Our NEW YEAR's Eve in Africa

This time we managed to leave YEAR 2008 behind with nothing, but a colorful and memorable welcoming celebration of the New Year - 2009! I did help this time to decorate our mess hall and our party venue (as I was lazy last Christmas). It wasn't that bad though, we've had all the basics to put on tables, like party poppers, balloons, streamers, candles, various chocolates, crisps, pudding, and all the drinks we've ordered, except fruits. Our company decided to cancel our Christmas/New Year fruits order due to budget constraint.

Our simple, yet elegant decorations...

We had our Special Dinner together at around 6:30pm (was already Jan 01'09 @ 1:30am in the Philippines) as we are 7 hours behind. Anyway, was nice to see the happy faces of Filipinos again.We've managed to stay until 12 o'clock midnight. They invited about 30 Angolan ladies from our local town (to entertain our single guys), the venue was full that you could barely dance and walk around!

Happy faces as ever... :) While waiting for 12 midnight to tick, we share a bottle of pink champagne!

5,4,3,2,1.... HAPPY NEW YEAR, I GOT MY VERY FIRST KISS OF 2009 FROM HUBBY... LOL

We left right after but I was told to pass by at the Filipino area (Engineering dept group), since they've made "SUMAN" and "BIKO" (Stick Rice Puddings in two different ways). Back in the Philippines especially in rural areas or provinces, these typical delicacies are among Filipino foods we always prepare most often during Christmas and New Year. Suman makes a great dessert for a traditional Noche Buena meal, or they can even be meals on their own if you don’t want to eat anything too heavy at that late hour. This sticky-rice pastry is wrapped in a banana leaf and eaten dipped in sugar or in hot chocolate. There are as many different kinds of Suman as there are provinces in the Philippines since each region has its own variation of the pastry.

This is how we make parties here, and this was how we welcomed the New Year! I just hope I didn't make you feel bored of reading my story, our life in the bush. How about you guys? Did you have a good one?
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