It's December, it's cold, it's Christmas time!
I decided an artificial tree was unbearable (this year anyway), so off to the nursery I went a few days ago. Cut pine trees are not available for purchase, but live ones can be bought. So the little old farmer guy on the far edge of town (20 miles away), anticipating the arrival of foreigners like me, had already dug a bunch of pine trees out of the ground and had them ready to take away. I picked the shortest one, bought a red pot to put it in and a little extra dirt, and I was set for Christmas! The tree cost the equivalent of $19 and the pot was $6.39. The round trip taxi ride cost almost as much as the tree.
Some city slicker was at the nursery and jokingly accused the old farmer of hiking up the price because of me being a foreigner. The farmer said, "I did not! Why would I do that? Only foreigners buy these trees in the first place, so the price is the same for all of them!"
(Christians in this country celebrate the spiritual aspect of Christmas, but not the traditional and commercials aspects of it that we are most familiar with. They go to church on Christmas, but they don't put trees in their homes.)
I got my "short" tree home, and found out it is about 8 feet tall. It's perfect. Photos coming some other day.
I am busy making fudge, cookies and Rice Krispy treats for my big blow-out party this weekend. The invitees are all 20-something (and a few 30-something) young professionals who may have never been to a foreigner's home before, or else they have never been to a Christmas party before. They seem pretty enthused at the prospect of coming over. I've invited about 30 of them. If they all come, there won't be room for them. But there will be food for that many. Maybe some of them can stand on the balcony and eat fudge.
I went out and bought six small folding chairs and about 50 pounds of groceries today, and carried it all back to my place at the same time by e-bike ... with a wind chill factor right at freezing. Not fun, but definitely not boring -- no no, not my life!
Now if I can just keep Mimi out of the candy until the party is over ... I'm gonna collapse when this party is over. But hopefully it will be worth the trouble as I deepen relationships with local people.
I decided an artificial tree was unbearable (this year anyway), so off to the nursery I went a few days ago. Cut pine trees are not available for purchase, but live ones can be bought. So the little old farmer guy on the far edge of town (20 miles away), anticipating the arrival of foreigners like me, had already dug a bunch of pine trees out of the ground and had them ready to take away. I picked the shortest one, bought a red pot to put it in and a little extra dirt, and I was set for Christmas! The tree cost the equivalent of $19 and the pot was $6.39. The round trip taxi ride cost almost as much as the tree.
Some city slicker was at the nursery and jokingly accused the old farmer of hiking up the price because of me being a foreigner. The farmer said, "I did not! Why would I do that? Only foreigners buy these trees in the first place, so the price is the same for all of them!"
(Christians in this country celebrate the spiritual aspect of Christmas, but not the traditional and commercials aspects of it that we are most familiar with. They go to church on Christmas, but they don't put trees in their homes.)
I got my "short" tree home, and found out it is about 8 feet tall. It's perfect. Photos coming some other day.
I am busy making fudge, cookies and Rice Krispy treats for my big blow-out party this weekend. The invitees are all 20-something (and a few 30-something) young professionals who may have never been to a foreigner's home before, or else they have never been to a Christmas party before. They seem pretty enthused at the prospect of coming over. I've invited about 30 of them. If they all come, there won't be room for them. But there will be food for that many. Maybe some of them can stand on the balcony and eat fudge.
I went out and bought six small folding chairs and about 50 pounds of groceries today, and carried it all back to my place at the same time by e-bike ... with a wind chill factor right at freezing. Not fun, but definitely not boring -- no no, not my life!
Now if I can just keep Mimi out of the candy until the party is over ... I'm gonna collapse when this party is over. But hopefully it will be worth the trouble as I deepen relationships with local people.
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