December 21 – December 27
Merry Christmas, Everyone! This week, I celebrated Christmas
in Barranquilla with my familia
barranquillera. I met a group of volunteers in the Centro and we hung out
together a while before we headed to soccer at our usual cancha near the office. Soccer was good and I got to visit with
other volunteers, especially since there were quite a few of us there. After
soccer, I joined my family for Novena, which was at our house.
On Christmas Eve, my Peace Corps brother and I went to Mass
(which turned out to be just a service and not actual Mass) and then joined our
family for a get-together and Novena at a relative’s house. We visited and it
was nice to seem some people I recognized.
On Christmas Day, several volunteers and I went to the beach
by Santa Verónica to visit, eat lunch, and just hang out by the water.
Afterward, I hurried home to go to Mass again (which was actually Mass this
time). I took the bus from Santa Verónica and hopped off at my usual stop only
to find that the bus I needed to ride home had stopped running, so I walked
home very quickly, showered and changed even faster, and almost ran to the
church. I saw a group of women outside the church and they informed me that
Mass had been moved one hour later. One of the ladies laughed at the look on my
face because she had felt the same way when she found out. I prayed the Rosary in
the chapel beside the main hall with them and peacefully sat for a few minutes
of adoration before Mass. The actual Mass was wonderful and may have been the
most worthwhile example of “hurry up and wait” that I have ever experienced.
I got home just in time to watch my host nephew and niece
open presents, which was adorable mostly because they’re both two years old. We
also sang “Feliz cumpleaños” to my
host dad, whose birthday is the 25th of December. After cake and
visiting, I Skyped with my US family, which was a perfect end to an awesome and
very Colombian Christmas.
- A cancha is a
soccer field inside a net, which is why it translates to, “cage.” They’re relatively
common and many formal and informal soccer groups rent them by the hour to
play. The people in charge of the canchas
often have equipment they’ll loan you, but be sure to ask before you come with
your group ready to play.
- Before Christmas, there are usually 2-3 Novenas happening
around you. One is at your local church. One is in your neighborhood among your
neighbors. One is among members of your extended family. All of them are
awesome and worth attending, so if you would like to participate in these
pre-Christmas festivities, go with the flow and figure out what works best for
you.
- In Colombia, who brings Christmas presents to children
varies depending on the family. It may be Santa Claus or Papá Noel or el Niño Jesús
or someone else I have not yet heard about or just family members.
- Families get really confusing in the Peace Corps. You have
your US family, your Peace Corps family, and 1-2 host families. And that’s not
including former host families when you have to move. Don’t bother trying to
refer to your “real” family because after the first few weeks of training, no
one will know which group of people you’re talking about anymore. I talk about
my US family, Barranquilla family, (current) host family, and former host mom.
I also consider all Peace Corps volunteers my brothers and sisters, but usually
refer to them as “volunteers” unless I’m talking about my Peace Corps brother
who moved in with my Barranquilla family after I moved to Santa Marta – since
we were both “adopted” by the same host family in Barranquilla, he is my
“adopted” brother, but not my host brother, since we didn’t live there at the
same time, so I call him my Peace Corps brother…do you see why this is
confusing?
- Yes, we had to spend Christmas in our host country. No, you
cannot go home for Christmas if it’s during the first 6 months of your service.
And trust me, that’s OK. Yes, you’ll probably miss home and wish you were there
at some point, but it’s definitely worthwhile to spend a Christmas in your host
country and learn how they celebrate the holidays, whether what they’re
celebrating is the same thing you do or not. You will get through this being
away from home thing and have a lot of wonderful memories to share forever
because of it.
- Support other volunteers whenever possible. One of the
volunteers in Santa Marta found out he would be leading a conversation club by
himself this week and called all the other CII-6 volunteers in the city. We all
came and had an awesome time hanging out practicing English and Spanish.
- Have I mentioned yet that packages from home
are like Christmas in a box, regardless of when you receive them? I opened a
Christmas package from my US family and was excited with most of what was in
the box and confused by the rest of it. I wasn’t really sure why my mother had
sent me electric tea lights and tried to figure out what I would do with them.
Two nights later, we had a power out and I knew exactly what to do with those
tea lights! Thanks, Mom! J
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