Merry Christmas everyone!

It's December 27 now (Dad is officially old today) and I'm getting ready to go back to site.

It's been a good week and a half here...I got to see some people I haven't seen since March and I got to meet some people I hadn't met before.

I also made plans to visit Thailand in February...something that will greatly improve the quality of my winter. Provided I get my leave approved I will be going for about 10 days in Feb. to soak in the sun and eat a lot of fruit.

I decided buying a plane ticket is better than injuring myself for the free medevac.

So now it's almost the new year and I have other plans to make.

When I get back to site I will celebrate the holiday with friends at site, probably setting off fireworks and singing songs. Then I will start making buuz (mongolian dumplings) and freezing them. I plan to make several hundred in preparation for Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, which begins January 29.

This will be my first and only Tsagaan Sar at site, as I was laid up in UB with an injured thumb at that time last year. It is the craziest holiday of the year for Mongolians and involves mass consumption of buuz, milk tea and vodka and a lot of singing and visiting of family. It lasts for a month in the countryside. Tsagaan Sar means "white month."

So I am going to make lots of buuz and clean up my ger and do the other traditional things.

More will be reported. =)

I hope all of you enjoy your new year celebrations and I will talk to you later. By the time I do it will be 2006, the year I come home.

Much love,
Carrie