Happy New Years

Quite a great day yesterday. It started out at 2 pm for the annual report of the province hospital - number of patients seen in each service, goals for the coming year, and awards to the hospital staff. At about 4:30 pm, we went outside and snacked on the barbeque that people had whipped up for the party, while the sun dropped towards the horizon and a cold wind started to pick up. 

I returned to my house to get a warmer coat and noticed that the outside temperature was already 50 degrees F, before returning to the dept of health. From that point on, I went back and forth between the parties at the hospital and at the dept of health. Just about midnight, the hospital staff were doing a medical quiz game - "Is leptosporosis caused by a virus, bacteria, toxin or food?" - when I noticed that it was already 12:01. When the person questioned corrected answered that it was caused by bacteria, the band started up and everyone popped corks on the Chinese champagne (like Listerine but with bubbles). I finally returned home at 2 am.

Today we were supposed to go to a friend's village but everyone woke up with sore throats. We all croaked to each other that maybe we should rest today. So that's what I'm doing. Already starting with my reads for 2008, which are lying on the floor next to my feet.