And so another year comes to an end. And to celebrate it, we will leave the city and party all night at a rented house on the beach where some friends of ours are staying. We always travel on holidays in this country it seems. For the life of of me, I cannot remember if we did this in the States. Usually New Years was spent at a friend's house, somewhere close by, or at home, and everyone would drink, have a designated driver home, and sleep it off starting at about 3AM, right?

I spent my last New Years before moving here in NYC's Time Square, just so I could say I did it (froze my ass off standing so far away you could hardly see the ball, for 6 hours in one place, with no way to get out or pee or eat or anything - no drinking either: this is what 9/11 accomplished for us). Last year when we traveled there again to visit, we spent our first New Years as a family in the NYC subway, somewhere in Harlem, trying to visit a friend's party by 12AM.

But for every holiday here, the question is usually "where?" as in another city instead of "what?" as in activity. For São João (in June) we travel to the country side and act likes hicks, drinking and dancing in the main square of some city we would never be in otherwise, and usually where we don't really know a soul who lives there. For minor holidays one might travel to a resort type of area - Guarajuba or Praia do Forte, and spend the weekend. We never want to stay home it seems, enjoy our our surroundings we work so hard to preserve.

Or maybe it's to further avoid cleaning and looking at the mess we have created while the maid is on vacation.