Outline Part Four - Friends and the Holidays

Since my international co-workers and I were all orphans over the holidays, we decided to head to Bondi Beach for the classic Aussie Christmas.  It was a beautiful day.  Looking down across the beach you could see crowds of people in red and white Santa hats eating, drinking, and laughing together.  I sat for a moment and observed how the sun lit up the sand and reflected off the ocean, providing a new definition for the phrase: "white Christmas" -- making me stop and wonder: what is the holiday season?  Because here in Australia the season is most certainly Summer.      

I spent the better part of my day lying around the beach in a Santa hat and bright greet souvenir sunglasses drinking cider and white wine.  Most of my friends here are English so the, once unfathomable, idea of being warm on Christmas became a euphoric experience and everyone was overjoyed.  

Since Christmas I have been hanging out non-stop with my fellow orphaned co-workers.  Since none of us are working this week, we are like high schoolers during Summer vacation.  We make dinner, watch movies and and have sleepovers for nights and nights in a row.  The people that I hang out with the most are Keyon and Charlotte.  Both of them are from England but they have very different accents.  Keyon is from Bristol and his accent is reminiscent of Sid Vicious and 80's British punk rock.  Charlotte, or the other hand, is from London and she sounds a bit like one of the Spice Girls (though I would never say that to her face.)  Anyway, since all of my Australian co-workers are with their families I have found myself on a week long British Holiday.  I hope life is good back in the states because things are stunning out here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!