Christmas & New Years Eve 2004

Well it was certainly the best and liveliest Christmas I have had so far in China. Gary, Adam and myself went all out to ensure it would as traditional as we could have here in China. We were very lucky to have obtained a 9kg turkey, thanks to Paul, as well as a ham.

As I only have a portable little oven, which is big enough to roast a chicken and bake cakes, it was far too small to roast a turkey in it. We cut it into four and after a marathon cooking effort we had it cooked to perfection.

There were 10 of un including Ben. Gary, Helena, Helena's brother (who thought all the food was rather strange), Adam, Maggie, Paul (from the old school in Nanjing) Xiaohua, Ben and of course yours truly.

It was a good day had by all, lots to eat and drink and of course Ben got lots of pressies.

After it got dark we let off some star burst fireworks, which could be seen and heard for quite some distance.

New Years was quiet in comparison. After Gary let off a massive star burst fireworks box, which measured about 1 meter high by two feet square and had a total of 49 starbursts, the three boys headed down to Bill's Bar, with one of my students - Ella. It was very quiet there which surprised us all.

We all drank a little too much, too many Tequila's anyway. By midnight there were only the three of us, plus Steve (another kiwi who teaches in Ma'anshan) Bill and his staff.

Xmas Eve - Foreigners Outdoor Bar	Gary Cutting The Turkey It was a marathon effort to cook, but was devoured very quickly.	A Christmas Drink Ben trying sweet Chinese Red Wine - afterwards you would have thought he had drunk vinegar.	Ben and Adam Ben with one of his new toys.	Ben & the Dean of the Computer Engineering School The only Chinese person from the University to visit us.
Ben with his new toy	Ben, Adam & Maggie		Ben, Xiaohua & Helena	Gary with the Baijo Baojo is Chinese Rice Wine - it smells like fingernail polish remover and tastes worse. It is very strong and will make you very ill. I am sure you could run a car on it.
	Xiaohua & Me			Dinner Time Helena's brother in the red & blue jacket thought the food to be very strange. It was his first try of western food.
Gary - buying the fireworks			New Years Eve - Adam & Anna	Bill's Bar - New Years Eve
Bill & Bar Manager - New Years Eve	Gary & Adam A new year kiss !!!! See what living in China can do for you.		Steve & Adam - Bill's Bar Steve is another Kiwi, originally from the Hawkes Bay - he is a teacher at a middle school here.