*(original version)
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne.
- On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.
My Heart is ravisht with delight,
when thee I think upon;
All Grief and Sorrow takes the flight,
and speedily is gone;
The bright resemblance of thy Face,
so fills this, Heart of mine;
That Force nor Fate can me displease,
for Old long syne.
- On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.
Since thoughts of thee doth banish grief,
when from thee I am gone;
will not thy presence yield relief,
to this sad Heart of mine:
Why doth thy presence me defeat,
with excellence divine?
Especially when I reflect
on Old long syne
- On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.
= = = = = = = = = =
Another year has come and gone [= Spent the week of Christmas in Germany with the cousin and her friends. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because my hands were kinda too cold to take my camera out, but her friends took a lot of pics- hopefully they’ll be up soon. Although there was a language barrier (our common language was Vietnamese), I still had fun. Went to the Christmas Market in Munich during the weekend I was there. Went to a German mass and didn’t really understand much, but that’s the good thing about traditional Catholic masses; even though it’s in another language, you still know what’s going on. Had a pretzel, gluhwein, pommes frites… For dinner on Sunday, we went to some German restaurant where i had roasted pork and knodel- traditional dish of Barvaria. It was too salty for me, and that was the end of my German food for the week (well I had a currywurst, but I don’t know if that’s authentic German…) hahaha [= My cousin and her friends treated to me all kinds of Asian food (which I’ve been craving for a while). Got me some bun bo hue, pho, sushi, thai food, and a home cooked meal.
Although it has been almost 14 years since I’ve seen her, she wasn’t shy at all. She, her friend, and I traveled almost 12 hours from Munich to Cologne to meet up with her friends. They’ve all been here for about 4 years or so, so this is the last year they’ll be able to meet up because a handful of them are graduating/have graduated and are going back to the home country. The big gothic cathedral in Cologne is soo beautiful- it reminded me of the one in Milan, but it was darker. We went to Maastricht, Holland for a day, but there wasn’t much there. The girls went shopping while I stayed outside and hung out with the only guy there (my cousin’s friend’s husband…) I’m not much of a shopper if I don’t need anything…
We caught up on family business. She showed me pictures of back home and I updated her with the cousins in Cali. We spent the nights watching Vietnamese comedy videos (which I thought were actually hilarious). It sucked that I couldn’t speak as well, but I understood everything they were saying.
Hopefully she’ll get her visa paperwork turned in and get approved so she can come home with me and visit the family. If she does come over, she’s already requested to go to Vegas… hahaha I guess Vegas is more important than Disneyland…
= = = = = = = = = =
Not really much going on in Bolzano… I guess everyone vacations because its holiday season. But it is a small city (one that is very walkable) so I didn’t expect much coming home from Munich. I’m excited to be going to Amsterdam tomorrow though. Gotta wake up pretty early, take the 5AM train to Milan and get there around 9AM (not because I really need to get there that early, but that 5AM train is 10euros cheaper than the usual price hahaha [= Gotta be economical and make sacrifices… Then take the bus to the airport and wait a few hours before my flight at 155PM.
Please pray that Ryan and I won’t have any problems during our flights to and from places (delays, cancels, etc). Ryan’s coming over from Cali and meeting me in Amsterdam. I hope all goes well… and keep all other travelers in your prayers too- holiday season is CRAZY!
After Amsterdam, we’re going to London on New Years Day (which is also Ryan’s bday)
Then on to Paris on the 4th, Barcelona on the 7th, and Rome on the 10th
Pray for good weather too!!!
[=
2 of the ColdStone crew conquering Europe. Don’t worry John, Alis, Ericson and Judy- we’ll go crazy for all of us [= hahahaha
= = = = = = = = = =
Can’t wait to go home in February!
