Holiday Ramblings

Ah, the cognitive and emotional dissonance of celebrating the holidays overseas! What is one to think whilst, nearly antipodal to one's kin, he is assaulted by the juxtaposition of summer hallmarks and winter celebrations? I needed a towel this year to mop off the sweat generated while decorating the Christmas tree. . . if that's what one can call the spray painted branches adorned with ornaments that currently stands sentinel in our family room. A thunderstorm and the neighbor's techno music interrupted our singing of "Silent Night." We cut out paper snowflakes with the air conditioner set to max.

Amidst all the features of another caddywompus overseas Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is a real joy here that is difficult to relate to those who haven't yet experienced this life. Friends become family-like in the common absence of real family. Old traditions bend, but don't break. And once in awhile there is profundity in discovering that people half a world away, while completely different, are really just the same. I'm really looking forward to celebrating Jesus' birth with our Batswana brothers and sisters.