Chúc mừng năm mới!

That means "Happy New Year!" in Vietnamese, if you hadn't guessed.

I have no pictures from New Year's Eve or Day, really, because my camera has begun sucking batteries dry while it's off. Which gives me the lovely surprise of turning on my camera after putting in fresh batteries the night before and having it immediately turn itself off and greet me with a "please change batteries" message. Thank you, camera. I'm thinking of replacing it with a better one if I save up some money. We'll see...

So, I had a luxurious New Year's Eve, very low-key, drinking champagne and eating cheese and tapenade and scones with Julia and Emilie. For New Year's Day we went to a pool to swim and lay out, then had a late lunch (for me: steamed clams with lemongrass, and a North Vietnamese noodle soup with beef and herbs), followed by a nap. Feel completely relaxed, and do not want to go to work tomorrow, but will suck it up.

I hope everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable 2008, and I wish everyone an even better 2009. Happy New Year!