Winter Break Shenanigans: New Year in Cambodia 2018

Winter break in Cambodia has been a mixture of busy and relaxing.

The kids got money from Grammy this December. They’ve been talking about learning ukulele, so it was the perfect time to get one. (It’s also a small enough instrument to fit in the luggage.)

We put a rear-facing car seat in the tuktuk. Sometimes she likes it and sometimes she screams. It’s a good thing to get used to.

The kids have been out of school for almost two weeks now. They enjoyed getting things like French toast for breakfast since we’re usually too busy for that (and it has too much sugar! Here, Ezra is licking the powdered sugar spoon.)

It wasn’t all sugar, though, Ben made this awesome supper of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and asparagus one evening! Delicious!

We were able to take the kids to Kid City for the first time! The older ones loved Clip ‘n Climb and Zoe enjoyed Toddler Town.

We visited the “park” and since there were no play places, the kids invented their own. We enjoyed being in the green!

Paying for the Rosca

Christmas is celebrated in Mexico with a variety of different slants: some of my students believed in Santa, some did not (try being the one they go to to settle that argument) and some waited until the Day of the Kings; or Dia de Los Reyes to get gifts. (Some received gifts BOTH times.) this celebration of the wise men arriving to see baby Jesus is traditionally accompanied with rosca, or king cake. Inside the cake are little figurines of the baby Jesus, and if you get one, you (here) are responsible for bringing tamales the 2nd of February.

Of course, I got one. The owner of the school took care of the tamales so instead I made cinnamon rolls. 75-80 of them. I filled the original rosca container- it seemed fitting, and was big enough to transport them covered.

Ben ALSO got a figurine and his job was to bring champurrada, or hot chocolate. Elias helped him with it this morning:

Out of the 75-80 I brought, only 7 made it back home. It was a fun experience!

50 Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I was excited to hear about Shutterfly's newest promotion, allowing bloggers to blog about their cards for 50 free cards. They have a nice variety (New Year's cards for those who do not celebrate Christmas.) Since we are in Guatemala, winning things free online that can be shipped to one of our parent's houses is the way to go. From there, we can do our thing when we visit in December. I love that I can customize right from Guatemala before sending it off. And... photo cards are the best!

I like the way that this one is easy to save as a not-so-Christmassy keepsake.

And they way this one is square and collaged.

But I think this one is my favorite. It's focus isn't seasonal, and I like the layout. It has a lot of space to include cool Guatemalan pictures from this year for our families to have a neat keepsake of us from our life in Guatemala.

Reflections on Christmas in a "foreign" country

As I'm sitting in my living room in Guatemala City on a quiet Sunday afternoon in early November, listening to a somewhat drunk man outside doing covers of popular Latin pop songs, including "Feliz Navidad," it hits me again.

I live in a "foreign" country.

But do I?

Guatemala is foreign in the sense that life is different, the geography is different, people are different. Different than what should be considered normal, by anyone that I grew up with, and maybe by myself, too.

But the reality is that it's not really "foreign" to me anymore. Oh, it's different, and frustrating, and all of those other things. In spite all that, it's what I call "home" for now. The crazy driving, the loong waits everywhere, the fact that no one is in a hurry (unless they're driving!) - that's all normal to me now.

There are only a few reasons that I can feel this way, though. We speak Spanish, we enjoy the food (well, to some extent; Guatemalan tortillas still don't sit too well with me), and we enjoy meeting new people. I suppose if any of that were different, Guatemala would seem more "foreign."

This year will be different, though. Last year, we spent Christmas with just our little 3-person family alone in Guatemala, and we struggled to find our own traditions, since every other time we'd been with family in the USA. This year, we've decided to visit the US and enjoy the time with our extended family, since that's the main time everyone is guaranteed to be within arm-wrestling distance :D

Even though we won't be in Guatemala for Christmas, that doesn't mean that we won't be celebrating Christmas semi-Chapin style! We've got a lot planned before we go, including a trip to El Salvador over Thanksgiving weekend. I've been burning the midnight oil getting ready for the launch of our "Christmas in Guatemala 101" ebook - stay tuned for more details on that later this week!