I hope you are keeping
warm as winter approaches, even though I hear it’s been unseasonably warm in Chicago lately! Here I can finally declare: summer has
arrived! I have to say if I can’t have a
white winter, a hot beach holiday is not a bad trade. The year is winding down here in South Africa
which means one thing - vacation! The
school year in South Africa
begins in January and ends in November with summer break taking place from now
until half way through January. The
students have finished writing their exams that they’ve studied so hard for, and
summer holiday has begun!
December break feels like
a country wide vacation because it is not just the schools that close for
extended periods of time. My organization
for example will close its doors December 14th and not reopen until
the schools do. In my opinion this is
fantastic and I’m sure I will never have this much vacation time at any other
job. The holiday time here isn’t quite
like how it is in the States. Here
Christmas things made an appearance in big city stores before October – my friend’s
theory is this is because they don’t have Halloween or Thanksgiving to hold it
off. I would have to agree, more
evidence of this came when I attended a festive Christmas dinner the day after
Thanksgiving.
Vacation time in the
township is a chance for everyone to do things that they’ve put off for a
while. One example of this is the
intensive all house cleans where all furniture is removed from the house and every
square inch is scrubbed inside and out.
My host sister spent over two full days with hired help doing this! Many people will spruce up their homes with a
new paint job (in awesomely bright colors).
Some have cement or dirt floors that they cover with the floor
equivalent of wall paper, and December is the time to replace these
papers. I’ve seen countless people
walking back from town with rolls of flooring slung over their shoulder. This is a time for getting things done!
Christmas is widely
celebrated here as most people are Christian.
While Christmas for some South African’s might be similar to what we are
used to in the States, Christmas in my township is quite different. Looking around in my town you wouldn’t know
that it’s Christmas time because there aren’t decorations up (with very rare exceptions). The Xhosa people I live with don’t set up
Christmas trees in their house, hang stockings, wreaths or lights, but they
still have plenty of Christmas traditions.
Christmas morning starts with a trip to church in their new Christmas
clothes. After church little children
will go around the neighborhood with bags and collect sweets and little toys
from their neighbors. Extended families
will come together for a big Christmas lunch and parties afterwards. Children are familiar with Santa Claus but
don’t believe that he brings them gifts.
Many families in my
township are in poverty and can’t afford to give gifts on Christmas day. Despite this most families will find a way to
make sure that everyone at least has a brand new Christmas outfit – “Christmas
clothes” are a very big deal. Another
big holiday tradition is to go to the beach on New Years Day. This is the one day a year that people will
go to the beach which is only a 20 minute drive from our township. At the beach they go swimming, braai (bbq)
and party! You would not believe how
crowded the beaches of South
Africa are on New Years Day – it is a
country wide tradition!
It has been sort of
bizarre coming from 23 years of white, winter, consumer Christmases - to summer
with almost no commercial indication that it’s Christmas time – but it’s
actually kind of nice! I look forward to
next year when I’ll be home for a winter holiday, but in the meantime I’ll take
my Christmas on the beach and not complain!
I’m celebrating the holiday season my own way by watching holiday movies
and listening to Christmas music. I also
set out my little Christmas tree thanks to the Smith family!
My big vacation of the
year is finally here and begins on this Friday!
The “holiday” kicks off with our PC Close of Service (COS) conference in
Pretoria. I honestly can’t believe that this is here –
this is the event that happens to prep us for when we finish our service in
March (by the way my OFFICIAL end of service is March 22nd!). All of SA23 (the group I arrived with in South Africa
back in January 2011) will come together for this final conference. We will get all the details and logistics of
what’s to come. I haven’t seen most
people in this group (with the exception of three people in fact) since back in
March – so I am VERY excited to see everyone again!
The conference will take
place at a nice lodge outside of Pretoria
(and the last night is my birthday and there is a This is Africa (TIA) themed
party which I’m going to pretend is my birthday party!). After the conference three of my PCV friends
and I will head back down to Port Elizabeth to
start our journey on the “Garden
Route” on a road trip to Cape Town!
We’ll be on the Garden
Route in the Western Cape for five days as we make our
way along the coast. We have lots of
adventures in store including zip lining and caving! I’m really, really excited! We will end our road trip in the beautiful
city of Cape Town
and there with other Peace Corps Volunteers, and my South African friend
Michelle I’ll celebrate Christmas and New Years. As if that wasn’t enough, after I come back
from Cape Town with Michelle I’ll spend the week with her and the rest of the
Smiths at the Cannon Rocks Kite boarding Classic – a kite surfing competition. Pretty much I’m in for a month solid of fun in
the sun! : )
Happy Holidays to all of
you! I hope you all have a great winter
break and whatever you celebrate I hope it’s filled with lots of happiness and
joy!
