My new favorite story has to do with the poodle that lives in the house we are staying in these few weeks. One lady walked into the house, saw the poodle and exclaimed, " What a cute sheep!" After giggling a little bit, we told her it wasn't a sheep, but a dog. She still thought it was cute, but only because it looked like a sheep.
Another story: We took some friends bowling. Our friend Oliver had never been bowling. He walked into the bowling alley, picked up a ball very awkwardly, and asked how he was supposed to hold it. An hour and half later, he walked out of the bowling alley with a big smile, he beat us all in his first ever game of bowling.
Yet another: A woman runs up to me and gives me a big hug. She is so thankful for the money she has earned from selling her products through the women's cooperative. She is thankful because now she can get her children something for Christmas.
The past few weeks have been filled with moments like these that have brought us joy. Drew and I are literally in pain from the amount of food that has been offered to us (here you have to eat, if not, its rude). Drew can't walk out the door without being attacked by kids wanting to play with him. We have more invitations to visit different families than we have time. Its overwhelming the amount of love that has been shown to us.
It was hard to be away from home this year, even with all this hospitality shown to us. Christmas is just so different here. Perhaps for that, I was missing so much of the familiar. Christmas day is just like any other day here. We did have a nice big lunch of grilled meat, chicken, and sausage though. Christmas Eve, however is the big day. We spent the evening at Church where the kids prepared skits, and we all sang Christmas songs together. Then we shared some hot chocolate and bunelos. It was nice to feel a part of this community again.
No comments:
Post a Comment