Holidays

Happy Holidays from the Dominican Republic. Kisha and I have been down here for over 6 months now, and we have my parents in for a holiday visit. It's nice to have a little piece of home here with us in our adventure, for sure. We've been eating meals with friends to introduce them to the folks, spending good quality time talking and watching movies, and today the women went to the shoe store where they found more than just shoes... dresses and outfits, too! Imagine that.

It was really nice to receive a care package from our house church crew. We now have swanky chocolate, tasty tea, American coffee, an entire collection of DVD's, and at least one holiday tie. I feel thoroughly blessed... I'm not really a gifty sort of person, but being this far from home it's super nice to get something from the motherland. I can guarantee that I'll be able to identify with people who have moved to the states from another country. It's a weird feeling not being able to get a hold of what you are used to, and to be in a place where people speak just a little too fast and with too much slang to really know what's going on. It is a strange and lonely feeling that I think one has to experience to understand.

I'm on day 8 of my Christmas break, and it's nice to just be able to take a nap whenever I want. Now I'm at the spot where I'm a little itchy looking for something to do. It will be nice to take the folks to the capital and look at all the historical goodness the oldest European city in the New World has to offer. Plus they have some American restaurants, and I could go for a little Hard Rock Cafe right about now. We found an entry in the Rough Guide that says there's a place that will sell a falafel sandwich, and I'm so hard up for some Mediterranean food that I'll chance having to tell them to hold the ketchup and mayo.



I didn't know how hard being away from home during the holidays was going to be. I was already dealing with the ebbs and flows of culture shock, and being away from home didn't make it any easier. Living in a third world country is definitely different than visiting a third world country. I'm learning patience and contentedness, but at the same time finding new boundaries that I didn't know existed. Life adventures have a way of offering self-realization opportunities. Thank Jesus for that!