¡Feliz Navidad!

The obvious beauty of the Caribbean surrounds me every day. The abundance of fruit trees, the white sand beaches, the dazzling sunsets and natural green everything. If I were here for a short vacation I would take note of each of these things and truly appreciate them. But as I am here every day, I too often fail to see and truly appreciate the physical beauty of my surroundings. On Monday I found myself in the back of my host family’s camióneta riding along the highway between nearby Hato Mayor and El Seibo with the Caribbean breeze in my face and for the first time in country, truly took in the impressive countryside and felt really at peace being here in the Dominican. I watched the clouds form over the mountains to the north and create a mystical haze over the conical lomas and the sun set behind us in an explosion of orange and pink and felt truly contented and at ease for the first time in the company of family and in my site.

We had our Peace Corps Christmas get-together hosted by our Country Director last Friday in the capital. It was a nice little break in a slow December month to meet up with other volunteers and eat some quality food. We had a Chinese dinner, which, while not traditional Christmas fare, was a more than welcome break from platanos y yuca. A small group of volunteers that live in the east made a pit stop in the beach town of Juan Dolio on the way back to our sites. I have been in the DR for 4 months now and had only been to the beach 1 time before this past weekend so I was due for some time at the playa. A day of sunbathing and sunburning was exactly what the doctor ordered after some recent stomach woes and a tranquilo month.

The holiday season feels very much unlike the holiday season. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it is still 80 and sunny rather than 30 and snowy. Maybe it’s the lack of Xmas music and movies. Maybe it’s the absence of Salvation Army bell ringers. It’s just not Christmas-y. After all, what is Christmas without 24 hours of A Christmas Story? I’ll be spending Christmas at my site with my host family, seeing how Dominicans celebrate Navidad, eating many apples, which are a holiday season delicacy here, playing Santa Claus for my family and hoping that Home Alone is on TV just once in English.

In the past few years I have spent much time and many holidays away from home but this will be my first Christmas away. Perhaps the most valuable attribute I brought with me into the country is imperviousness to homesickness. Not to say I don’t miss home, I just don’t suffer from homesickness. But even while not homesick, it’s weird to be out of the country and away from family and friends this time of year. It’s certainly helpful to have other volunteers here to share the holidays with and helpful to know that a New Year’s celebration is but a week away.

Happy Holidays!