Christmas in Yoloten

December 26, 2008

For two months I've been planning a Christmas party- canning tomato sauces, freezing vegetables, etc- so that we wouldn't only be eating what's in season. I wanted it to be truly special, something that would include volunteers, my host family, students, and local friends, and it all worked out beautifully.

We spent Christmas Day baking cookies and making food, singing along to Christmas music and running around trying to get everything done. Then later a bunch of my students showed up with a giant cake singing me happy birthday- it was adorable!

We created a gingerbread house, danced, exchanged presents, and all my friends made me personalized Christmas ornaments for my birthday - it was a blast! It went on till 3am and the next day my host mother was marveling at how we Americans have parties.

"You are all talking so much!" she laughed. "You're talking, and laughing, and playing games, and it's so interesting! Here we just eat and dance, and then sit and drink tea, and it's always the same. But you guys are all over the place! It was so much fun!"

I still miss home, and I still miss sitting on a sofa in a warm home with the smell of home-cooked food and cocktails and big Christmas trees and stockings and American food, but i'm lucky to be where I am for the time being.

I love the holidays.