Thoughts on Not Being Home For Christmas

December 24, 2009

I didn’t realize until I got here that even though I’d been away from home a lot the past few years, I had always come back for Christmas and New Years (and Thanksgiving too, but that was nicely substituted for here with a whole week of celebration when I was a newly minted volunteer).

Christmas isn’t the same. Say what you want about crass consumerism, busy airports, crazy lines when trying to buy things, ice and snow, utterly wasteful Christmas light displays; I miss the markers of the season. Here it’s still 80 degrees during the day, the streets are still dusty, and I’m still mostly alone here.

Though not entirely. I got to talk to Kim in the ciber for an hour and a half, which always makes me feel good. Today Liz called me, and I got to hear from the whole Dolores crew, including my host family, which was great. My new family up here has gotten closer to me lately, notably Monday, when I got so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed but to go to the bathroom. They took care of me, and helped get my stool sample to the lab, and then got me the antibiotics and oral rehydration salts and water that I needed.

Now that I’m doing better, I’ve been hanging out with host brother Ronald quite a lot. We spent the morning being granjeros, and turning soil over so that I can plant some veggies on their small plot of land behind their house. It was nice to sweat the sweat of an honest day’s work. Then tonight we went down to the plaza, where there’s a festival that goes on all December, with Nica versions of carnival games (which involve more betting, and money as prizes instead of stuffed bears), a rodeo, and a ferris wheel. The last two were full with long lines waiting to get in, but I threw away a couple bucks playing the roulette wheel and ring-toss (onto beer and wine bottles with hundred-cord bills wrapped around them) with Ronald. We had fun, and he said tomorrow we’d have more suerte. We’d pretty much have to have more tomorrow than we had tonight, so we’ll see.

I gave myself a few Christmas presents today. I gave myself three hours in the ciber, during which I not only got to talk to Kim, but also downloaded 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields, and all of Jay-Z’s Blueprint albums. I bought a shovel, and gloves, so that I can turn soil more competently tomorrow (Ronald and I used azadones today, which are hoes, in English). I read Harry Potter for an hour in a hammock before going to the plaza with Ronald, and made a lot of progress; I’m excited to be one book away from having read the whole series in two languages.
All in all it really hasn’t been so bad. It’s not the same, that’s true. I miss my real family, and my friends I left in the states (and those that left too, of course). But it’s good to know that I have some good people up here with me in Jalapa, too.