Lilie Green

ku-zu-zan-po everyone!
for those of you who don't speak zonka , that's how you say hello in bhutan. it took me about 10 tries before i could remember just that one word, my bhutanese co-worker was quite exasperated w/me i think. so now i'm a bit more patient w/my own students.
well now, i have some updating to do. the weekend before last was just fabulous. so there i was, a girl w/out a dress to wear to the ball, when my fairy godmother appeared in the form of my friend E and her extensive designer wardrobe.
i left her house with a swooshy taffeta skirt and sparkly gold top and lots of glittery jewelry. the party was a gorgeous affair; soooo much gourmet food, lots and lots of wine, 700 people -- all of it taking place in the "galaxy ballroom" of the swanky hotel. between nori-pi and i, we must have sampled at least 10 different lovely dessert-concoctions. we got rather camera-happy and cavorted around the hotel, posing in front of every xmas tree we came across.
the next night little A and i went to the ridiculously large cinema in roppongi hills to see last samurai. we cried a pint each, i think. and then i ended my weekend w/a visit at my uncle's -- they feed me very well there.
this past weekend i spent some quality time w/my grandmother. she can't remember what happened 5 minutes ago, but she can talk at length about what happened 80 years ago. we sit w/our cups of green tea and she tells me about my great-grandfather the samurai, about fleeing from her burning home carrying 3 children (during the war), about falling in love with my grandfather who used to carry a violin around w/him because he thought it made him look dashing...
i had good news from home as well -- my parents finally bought a house. apparently it has a swimming pool, so if/when i come back for a visit, we'll have to have a posseopo-licious pool party.
so i'm in a warm&fuzzy falling-in-love-again state of mind these days. a nice way to end the year.