I had printed the picture posted at New year´s lunch for each people who works in the restaurant and I signed a little note for each one. We were 18 working on Christmas eve but I only knew the name and something ¨special¨ to write for less than a half, so to the others I just wrote: Feliz Navidad y muy feliz año nuevo, Sebastian. They all were completely surprise about it, who was my boss se emociono; Makoto, who is the chef, invited me to have an asian bbq at his new house and Hashiro, with who I worked more, told me: beautiful gift, thanks. Being the only not Japanese was not easy but I believe it is because we are who put the barriers (probably discuss it in a future post).

After all of this moment and a brindis I walked home, I met Clovis and we both went to the beach to have a beer and a cigar (the song toma luis from leon gieco was sounding on my mind all the night). I called my family and aprox. at 6 I went to sleep.

On Friday morning I went to mass (yes I woke up at 1030, actually Clovis did it for me), and after mass we had breakfast before we were going to Waehiki island. At Waehiki we stayed two days in a friend´s house, and she gave us an amazing tour of the island, we also had dinner in a house of a friend of her sister, which is one of the oldest houses from the island (from 1896, which is really old for NZ). It was gorgeous, they also had a trampoline, and I did backwards and forwards but I couldn´t do one that I don’t even know the name. The next day we went to the beach and just relax but during the night we cooked for some friends of my friend and for a friend who went from Auckland.

I returned on Sunday noon to go to Makoto´s bbq and as I said before we are the only ones who put barriers about differences. The place was full of people, but only a few from the restaurant. It was a girl who I though worked for the restaurant, but after we start talking she asked me why did I stop going to gloria jeans, what is a cafe in a city… and I realize that she didn´t work for the restaurant and that she was a waitress at a cafe that I used to go during my first weeks.

The bbq was really good, there was lot of sea food and I had Kina (kind of erizo) who actually tasted like to be eating ocean. I stayed until the end and Maza, my ex boss, who lived 5 minutes from where we were having the bbq, dropped off me and Hashiro at home and not because we were drank, really really cool people.

2009 was amazing, I can not expect less for 2010, I believe I´ll use all what I have learned to make 2010 rock, I hope you do the same!!

Merry Christmas again and super happy new year!

Sebas