It Looks Like New Year's Eve 2006 In Minsk, Belarus After All

Self-Portrait with N., 2005

(The self-portrait is by the Dutch contemporary artist Philip Akkerman.)

I think that it is healthful that at least one person in every relationship likes to have their picture taken.

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Also, I have learned that Europeans treat the New Years Eve and New Years Day holidays much more seriously than do Americans. (In the Orthodox Christian world, the solemnity of Orthodox Christmas follows upon the New Years Celebrations.)

In Eastern Europe, it is very important, first thing on New Years Day, to wish members of one's own family strong health and long life.

We celebrated last New Year's Eve solemnly, due to the Tsunami, first in a small restaurant and then in a small cafe in Prague-Vinohrady, the Czech Republic. We skipped the fireworks, and before midnight, we returned to our small hotel so that we could listen to the Czech President and the First Lady address (and toast) the Czech nation, and all other member Nations of the E.U., on the solemnity of that year's New Year's occasion. (We celebrated New Years Day, last year, in Warsaw, Poland; a country that I hadn't visited in eleven years.)

Photo credit: (c) garth trinkl 2005. All rights reserved. Not to be electronically copied, stored, or reproduced elsewhere.