Christmas: Round 1

They say Christmas only comes once a year but really, why limit yourself to just one? This holiday season I am celebrating two rounds of Christmas--American in December and Macedonian in January. On Christmas eve, ten of us gathered at fellow volunteer Ashley's house in a village near my site. Seeing many people for the first time since we went to our permanent sites, I enjoyed catching up with them over copious cookies and much frivolity ensued as a gathering of that many 20-somethings is apt to generate.

Christmas Day I hosted at my apartment, with the guest list ballooning to 15! First we took turns using my computer to Skype home to our families. Because we were talking on the computer, we could hear each others' conversations and we got a big kick out hearing so many accents from all over the U.S. As for Christmas dinner, luckily I got out of cooking the main dish because one of my guests, Natty, home-made spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta prep work was done in my apartment, with my laundry rack put to work as a spaghetti drying rack. You can see it in the background of some of the photos I posted under the Picasa albums. Unfortunately I didn't have enough seats for everyone but Christmas dinner is no less delicious eaten on the couch, a stool, standing up, or sitting on the floor.

Having so many friends travel to my town to celebrate Christmas was a wonderful present and there have been other holiday treats too. On Tuesday, I sang carols in the streets with my upstairs neighbor Heather and her guests from Australia. Wednesday, Bitola had a German Christmas festival and I snarfed down a bratwurst and German pretzel while listening to Macedonian Christmas carols for the first time. On Saturday, a few of my visitors and I ate at the Chinese restaurant in Bitola. Chinese is a rare find in Macedonia, so this was my first Asian food in four months and I'm eager to indulge again. And continuing the wonderful food, Heather and her friends made tacos on Monday. I've been in Mexican food withdrawal and I really savored another food first since my arrival in Macedonia. I'm planning to train for the Skopje marathon and my training can't start soon enough with all the delicious food I've been consuming...and I've still got two more weeks of Christmas season to get through!