Christmas & New Years in US

Perfect! This was a far cry from wandering around a cold Turkey by myself last year. I was surrounded by warm weather, warm households, warm friends and the warm spirit of the holidays. And despite the fact that I was in sunny LA for Christmas with no snow to be found anywhere, I actually appreciated the overdone decadence and outrageous commercialism of Christmas that normally turns my stomach. I only needed to tolerate it for 6 days verses the standard 6 weeks:-)

Of course the trip home was long and exhausting with the standard overnight in London switching in between two airports. Even though I had the pleasure of flying direct then to LA I happened to notice that my travel agent had booked me next to New York instead of DC. After trying to negotiate a ticket change for a week I ended up having to buy a new one-way flight and then take a bus to fly back out of JFK. Fortunately this afforded me the opportunity to hang with one of my best friends Carol for an afternoon before returning to Kosovo.

After readjusting to a new time zone and reconnecting with my family who was staying with my sister and a hotel, we spent our first day out in shopping hell at 'The Grove' enjoying the 80F, sunny sky and perfect walking weather to window shop, listen to Christmas carols and enjoy a wonderful outdoor lunch. Now why can't I ever get posted to a nice warm place like this? Of course the highlight had to have been the home cooked Christmas Eve dinner and the gay Christmas Eve Carol Service we attended in Hollywood. Complete with the transsexuals, goth couples, immigrants, homeless and other folks of all color. Pure LA with wonderful singing and a very touching candle-lit Silent Night closing song.

It's funny how the older I get the less willing I am to wake up early to rip open presents. I'm not sure if being a small kid makes it seem as if there is an endless sea of presents or in our older age we are actually getting much less (I'd bet on the later). Not to mention that most times I am traveling now for 1-2 days to get to see family and friends and either can't travel with many gifts or am in a place that doesn't have much to offer (Kosovo?). None the less just the spirit and tradition is magical. My sister continues to go over the top in setting up a real huge tree, baking cookies, having Carol music, stockings hanging from the cabinet (she is without a chimney), placing lights on the balcony and lighting fragrance candles. I love seeing the family ornaments with photos of us when we were four or other historical trinkets all about. And I'm not sure if it is just my family or does everyone place cards throughout the tree so it looks almost as if it was brought to us by Hallmark?

Armed with fruitcake and coffee we began to delicately unwrap the gifts as if to fully cherish the moment (remember when it was a race to see how many presents you could rip through in the least amount of time?). Of course the ubiquitous gift cards and cash are the most practical but I was blessed by some fashionable clothes, travel related items and reading material. Wish I still got Lego's to play with;-)

Our afternoon was spent eating a spectacular 4 course set menu at a 5-star hotel on Santa Monica beach. The food was done up in eclectic LA style with the crowd appropriately representing southern California with everything from 3 piece Armani suits to flip flops and shorts. It seems the richer or more popular you are the worse you can dress (and people actually think it is cool). And according to my families tradition, we went to see a movie that afternoon and what better way to see the amazing 'Charlie Wilson's War' than in the largest, premier theater in LA. I haven't see a movie in a cinema in so long I almost forgot how big and encasing they are. Shocked by a ticket price of $14 each but every now and then you just have to do it (if you have access to one;-)




Trying to get as much Americana as I could my sister got us tickets to the LA Kings hockey game. A sport we all love to watch live and in the new stadium it was a spectacle. The opening looked much like that of a rock concert with video, lights, smoke and thunderous music. And each period break that provided some kind of random entertainment on the ice, including a human ball roll where these guys tried to roll from one side to the next intercepting their opponents in the process.

The beauty about LA is that I have a handful of close friends out there from various stages of my life; first job, college, grad school, living in LA and traveling overseas. I was able to grab at least a meal with most of them and tell the same tales of Kosovo and Pranvera. Amazing how reconnecting with people who know you better than you know yourself helps recharge the spirit and reminds me to appreciate what a wonderful life I have being able to cross paths with such great people.

And before I realized it I had landed in DC to stay with my best friend Andrew who I hadn't seen for over a year/half. Crashing on his air mattress in the middle of his apartment/office was quite interesting and much colder that the West coast. Fortunately my insanely busy schedule had me up and out of the apartment before any of his employees arrived. My first day was spent entirely with my cousin and his girls. Taking advantage of the nice warm weather we spent it down at the mall walking all around trying to both ice skate and go up the monument but both were too full. We had a nice lunch in China town and it was just so fun to play Uncle to this beautiful 4 and 9 year old. I miss them so much while in Kosovo but at least I can play with Pranvera's 9 year old niece.




And then it was time to ring in the New Year! Went to a friend's party at Tryst with about 250 other friends. It was a wonderfully connected group of people all in good spirits enjoying a bit too much to drink. I ran into some old friends who did not know I was back in town and generally had a great time catching up, dancing and just appreciating DC. In the heart of Adams Morgan it was quite a scene as usual to walk home with all the drunken chaos.

Fortunately New Years Day was spent collecting the pieces from the night before and Andrew and I had a late brunch before I headed off to spend the rest of a sunny chilly day with my dear friend Susanna from my days in Jordan. We walked the entire city laughing and telling stories of the events from the past year. Our wanderings lead us to the Georgetown riverfront where I was reminded of the wealth we have in certain parts of the city. I enjoyed another strategic meal of onion soup shortening my list of must eat (mostly unhealthy) meals before I leave the US followed by watching 'The Kite runner'. Again, another spot-on Afghanistan movie equally as impressive as the book. As if this day wasn't complete enough I joined my cousin at his apartment for some home-made chili and football before retiring to my floating bed. Is this America or what?

From this point forward the remainder of my 'vacation' was a blur spent seeing a never ending series of doctors and development companies interviewing for potential project work after Kosovo. The summary version is that I was told I must return to the US for extensive and regular rehab work if I want my shoulder to ever get better. Conversely the interviews went very well and most companies said they believed there could be a good match to work on future field projects. Time will tell for both.

Evenings were spent grabbing a drink with as many friends as possible in the many new various bars and restaurants. DC continues to explode and there are so many new places right around my home that I look forward to being able to explore them first-hand one day. Speaking of which I paid a routine call to the condo to meet my lovely tenants who have been taking such good care of it. I tried to clean the furnace and fix the fireplace while checking out the general wear and tear. Minimal and a great relief to know not much will have to be done to get it ready for either my return or another tenant.

I was able to squeeze in one last half day playing with the girls before spending my last night with a close grad school friend who came in from Philly just for the night. Again, wonderful to see the contrast of how with the same education he runs his own company and has a wife, 1 year old and dog whereas I am out trying to do good in Kosovo. And each one of us thinking of how great the other ones life is...

And like that I was sitting on the Chinatown bus barrelling my way to NYC to wait for 6 hours till my flight departed for London. A royal pain in the ass screw-up from my travel agent that afforded me 6 wonderful hours with Carol. She met me at Penn Station with a car (who drives in New York) and we had a wonderful lunch, walked the Village, grabbed the perfect NY cup of Joe and stopped by her apartment for a quite peak. But the $22 charge for 15 minutes of parking was not worth the investment so we just made our way out to JFK. Which was a good thing because I have never seen lines so long. To the point that they actually called us out of line since our departure time was getting close. And unfortunately acting as non-yoga like as possible I jumped to the front of the line to make sure I was ticketed and made it through security to get on that plane.

Also a very close call changing airports in London since 2 of the shuttle buses just didn't show. Fortunately there were no lines and I ran into several friends who were also on their way back to Kosovo from Holiday. Without a doubt my homecoming to Pranvera was the highlight of the trip. Being apart for over 2 weeks we had so much to catch up on and a ton of late Christmas presents to exchange which I had brought in my suitcase. Kosovo has been extremely foggy and muddy since I arrived but I'm already back into the routine and preparing to do as much work (and play) as I can for my remaining 6 months.