feliz navidad y prospero ano nuevo

happy 2009 everyone! i hope you all had great holidays and are recovering from all the celebrations. i´m on my way home from playa flamingo, where a bunch of us went to celebrate new years. it was super beautiful and really relaxing. we even got to see a concert on the beach, fireworks, and toooons of sand and perfect water.
anyway, i wanted to take advantage of the internet to update you all on my life here. i wanted to post some pictures but it looks like this internet connection is too slow for that...
we had fiestas in our town almost a month ago which involves dances, food sales, and bull riding. it is quite an experience watching the bulls break through really solid walls and run after people. i´ll never understand the people that ride them or the ones on the ground with the red fabric thing. here they say they are valientas, or brave. but i just think they are stupid.
after the fiestas, came graduation. here, the schools and high schools went on their vacation starting the 19th of december and they go back in february. so, we had our kinder and 6th grade graduation. they were held together in the salon comunal and it was really great. the kids were all really proud of themselves as were the parents...it´s a pretty big deal graduating 6th grade and was real hard for a lot of the kids. its also the last formal education that many of them will ever receive.
the next day was first comunion in our church. it was only the second mass i have gone to in this town... there were 5 nicaraguan youth that had the ceremony so i went to see them and celebrate with them and their families. the kids ranged from 3rd grade to 15...
then started the holidays here. everything in the country pretty much shuts down in late december until after the new year, it seems. all the houses have some form of christmas decorations including lights, santas, red and green anythings, etc. also, almost everyone had a portal which is like a nativity scene, im told. they make them BIG though...like with tables or in a HUGE part of the room. lots of that green grassy looking stuff, plastic animals and all the characters. christmas here is for some reason celebrated on the 24th...they make and eat tamales, have bbq ish celebrations with the family, and hang out. we went to my host brother and sister in laws house for some kareoke, dancing, and bbq. for those that can afford it, presents are as big of a deal here than they are at home. the only difference is that no one spends nearly as much as they do in the states buuut they still do what they can. also, instead of saying that santa brought and left the gifts, they say the nino did. the nino brought me some shirts and other gifts which was really nice of him...or the friends in town.
i was also able to get a little hanukah spirit out there too. my host mom and i lit the menorah each night under all the christmas decorations and savored the one pack of gelt that came in the package with the menorah.
anyway, i will try to post the pictures next time i get to the internet. i hope everyone has a happy and healthy start to 2009 and enjoys the rest of holiday season. here things should be pretty relaxed this month with vacations going on. we have another dance in about 2 weeks so there should be some more photos coming soon.
happy new years!!