Home for the Holidays

The title is probably misleading, but one of the most common assumptions I've gotten is if I'm going home for Christmas. I guess it's because the term,"Home for the Holidays," is so engrained in our society. All the college students come home for Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas, and everyone gets out of school. The family comes together for the holiday season, but I'm still across the ocean.

I may not be "home" in the states, but this is my home for now, and I've got to accept that. I've been here for three whole months now. I might not have my real family with me, but I've got my YES Abroad family, my host family, and the church community here to call my family.

For awhile I wasn't sure how much I was going to celebrate Christmas. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to risk getting homesick, but now I've decided I'm going all out. I'm having Christmas in Morocco guys! I might be one of the few who celebrate this holiday, but if you keep your eyes peeled here, you can catch the little signs that Christmas is coming.

It's not like in the states where there's lights and Christmas trees everywhere, this is more like a scavenger hunt. At Carrefour, a French supermarket chain here, they have a small section of Christmas items with a couple of chocolate Santas, and then two or three Barbie advent calendars. Then at one of the computer stores on Ibn Sina, there's a Christmas tree tucked into the corner just showing through the window. OYSHO, an expensive pajama store, has just stocked up on fuzzy sweaters and various red and green flannel pants.

On Saturday, we decorated Christmas trees at the church. They might have been fake, and weren't coming home with us, but they were Christmas trees all the same and it was wonderful. Then on Sunday we sang Christmas Carols out of a hymn book. The Christmas season is always special, but I think all those little things are even more special right now because of their rarity. 

I'm sitting here on my bed listening to Christmas carols and jingling the bells on my slipper socks, because I might be thousands away from "home" in a country that is fairly foreign to the idea of Christmas, but I am going to make the most of it. So if you're walking through Agdal sometime this month and see a girl dressed in red in green, humming Christmas carols then it's probably me.

Comments

  1. Oh good. I was worried that next time I'm in Agdal I'd miss you :)

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