Feliz Natal a tudos

Im a little the worse for wear today. Drinking red wine all night should be better than beer but maybe I forgot about the moderation thing. And that whiskey is not the best nightcap :)

It was our Chrissy dinner last night. Good night in the end - its sometimes awkward when you bring families etc. into a close work environment, suddenly the boundaries are shifted a bit. To keep Carlos' kid entertained I gave him my camera to go and take some photos, with some interesting results. Any bad photos Im blaming on him :) As usual it was a feast - salami, prawns, presundo, seafood soup with pasta, migas, pork. And did I mention there was a lot of wine?
As Ive said before hospitality here is definitely "shove as much food and drink down your guests throat as possible - then offer them dessert". Our manager here delights in filling my glass to the rim every chance he gets, partly being a generous host, and partly I suspect he enjoys seeing the Aussie pissed. As a result I think Im beating the donkey as the animal making the least sense here.

Apparently my ears go red when Im drunk. Heres proof (?!):
In typical Portuguese fashion theres a TV in every corner of the restaurant and the soccer was on.

Ever wondered what a pigs mouth looks like? Well wonder no more!!

After dinner us geos went out to a bar (the same bar I always go to - there is only one decent one in town!!). And then most people ended up staying at mine - you'll recall from earlier photos there isnt too much furniture at mine. A few borrowed blankets on the floor later and there were 3 sleeping in my lounge room. Not that I knew anything about it - I got home and straight upstairs to crash. I think. Little hazy about all that. Went outside this morning and found my key still in my front door!

Tomorrow night Im off to Lisbon for dinner - and threatened with drinking til 4am again. Its certainly the silly season. It came about because I was going to buy a geo dinner since he spotted visible gold in some core., and tomorrow worked since he's dropping me at the airport Friday. But its now turned into dinner at his place for about a dozen of their uni crowd with him cooking. These things happen here.

Anyway not sure how much posting I'll be doing over the next couple of weeks as I'll be travelling until the 5th. If a lot of posts suddenly appear after then itll mean Ive been drafting as I go and then bulk uploaded - so please dont hate me if theres a lot to wade through. Im going to Germany for Christmas with Joerg and looking forward to some good German beer and just relaxing with a mate. And not speaking Portuguese! After that to Wales for Martys wedding New Years Eve and then to Ireland to drink with my lovely cousins (I have to buy la glitz drinks to make sure she keeps saying nice things about me like she did this week - its all completely undeserved but I was very moved/chuffed).

Happy Christmas to everyone and have a great New Year's. Hopefully next year will be as much fun for all of us. Certainly I didnt expect to be writing this from Portugal a year ago, or seeing in the New Year in Europe. I hadnt talked to either of my cousins for 16-odd years this time last year and now they're as close as anyone I care to think of. Some of the people Im missing most I didnt know, or barely knew, this time last year (including my girl). But a lot can and will change so I have no idea what the next year holds for me - you just run with it as best you can and watch for the next wave coming in (terrible metaphors at this time of night!). Speaking of changes its official now that Im going to be an uncle - so congratulations and all the best to Lynne and Derek.