Oh the Holidays!

Sometimes I cannot even imagine being in the states. I think about myself driving around with a big cup of tea and a bran muffin listening to American music and it looks like someone else. Lately my thoughts about being home have gotten more frequent because many of my volunteer friends are going back for the holidays. They will be pulled out of this world to the Christmas madness, hot showers, carpets, and real bread that constitute the American dream. I am confident in my choice to stay here for the holidays especially because some of the family is coming to visit in February, woohoo! Thanksgiving was a breeze. There was a big Peace Corps party where we had a run, sports, dancing and food binging to the point of sickness, just like home!

I will spend Christmas in my site which may or many not give me a hint of what I am used to. From what I hear, the town fills with cars of family members who have moved away. There are very few people here with private vehicles and none that are not trucks so the presence of cars marks any big special time in town. Other than a large dinner on the night of the 24th involving goat meat, I think Christmas is just a chance to get together and drink and dance bachata and merengue. There is no custom of cutting down trees or gift giving, two traditions that I am sincerely not sorry to miss. Christmas cards, however, I am unwilling to forgo. I started chatting with people about this and realized immediately that card giving in general is a foreign concept. I decided to facilitate a Christmas card making session with poster board, old magazines, crayons and glitter.

I invited a bunch of high school kids and encouraged them to bring anything they had around the house. When they showed up empty handed, they told me that they didn’t understand what we were doing. Who were the cards for, what were they supposed to look like and why hadn’t I showed up with models for them to copy. We started with scrap paper and pencils and many sat waiting still looking over a friends shoulder. My little fifteen year old friend informed me that I needed to teach them how to draw first and we spent the entire allotted time talking about creativity, the thought that counts, and my usual babble about reusing material. No one completed a card nor wanted to work on it at home so I rescheduled for today. I am equipped with more recycled paper, and a few example cards (probably a mistake but well varied and difficult to copy) and more maybe more explanation about the thought that counts.

While I was a little worried about starting too early before Christmas or using materials that you have to buy for kids who could not buy them themselves, I think introduction of art outweighs these preoccupations. We will see how the session today fares but I am excited about being a creativity pusher. The lack of expression is also apparent with the little kids. I have eighteen pictures of houses from kids who come over to color, color a little house with two windows and a flag that apparently they learn in school, and then won’t take their pictures home. Like many things in this country, I don’t understand the fear of doing a little original art or of taking things home but I am not afraid to be that weird white girl pushing kids to color outside the lines. Plus, I could use a little glitter in my life!