New Years...

In contrast to Christmas, I really thought New Years would be relatively the same as it always was... you know watch the TV, count down with all the other viewers out there who didn't get anything more creative organized for the night, kiss your partner, call it a night... Well first things first, the concert down town supposedly was cancelled due to rain – not a likely even back in Oregon! Then there was a Crowded House concert on TV perfermed at the Opera House in Syndey. Right at midnight, the concert ended and the fire works began – which seemed very very strange to me given that it was only 9 or so in Australia... It was all cleared up when the credits ran – it was a conert from 1996 that was being rebroadcast for our Kiwi viewing pleasure!

On the other channels we could choose from Titantic, Lord of the Rings (seems to be on everynight here, or atleast it is this week), and some music shows comparing how Abba would fare against todays greatest acts. But no shared viewing experience like the Times ball dropping... in fact that wasn't what I missed, what I really missed was that in Oregon we're on the tail end of the New Year's celebrations so the news often has great footage of all the major world cities celebrations. I loved those montages where the screen cuts from Sydney to Japan and Rome and London as well as NYC and a few smaller scale firework shows.

What finally made the time zone difference real was that when we texted friends back home HAPPY NEW YEAR, no one replied... well not until 9 pm the next day when their New Years began... 

and it was just finally getting dark here a second time around.