holidays

so the holidays are over in duran

for christmas, there were no presents under the tree

for news years eve, there was no alcohol

but that does not mean there was no holiday spirit.

for christmas, we celebrated at mass twice. during the night mass, i played joseph in the nativity play. the next morning, we exchanged secret santas that we spent under a dollar for. then we spent some time greeting our neighbors and ended up at damien house to wish all of our friends over there a happy holiday. it was a simple christmas here. i was glad to get a phonecall from my family. hearing their voices reminded me that christmas is coming together and celebrating with loved ones. celebrating the life of Christ and the community we have.

new years eve was spent outside. the day before we made our äño viejo¨which is a paper machet doll that is to be blown up at midnite. after it was painted and ready to go, we stuffed it with firecrackers and soaked it in gasoline. there was no countdown, which made it a little bit easier to be away from tiffany. but at midnite, we lit the fire and you could see the whole neighborhood light up with fires outside of every house, and fireworks in the air. then our neighbors came around saying feliz año and we spent the night dancing. remember that full moon?

the celebrations were a bit different, and i surely missed you all. but i was still able to be in the present moment, in duran, with my new friends, in my new culture, with my new community, with my new family.

and next week, tiffany is coming in to visit. life is pretty good here.

Xmas eve

Laura at Damien House on Christmas with our friend, Fortunatu. She woke up at 6:30am that morning to do wound care for all the patients

Getting ready for 2010


Happy New Year!