Lets talk about the elephant in the room: It is Christmas time and I'm still far away from home (not a big surprise there) and yes, I am having a hard time with it. Harder then I expected anyway. Around Thanksgiving time I started to feel a little homesick, but it wasn't horrible and talking with my family during their Christmas party was more exciting than anything else so I didn't foresee things taking a bah humbug like nosedive but they kind of have. Okay maybe bah humbug is a bit of a strong descriptive phase, lately I've found myself in a little bit of a Christmas funk that came out of seemingly no where. I will be just fine I'm sure, but I am also feeling really homesick for Christmas and all that it entails-family, traditions, family, the coziness of the season, family and even snow-which A) I don't really like anyway, I just like it at Christmas time and B) I hear home doesn't really have snow anyway. Oh and did I mention my family?
I had been planning a couple of different things that would help lessen the blow of experiencing Christmas by myself while on the other side of the world-but one by one almost all those things have fallen through. But even then it wasn't bad until Berlyn's parents bought her tickets to come home for Christmas and then come back to Rising Star afterwords that I really started feeling sad about my Christmas situation. BUT-in the most sincerely happy and non-covetous way possible. I am crazy happy/jealous for/of her. Jealously happy for her? I think it is awesome that she gets to have the best of both worlds. If I had the opportunity to do that I would in a heartbeat. The saddest part of it for me though is that Berlyn was my Christmas buddy. Of course the Youngs are here and of course they are nothing but kind, generous and welcoming. I have grown closer to them over the last couple of months, which I have sincerely enjoyed. We are doing some Christmas things all together, but I still feel a little intruder-ish simply because they have their whole family here and then there is me. I guess when I pictured Christmas in India I didn't really picture it as everyone having family to share it with but me but that is kind of what it has turned into so it has been a little bit of a bummer. But lucky for me Berlyn made a christmas tree for our room before she left. She didn't make it knowing she was leaving, but now I get to enjoy it's festively abstract presence while she is gone. And no, it really didn't look much different once it was finished.
SO--needless to say I have been making an extra conscious effort to incorporate Christmas into my life over the last couple of weeks. It has been a good effort for me to focus on because it has been helping me to feel less full of bah humbug and more full of pure Christmas spirit, even when my physical surroundings feel anything but Christmas like. I've accomplished this by doing little random act of kindness, stretching forth that extra bit of charity to others, listening to Christmas music (which has been good and bad----I've always liked Josh Groban's version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" where soldiers are wishing Merry Christmas to their family--but I have a hard time listening to it as of late. It now has this weird effect on me where it causes my heart to ache and my my throat to get tight and my eyes to burn.) baking (not really any Christmassy foods but I do have some things I am planning to try....), reflecting more on Christ, etc.
I also thought it would be helpful to make a Christmas card this year. Berlyn and I have been brainstorming ideas, but sadly she left before we were ever able to pull it off. Not that we didn't try--there were some other attempts (I'll have to get those pics from her when she gets back) but basically it was a struggle. We wouldn't have time to do it until evening and then we would lose daylight or we would go to get the goats and the key to let them out wouldn't work. I thought taking Christmas pics was a nightmare with children but I would say it was quiet the nightmare with Saree's and goats too. Needless to say the pics didn't turn out exactly as planned (hence why there is only one goat in our picture and not two) but I am still glad we did it. But lets be honest, nothing about this past year really turned out as planned so maybe this years Christmas picture can be representative of that. I am glad we persevered though-it makes for a fun memory if nothing else. But I am happy with the results. The final product turned out like so:
And of course there were some fun outtakes as well:
But for the sake of being accurate, maybe it should of been just a picture of Lola and I since we will be the family-less campus wanders. Or just a picture of me since Lola has Carl (aka Carla, aka Lisa).
I went to say hi to Lola a few days after this little photo shoot, but when I got close to her she promptly got up, which revealed a neat little pile of goat poop, turned around so her backside was facing me, and accentuated her symmetrical pile of poop with a cascading urine waterfall. How is that for a greeting?!?!?! Maybe she didn't like being a reindeer after all (weird). Dr. Susan insists this is her way of saying that she likes me--because the only way she would do that to me is if she was really comfortable with me. Obviously right? Why go for a nuzzle or come toward someone with your face when you can turn around and relive your bowels in their face. That makes perfect sense.
Needless to say, I don't really buy it but Dr. Susan was pretty set on that being the truth. Jury is still out I guess.
Sadly, Summer's time on campus is drawing to a close. She goes to Delhi this Friday and will come back to Chennai but only to the airport and I won't get to see her. I feel like I have such an opposite schedule from the dance masters so I never end up getting much one on one time with them. I've liked Summer from day one but I always seemed to have an unfortunate case of "say/do something awkward" whenever I got the chance to spend much time around her. I have no idea why this kept happening, but it was really frustrating to me. Maybe she didn't even notice, but I did and I would always kick myself later on. However, I am happy to report that I finally broke free of that issue her last couple of days on campus. And we have had a ball. Our schedules actually aligned enough that we went on an adventure to the junction one morning. I took her to the the tailoring shop to have her sari top made and we hit up a few different places as well. We went to leave but got stuck there due to another huge rainstorm hitting out of what was seemingly no where. That seems to happen a lot in the junction. It was fun though because we just chilled and talked while we waited out the rain. Summer has been such an example of courage to me--in light of some things she has going on in her personal life. She has taught me a zillion other things as well though and kept me laughing at her Emperor's New Groove impressions through it all. I am really going to miss her. But, her leaving will give me a good excuse to go see her in Chicago. I'd imagine while I'm there I'll probably "have" to go to see a few of her broadway shows too. That will be rough, but I'll do it for my Sum Sum. :)
Here are some pics from her last LifeDance class. She is such a performer I love it!
I had been planning a couple of different things that would help lessen the blow of experiencing Christmas by myself while on the other side of the world-but one by one almost all those things have fallen through. But even then it wasn't bad until Berlyn's parents bought her tickets to come home for Christmas and then come back to Rising Star afterwords that I really started feeling sad about my Christmas situation. BUT-in the most sincerely happy and non-covetous way possible. I am crazy happy/jealous for/of her. Jealously happy for her? I think it is awesome that she gets to have the best of both worlds. If I had the opportunity to do that I would in a heartbeat. The saddest part of it for me though is that Berlyn was my Christmas buddy. Of course the Youngs are here and of course they are nothing but kind, generous and welcoming. I have grown closer to them over the last couple of months, which I have sincerely enjoyed. We are doing some Christmas things all together, but I still feel a little intruder-ish simply because they have their whole family here and then there is me. I guess when I pictured Christmas in India I didn't really picture it as everyone having family to share it with but me but that is kind of what it has turned into so it has been a little bit of a bummer. But lucky for me Berlyn made a christmas tree for our room before she left. She didn't make it knowing she was leaving, but now I get to enjoy it's festively abstract presence while she is gone. And no, it really didn't look much different once it was finished.
SO--needless to say I have been making an extra conscious effort to incorporate Christmas into my life over the last couple of weeks. It has been a good effort for me to focus on because it has been helping me to feel less full of bah humbug and more full of pure Christmas spirit, even when my physical surroundings feel anything but Christmas like. I've accomplished this by doing little random act of kindness, stretching forth that extra bit of charity to others, listening to Christmas music (which has been good and bad----I've always liked Josh Groban's version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" where soldiers are wishing Merry Christmas to their family--but I have a hard time listening to it as of late. It now has this weird effect on me where it causes my heart to ache and my my throat to get tight and my eyes to burn.) baking (not really any Christmassy foods but I do have some things I am planning to try....), reflecting more on Christ, etc.
I also thought it would be helpful to make a Christmas card this year. Berlyn and I have been brainstorming ideas, but sadly she left before we were ever able to pull it off. Not that we didn't try--there were some other attempts (I'll have to get those pics from her when she gets back) but basically it was a struggle. We wouldn't have time to do it until evening and then we would lose daylight or we would go to get the goats and the key to let them out wouldn't work. I thought taking Christmas pics was a nightmare with children but I would say it was quiet the nightmare with Saree's and goats too. Needless to say the pics didn't turn out exactly as planned (hence why there is only one goat in our picture and not two) but I am still glad we did it. But lets be honest, nothing about this past year really turned out as planned so maybe this years Christmas picture can be representative of that. I am glad we persevered though-it makes for a fun memory if nothing else. But I am happy with the results. The final product turned out like so:
And of course there were some fun outtakes as well:
This pic depicts Lola PERFECTLY
But for the sake of being accurate, maybe it should of been just a picture of Lola and I since we will be the family-less campus wanders. Or just a picture of me since Lola has Carl (aka Carla, aka Lisa).
I went to say hi to Lola a few days after this little photo shoot, but when I got close to her she promptly got up, which revealed a neat little pile of goat poop, turned around so her backside was facing me, and accentuated her symmetrical pile of poop with a cascading urine waterfall. How is that for a greeting?!?!?! Maybe she didn't like being a reindeer after all (weird). Dr. Susan insists this is her way of saying that she likes me--because the only way she would do that to me is if she was really comfortable with me. Obviously right? Why go for a nuzzle or come toward someone with your face when you can turn around and relive your bowels in their face. That makes perfect sense.
Needless to say, I don't really buy it but Dr. Susan was pretty set on that being the truth. Jury is still out I guess.
Sadly, Summer's time on campus is drawing to a close. She goes to Delhi this Friday and will come back to Chennai but only to the airport and I won't get to see her. I feel like I have such an opposite schedule from the dance masters so I never end up getting much one on one time with them. I've liked Summer from day one but I always seemed to have an unfortunate case of "say/do something awkward" whenever I got the chance to spend much time around her. I have no idea why this kept happening, but it was really frustrating to me. Maybe she didn't even notice, but I did and I would always kick myself later on. However, I am happy to report that I finally broke free of that issue her last couple of days on campus. And we have had a ball. Our schedules actually aligned enough that we went on an adventure to the junction one morning. I took her to the the tailoring shop to have her sari top made and we hit up a few different places as well. We went to leave but got stuck there due to another huge rainstorm hitting out of what was seemingly no where. That seems to happen a lot in the junction. It was fun though because we just chilled and talked while we waited out the rain. Summer has been such an example of courage to me--in light of some things she has going on in her personal life. She has taught me a zillion other things as well though and kept me laughing at her Emperor's New Groove impressions through it all. I am really going to miss her. But, her leaving will give me a good excuse to go see her in Chicago. I'd imagine while I'm there I'll probably "have" to go to see a few of her broadway shows too. That will be rough, but I'll do it for my Sum Sum. :)
Here are some pics from her last LifeDance class. She is such a performer I love it!
And very last but certainly not least, we had two volunteers show up the other day as well. Their names are Carl. They are a father and son team who are from America but are living in Abu Dhabi for the time being. The staff printed out their name tag for their room and it just said Carl. And since both of them are named Carl we have just stared calling them "The Carls". When they need differentiation we say Big Carl or Little Carl/Carl Jr. And then we get super hungry. They have volunteered with Rising Star in the past, but now they are looking into starting some bee colonies as an income generating activity for the leprosy patients. Most of their time has been spent on doing personal things related to that or otherwise, but they have been fun to have around. They introduced us to Hob Nobs dipped in Nutella---which were A-MAZING--and brought a bunch of the danish cookies that Claartje brought us-not knowing how much we love and miss them. When Big Carl told us he had those Brooklyn and I got so excited that she stood up and I am pretty sure I shrieked. They were completely involuntary reactions though--we were just that excited to have more of those sacred Danish cookies. Carl was really generous and gave each of us a pack which contained not 1 BUT 2 BIG cookies. I'm not sure what those things have in them but its amazing what ever it is. I'm debating flying home through Amsterdam for the sole purpose of picking up some of those cookies.
