Merry Christmas from across the miles!

Homemade Xmas Decoration

Check out the Xmas tree decoration I made! I was admiring the red and blue balls that my German friend, Iris, had on display in her home and she gave me the raw materials to make two of my own. A styrofoam ball (she actually gave me a ball that seemed to be made out of packed paper/cotton), sequins, transparent beads (with the silver around the hole in the middle) and lots of short pins are all you need. I've made my first one and I just have one to go. But boy are they a lot of hard work! My fingers were hurting from trying to push the pins into the dense ball when I discovered I could use my coaster to push them in instead. But I bent a lot of pins in the process rendering them unusable. It's harder than it looks!

Material for a Fusion Cheongsam

My colleague borrowed my cheongsam (the Chinese black and red dress I have) to have it copied with some Chinese-looking fabric she got from Sikkim. Since it's my favourite dress, that gave me the idea to also have it copied... but with some Indian fabric instead so that I can have a unique fusion cheongsam! I was so excited about the idea that I went out fabric shopping right away and boy, do they have some nice fabrics in India. Here are the two I bought (I couldn't restrict myself to just one!). I can't wait to bring it to the tailor to get it made!

Xmas Caroling - Indian style

Christmas carolers from Saroj's church stopped by my house tonight, complete with a Santa Claus, carols in English and Hindi. What a treat to have Xmas caroling by Indians in India!

Debut Photography Exhibition Entitled "Mehndi - A Study"

Hm... it's time for bed and I just remembered that I'm supposed to take a picture of my mehndi at the peak of its darkness.


Trying to look non-chalantly pensive.


That doesn't look quite right.


Maybe I do need the flash after all.


Too far.


Oh, that's not attractive. Maybe I'll just focus on the hand...


What's with the orange soap? I need a better background...


Oops missed!


Not quite.


Too close.


Too much penguin pajama.


Good enough. I'm going to bed.

The Next Day...

Here's one more shot when it got even darker and I had someone else's help taking the picture.

Office Xmas Party

We had our office Xmas party today and it was a great success! I was the Canadian officer on the Xmas Party Planning Committee - little did I know when I volunteered that being the only Canadian meant that I'd be responsible for it! The whole committee really pitched in though and the party was a great success. The best Xmas Party our office has ever had was what one of our staff told me. This was the first time we had games and activities planned for both adults and children, instead of just having a dinner and chitchat. And I even introduced a tradition we have in Canada - a week-long Secret Santa activity that culminated at the office party. What other countries have Secret Santa? I was really happy that they enjoyed the Secret Santa activity, because from the reaction I got from some of the Canadians, I was worried that they thought it was too childish. (But who doesn't like receiving gifts everyday no matter what age you are, eh?)

We had tug of war, a three-legged race, one of our drivers dressed up as Santa Claus handing out gifts, a mehndi wallah, a tarot card reader and even musical chairs. (I had thought that musical chairs would be too childish, but the adults seemed to love it more than the kids!)


Here's a shot of me getting some mehndi done. I'll try to add more pictures including one of my hand now that the mehndi has darkened.

Do you want to do something for the environment?

Here's a way to do something easy to help clean the air in Canada. Just check out this link. It'll only take 5 minutes.

Where should I go next?

Next summer will mark the end of my two-year posting in Chandigarh. I have submitted my posting preferences list for my next posting, so now it's in the hands of my Assignment Officer. Here are the choices I put down:

1. London
2. New York
3. Sydney
4. Paris
5. Warsaw
6. Taipei

So now my question to you all is this:
If it were up to you, where would you send me?

Diva Update

I have now used the diva cup for two full cycles (see previous posts) and I have to say that I am fully satisfied. I will be starting a new cycle soon and I am not hesitant at all about using it. I can confidently say that I recommend the Diva Cup without reservations!

If you're interested in helping the environment or just saving money, then I suggest you order one and try it out for two cycles. Then if you don't like it, then you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked. You have a full year to return it.

If you do decide to order it, then please post a comment here. It could help encourage others to try too. Go ahead... take one for the planet!

Where have you been lately?

create your own visited countries map

I've been to 27 countries, but there are so many left to visit... Build your own map at http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries