Christmas

Our Christmas was pretty quiet this year, because we couldn't spend it in Germany. It was the first Christmas, however, that Yana was really able to comprehend. And the first Christmas as a family of four. We celebrated Christmas Eve with biscuits, mulled wine, presents, and Raklette.

Yana really admired the Christmas tree ("meinabaum" from the German word Weihnachtsbaum) and the decoration that we had made together.

Among her presents was a backpack, which she has been filling with snacks and turning into a baby-carrier for her doll ever since.


On Christmas Day we went for a walk in the (remaining) snow. We really appreciate our new doubledecker buggy, which allows us to go for longer walks without being cruel to poor little Yana.


On Boxing Day we did a trip to Reading, where we walked along the river and through the shopping streets. We didn't do any shopping ourselves, because everything was packed with bargain-hunters.


We had a nice meal at a running sushi restaurant. Yana liked to play with all the little plates and lids.

Working and USA

Now that I'm finally working full time again, things are getting a little more interesting again. Polycom has certainly been proactive with training - I've been training basically full time for the entire 7 weeks I've been there! The finale for one section was a trip to the US for a week long intensive session ending with a presentation to the CEO of Polycom... we were second in our group, so we were quite happy with that.

Here are a few piccies of interesting stuff:

This is one of the ridiculously huge 'cars' we had while over there. It had a huge V8, but didn't have much get-up-and-go off the line - probably because it weighed about 15 tons...

Some of the lights of the San Francisco skyline

This was a little xmas market we happened across in San Jose - they stole this ride from never-never land!

I didn't have enough time to get up to much else, hence only 3 pictures. However (always a name dropper) I had a quick chat with Helen Clark in the LA airport lounge on the way home - always interesting when you see someone you recognise!

We are looking forward to 2010 - things are getting back to normal now, and we have started making a few plans to keep ourselves entertained over the next few months - you'll just have to keep an eye on the blog to see what they are ;-)