January 1, 2014: Happy Holidays!

            My first of three Christmases in country was an awesome one. The plan was for a current volunteer in each region to host Christmas for us newbs and any other volunteers in the region who did not travel home for the holidays. Central, though, is so spread out and there wasn’t someone who could host us, so luckily for us, we got to stay at a hotel, courtesy of Peace Corps. It was the twelve of us and then a few other volunteers. There were toilets and hot showers and a nice sitting room where we could all hang out. I haven’t had hot water, let alone a shower, in awhile and man did it feel good. You get used to bucket bathes, they’re really not that bad, but when you get the chance to take a hot shower it just feels so much better. The hotel let us use their kitchen, since no one else was there, and we all pitched in on food and Marvin planned out some awesome meals. The best part was Marvin arriving with two live chickens in hand. We asked someone to slaughter them for us since we weren’t quite sure how. I decided to watch how they do it; I thought I would be appalled and freak out, but it was kind of intriguing. I absolutely could never personally do it, though. I, of course, ate meat in America, though I always bought cage free, organic eggs and tried my best to buy organic chicken and grass fed beef because I once read a book about what they do to animals in order to get meat and I was rather disgusted. It’s actually more humane here because the cows and chickens are free to roam and the families that have animals slaughter them only for special occasions. Sometimes, though, you’ll see them eating from the trash piles and that’s just really gross. The beef at the market is just hung up, waiting to be bought; it sits in the sun, with god knows what insects flying on it, which also doesn't sit that well with me. I have eaten some meat here, regardless of the above, but it just doesn’t taste that great because it’s cooked differently. Marvin, though, is an amazing cook and was able to cook some great meat, so I got in my protein, which is good because my homestay family doesn’t really eat meat, considering it’s too expensive.  We drank. A lot. We watched tv and played games and just got to hang out all together without the pressure of having to learn or do something. It was my first Christmas away from home, and although it was a little sad at first, being surrounded by all my friends made me forget about missing home and I was just happy to be there with them. There wasn’t any snow, a Christmas tree, or lights, but it was still a really great Christmas, we had a lot of fun!

            I celebrated New Years last night by watching a movie and falling asleep early. I didn’t even make it to midnight. There was a big celebration going on down the street from me at the futbol pitch, but we’ve been warned about staying out past dark so it didn’t seem like the best idea. My family didn’t do anything special either because my mom fears being out away from the home after dark. If they would have gone out I would have joined because I would have felt much more comfortable with them. But I’ve got many more New Years Eves ahead of me so I’m not mad about a good night of sleep.