Christmas

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy (really belated) Hanukkah!

I spent Christmas in a very similar way to how I spent Thanksgiving: at the Peace Corps site with my stage eating delicious food! To be perfectly honest, Christmas was a little rough. Perhaps because I had experienced no issues celebrating Christmas away from my family in Ghana three years ago, and Thanksgiving was uneventful, I sort of expected to have no trouble with being away for Christmas this year…

Unfortunately, most of the day I found myself thinking about what everyone back at home was doing. Things like Daniela performing Sugar Plum in the Nutcracker, and my dad reading The Gift of the Magi by the fireplace. A combination of inclement weather in London and general slowness in the Niamey Post Office prevented my group from receiving any mail the entire two weeks leading up to Christmas, which only added to the homesick and distant feeling.

Although I was a little down most of the day, I went to bed in great spirits. The stars on Christmas night were incredible! I’m pretty sure I counted seven shooting stars. This is one of my favorite things about Niger. No matter how my day goes, I can always count on seeing an incredible star show at night and this always helps remind me of how happy I am to be here.