So the holidays have past and I'm rather glad to be done with them. I really struggled with Christmas this year; it was a lot harder being away from my family than I thought it would be. It's not the first time I've spent Christmas away from my family (as I explained various time to my Peruvian family) but the other time was when I was in Chile. The 25th I was in Chile with my amazing host family, but by the 28th or 29th I was home and was able to have a late Christmas with my family. It's not the same when you know you won't being seeing your family for another 6 months (thank God my mommy is coming in June!!!). Add to that a bratty nephew who couldn't stop bickering for the evening or even just for the meal- despite me asking him to be peaceful for 20 minutes. It reminded me of everything I hated about Christmas with my step family. I was miserable. I tried to put on a happy face and enjoy experiencing a different Christmas, but it was really really hard. When my mom was finally able to get through to call me on the 25th at night (stupid Pingo kept cutting out and she had to call direct... the sacrifices mommies make for their kids:)) I answered the phone bawling. I needed to hear her voice and at least have a little bit of a virtual Christmas. That was probably the most expensive phone call I've ever received or made, but it helped me forget how much at that moment i was thinking about calling it quits and going home.
So, besides the bratty nephew, here's Christmas in Peru. For starters, they celebrate on the 24th with a dinner at midnight. We didn't have a tree- the old one was trashed and my sister didn't get paid in time to get a new one and Christmas merchandise is not in stores as late as it is in the States, so by the time I realized we weren't getting a tree and offered to buy one, there weren't any to be bought. We didn't even put our Nativity up until about 5pm on Christmas Eve, finished just in time to go to mass. So we went to mass, came back and hung around until midnight when we "hugged" (like half body pat on the back) and said Merry Christmas and then ate. We had some wine, my host sister's boyfriend came over and he and my host dad downed two bottles of wine, while I went to bed. Most interesting part of Christmas in Peru: the nativity scenes. They aren't the basic Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, 3 Kings. No no. They are sometimes 3 or 4 levels, include houses, townspeople, and all sorts of animals-- even saw a giraffe in one..
Nativity Scene in the church
Close up of our Nativity
Christmas Dinner Before
And After (hot chocolate, shot of wine, chicken, bread, sweet empanada, paneton)
My youth association (youth workers assoc.) did a secret santa or here, amigo secreto (secret friend) and I got a picture frame. Gotta print some pictures since my frame count is now to 2. I would have never thought 15/16 year old girls would go gaga for stuffed animals, but most of the girls wanted stuffed animals and were really happy when that's what they got. Here, when you buy a stuffed animal, they spray it with perfume and wrap it for you. All for 10 soles ($3.50).
New Years. Much like Christmas with the dinner at midnight thing and fake hugs, but this time Happy Year is said. But there are a lot of traditions for New Year's in Peru. Things you should do to celebrate New Year's in Peru.
1. Wear yellow. Yellow underwear are even more lucky than just yellow clothes. Everything is Yellow. Unfortunately, my only yellow shirt and yellow undies were in the dirty clothes pile. That and I think the yellow undies are supposed to be new...
2. Burn a "Muneca". Take your old clothes and fill them with hay (make a scarecrow) put it in the street and at midnight light it on fire. This is to get rid of all the bad from the previous year and start anew. When every street has a burning doll in the middle of it and firecrackers are going off, it also has the effect of making the town look like a war zone.
3. Run around the block with a suitcase. This is to ensure that you will travel in the coming year. And also makes you look like a complete idiot.
4. Eat 12 grapes while making a wish with each grape. After 3 grapes, someone asked what my wishes were and I realized that I had forgotten to make wishes and was just eating grapes. Oops.
5. Drink. This goes without saying or explanation.
New Year's was better than Christmas, mostly because it's not as big of a family holiday and I accepted the fact that my nephew would be a pain. We had more paneton and empanadas but didn't have chocolate this time, just tea.
The holiday season also included a wedding and a baptism, details about those to follow.
Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year's! I'm sad I didn't get to see the White Christmas we had at home this year. Instead I had my sweaty Christmas :) I love and miss everyone back home, and the holidays only reiterated this fact even more.
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