A Summer Christmas

Yes- I have not gotten used to the fact that it is now summer down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Yes- it was the hottest Christmas I’ve ever had. Yes- it was odd to see folks going to Mass wearing short sleeves and sundresses. Yes- we listened to a lot of Christmas music, forcing one of our taxi drivers even to let us play it off our speakers instead of the normal deafening stuff being played over the radio. Yes- I had a great time.

The volunteers in my cohort got special clearance to travel during the holidays (we’re not supposed to leave our home districts for the first three months) so I got to meet up with nearly 20 other volunteers. I hoped around for a few days, collecting friends and seeing where the other volunteers live now that training is over. For Christmas itself we collected a good group at the house of one of the volunteers. We had a White Elephant instead of a secret Santa because people kept changing plans on whether they were going to be there or not. It worked out very well and I wound up with a very cute pair metal chopsticks. I offered an IOU for a custom poster for someone’s house, to be worked out with that person and given to them when we meet in a few months for more training.

The day after Christmas a bunch headed to Tsehlanyane National Park. Originally we planned on camping, but logistics wise that ended up being more complicated that it should have been. We instead enjoyed the day lounging by a swimming hole in the river, doing cannonballs of the rocks, washing our hair (biodegradable shampoo is a marvelous thing), chatting, eating candy, and reading. I spent a good portion of the afternoon with my feet in the running water and a book I had gotten the week before for my birthday in hand. (I finished the book just this morning. Very enjoyable. Thanks YaYa!). It was a thoroughly relaxing and pleasant way to spend a summer Christmas.

It took another two days for me to get back home, arriving late last night. I will be here for but two days before I’m off again, a shorter trip this time. I’m heading to my camp town to meet with my “neighbors” and celebrate New Years together. Should be fun!

Holidays give a lot of time to think. I miss being home, spending Christmas in the cold, surrounded by family and twinkling lights, and Christmas dinner at the beach. This didn’t really feel like Christmas at all, just a piece of summer vacation where we played inappropriately timed carols and hung tinsel around purely for the added color. We all felt sad about the things we were missing and disjointed from the reality of the season. We had fun but it simply didn’t quite feel entirely real. To this end, we have decided to adopt Christmas in July and will be having another version then complete with freezing whether and spiked hot chocolate. Definitely not used to the Southern Hemisphere thing. Happy Holidays everyone!!

Christmas Day group shot- I love my Peace Corps family!