We were invited to her house for dinner. She said it was a tradition to gather family and friends around for a simple meal. That Saturday, as usual, we went out in the morning for house-hunting, to the parents’ for lunch, spent some time in a shopping mall, and then headed to the house. Since we have been out the whole day we didn’t have the chance to change into something more formal.. It was just a dinner in the house..
We arrived at 6pm, and immediately noticed that we were under-dressed. But the biggest shock actually came from the location of the dinner table – it was set in the garage..! That was definitely an innovative way to solve the problem of a big party if your dining table can usually accommodate 4 people (or 6 max). So in a way we were underdressed not because of formality but because there is no heating in Bogota and the garage is probably the coldest place in the house because it isn’t under a proper roof but acrylic boards.. So imagine 20 people dining al fresco in the garage without heating in 14 celsius condition..
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| The pig coming out of the pizza oven after having been inside for 12 hrs.. |
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| Christmas table set in garage & balloons carrying wishes |
Unlike other times, the best part of the dinner was the food but the ‘game’ that came after. We had to write our wishes for next year on a piece of paper and then tie it to a balloon to send it to baby Jesus. 😀 I am not religious but as a greedy person of course I didn’t miss my chance to make my wishes.. I did it in Chinese so that no one could read what it was – it caused a huge sensation! I hadn’t realized that Chinese characters could be so fascinating! The weirdest thing was that my wishes were perhaps too ‘heavy’ – my hydrogenated balloon for some reason just suspended in the air and didn’t fly! In the end I had to tie my balloon with someone else’s to give it some strength..
(Watch this space.. A post on the real xmas celebration is coming next!)
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