Partay!!!

When Ulf left Sweden for his first six-month assignment in Singapore, his departure coincided with his 30th birthday; thus a big party was in order. We borrowed the communal party room on the ground floor of Uncle Otto's apartment building, right smack in the middle of Stockholm. Family and friends were invited, many whom I got to meet for the very first time. In the tiny kitchen of Ulf's studio apartment we made a vicious Thai curry and rolled enough Indian kofta for a small army. Huge pitchers of Singapore Sling were made and we even got to borrow a life-sized paper model of a Singapore Airlines hostess to welcome people at the door. The party was a huge success, of course, and when Uncle Otto in his striped old man's pj's came back to announce that we unfortunately had to move the party elsewhere, we went to Pelle's apartment to continue. We made a 9.79 second break to watch Ben Johnson win the 100m finale of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta and afterwards devoured spaghetti with garlic and ketchup and finally left after Pelle himself fell asleep in the bushes.
When walking through the beautiful night in summer Stockholm together with a real African prince and his girlfriend we snatched bread from a bakery a finally took a taxi home.

When we left Beijing for Singapore, tequila was a main feature and we ended up dancing on the tables in a bar in Sanlitun. I can't remember much of the going away party in Singapore, ahem...that can only mean that that was one hell of a party.
When we left Japan, we spent our last night in a hotel in Tokyo, going to a baseball game and having dinner at Nobu, where we met Nobu himself - again!
Leaving Hong Kong for France, was a much more quiet affair. We had a quiet soiree in our apartment with the baby sleeping and wonderful Meng, our helper, keeping an eye on him while we ate cheese and drank wine in honor of our new home country.
When leaving Annecy, France we celebrated our new home country the US of A with chicken wings, chips and salsa and pitchers of margarita on our Americana decorated patio, complete with flags, cacti and cowboy hats for the whole family.

As Ulf is rolling meatballs and I've finished slicing up the gravlax, we are hoping that tonight's party will be epic and that someone will finally end up in the pool by the end of the night. It is bittersweet saying goodbye; easier to leave than be left behind. We are embarking on a new adventure, knowing that Arizona will always be home a little bit and that we can always come back to visit and have somewhere to stay. But, after tonight's party...perhaps we should avoid this particular neighborhood....