Stacey and I spent a very nice Christmas in Stokes Valley. Emily, a friend whom Stacey met through a NZ-American Association event, was kind enough to invite us over. She shared a wonderful dinner, which included vegetarian lasagna and American-style pumpkin pie, and we also took a short walk to see Bodhinyanarama, a Buddhist monastic shrine located at the edge of town, on the slopes of the nearby hills. A short uphill walk takes you to a beautiful stupa, a Buddhist monument / shrine. Although a bit cloudy, the weather was on the whole quite nice, and it was a great day for a walk. It did not occur to me until I wrote this that we had technically celebrated Christmas at a non-Christian shrine...curious, huh?
Some of Emily's other guests were quite fun to talk to, and included several American immigrants from the United States. One couple raises Alpacas! It was nice to chat with some other expats and share stories of assimilating into NZ culture. Of course, the topic always steers to American politics. As someone who has developed a bit of fatigue on this subject, I have made a personal resolution to avoid it in conversation in the future whenever possible. It's just too dull, and frankly the Bush administration has gotten enough of my attention. I'm just gonna leave it at 'I did not vote for him, enough said, thank you" from now on.
Thanks go out to Emily for a really nice Christmas dinner!
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