The approaching holidays were a very difficult time for me. I struggled with a lot of homesickness. To make it a little better, I tried to stick to as many of the memories and traditions of Christmas at my home as I could, while incorporating my roommates' traditions, as well as a few of our own new, Kazakhstan traditions.
One thing that I was terribly upset about was that I didn't have a nativity set here. I have never celebrated a Christmas without a nativity set. I told myself that it didn't really matter, but it still bothered me. And then I received an early Christmas gift from one of my student's families because they were leaving on vacation. It was a beautiful hand-crafted yurt nativity! I was sooooo happy and excited! I started yelling, screaming, and jumping up and down right there in the front of the classroom! So, not only did I have a nativity for Christmas, it was a very special Kazakh yurt nativity.
The other obstacle for me and my roommates was getting a Christmas tree. We didn't have enough money to go and buy one bigger than 18" and we really wanted a Christmas tree, and G-d provided that as well! I very kind family had an extra 4' tree that they said we could use and they even gave us ornaments and tinsel for it. We only needed to buy lights! My roommate R and I had a terrific time putting up the tree and decorating it. We turned Christmas music on, made cookies, and sparkling cherry juice (by adding sprite). It was so much fun! And it looked so pretty when we were done. See the pictures on my online photo album! http://eliciasadventures.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album36
(There's a great picture of me using the tree topper as a sword! On guard!)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment