First things first... my stash :-) We opened presents yesterday, according to Norwegian tradition, though a bit earlier than what is traditional as we had to get to our shift at Alternativ Jul. Anyway, I got the following:
- from boyfriend of feitpingvin's mother: a necklace (black band) with a purple heart-shaped pendant (will try to show a pic of it some day, as I really don't know how to describe it better
- from my parents: money (for travel... uh, saving for a bigger shoebox :)
- from boyfriend of feitpingvin: a Polar F4 Fitness Heart Rate Monitor and a Nikon Sportstar 10X25 DCF (binoculars)
The binoculars are something that I really wish I had when we were in South Africa, to look at the birdies. I'm glad I have them now though. They're nice and compact; perfect for travel. The heart rate monitor will also be nice for doing more effective training... I'll probably test it out within the next week (before all the New Yesr's resolutioners infiltrate the gym)...
boyfriend of feitpingvin got from me:
- Twins leather shin guards (SGL-3)
- Essence of a Land. When we were in Stellenbosch, we learned about this book while listening to the news. We wanted to get it while we were over there, but at that time the book had just come out and not all the bookstores had it. Most of the bookstore staff we asked hadn't even heard of it. It was eventually "forgotten", until I peeked through my written travel notes again. And then I thought "Aha! I know how to really surprise him!" My biggest fear was that he would suddenly remember the book hehe...
He also got some cool cufflinks from his mom. And we both got a hand-made glass penguin from some friends of ours...
As for Alternativ Jul... I was doing cleanup/dishes stuff, taking dirty dishes, cups, and cutlery from the dining area to the kitchen this time around; I had done kitchen duty for the past 2 years (at least) and it was time for something new...
I don't mind doing the physical work; it's actually quite "nice" to do when you have a sit-on-your-fat-ass IT job otherwise. I'm in shape for it because of all the exercise I do, and it's not a problem for me. However, some of the male volunteers (and even one woman) seemed to think that the crate-like thing (not sure what they're called) with dirty dishes was too heavy for me to carry. I found that extremely offensive, and it left me annoyed for a good part of the evening. There were a few other girls doing the dishes run, and they weren't having any problems either, so I don't know where these twats got this idea that we can't lift things... but whatever...
The only real disaster on our watch was one of the guests kicking over a bucket we used to empty the contents of glasses and coffee cups into (we had to do this before setting them up on the plastic whateveritscalled to take to the dishwasher). But we managed to get the mops quickly enough and things were OK in the end...
It was pretty calm and quiet this year. Perhaps it's because of the mild weather; the guests don't feel they need to stay indoors all the time. We also had more volunteers this year and perhaps it was easier to "keep control" because of that. I don't know. But tons of food was eaten and loads of gifts were given out, as usual, and there's a lot food and other stuff left...
We have another shift tomorrow. We'll see how that goes...
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