Frida once said: ""I drank to drown my pain, but the damned pain learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good behavior." This summarizes how I feel about New Year in D.C. No matter how hard I try to conceal my melancholy this time of the year, it is right there, staring me in the eyes. New Year time is always sweet, magical, and sad - at least for those born far away. Last year, I had a New Year to remember - with my close friend Pavlina, her friend Mark from Germany, and Selmin from Detroit. We came together in my apartment, baked kumpir, a traditional Turkish dish which can be translated as stuffed potato ('stuffed' being the key word here: with olives, corn, diced sausage, butter, carrots, cheese, black pepper, salt, ketchup, shoe laces, pencils, car keys, buttons...haha just kidding, but seriously, a properly stuffed kumpir is three times its usual size, like a volcano about to erupt). Last New Year we made no plans other than being together and having fun.

This year, I have grandiouse plans. My friend Ilgin from New York is going to join us, and posibly another friend of Levent's. We will start celebrating by daytime, by watching the last play of 2005, which is also a meaningful summary of it: Commedy of Errors at the Shakespeare Theatre. After the theatre, we will join the sweet New Years Eve rush and enjoy New Year decorations in downtown DC. Is that all? No! This is just the beginning. At 9:30 pm, we will be in Old Europe. Ohom. This is a quaint restaurant a la old German style (all pun intended- this is Washington D.C.) with a very very intimidating German-sounding menu. The menu is more German than I could possibly bear, with entrees such as Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus, Bauernfruhstuck Fur den kleinen Hunger! See here for yourself. (Could this be the revenge of Old Europe from complacent Washingtonians?)And then, we will be like those stuffed potatoes ourselves -only more German, unable to move, relaxed by the sound of the piano (which will probably play German music), ready for the countdown at 12. Then, we will go back to our place, and spend the first hours of 2006 by simply doing nothing, and getting to know each other - pretending we are complete strangers who just met, telling strange stories, and sharing memories of a distant past. And drink to the future. This, at least, is my plan.

P.S: Once, we celebrated New Year at a place called Passion Cafe, by the Bosphorus.

Happy New Year!