.
The next night, on December 24, the latinos had their Christmas dinner. That was a hoot. Originally, that was planned for someone's house, but we realized that if we tried to cram 15 people into one of these apartments, and food, we wouldn't have any room to move. So we moved it to the only other room available - the room over the laundry room/bunker, where the ping-pong table lives. Originally, it was set for 9:00pm, but this being a latino dinner, that was soon moved to 10:00pm, and with the setup time, and last minute cooking, we finally started eating around 11:00pm. Somehow, this doesn't phase any of the South Americans. The dinner was great, and mostly traditionally South American in flavor, more or less. We had pork, turkey legs, various rice, some interesting desserts, several salads, lots of potatoes of various kinds, and my now standard contribution, pecan pie (thanks Jane!). We ate until we couldn't move. then the party stared. So we moved all the chairs and table out of the room, and hooked up the portable stereo. Lots of music in Spanish followed.
I've noticed a couple of things about the Latinos and their music since I've been here. It seems that all of the latinos know the words to all of the spanish songs. Maybe it is just the limited selection we have here (which isn't all that limited, but there is a limit to it). Songs come on, all the latinos jump up, and they all start singing at the top of their lungs. Makes it hard for a spanish novice to figure out the words, but it is fun to watch.
Well, I bowed out of the Christmas party at 3:30am, but it was still going strong. I'm told that the truly hardy souls lasted until 6:30am. We had so much food at the dinner, that we planned a lunch for the next day with the leftovers. Of course, 'lunch' was at 4:00pm. Somehow, we crammed the whole lot of us into one of the apartments (a 2-person apartment, so it was a tiny bit bigger than mine). After gorging ourselves again, we settled into a rather spirited game of Taki (a card game a lot like Uno, or hearts). Taki is quite a serious pastime in this circle. There were no actual injuries, but several pieces of leftover food crossed the table in graceful arcs to land on someone's head. After lunch, we settle in for a couple of movies. The first, of course, was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (thanks Jane!), which had mixed reviews. In general, women liked it and men thought it was silly. After that, we watched a not-entirely-legal copy of Pitch Black (with chinese subtitles, and an occasional shadow moving across the screen as someone in the theater got up to pee). that's a strange movie with Vin Diesel. I can't say I recommend it, but it was free, in a lot of ways.
So, that was Christmas in Sede Boqer.
Here in Sede Boqer, the graduate student council decided we needed to have a Christmas party, presumably because there are several students who come from places where such things are celebrated. It was a good party, but not much Christmassy about it. There were some Christmas decorations, including a "Merry Christmas' banner, and even a small tree (plastic, of course). Othwise, it was pretty much a dance party. The council has rigged up an interesting system for these parties, now that the new student 'club' is open (it's a room with some chairs, a booshelf that contains the student 'library', a small fridge, and a stereo). They hook up a couple of laptops to an aplifier, that is then hooked into some club-type speakers. Then someone with a whole lot of music on his laptop (all legally acquired, I'm sure), is the DJ. Good fun. The other nod toward Christmas is that Santa showed up with an orange garbage bag full of candies. I think someone has hacked into Santa's list, because he gave goodies to everyone, and I'm sure some members of this crowd haven't been entirely good this year. Of course, as one of the few males from a country that celebrates Christmas, I ended up as Santa. I'll post photos soon.
The next night, on December 24, the latinos had their Christmas dinner. That was a hoot. Originally, that was planned for someone's house, but we realized that if we tried to cram 15 people into one of these apartments, and food, we wouldn't have any room to move. So we moved it to the only other room available - the room over the laundry room/bunker, where the ping-pong table lives. Originally, it was set for 9:00pm, but this being a latino dinner, that was soon moved to 10:00pm, and with the setup time, and last minute cooking, we finally started eating around 11:00pm. Somehow, this doesn't phase any of the South Americans. The dinner was great, and mostly traditionally South American in flavor, more or less. We had pork, turkey legs, various rice, some interesting desserts, several salads, lots of potatoes of various kinds, and my now standard contribution, pecan pie (thanks Jane!). We ate until we couldn't move. then the party stared. So we moved all the chairs and table out of the room, and hooked up the portable stereo. Lots of music in Spanish followed.
I've noticed a couple of things about the Latinos and their music since I've been here. It seems that all of the latinos know the words to all of the spanish songs. Maybe it is just the limited selection we have here (which isn't all that limited, but there is a limit to it). Songs come on, all the latinos jump up, and they all start singing at the top of their lungs. Makes it hard for a spanish novice to figure out the words, but it is fun to watch.
Well, I bowed out of the Christmas party at 3:30am, but it was still going strong. I'm told that the truly hardy souls lasted until 6:30am. We had so much food at the dinner, that we planned a lunch for the next day with the leftovers. Of course, 'lunch' was at 4:00pm. Somehow, we crammed the whole lot of us into one of the apartments (a 2-person apartment, so it was a tiny bit bigger than mine). After gorging ourselves again, we settled into a rather spirited game of Taki (a card game a lot like Uno, or hearts). Taki is quite a serious pastime in this circle. There were no actual injuries, but several pieces of leftover food crossed the table in graceful arcs to land on someone's head. After lunch, we settle in for a couple of movies. The first, of course, was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (thanks Jane!), which had mixed reviews. In general, women liked it and men thought it was silly. After that, we watched a not-entirely-legal copy of Pitch Black (with chinese subtitles, and an occasional shadow moving across the screen as someone in the theater got up to pee). that's a strange movie with Vin Diesel. I can't say I recommend it, but it was free, in a lot of ways.
So, that was Christmas in Sede Boqer.
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