So, we had the company Christmas party 2 weeks ago, but so many things have happened since then that I haven't had time to upload the pictures till now. Moving forward with my plans, I only just came back from another weekend trip to London (Pictures up soon and yes I love London heaps) and I finish up work in a week and a half.

I was definitely wary going to Christmas party. Having heard so many stories last year of people getting drunk and the amount of booze that was going to be there definitely needed some preparation (ie: Good night's rest the day prior). I must say that the organizers really did a good job in making the night pretty fun, first we had the "mo" competition. Every year, in an effort to raise money for prostate cancer, the guys in the company go without shaving for a whole month, and the company contributes a certain amount per day that a person doesn't shave. At the end of the month (ie: now), there is a competition among the guys to see who can have the best shaped moustache.... Dan won the prize last year, so it's no surprise that he won it again this year (Ryan was pretty upset :P). Other notable prizes given out (won by who got the most number of votes in the office) were to Ryan (for most likely to go to Hungarian prison), Phil (most likely to become a porn star in a Hungarian film), Dan (most likely to work for the BKV). For the ignorant, the BKV is the Hungarian public transport system. Jennifer won the award for having the most embarassing teaching stories ever.

We also had a christmas exchange gift, and we all piled our presents on table and people who rolled equal dices could pick out a present from a pile. I think I probably contributed the most practical present haha... toothpaste... won by someone, but stolen by someone else at the end of the night.... Everyone posing with their presents below...

Company toast to the 2nd birthday of Selti, and managing to survive the financial crisis and keeping all our jobs :)

Start of the drunken drinking: ran around snapping pictures with people before they got totally trashed...

Luckily I took a picture with my boss early on, so he still looks relatively sober here...

4 teachers, 4 different countries, possibly 4 different continents...

New Zealanders....check on expression on Ryan's face below...


Start of the display of drunken behaviour


Having a boat race, AIESEC style, Selti against non Selti... I got to be in charge of the boat race!!! Yay!!

Outside balcony for smokers...

I've got an incriminating pic in my camera!!

I spy some interesting hugging going on here.... :P

Second mystery catch for Sneha at Morrisons later...

Oh James.... what would A say? :P

Guess who's already buzzed...


Last snaps before leaving the office....

Living in Budapest, I think that I've been quite lucky to have made friends outside the comforts of the workplace/AIESEC circle. It provides a bit of variety in terms of my social life, and has been rather instrumental in influencing my experience of the city/country.
I do realise that part of the experience of living overseas is to meet new people and experience new cultures, but there is a time when meeting people overseas who are close to one's own culture is a comfort in itself. (Did I just make sense here?) Some people may argue that continued socialisation with the "same" people actually hinders one's experience and progress, but for me, these people have provided a strong social support link and has provided memorable experiences of my stay in Budapest. I do get very excited when I mention words such as "Tao Suan" and "Milo" overseas and there are people who understand what I'm saying!
The common link that I have with these dear friends is that we all happen to go to the one and only english mass in Pest. I met all these people in church and slowly built up strong friendships with them. All of us just happened to be in Budapest this year for different reasons and if I may say so...clicked coz of our common love of FOOD!!!! We could have so many discussions of what foods we missed back home and places to try and eat out at in Budapest. So desperate was our need to re-create a taste of home that this was what spurred Gina and I to venture into the mafia chinese market (which I've blogged about before) and explore the various stalls in order to find some authentic asian foods and ingredients to make dishes that we miss back home. (E.g: We literally jumped for joy when we found 油條).
With me as the exception, all my girlfriends have partners and as the guys have to work, we often met up for lunch together, chat, explore the city, gossip, talk about food :P. This is how we came up with the idea of having a gathering together and thus the idea of having a potluck! Everyone brought a dish(es) to the event along with their own drinks. It was a bit of a tricky situation trying to come up with a date, since it was nearing the end of the year and everyone had their own schedule, but we were finally able to, and it was a very fun evening!
There was so much food and everyone bought a bottle of wine (so lots of drinking involved) and afterwards Francis even set up a quiz game on his playstation, which I might add was the leading scorer when it ended, despite my single group status :P. I'm glad that we were able to have this gathering because as I write this post, David and Chelsia are preparing to return home to Malaysia, and for myself, I finish my work internship in Budapest in just 2 weeks time. One does wonder when I will next be able to see my friends again when I leave, that's the thing about living overseas. You make friends all over, but you have to work extra hard to keep these friendships! But I'm still very happy to have met everyone and *fingers crossed* we might be able to similar gathering like this one in the future, but in another country :)

Christmas is a festival taken very seriously in Europe. Once November approaches, you suddenly hear of Christmas markets appearing here and there, and people taking weekend trips to various cities in Germany and Austria, and of course, invites to people's houses for hot wine. Christmas markets have become an associated feature of christmas. This street market selling mainly advent goods originated in Germany and Austria but have become very popular in other countries as well. Hungary/Budapest was no exception. I had met a friend for lunch on a particular friday, and suggested taking a trip to Vorosmarty ter, where the biggest Christmas market was just to see what it was like :)

Arriving there and coming out of the subway station, it was probably the first time that I had seen the Christmas lights in the city proper. Though it was raining on and off, there were still big enough crowds browsing the stores, carrying round mugs of hot wine and buying barbecued meats off the food stalls. The stalls sell very cute and interesting christmas knick knacks made out of different material and range from christmas trees to christmas cookies. Anything and everything associated with Christmas was there, and wherever we walked, the smell of orange, cinammon and cloves was in the air.

Scented garlands, if you look closer, they're made out of dried organes, clove sticks, and pine

This is an aspect of Europe that I really enjoy a lot, the outdoor barbecue stalls, the pork knuckles, sausages, stuffed cabages and langos all looked so appetizing. People just buy these, stand around wooden tables and eat.... There was one point when we saw the cook literally drenching the pork knuckles in hot oil, but it must have been soooooo tasty :)


Christmas tree and decorations scattered through the markets...


Christmas treats/biscuits on sale...

One thing to note though, that these Christmas markets may not always have the best prices and are often more nice to look at, than nice to buy. But it is a nice feature to have/look forward to during Christmas and I can't wait to see the Hyde Park Christmas market when I go back to London this weekend :)

Having many American colleagues in my office, I was fortunate to be able to experience a Thanksgiving holiday once more, which reminded me greatly of my time in America. It was great being able to sit down with 20 of my colleagues and friends, including my boss and his wife for dinner. We had all the thanksgiving foods: A 9kg Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin soup, moussaka, spanish omelettes, even a pizza! And there were also heaps of dessert dishes contributed by all those who came: apple crumble, pies, cakes, baked apples, kumara/pecan pie... We literally ate ourselves into a food coma. We also carried out one of the traditions of thanksgiving which is to give thanks. We went around the table saying what we were thankful for, and though very quick, it was quite a meaningful tradition to do.

Settling down before dinner....

The food... and wine....


James carving the 9kg turkey...

Digging in!!

Chatting and catching up with everyone after dinner...

My boss... in his food coma

Drinking Aimee's wine :P

More pictures of Food coma

Hanging out in Morrisons bar after Thanksgiving

These beers were only 100 forints (60 cents each)...

The most random trip I've ever done... booking everything from plane flights to the accommodation only barely 2 weeks in advance..... It was like a now or never decision....Having been to Dublin before, didn't take much pictures during sightseeing... but mainly at night at the bars...
When in Dublin, drink guinness....


The Dublin spike, or the "errection in the intersection" or the "Spiffy by the Liffey"

Freakin high shoes!!!! These were everywhere in the shops..... If I had to wear these shoes, I would just stand and not move...

Dublin at night.... The city does look very different from spring time with all the christmas decorations up...

Trying Irish Baileys coffee before leaving.... Sleepy looks after a very late night out...

One last hug to the spike.... I might mention that it's a very popular make out spot at night... you literally see couples pressing up against the spike which doesn't help all the phallic references very much...