This was our second, and probably last, Christmas spent in the Dominican Republic. Most volunteers went home for the holidays, but having visited in August we stuck around. And I’m glad we did. Last year was difficult because we were still living with a host family and had to hide in our room and have a little Christmas opening presents and listening to music for the morning before being taken to a crowded club on Christmas evening. This year was much better because when you live in the Caribbean and have control over your own schedule, Christmas can be great. We missed seeing family and friends and look forward to next December, but it’s in the 80’s here and we spent the 24th and 25th at the beach. We actually did quite a bit of traveling for Christmas week. We went to the capital for a couple days for the country director’s Christmas party. We spent the morning of Christmas Eve opening presents in our house while drinking coffee and listening to music. A huge thanks goes out to my mom for sending us presents and Christmas decorations. Then that evening we stayed at Juan Dolio, our favorite beach get-away. Christmas Day we went east to Bayahibe and stayed with five other volunteers in a hotel room and the empty house of another volunteer visiting the States (thanks, Selina!). My dad and Nancy arrived that evening and we saw them for about an hour before letting them go back to the hotel to rest while we spent the rest of Christmas with the volunteers. For Christmas dinner we had tacos and chocolate cake.
Our Christmas tree with our presents and presents from Mom!
Coolest present so far: The Waboba ball my mom sent me. It skips on the water and goes really far. I wouldn’t have much use for this in the States, but in the relatively calm, shallow waters here it’s perfect. In the short time I’ve had this it’s become very popular among several other volunteers. Sweet.
Christmas anecdote: Kristy and I pretty much bought each other the same presents. There were a couple differences, like I bought her some jewelry and she got me some cool toys. But we both bought each other coffee and chocolate, and we bought the exact same set of coasters. These coasters also come in one of four different holders, and we each bought the same holder. There’s only one store that we know of that sells these coasters, and they wrap presents for you. So when we put our presents under our “tree” and saw two with the same shape and wrapping, we looked at each other with our “We’re becoming the same person” look, which is similar to our “Oh no, we’re both nerds” look. The reason these coasters are cool is that they have themes that remind us of the DR. Most touristy junk is unappealing, but these are unique…except in the Humphreys house where we have two.
Our identical coasters
"You're a monster!"
So glad most of the packages got there in time and that you had a great Christmas! Love you! 5rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr4 (Gandalf standing on the keyboard!)