Intermap christmas party

I discovered strangely I didn't blog about last year's christmas party. I was lucky, it was just a couple weeks after I had started. It was at a hotel at the airport. Bryan (my internship supervisor) played in a jazz band, then we had buffet style dinner. I was at a table with Irene and her boyfriend Danny who I ended up getting along with really well and having a bunch of fun with. Tom and his wife and Tin and Li and Hao shared our table. So it wasn't quite the 'asian' table. We talked about my Ghana trip and stuff. After dinner there was a magician who came around to the different tables. It was funny, cause of course, engineers are all puzzling over it and trying to work out the secrets. I thought it was pretty fun at least. Danny and I practiced an elastic band one we had seen for a while. Once that was done though, most people immediately left, leaving only the cool people. People like Natalie and Jon slowly disappeared until at the very end it was Kathy, Ernie and Barb, and Erin. Once Erin's ride arrived, the rest of them headed off to their rooms in the hotel (convenient location!) while I headed home. I had a really good time.

This year had some similarities and differences. It was just at a restaurant this time, rather than a booked hotel event room type place. Like last year, Bryan's band was starting off the evening. Again I didn't bring a date, but that's cause Carmen was already coming. Carmen brought two dates, her mom and sister. We rearranged the seating at the table, then mingled a while. Occasionally people noticed Carmen and I holding hands and teased us a little, but not much. This year, Tin was again at our table, but otherwise it was me and Carmen, Carmen's guests, and Jason and Christine (Carmen's close friend, Jason's girlfriend). Bingchen was also at our table, but ditched us after a bit, I guess he wasn't having fun with us. We weren't the 'asian' table cause there was another that was 100% chinese. We couldn't quite even call ourselves the 'kids' table, cause another was pretty young with Irene and Danny, another intern and his date, and Steve and Krista. Anyways it was pretty fun/funny, like when Jason and I both moved to intercept our girlfriends hands as they reached for each other. (they call each other yee fun yan). Dinner was pretty good for the most part. I was happy that Tin and Carmen's mom were able to talk so she wasn't completely isolated. I tried to keep bugging Carmen's sister once in a while so she wasn't too bored. This year, there wasn't any special entertainment like last year. So as soon as dinner was done, most people immediately disappeared. Carmen had to leave pretty soon to take her family home. Soon, it was the same few people left at the end as last year, plus Steve and Krista who weren't in town then. Hearing Ernie and Jon talk about traveling makes me really want to go somewhere. Anyways, Natalie eventually left, then Jon, then Steve, so again it was Kathy, Ernie and Barb, and me who closed the place down. Like I've said in other blog posts, I like staying till the end. Overall, again I had a really good time, but I think the party itself was a bit more fun last year.