No candlelight Christmas Eve service here, but the way the Christmas lights inside the Chinese/Indian Cuisine restaurant glowed, there was a bit of that peaceful feeling. No egg nog, but I cut open a coconut with my pocketknife and drank. No snow, but my clothes are still drying from the downpour of rain. No turkey was carved, but we carved a pineapple for dinner last night. No pine trees, but palm trees are plentiful. No Pikes Peak, but I did get up this morning and watch the sun rise over Mt Kilimanjaro.
So Christmas in Africa-it has been an experience! I took a 48 hour train ride with three Peace Corps friends up to Tanzania. It was beautiful! An awesome (but rather long) way to see most of Zambia and a lot of Tanzania. We got off the train in Dar es Salem. The name of the city means "Haven of Peace" and is on the Indian Ocean. We ate Christmas Eve dinner at the Chinese/Indian Cuisine place, which reminded us all of The Christmas Story movie. The waitress however, did not sing us carols. The food was actually awesome and we ended up at a hotel that served a dessert buffet. Christmas morning we went out for breakfast in our pajamas just to carry on the lifelong tradition of staying in your pajamas until at least 11:30 on Christmas morning. Everyone does that right? The afternoon was spent at the ocean, eating, shopping and just enjoying a great day. I was able to talk with my family back home which was so nice, but bittersweet. That night we went to the nicest hotel (we weren't actually staying there) and had a 5 course Christmas dinner. Then Tuesday we hopped on a bus that dropped us here in Moshi, which is a little town nestled in the foothills of Africa's tallest mountain. We watched the sun rise this morning and will be hiking and playing this afternoon. So far the trip has been really relaxing and fun. I'll send pictures as soon as possible.
I sincerely hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and that the New Year will be full of adventure. I wish you all were here with me! Blessings!
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6 comments:
Hey Cait,
Christmas out here was great. Weather was in the high 40s or low 50s and sunny. Spent all day in front of the fire with Tim, April, Hunter, and Delaney- and of course the rest of the fam. Can't wait to get your new pics. There was a blizzard out here last week and it looks like another good storm will be coming in tomorrow. We all missed you.
Love,
Ry
Hi Cait from Western Washington,
It sounds like you had a great Christmas, although away from from your family in the US. We had a great Christmas with our middle daughter, Denee, and my wife and I. Rain has been the weather pattern for the past two months, but today is blue skies and mid 30s. We had a super webcam hook up with Danielle and Renee and their families. Everyone showed off their gifts and Danielle her extended tummy. Bonnie heads back on 1/8 for four weeks to help with Alivia and the new baby, Jayden Thomas. Guess the baby has turned and is ready, so Grandma better hurry. What an awesome God we have that the birth of our young ones are so perfect.
God Bless you and your team.
Love, Tom and Bonnie
Hey Catie!!!
We had a great Christmas here in San Diego with Grandma Barker. Actually, we really celebrated the day after, since Chris had to work on Christmas. So Chris and Kelli came down, and my parents were here from Texas. Unfortunately, Dustin and I were sick with food poisoning from the night before, so we were laid out on the couch all day long. :) Oh, well. It was still a great Christmas. We love you! Can't wait to see the pictures from this fun adventure! Merry Christmas!
Love,
Kimee Kinney :)
Caitlyn,
It's been nice to peek into your life via the web. What an exciting time! April and I had an interesting Christmas cooking for a children's deaf school in Mexico. April was bummed that it wasn't noisier! Interesting what kind of experience you can have when your daughter's out of town!
We miss you!
Mark and April
Oh Cait, I do believe you've been blessed with the gift of words. Your stories are truly touching, and paint such a vivid picture of your travels and expierences. We wish you were here with us as well! I was able to make it home for Christmas but the blizzard Ry mentioned got in the way of my original flight, and I finally made it home on Christmas day - which cut my 5 day trip down to 2 days. I made it out the day before the 2nd blizzard hit, so God really blessed me by keeping me far away from bad weather. My family is pretty much the same as they've always been. The only thing that changes is our growing love for Kate, and watching her grow into a beautiful young lady. She'll be 13 in April - SO crazy. She has a myspace, and I just bought her first cell phone for her for Christmas. She's exstatic. She now wears my hand-me-downs and high heeled shoes, it's really weird. I ran into Chris & Erin Stroup at DIA when I flew out on Wednesday. Completely random, and SO good to see them. It's been SO long, I would love a CCR youthgroup reunion! Anyhow, we talked a lot about you and how precious we think you are. Know that you are a common theme amoung all of our conversations, hearts, minds, thoughts, and prayers. LOVE you and I promise another package VERY soon.
Ry-Mom sent me tons of photos so I am feeling sad now! Looks like it was a lot of fun. Laney is beautiful!
Tom-Getting ready to be grandpa to a boy-FINALLY! :) Send my love to Danielle. I'll be praying for everything. Thanks for your message.
Kimee-Wow, grandma tried to poison you, huh? It is because I am her favorite ...just kidding kind of. Hope you had an awesome time with the whole family. I thought of you yesterday and today, once because of flamingos and your crazy flamingo leg pic from when we were little and then today when this crazy bird dive bombed these people on the safari...BIRDS!
Mr Brandes. aka Mark: Glad to hear that you and April are making the most of your holidays, sounds like a really cool experience. Miss hearing about your life first hand!
Megs- SO glad you got home for Christmas!!! I can't believe all the snow Colorado got. We totally need to set a youth group reunion. Those were some seriously fun times.
Love you all-even those of you who have not yet figured out how to post a comment on my blog! Happy New Year!!!
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